Knock Off Qdoba Quesadillas

Welcome to a brand new way to taking an old favorite and revamping it! In this lesson we will go over the steps to make some of the best cheesy and gooey treats around. I have included time estimations on the cooking process, but they may vary. Please feel free to customize and change any part of the recipe to your own liking! I'll begin with the first step in our cooking process, collecting ingredients.

These are the following ingredients you need to make the perfect knock off quesadillas. What you will need are the following items:

1. Flour Tortillas
2. Mexican Cheese Blends
3. Ground Turkey
4. Taco Seasoning
5. White Large Onion
6. Limes

One of the main reasons we use these ingredients at Qdoba is because of the simplicity and low cost. A lot of fast casual favorites like Taco Bell, Moes, Chipotle, and others prefer to use less ingredients when cooking to manage costs. Also, the phrase "Less is more" is completely true in this context.

If you would like to substitute any of the ingredients with your own, then feel free to do so! Customize this to YOUR preference and have fun.

First we need to dice our onion up. When cutting the onion focus on how you want to those little bits to be shaped. Would it be better to have them as squares or maybe arcs? It's your preference, but make sure you put them in a hot pan coated in olive oil to prevent sticking.

Next, with let the onion cook for a bit to soften them up. I like to add a little oregano, black pepper, salt, and sugar. Why sugar? Well it acts as a carmelizing agent to give them a nice brown color and compliments the taste.

While our onions are cooking, lets zest our limes and juice them. Zesting provides a flavor profile that lingers a bit more than just the juice. Toss a bit of the zested lime in your onions while they cook and save about half for our turkey.

Once the onions have finished cooking they should end up looking like whats in our bowl to the right.

Once our onions finish cooking place them in a bowl and set them to the side. Take the ground turkey and in large pot add the taco seasoning to the meat. You want to allow the juices and water from the turkey to act a convection method in dispersing the heat around the meat. In doing so it allows the spices to seep in and fill it with flavor!

Chop and cook your turkey unitl the internal temperature of the meat reaches 165 fahrenheit to prevent bacteria from living. Once the meat has finished cooking its time to assemble our quesadillas!

*Note: If you plan to use other meats please make sure you cook them unitl the internal temperature has reached the appropriate level before consumption.

Take your ingredients and lay them on your tortillas. You want to first lay down the cheese, then put the onions and turkey on top and a bit more cheese to finalize it.

Fold the tortilla over and cover it with a bit of oil to help the baking toast it. I personally like to smoosh the tortillas as excess juice may make them too soggy. Bake them at 350 fahrenheit for 12 minutes and then remove from heat.

Let cool for a bit and slice to your desire. Place in containers and refrigerate until you would like to eat. These can stay good in the fridge for 3 days or a month in the freezer.

Food is a gateway to the soul and we are able to bring back memories through it. By making this delicious dish, I hope you are able to add some enjoyment to your day. Please enjoy this dish and leave a rating/comment below to let me know how it turned out for you. Thanks!