Quesadillas over an open fire – a quick lunch the children fill themselves

Melted cheese, beans and sweetcorn in a tortilla, folded at the fire pit

4 servings
Time: 20 min at home + 30 min by the fire
Difficulty: Easy
13 ingredients
8 steps

Photo: Cayobo, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The quesadilla may well be the quickest proper lunch there is at a fire pit. A tortilla, a handful of grated cheese, a few spoonfuls of beans and sweetcorn, then folded in half in a hot pan. After a couple of minutes the outside is golden and crisp and the cheese has melted everything together into a half-moon you can eat with your mittens on.

It is especially good when you have stopped at the lean-to shelter in the middle of the ski trail and nobody wants to wait. The children fill their own tortillas from the tubs, the adults look after the pan, and the first one is ready before the last one is filled. The only thing that causes trouble is the cold, and that is what this recipe is about.

What the cold does to a quesadilla

A quesadilla at home on the hob is hard to get wrong. At a fire pit on a sub-zero day there are three problems you never notice in the kitchen:

The tortilla cracks. A cold flour tortilla goes stiff. If you fold it straight out of the packet it cracks along the fold, and the cheese runs out into the pan. The answer is to warm the tortilla for a few seconds in the pan before filling it and to fold it while it is still warm.
The cheese arrives cold. Grated cheese that has been in the pulk for hours melts more slowly than you are used to. If the pan is too hot, the tortilla will turn black before the cheese in the middle has melted.
The filling does not get hot. Cold chicken or sausage between two layers of cheese will be lukewarm at best. That is why the filling is heated in the pan first and folded in when it is already hot.

Everything else is simple. Most of it is done at home, and by the fire all you need is a pan, embers and a spatula.

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At home and by the fire

The idea is that nobody has to cut, open tins or handle raw meat at the fire pit. Anything that can run, freeze or spill is finished in the kitchen.

At home:

The bean mash: Drain and rinse the beans. Mash them roughly with a fork together with the oil, cumin, paprika and salt. The mash should be spreadable. It works like glue in the tortilla and does not freeze into a lump the way whole beans in their liquid do.
The sweetcorn: Drain it really well. Any liquid that comes along turns to ice in the tub and water in the tortilla.
Chicken or sausage: Cut into small pieces, about the size of peas. Small pieces heat through in a couple of minutes in the pan; big pieces do not.
The pepper: Cut into small dice and put in the same tub as the sweetcorn.
The cheese: Grate it if it is not already grated and put it in a resealable bag.
Soured cream and salsa: Spoon into small plastic tubs. A glass jar can crack if it freezes in the pulk.

By the fire:

Tortillas inside your jacket. If the tortilla packet travels inside your jacket for the last stretch, they will be softer when you arrive. If they freeze anyway, warm them in the pan and they will go soft again.
Set the tubs out on a chopping board or a sit mat so the children can fill their own.
The cold does the cool bag's job. On a winter's day it is cold enough in the rucksack. Put the cheese and chicken in the middle of the pack as described in pulk sled with gear, so they stay cold but do not freeze solid.

More basic ideas on splitting the work between the kitchen and camp are in cooking outdoors in winter.

Quesadillas in a toastie iron

Most toastie irons are square and about the size of a slice of bread, so a whole tortilla will not fit as a half-moon. Make a parcel instead:

Brush the inside of the iron with a little oil and heat it in the embers for a while with both halves closed.
Lay a softened tortilla on the chopping board and fill the middle with bean mash, cheese and filling, roughly the size of the iron.
Fold in the four sides over the filling to make a square parcel.
Put the parcel fold side down in the iron, close it and hold it in the embers for 2–3 minutes on each side. Open it and check after the first side, because the iron gets much hotter than a pan. The iron makes one quesadilla at a time, so for a whole family it takes longer than in the pan.

The toastie iron has an advantage on a windy day, since the heat comes from both sides and nothing needs turning with a spatula. There are more ideas on the pie iron page, for example Västerbotten cheese toastie with smoked ham.

Tips for quesadillas in the cold

Better too little filling than too much. An overfilled quesadilla gets hot at the edges and stays cold in the middle. About one decilitre of filling per tortilla is just right.
Cheese that melts. Mild cheddar, prästost and ready-grated pizza cheese melt evenly. Very mature cheese turns oily and feta does not melt at all, but it is nice crumbled in.
Bring a lid. Without a lid the heat disappears straight up into the cold air. A piece of foil works too.
One pan per family is enough. Fry two at a time and eat while the next batch is in the pan, so nobody is left standing around waiting.
A hot drink alongside. Salt and cheese make you thirsty. A flask of warm apple juice or hot chocolate goes down well.

Safety with quesadillas

The chicken is cooked at home. Livsmedelsverket (the Swedish Food Agency) advises washing your hands with soap and water straight after touching raw chicken, and washing the chopping board and knife before they are used for anything else. There is rarely running water at a fire pit, so raw chicken does not belong there. Bring cooked chicken, or sausage that is already cooked.

Cold in the rucksack, hot in the pan. Let the chicken or sausage cool quickly at home, and keep it cold until you are ready to eat. Livsmedelsverket says chilled food should not be left out for more than four hours when it is up to 20 degrees, but on a winter's day it is colder than that in the rucksack. Do not put the tub of chicken in your inside pocket next to the tortillas. When reheating, Livsmedelsverket uses 70 degrees as a guideline, which is why the filling is heated in the pan until piping hot before it is folded in.

Melted cheese burns. The cheese in a freshly fried quesadilla is much hotter than the tortilla feels. It sticks to the skin and keeps on burning. 1177 (the Swedish healthcare advice line) says burns should be cooled with cool water straight away, for no more than 15 minutes, and never with ice or snow. Keep a bottle of water in an inside pocket so it does not freeze. More about fire and first aid is in fire safety in nature.

Allergens: Gluten in the flour tortillas, milk in the cheese and soured cream. Tortillas made only from corn are gluten-free, but some also contain wheat flour, so read the packet. They are thinner and crack more easily in the cold, so warm them extra carefully.

Always check whether there is a fire ban before you light the fire. What applies is explained in lighting fires outdoors.

Quesadillas with children

This is one of the best dishes for letting the children do it themselves, because the dangerous part is short and clear. Set out the tubs and the chopping board a few metres from the fire, so the children build their quesadillas well away from the pan:

Filling. Put a softened tortilla on a plate or chopping board in front of the child. The child builds their own half-moon from the tubs: mash, cheese, filling and cheese again.
The half rule. The filling only goes on one half. It is easy to understand and means the quesadilla can be folded.
Folding. The child folds it over and presses it together. An adult moves it to the pan with the spatula.
Calling out. A child can keep an eye on the time and call out when it is time to turn, from the filling station and not by the fire.
Cutting. Once the quesadilla has rested, older children can cut their own into triangles with the kitchen scissors.

An adult looks after the pan, the grate and the toastie iron the whole time. Let the child's quesadilla rest for an extra minute before the first bite. More ideas for letting children help by the fire are in cooking with children over a fire, and how to stay warm for the rest of the day is in how cold is too cold on the slopes.

Common mistakes

The tortilla is folded cold straight from the packet – it cracks and the cheese runs out.
The pan sits in the flames – the tortilla turns black before the cheese has melted.
Cold filling straight from the tub – the cheese melts but the chicken in the middle is cold.
Too much filling – the quesadilla will not fold and falls apart when it is turned.
Sweetcorn and beans with their liquid – the tortilla goes soggy and sticks to the pan.
No resting after the pan – the cheese runs out when it is cut, and the children burn themselves.

Vary the quesadilla

Just cheese and beans: The simplest version, and the one children usually want. Nothing needs heating first.
With falukorv: Diced falukorv is fried golden in the pan first. More about the sausage is in the best falukorv sausage.
With chilli: If you have leftovers of vegetarian chilli, let it cook down until it is thick and use it as a filling.
The breakfast version: Scrambled egg and bacon in the tortilla, a bit like a breakfast burrito but fried flat.
Two tortillas: Put the filling between two whole tortillas instead of folding. It is bigger and is cut into four or six pieces, but it is harder to turn. Put a lid or an enamel plate over the pan, turn the pan upside down with your barbecue gloves on and slide the quesadilla back in.
Sweet pudding: Banana and a piece of dark chocolate in a folded tortilla, fried until the chocolate has melted.

Frequently asked questions

How do you make quesadillas in a frying pan over an open fire?

Let the fire burn down to embers and set the pan on a grate. Heat the filling first, then soften the tortilla in the pan, fill one half with cheese and filling and fold it over. Fry with a lid on for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden and the cheese has melted.

Why does the tortilla crack when I fold it?

Cold flour tortillas go stiff and crack along the fold. Put the tortilla in the hot pan for 10–15 seconds on each side before you fill it, and it will go soft and foldable. It helps to keep the packet inside your jacket on the way to the fire pit.

How do you make quesadillas in a toastie iron?

Fill the middle of a softened tortilla and fold in four sides to make a square parcel that fits the iron. Put it fold side down in the preheated toastie iron and hold it in the embers for 2–3 minutes on each side.

Which cheese is best for quesadillas?

A cheese that melts evenly, for example mild cheddar, prästost or grated pizza cheese. In Mexico, Oaxaca cheese is often used, which goes stringy rather like mozzarella. Very mature cheese easily turns oily.

Can you make quesadillas at home and just heat them by the fire?

You can, but they will not be as good. A ready-folded quesadilla that has been sitting in the cold goes soggy inside and can crack. Better to pack the filling in tubs and build them by the fire – it only takes a few minutes.

Can you make quesadillas with corn tortillas?

Yes, and tortillas made only from corn are gluten-free, but read the packet as some contain wheat flour. Corn tortillas are thinner and crack more easily in the cold, so warm them properly in the pan before folding, and fill them a little less.

More dishes for winter fire pits, from soups in a pot to puddings in the embers, are gathered under fire food.