The Steak You Should Be Adding To Quesadillas For An Easy, Hearty Upgrade

Quesadillas can be as perfectly simple as a tortilla, cheese, and heat, or as charmingly complicated as a sausage, egg, and cheese breakfast quesadilla. While a classically folded cheese-and-tortilla combo was an easy, kid-friendly after-school snack for many of us growing up, it's time to enter the grown-up quesadilla game by adding a more substantial protein than just cheese alone. Shaved steak is what you should be adding to quesadillas for an easy, hearty upgrade.

There are many amazing ways to use shaved steak, but it's the ideal meat to add to quesadillas because its thinness plays dual roles. First, the steak will cook extraordinarily quickly, making short work of searing the protein, and second, you will be able to use lots of shaved steak but still have room for plenty of cheese, as well as any other additions like sliced onions or bell peppers.

Shaved steak is also a great option for using with a quick marinade since the thin slices of meat are better able to absorb the flavors of a marinade in dramatically less time than a traditionally thicker cut of beef for carne asada, which needs a long time to marinate properly. There are so many ways to make great quesadillas, but we recommend using flour tortillas for shaved steak quesadillas rather than corn, which tend to be smaller and less sturdy.

While you can partially freeze and then thinly slice your own cut of beef, your local butcher should be able to shave any steak cut for you if you ask them. If you're fortunate enough to live near a Korean grocery store, take a stroll down the meat aisle as you're likely to see a plethora of thinly shaved cuts of beef, some of which will even be marinated. Many shaved beef options are often frozen, so you can keep a few portions in the freezer for future use when a quesadilla craving hits. Since it's shaved so thinly, the meat will defrost very quickly. 

You can sear the shaved beef in the same pan you'll use to cook the quesadilla for less to clean up afterward, just give the pan a quick wipe if there's too much excess oil or meat bits left after cooking. The extra bit of steak flavoring is a nice flavor boost when you go to cook the quesadilla in the same pan. We have many tips for making the ultimate quesadillas, but be sure to lower the heat and let the pan cool slightly after cooking the steak at high temperatures so you don't burn those lovely tortillas. Due to their folded nature, it's difficult to keep most salsas or other sauces inside the quesadilla, so we always recommend serving guacamole, sour cream, or any other thick, chunky salsas on the side rather than inside the quesadilla itself.