Smash Burger Quesadillas

If you spend time scrolling through social media, the viral smashed burger taco has probably inundated your feed. It's a taco created by placing a tortilla on top of a ball of ground beef and smashing it on a smoking-hot griddle or pan. Instead of Tex-Mex-style taco seasonings, this taco-burger hybrid is seasoned and topped like a fast food burger. It has various iterations, but the current social media darling is the Big Mac Smash Taco—a smash taco topped with special sauce, lettuce, cheese (you know how the song goes), that seems to be tapping into a desire for novel takes on nostalgic foods. And who doesn't have fond Happy Meal memories?

I relished jumping onto this burger-taco bandwagon and making tons of smashed tacos to create my perfect version. First, I tackled the sauce. I started with a version of In-N-Out's spread; it's my preference, and since their burger is a smash burger (unlike Micky D's), it makes sense. By all means, riff. After a few bites, I added a little hot sauce. (I also tried a version using gochujang instead of ketchup in the sauce; it provides a nice balance of sweetness and heat but strayed from the classic flavor.) 

Next, I tackled the meat. Initially, I used too much ground beef and cooked it in way too much oil—the splatter was unreal. I over-adjusted, and the beef shrinkage was extreme, only covering part of the tortilla once cooked and making for a very sad taco. While the smash tacos I made that replicated the ones I’d seen online hit all the right flavor notes, the meat wasn’t as pleasantly charred or crispy as it could be. Browning the meat on just one side was just not optimal. Charring both sides using the smashed burger method improved the outcome by providing a crispier texture and making the cheese melt almost instantly on contact.

I tried a few other less successful adjustments. I tried a corn tortilla because I usually prefer them over flour, and I attempted to swap out the classic American cheese with slices of cheddar because I usually avoid processed cheese like the plague (gasp). However, I was wrong on both accounts. This recipe worked best with the sturdier flour tortillas because the corn tortillas tended to get a bit soggy. Andno one likes half-melted cheddar, so I highly recommend sticking with the melty American cheese.

There was room to maneuver when it came to proportions. Do you need to use 5-inch tortillas for this dish? No, not at all. It's too small, and the whole creation was just too sloppy (My pickle slipped out and fell on the floor after my first bite). Using five-ounce balls of ground beef was perfect for an eight-inch tortilla. However, it was difficult to fold over after adding the meat, cheese, onions, and pickles. Even when I didn't overcook the tortilla, it cracked. The solution was not to fold the tortilla over but to add a second one. I no longer needed to worry about a torn tortilla with the filling falling out. The extra tortilla provided the additional real estate needed for all the crispy meat, melty cheese, and crunchy toppings. And thus our smash burger taco graduated into a quesadilla, which proved to be a smashing success.

Keys to Smash Quesadilla Success

• You don't have to grind your own meat (unless you want to), but make sure you're getting the right blend. Fat is your friend, so aim for a ground beef with at least a 20% fat to lean ratio. Chuck is an excellent option because it's affordable and has a good balance of fat and meat, so it will stay juicy even when seared past medium as is the case here.
• Whether you're using cast iron, a stainless steel skillet, or even a griddle, it is absolutely essential to get your vessel smoking hot to get a good sear on the meat. Turn on the fan and open the windows if you need to. 
• Forget what you know about cooking regular burgers; smash burgers are a different breed. It’s the brown, crispy bits produced by the Maillard reaction that make them taste incredible. Familiarize yourself with the smashed burgers technique, as it’s employed in my smash burger quesadilla.