Cheeseburger Quesadillas with Ground Beef

This comfort food mashup has all the flavor of a juicy cheeseburger, folded into a crispy, golden tortilla with plenty of melty cheddar and a tangy burger sauce for dipping. Ready in just 30 minutes, they make a fun weeknight dinner that the whole family will love.

Quesadillas are one of my go-to meals when I forget to plan ahead and need to come up with something to eat for dinner quickly. Paul and the girls love them and I usually have all of the ingredients on hand.

Sure quesadillas can be as simple as melted cheese inside a warm and crispy, griddled flour tortilla. But these cheeseburger quesadillas take that idea on a detour through the American diner, borrowing the fillings and sauce from the classic cheeseburger.

These quesadillas give all of that In-N-Out cheeseburger goodness with a warm tortilla doing the job of the bun. Seasoned beef and chopped dill pickles are sandwiched between layers of melty cheddar, folded up and griddled until crisp and golden. A quick, tangy burger sauce ties it all together, animal-style.

For more tacos and quesadillas, check out my Viral Smash Burger Tacos, Cheesy Chicken Quesadillas, Jalapeño Popper Quesadillas, Birria Tacos, and Blackened Salmon Tacos!

What You’ll Need

Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.

• Mayonnaise: Forms the creamy base of the burger sauce and gives it that classic special-sauce richness. Light mayo works just as well as full-fat.
• Ketchup: Adds a little sweetness and tang that makes the sauce taste like it came off a burger.
• Relish: Brings a briny crunch to the sauce. Dill relish keeps it tangy and sweet relish makes it a touch sweeter, so use whichever you like.
• Lemon Juice: Brightens the sauce and keeps the mayo from tasting heavy. Bottled lemon juice works just as well as fresh, so use the same amount.
• Worcestershire Sauce: Gives the sauce a savory, slightly tangy depth that echoes a well-seasoned burger patty.
• Paprika: Adds warm color and a mild, sweet pepper flavor to the sauce.
• Onion Powder: Adds savory onion flavor throughout the sauce without any raw bite or extra texture.
• Garlic Powder: Rounds out the sauce with mellow garlic flavor that blends in smoothly.
• Black Pepper: Adds gentle heat to both the sauce and the beef. Coarse ground gives a little texture, but regular ground black pepper works fine.
• Ground Beef: Makes up the burger-style filling. I use 90/10 because it browns nicely without leaving much grease behind. If you use a fattier blend like 85/15, drain it extra well.
• Yellow Onion: Cooks right alongside the beef and adds a sweet, savory flavor that tastes like a burger with everything on it. White onion is a good swap, as long as you dice it small so it softens as the beef cooks.
• Coarse Kosher Salt: Seasons the beef and makes the whole filling taste more like itself. If you only have table salt or sea salt, use half the amount, since fine grains are saltier by the spoonful.
• Seasoning Salt: Adds the familiar, savory burger-patty flavor with a hint of paprika and garlic.
• Dill Pickles: Gives the filling a tangy crunch and is the ingredient that says “cheeseburger” the loudest. Chop them small so they distribute evenly, and you can use pickle slices, spears, or chips, whatever you have on hand.
• Flour Tortillas: Holds everything together and turns golden and crisp in the skillet. Look for 8-inch tortillas, which fold easily and fit in a standard skillet. You can stretch the filling to make 8 quesadillas by using a little less meat on each tortilla, and you’ll need an extra ½ cup of cheddar to do it.
• Cheddar Cheese: Melts into a gooey layer that glues the filling to the tortilla. Shred it fresh from a block for the best melting, since pre-shredded cheese has coatings that keep it from melting as smoothly. Colby Jack or Monterey Jack melt just as well if you’d rather use those.
• Canola or Vegetable Oil: Crisps the outside of each tortilla and gives it that golden color. Use about ½ tablespoon per quesadilla and add more as needed, and any neutral oil works if you don’t have these two.
• Shredded Lettuce, Diced Tomatoes, and Other Burger Toppings: Turns each slice into a full cheeseburger experience. Pile on whatever you’d put on a burger, from extra pickles to sliced red onion.

How to Make Cheeseburger Quesadillas

1. Make sauce. Stir the mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper together in a small bowl. Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve.

2. Brown beef. Add the ground beef, onion, kosher salt, seasoning salt, and black pepper to a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook, crumbling the beef as it browns, until it’s cooked through.
3. Drain meat. Take the skillet off the heat and drain the beef really well, because any leftover grease will turn the quesadillas soggy. Transfer the meat and onion to a clean bowl, and wipe out the skillet with a paper towel if any bits are stuck to it.
4. Mix filling. Stir 3 tablespoons of the sauce and the chopped pickles into the beef until everything is coated.

5. Assemble quesadillas. Lay a tortilla on a clean plate and sprinkle 2 tablespoons of cheddar over one half. Top with ⅙ of the beef mixture and another 2 tablespoons of cheddar, then fold the empty half over the top and press down so it stays put. You can assemble a few before you start cooking.
6. Cook quesadillas. Heat about ½ tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add a quesadilla and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is golden and crisp. If the tortilla browns too quickly, turn the heat down, and if your skillet is big enough, you can cook two at a time.

7. Rest on rack. Set each finished quesadilla on a wire cooling rack while you cook the rest, so the bottoms stay crisp instead of steaming on a plate. Add more oil to the skillet as needed for each batch.
8. Slice and serve. Cut the quesadillas into triangles and serve with the remaining burger sauce and your favorite toppings.

Recipe FAQ’s

Tips for Success

• Let each quesadilla rest on the wire rack for a minute or two before slicing, so the melted cheese has time to set and the wedges hold together on the plate.
• Preheat the skillet fully before the first quesadilla goes in, because a hot pan starts crisping the tortilla right away instead of letting it steam and go soft.
• Dab the chopped pickles with a paper towel before stirring them into the beef, so their brine doesn’t seep into the filling and make the tortillas soggy.
• Stick to ⅙ of the filling per tortilla and leave a small border around the edge, which keeps the cheese and beef from squeezing out as you press the folded edge down.

Substitutions and Variations

• Add a few strips of cooked, crumbled bacon to the filling for a bacon cheeseburger version. You could even drizzle a little bbq sauce over the filling for a bbq bacon burger approach.
• Swap the cheddar for pepper jack if you’d like a little heat running through the filling.
• Use ground turkey or ground chicken in place of the beef for a lighter take on the filling.
• Stir in a few dashes of hot sauce or diced jalapeños with the sauce for a spicier version.

More Tex-Mex Recipes You’ll Love

• Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas
• Ground Beef Enchiladas
• Steak Fajitas
• Crockpot Chicken Enchiladas
• White Chicken Enchiladas
• Shredded Beef Chimichangas
• Authentic Carne Asada
• Crispy Mexican Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas