Quesadillas in Mexico: with or without cheese, griddled or fried, and their fillings

The Mexican quesadilla is not the one you know

Outside Mexico, "quesadilla" usually means a large wheat-flour tortilla, folded or in two layers, with melted cheese and a little chicken, cut into triangles. It is a popular version in the United States and in Tex-Mex chains around the world. The quesadilla eaten every day in Mexico is something else: a corn tortilla, often freshly made by hand from fresh masa, folded in half over a filling and cooked on the comal or fried in oil. And, depending on where you are, it may contain cheese… or not.

That last sentence is, in fact, one of the country's most recurrent food debates. In this guide we explain where the name comes from, why cheeseless quesadillas exist in the capital, which fillings you will find at the stalls and how to make them at home.

Where the word "quesadilla" comes from

The name is not Nahuatl, although that idea often circulates. According to the Mexican Academy of Language, "quesadilla" comes from quesada, which in Europe means a pastry made of cheese and dough. The word "quesadilla" is recorded on the Iberian Peninsula from the Middle Ages: it already appears in a fourteenth-century Catalan cookbook, the Llibre de Sent Soví, and some also link it to the Asturian casadiella, a sweet pastry filled with walnut and sugar. In Mexico the word came to name a corn snack.

On social media it is often claimed that "quesadilla" derives from a supposed Nahuatl word, quetzaditzin. That is a myth: the word does not exist, pre-Hispanic Nahuatl had no letter "d", and the Nahuatl word for tortilla is tlaxcalli. The explanation via quesada is the one recorded by the Mexican Academy of Language.

The great debate: does a quesadilla have cheese?

In most of Mexico the answer is obvious: yes. If a folded tortilla has another filling and no cheese, it goes by another name, for example doblada, or simply taco. In Mexico City, by contrast, the word "quesadilla" mainly refers to the shape: a corn tortilla, usually large and oval, folded over a filling and cooked or fried. Cheese is optional. You can order a quesadilla of tinga, chicharrón, potato or brains, and if you want cheese in it, you have to say "con queso".

Why is this? There is no documented explanation for the change, but it is not a recent fashion either: the Nuevo cocinero mexicano, a nineteenth-century cookbook, already noted that quesadillas could contain cheese or not, and the Diccionario del español de México defines them as tortillas filled with a wide range of foods, among them cheese, potato, mushrooms and courgette flower. Either way, the debate resurfaces every so often in the press and on social media, and people from the capital defend their custom with humour and conviction.

What does the general dictionary say? The Royal Spanish Academy today defines the quesadilla, in its Mexican sense, as a corn or wheat tortilla folded in half and filled with cheese or other ingredients. In other words, the dictionary sides with both camps.

How they are made: griddled or fried

At quesadilla stalls, very common in the capital and central Mexico, the tortilla is made to order. The cook takes a ball of fresh masa, flattens it in the press into a large oval, places the filling on one half, folds it and seals it by pressing the edge. From there, there are two routes:

• De comal. Cooked on the comal, dry or with a little fat, until the masa browns and the filling is hot. The dough stays tender and tastes of corn.
• Fried. Deep-fried in plenty of oil until golden and crisp, almost like an empanada. These are the ones many people order at markets. Here is our recipe for fried quesadillas.

Either way, when served it is opened a little to add salsa, cream, grated cheese or lettuce, depending on the stall. Many places use blue corn masa, which gives quesadillas a very distinctive greyish-violet colour.

The fillings you will find

Much of the appeal of a quesadilla stall lies in the variety of fillings, laid out in earthenware pots just as at stew stalls. The most typical:

• Courgette flower. The blossoms of the squash plant, cooked with onion, chilli and epazote. A delicate flavour almost impossible to find outside Mexico. See our courgette-flower quesadillas.
• Huitlacoche. A fungus that grows on corn cobs, black, with an earthy, smoky flavour, considered a delicacy. Here are our huitlacoche quesadillas.
• Tinga. Shredded chicken in a tomato and chipotle sauce. Try the tinga quesadillas.
• Chicharrón prensado. Stewed in salsa, intense and unctuous. See the chicharrón quesadillas.
• Potato with chorizo. A favourite filling at street stalls. Here are the potato and chorizo quesadillas.
• Others. Mushrooms, rajas with cheese, picadillo, beef tinga, brains, tripe or requesón with epazote.

The cheese, when there is any, is usually Oaxaca cheese (a stringy cheese that melts very well) or fresh cheese.

Mexican quesadilla versus Tex-Mex quesadilla

To avoid confusion, these are the main differences:

• The tortilla. In Mexico it is made from corn masa, often fresh and made to order. The Tex-Mex version mostly uses a shop-bought wheat-flour tortilla.
• The seal. The Mexican one is folded in half and sealed like an empanada. The Tex-Mex one is usually a large folded tortilla or two tortillas stacked together, cut into triangles.
• The filling. The Mexican one can carry a wide range of stews, with or without cheese. The Tex-Mex one revolves around melted cheese, with chicken, beef or vegetables.
• How it is eaten. In Mexico it is eaten as a stall snack, freshly made, with salsa. The Tex-Mex one is often served as a starter with guacamole and soured cream.

If you want to see how the quesadilla fits in among the other classics, we have a guide to the difference between a taco, burrito, fajita and quesadilla.

How to make Mexican quesadillas at home

1. Fresh masa. If you can get nixtamalised corn masa, use it. If not, make a dough with nixtamalised corn flour and warm water until soft and moist.
2. Press or rolling pin. Flatten a ball of masa between two sheets of plastic into a tortilla slightly thicker than one for tacos.
3. Fill it raw. Place the already-cooked filling on one half, keeping clear of the edges, fold and press the edge to seal.
4. Comal or oil. Cook it on the comal over a medium heat, turning, or fry it in hot oil until golden.
5. Serve at once with green or red salsa, and cheese if you like.

Frequently asked questions

So in Mexico City you have to ask for it "con queso"?

At many stalls, yes. If you want cheese in your tinga or chicharrón quesadilla, say so when you order. Plain cheese quesadillas, on the other hand, contain cheese by definition.

What is a doblada?

It is the name given in several regions to a folded, filled tortilla that contains no cheese, to distinguish it from the quesadilla.

Are fried quesadillas empanadas?

They look similar, but the fried quesadilla is made with corn masa, whereas the traditional empanada is usually made with wheat dough.

Does the quesadilla come from Nahuatl?

No. According to the Mexican Academy of Language, it comes from quesada, a European pastry of cheese and dough. The supposed Nahuatl root quetzaditzin is a myth.

Sources

• Uno TV, «¿Las quesadillas deben de llevar queso o no?» (origin in "quesada" according to the Mexican Academy of Language, the RAE definition, the capital's custom of ordering them with or without cheese, the "doblada" elsewhere in the country).
• México Desconocido, «Quesadillas, conoce los tipos, su historia y su receta» (Llibre de Sent Soví, Asturian casadiella, the quetzaditzin myth, the letter "d" and tlaxcalli, Nuevo cocinero mexicano, Diccionario del español de México, the capital's fillings).
• La Hoja de Arena, «De quesadillas sin queso y el origen de la palabra» (the debate in the capital and the refutation of the supposed Nahuatl origin).