Smoky and full of flavor, this Chipotle Beef Quesadilla Recipe makes an easy dinner or lunch that is fast and easy.
Originally posted March 23, 2009 – I have been dying to remake this recipe, mainly because the “before” pictures were so amazingly horrendous. But I’m so glad that I did try this recipe again, because I had forgotten how much I love this recipe! Chipotle chile gets added to this beef quesadilla recipe for the perfect amount of smoke and spice. This makes a great weeknight meal or easy lunch.
I have a storage problem. I guess the problem is that I have a small-ish freezer, and not enough room. And now that spring is here, (even though it is snowing outside here!), I’ve been wanting to make ice cream. But my freezer is too full – I can’t even fit the ice cream bowl in the freezer! So a little while back, I pulled everything out of the freezer, threw away anything that looked like it had been in there too long, and I made an inventory of my freezer contents. And ever since then, I’ve been working on using up what I had.
One item in my freezer was a mystery steak. Now I freeze meat, chicken, and pork quite often, but for some reason, I’m not a big fan of just cooking up a steak from the freezer. I usually have to make it into something else because I don’t like a steak from the freezer like I like a fresh steak. So I went looking for a recipe.
I came across this quesadilla recipe that originally called for pork chops, but I thought my steak would work perfectly in it. And I was right! This was a fast dinner, filled with flavor. And another great thing about this recipe is that it is inexpensive – according to the magazine, the national average for 4 servings is only $8.76. And I’m another step closer to making room for my ice cream maker!
More Quesadilla Recipes
Chicken Quesadilla with Refried Beans
Shrimp Quesadillas with Chorizo
Roasted Veggie Quesadillas
Chipotle Beef Quesadilla Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound steak
- salt and pepper
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 onion thinly sliced
- 1 cup canned diced tomatoes
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro plus leaves for garnish
- 8 medium flour tortillas
- 1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Season the steak with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the steak and cook until browned, 4 minutes on each side. Transfer to a cutting board and let cool; cut into thin strips.
- In the same skillet, heat 1 more tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and their juice, the garlic, chipotle and cumin and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes; stir in the sliced beef and chopped cilantro.
- Heat a grill pan or griddle over medium heat. Brush one side of each tortilla with the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Working in batches, cook the tortillas oiled side down until lightly browned, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Arrange 4 tortillas grilled side down on a baking sheet. Divide the steak mixture among the tortillas and sprinkle with the cheese. Top with the remaining tortillas, grilled side up. Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Cut into wedges and top with the cilantro leaves.
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
ooh i am so craving Mexican right now! these look delicious..definitely know what i am making for dinner!
Chels R. says
Oh my gosh! We just bought some frozen steak from the store tonight and we are so going to make this!
Andrew & Carlene Wood says
I tried these and me and my husband think that they almost taste identical to Goodwood BBq’s smoked chicken quasadillas!! excellent!!
Andrew & Carlene Wood says
I tried these and me and my husband think that they almost taste identical to Goodwood BBq’s smoked chicken quasadillas!! excellent!!
glamah16 says
I like fresh steaks too. ut great use of the frozen.
Brilynn says
I’ve been on a bit of a quesadilla kick lately, you can pretty much use anything in them, they’re great!
Bamboo says
I have been looking for something out of the usual to prepare and your chipotle beef quesadillas is a great idea.
Spryte says
YUM!!!! I love the versatility of quesadillas and chipotle is one of my favorite flavors!!
Grace says
you can do so many things with kiss-a-dillahs, and your beef filling sounds fabulous. bravo!
Resveritol says
I was never a fan of quesadillas until I made them myself. Delish! You recipe looks great, I’m going to give it a try.
Ingrid says
LOL, mystery meat! I’m not crazy about red meat fresh or frozen.
At Sam’s we recently purchased a chest cooler and LOVE it. We probably didn’t need one as big as the one we bought but this way we have plenty of space. I noticed that I’m not forgetting about things that I’ve put in there as nothing’s buried anymore.
~ingrid
kat says
This sounds like a great quesadilla. We have a freezer in the basement & things just seem to get lost in the bottom of it