Cheesy Ground Beef Quesadillas (Recipe 163 of 125)

Beautiful photo from The Mom 100

Quesadillas are such an easy meal. You can put almost anything between two tortillas. I've made a lot of these in my life. The first on being in Mexico when I was there as an exchange student. The group of us American students took a trip to some beach and stayed in some friend's house. We were students, therefore, broke - even in Mexico which was cheap. So we existed on quesadillas. No meat. Just cheese and hot sauce. 

This recipe was super fun to make. The beef mixture had the added flavor of tomato paste which really added to the depth of the beef. I usually season my taco meat with just chili powder. That's what mom did, so that's what I do. 

I did not add the green stuff (kale or spinach) to this! Blech. Neither belong in a quesadilla. I did have a small spinach salad on the side though - so that kinda counts. 

Don't skip the cilantro in the beef though. I almost decided to not bother, but at the last minute figured I could use up a bunch of cilantro I had. So glad I did. It adds such a nice, fresh flavor to the mixture. 

The real winner for this quesadilla was the havarti. WHY haven't I ever thought to put havarti in a quesadilla? Game changer for me for sure. It melts so nicely...it may be my new go to cheese for quesadillas.

Cheesy Ground Beef Quesadillas
Recipe from Themom100.com

Serves 4

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 T vegetable or olive oil
• 1 c chopped onion
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 3 T tomato paste
• 1 c roughly chopped spinach or baby kale
• ½ tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 T minced fresh cilantro optional
• 4 tsp unsalted butter divided
• 8 8-inch flour tortillas
• 1 c shredded sharp cheddar
• 1 c shredded havarti

Guacamole, sour cream, salsa and lime wedges to serve

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, and brown the beef, breaking it up with a spoon until it is all browned and crumbly, about 5 minutes. Turn it into a colander to drain, and carefully wipe out the skillet.

Return the skillet to medium heat and add the vegetable or olive oil. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and sauté for 3 minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the tomato paste, spinach, garlic and chili powder and stir for another minute until the spinach is wilted and everything is well combined. Return the beef to the skillet and stir until everything is blended. Stir in the cilantro if using, turn the mixture into a bowl, and wash and dry the skillet (or grab a new skillet).

Combine the cheddar and havarti in a bowl. Place the skillet over medium heat and add a half teaspoon of butter. Place a tortilla in the pan. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the cheese mixture over half of the quesadilla, and distribute 1/8 of the beef mixture over the cheese. Top that with another 2 tablespoons of the shredded cheese. Flip the bare half of the tortilla over the filling, cover the pan, and sauté for about 2 minutes until the bottom is golden and the cheese has started to melt, then use a spatula to flip the half-moon quesadilla, and continue to cook, uncovered, until all of the cheese is melted and the underside is browned, 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the quesadilla to a cutting board and let the quesadilla sit for a minute before you slice into 2 or 3 wedges. Repeat until all of the quesadillas are cooked. Serve with guacamole, salsa, sour cream and lime wedges.