Delicious quesadillas on a wooden board.

Homemade Tortillas with Quesadillas

25/09/2024 | By Cowboy Kent Rollins

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Howdy, folks! Once you've eaten a homemade tortilla, your life changes for the better. Homemade tortillas are made with love, happiness, and - the most important ingredient - bacon grease.

Homemade Tortilla Dough

Homemade tortillas are easier than you'd expect. Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl.

Tip: If you do not have a lot of bacon grease, you can add lard or Crisco or butter to the bacon grease. The flavor will be excellent with any of these substitutes.

Add the chilled bacon grease and mix it well with a pastry cutter or fork, until little crumbles of bacon grease are well incorporated into the dough. It's ok if it's crumbly here - as long as everything is evenly distributed, you are good!

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Tip: Use chilled bacon grease and cut it into the flour until crumbly - like butter with pie crust.

It's time to add the hot water. Begin stirring with a wooden spoon until the dough is firm enough for you to start kneading by hand. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes. If the dough is sticky, add a spoonful of flour at a time until the consistency is firm. Flour the surface of the dough, cover, and let rest for about 15 minutes.

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Roll Out the Tortilla Dough

After the dough has rested, pinch off about a golf ball's size worth of dough for each tortilla. Form them into balls and smush them down into a round disc about the size of your palm. From here, roll each tortilla out to your desired thickness. Tortillas should be very thin - but you can make them any shape you want!

Always Cook Tortillas on a Hot Skillet

The biggest mistake folks make while cooking tortillas is that the skillet is not pre-heated enough. You want this to be hot. Tortillas cook fast, and if the skillet is warm, the tortilla will cook, but it will not get those delicious brown spots on them! No one wants to eat a plain tortilla without skillet marks.

Tip: Pre-heat the skillet all the way to medium-high before you start cooking.

When the tortilla starts to bubble in places, pat it down and flip it. When brown spots begin to appear, the tortilla is done. The longer you leave on direct heat, the crispier the tortilla will get. You generally want them to be soft and pliable. We'll crisp them up in a minute here when we make our quesadilla.

Beef Quesadillas Made with Fresh Tortillas

The beauty of a quesadilla is that you can customize each one. Today, I'm using ground beef and onion, grated jalapeno, and three types of cheeses. The perfect quesadilla has a crispy tortilla with grill marks, well-seasoned meat, and a lot of gooey cheese to hold everything together.

Start by cooking the ground beef and onion in a hot skillet. Season with Mesquite and Taco Seasoning - if you don't have our blend, use your favorite taco seasoning and a southwest seasoning with some ancho chili powder. When everything is cooked, taste and add more seasoning to your taste.

Add the minced garlic about 2-3 minutes before the meat should be done. Finely grate a jalapeno (or two, if you like it spicy) right into the skillet while the ground beef and the garlic cook together. Mix in a little Flame Roasted Hatch Chile Salsa, and stir well.

Tip: If there is grease in the skillet, use a slotted spoon to drain the meat before you add it to the tortilla. Too much grease will make the quesadilla soggy!

Assemble the Quesadillas

Start with pre-heating your skillet over medium heat. Place the first tortilla in the skillet.

Sprinkle the cheddar and pepper jack over the entire tortilla. Top with the ground beef, then the mozzarella cheese. The important part is to have cheese on the top and bottom of the meat to act as a binding agent and hold the meat inside.

Fold the tortilla over and cook until each side is crispy and browned, and the cheese is melted. Serve immediately with your preferred toppings. We recommend pico de gallo, guacamole, salsa, or sour cream. Let us know if you have a different topping you love!

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Homemade Tortillas

Servings 0
Author Cowboy Kent Rollins

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • 2 teaspoons salt

  • 1/4 cup bacon grease

    cooled
  • 1/4 cup lard or shortening

  • 1 cup hot water

Instructions

  1. -In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. If you like a fluffier tortilla add and additional 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.

  2. -Cut in the shortening and bacon grease with a spoon just until the big chunks of lard/grease or broken up and incorporated. 

  3. -Add the hot water and stir until combined. With your hands, work the dough into a ball. 

  4. -Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough about 2 minutes, adding more flour if needed to take away the stickiness. 

  5. -Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 -15 minutes. 

  6. -Turn the dough back out onto the floured surface and turn to lightly flour the outside. Pinch the dough off into pieces slightly larger than a golf ball. Work the dough into balls and then press down lightly to form a round roughly the size of your palm.

  7. -With a rolling pin, roll each round out into a extremely thin circle. Repeat with the remaining rounds. If you like a thicker tortilla don't roll out as thin. 

  8. -Place the tortillas onto a large greased HOT cast iron skillet. As the tortilla begins to bubble pat down and flip.  Cook just until light brown circles appear. If your skillet isn't hot it will cook, but brown circles will not appear. The longer these cook, the crispier they become so adjust you cook time and temp as needed. 

  9. -Wrap in a towel and place in a warm oven until you have finished cooking all of the tortillas and are ready to serve. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Print Recipe Pin

Beef Quesadillas - Cowboy Kent Rollins

Servings 4
Prep Time 4 Minutes
Total Time 25 Minutes
Author Cowboy Kent Rollins

Ingredients

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet, crumble in the ground beef, and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, or until it begins to brown, stirring occasionally. Stir in the Mesquite seasoning and onion and continue to cook until the onions are tender and the meat has browned.

  2. Stir in the taco seasoning, salsa and jalapeno. Let simmer over low heat for about 3 to 4 minutes.

  3. Place a tortilla in a large skillet, or griddle, over medium heat. On one half of the tortilla, sprinkle about ¼ cup of cheddar cheese followed by ¼ cup of pepper jack cheese. Top with about a fourth of the meat. Top with ¼ cup of Mozzarella. Fold the tortilla over and press down slightly. Cook both sides until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are slightly browned. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

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