Cheeseburger Grilled Taquitos
We all know the feeling of biting into a crisp hot taquito. The delicate crispy shell giving away to the creamy meaty delicious interior. Now imagine that, but with the smoky char from a grill! I set out to perfectly combine the flavors of everybody’s favorite grilled food – the cheeseburger, with the snacky handheld nature of a taquito!
Inspiration for the Cheeseburger Grilled Taquitos
Taquitos are delicious but frying them can be a pain. I decided to make grilled cheeseburger taquitos and it took a lot of the work out of the dish for an easy appetizer for your next backyard BBQ. I filled mine with ground beef, pickles, tomato, and cheese for a tasty twist on burgers, since we are grilling them after all!
Just a little egg helps seal these cheeseburger tubes when you pop them on the grill. The tomato and pickles drive home that burger flavor, and the dip of mayo and BBQ sauce completes the burger formula. Put these out at a party and people will grab them up quick!
If you love taquitos like me, check out these pork and pickle taquitos! I guess I really like putting pickles into taquitos! If you love the combo of tortilla and burgers, then maybe you would like my tortilla smash burger or burgerito?
Let’s make the cheeseburger filling
I like caramelized onions on my burger, so I wanted to make sure they were in these taquitos. Sometimes, caramelized onions help draw the line when it comes to “burger” flavor. These taquitos could easily be considered ground beef taquitos, but adding the onion drives home the burger flavor. I also added jalapenos because they are good in both burgers and taquitos, so they complete the handshake between the two dishes.
Onions and jalapenos in the pan first, then the beef goes in. Cooking the filling together like this will make your cheeseburger grilled taquitos come out so flavorful!
After the meat cools a little, mix it with cheese, tomatoes, and pickles. I went with my favorite burger toppings of course, but you could use your favorite!
Fill ’em up!
Put a little of the mixture onto a tortilla. Brush half of the tortilla with egg wash and then roll it up, sealing it with the egg. This is essential- do not overfill the taquitos! If you fill them too much, they could be more like a small burrito, but we want them to still be taquitos.
Grill ’em up!
Throw the grilled cheeseburger taquitos on the grill to brown. At this point, you want to watch closely. You need a hot grill to get the nice char flavor and grill marks, but you don’t want to burn them! Keep your eye on them and continue to rotate to brown evenly on all sides.
The tortillas get such a great texture from being cooked on the grill. The egg really permeates the bread and makes it feel more thick then a normal tortilla would, but the open flames make it nice and crispy. I was worried the grilled cheeseburger taquitos might be dry or overly bready but the filling is super juicy and it all works great together!
So much cheesy goodness! The pickles add that much needed sour flavor to balance the heavy beef and cheese.
Dipping sauce for grilled cheeseburger taquitos
The dipping sauce is just BBQ, mayo, and hot sauce. You could do thousand island dressing too! Honestly, like everything else in this recipe, it’s best to make them your own and use the same toppings you like to have on burgers.
Twists on cheeseburger grilled taquitos
I have said it a million times in this article already, but you should make these grilled cheeseburger taquitos with any ingredients you like on your burgers! Do you like turkey burgers instead of beef burgers? Then make them with turkey! Do you like mushroom and swiss burgers? Make them with mushrooms and swiss! You could also easily use a vegan meat replacement in these taquitos and they would come out just as good! Here is a great vegan version I found.
Cheeseburger Grilled Taquitos
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 jalapenos diced
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 cup diced pickles
- 1 cup diced tomato
- 1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 8 8 inch tortillas
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce
Instructions
- Add the butter to a frying pan on medium heat and cook the onion down until it gets browned, about 20 minutes. Add the jalapenos halfway through cooking and season with salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat to high. Add the ground beef to the pan and break up while cooking. Season with salt and pepper. Cook about 10 minutes until cooked through and lightly browned.
- Remove from heat and pour the mixture into a bowl. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
- Mix the pickles, tomatoes, and cheese into the meat mixture. Stir to combine.
- Put the egg into a small bowl and whisk.
- Lay out a tortilla and brush some egg on half the tortilla. Place about 1/2 cup of the meat mixture on to the tortilla forming a line across the tortilla.
- Roll up the tortilla starting with the non- egg side, so that the egg helps seal the taquito. Brush the outside of the tortillas with oil so they don’t stick on the grill.
- Preheat the grill to high.
- Meanwhile, mix the bbq sauce, mayo, and hot sauce.
- Grill the taquitos until browned. Serve on a platter with the sauce.