If you’re looking for homemade, family friendly comfort food for dinner tonight, look no further! This Sheet Pan Meals: Beef and Cheddar Quesadillas is sure to please everyone.
They’re cheesy and meaty and delicious!
They can also be tailored to whatever ingredients you and your family enjoy the most!
I’ve always loved ordering authentic quesadillas whenever we were eating out at a Mexican restaurant, but lately I’ve been making them a lot at home.
My youngest son has developed a taste for them, and asks for them frequently, and I’m happy to oblige.
I’ve made them with just plain cheese, or with chicken and cheese, or his current favorite, chicken, cheese and BACON.
Hubby however, really liked them in this version with beef and cheddar, flavored similar to a regular beef taco.
Plus, since you can easily fill a whole sheet pan with deliciousness, they’re simple and easy to make for a crowd! 🙂
Sheet Pan Meals: Beef and Cheddar Quesadillas
Ingredients:
- 6 GRANDE flour tortillas (12 inch size)
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef, cooked and drained WELL
- 1 package of taco seasoning
- 12 to 24 slices of Cheddar cheese
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- Optional: chopped jalapenos, shredded lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, taco sauce
Directions:
Step 1: Brown your ground beef, and DRAIN off the fat well.
Step 2: Season with taco seasoning and only half the water called for on packet. If there’s excess water, drain.
Step 3: Spray your sheet pan (my sheet pan is just shy of 13 by 18 inches) with cooking spray, or brush on a little melted butter.
NOTE from Sarah: I’ve gone through a TON of baking sheets in my life and they always seem to rust on me. I kept losing so much money b/c I’d have to just throw them away. I save more money by buying the professional ones that don’t rust on me. They are the only baking sheets I will personally use now. Here are the baking sheets and here are the silicone mats to fit them as well if you want those.
Step 4: Lay out 3 to 4 of your tortillas to cover your sheet pan, letting the extra hang over.
Step 5: Using kitchen scissors, cut off the excess right inside the border of the pan. Save scraps.
Step 6: Lay out Cheddar cheese slices on tortillas.
Step 7: Spread the cooked and well drained beef over the cheese, and then add on the tomatoes.
OPTION: If you like, you can add another layer of cheese, this does help everything stay together better, but it does make it very cheesy! So go with your preference. 🙂
Step 8: Use the other 3 tortillas to cover the top, and trim with kitchen scissors to fit.
Step 9: Spray top lightly with cooking spray, or brush with a little melted butter.
Step 10: Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, but watch so they don’t burn.
Step 11: Let cool for a few minutes, and then using kitchen scissors, cut into 12 squares, and serve with your favorite taco extras, like shredded lettuce, jalapenos, sour cream, guacamole, and taco sauce.
Quesadillas are such a wonderfully versatile dinner choice, because the options for different types of fillings are really endless.
Here are some other ideas of what you can make them with:
- Chicken and fajita seasonings
- Eggs and bacon
- Assorted veggies
- Seafood
- Cheeseburger flavored
- Dessert quesadillas with fruit
- Any flavors that suit your fancy
You can also make them for one or a crowd. You can’t get much more adaptable than that!
Now remember those scrap pieces you cut off to make your tortillas fit nicely on your sheet pan? We are certainly not going to waste them.
Take your kitchen scissors and cut them up into short mini strips. Give a baking sheet a quick light spray with cooking spray, and spread out the little strips on it. Then give the strips a quick light spray with the cooking spray too. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 2 to 3 minutes to let them gently crisp up a bit.
Now they are perfect to top off a healthy salad or any Southwestern dish, or even just for your kids (or you) to snack on! 🙂
If you’d like a couple other tasty recipes for quesadillas, check out my recipes for Quesadillas with Chicken and Bacon or my Cheeseburger Quesadillas.
What are your favorite sheet pan meals?
Sheetpan Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 6 GRANDE flour tortillas
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef cooked and drained WELL
- 1 package of taco seasoning
- 8 slices of Cheddar cheese
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- Optional: chopped jalapenos, shredded lettuce, sour cream, guacamole, taco sauce
Instructions
- Brown your ground beef and DRAIN off the fat well.
- Season with taco seasoning and only half the water called for on packet. If there’s excess water, drain.
- Spray your sheet pan with cooking spray, or brush on a little melted butter.
- Lay out 3 to 4 of your tortillas to cover you sheet pan, letting the extra hang over.
- Using kitchen scissors, cut off the excess right inside the border of the pan. Save scraps.
- Lay out Cheddar cheese slices on tortillas.
- Spread the cooked and well drained beef over the cheese, then the tomatoes.
- OPTION: If you like you can add another layer of cheese, this does help everything stay together better, but it does make it very cheesy! So go with your preference. 🙂
- Use the other 3 tortillas to cover the top, and trim with kitchen scissors to fit.
- Spray top lightly with cooking spray or brush, with a little melted butter.
- Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, but watch so they don’t burn.
- Let cool for a few minutes, then using kitchen scissors, cut into 12 squares, and serve with your favorite taco extras, like shredded lettuce, jalapenos and sour cream.
- ***Make sure meat is fairly dry, otherwise your quesadillas will be soggy.
