Ground Beef Gorditas Recipe
Welcome to the world of an authentic Ground Beef Gorditas recipe! If you’re new to this Mexican delight, then get ready to indulge in the rich flavors that come with cooking at home using real ingredients. Enjoy them with a refreshing Horchata and a side of tangy Pickled Jalapeños for a truly immersive experience.
What are Gorditas?
Mexican gorditas are a dish made with corn masa harina. These thick tortillas are cooked and cut open to create a pocket for the filling. When it comes to stuffing them, you have many options. Here are the 3 most common:
- Cheese
- Meat
- Veggies
Gordita means “chubby” or “little fat one” in Spanish. Its place of origin is Mexico and the combination of flavors keeps their popularity high.
Recipe Video Tutorial
Watch my easy video tutorial for step-by-step visuals on making Ground Beef Gorditas.
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Consistency of the Dough
Preparing the dough for this Gorditas recipe is a very important task where you have to achieve the right consistency in order to succeed. It’s no surprise to us that sometimes it may need less or more water than anticipated. The end result should feel smooth, firm, soft and should not stick to your clean hands.
Potato
The potato adds so much flavor to these gorditas, it is a must! Having said that, I do like to keep the skin of the potato in this gorditas recipe for that extra dose of fiber. You can peel the skin and discard it before cooking the potato if that’s your preference.
Cheese for Ground Beef Gorditas
Mexico has gifted us with numerous culinary treasures than we give it credit for, and this Ground Beef Gorditas recipe is not the exception. The more we talk about flavor, it becomes inevitable to mention cotija cheese, since Its salty milk tones pair wonderfully with the fried corn flavor. The potato takes this recipe to another level of goodness.
Frying Gorditas Temperature
To start, heat the oil to a safe frying temperature of 325F degrees and don’t let it get too hot. The reason for this is, we want to allow the gorditas enough time to cook before getting too dark. Ideally, the color we are looking for is golden brown instead of burning brown, if I’m allowed to make a small joke.
Ground Beef Gorditas
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef, sirloin
- 1 roma tomato, finely diced
- 1 cup mixed veggies
- 1 cup chicken or beef broth, low sodium
- 1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
- To taste ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil, smooth
Seasoning Mix
- 2 tsp ground onion
- 1 tsp ground garlic
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 1/2 tbsp ground ancho chile
Gorditas
- 2 cups instant corn masa harina
- 1 1/2 cups water, plus more if needed
- 1 cup cotija cheese
- 1 large russet potatoes, (cooked in salted water)
Additional-Stuffings
- Sour cream
- Lettuce, shredded
- Queso fresco, crumbled
- Mexican salsa
- Refried beans
- Pickled jalapeños
- Avocado
Frying-Cooking
- Avocado oil, or oil for frying
Instructions
- Prep for Gorditas: Dice the potato into small pieces and cook in salted boiling water until fork tender. I will be leaving the skin on for extra fiber but you can choose to peel it before cooking. When cooked, drain the water and allow them to cool down.
- Seasoning Mix: Whisk the ground onion, ground garlic, ground cumin and ground ancho until fully combined, set aside until needed.
- Ground beef filling: Heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the ground meat and press down to sear. Stir to break apart and let it fully cook while it develops some browning. Once cooked and in the diced tomato and seasonings mix. Stir until evenly distributed. Pour in the broth, mixed veggies and stir to combine. Lower the heat to medium and allow it to simmer until almost all of the liquid has reduced and the meat is nice and moist. Lastly, season with salt and black pepper to taste. Mix to combine, remove from the heat and reserve.
- Gorditas: In a large bowl, mash the potatoes until smooth. Add in the masa harina and cotija cheese, mix to combine (using hands or spatula.) Add the water in portions, kneading in between additions until it is hydrated and forms a firm/soft dough ball. Once you have the right consistency, knead for about 5 minutes or until smooth, soft and the dough does not stick to your clean hands.
- Mold the gorditas: 1. Preheat a comal or non stick pan over medium heat. 2. Grab a 3 oz portion of dough and roll in between your hands. 3. Rock back and forth as you apply pressure to flatten into a disk, keep edges smooth. Continue rocking back and forth as you rotate and evenly apply pressure to flatten the disk into a flat round gordita thats about 3/4 in thickness.
- Second method – Mold Place the round ball of dough in between two pcs of round plastic liners. Press with the bottom of a flat plate to flatten to the desired thickness. Remove the liners and cook the gordita.
- First- Cook in the comal Place the gordita over the already hot comal and allow the bottom to cook as it develops golden brown spots. Flip and let the other side do the same. Remove and continue cooking the rest. You can cook more than one at a time.
- Next – Fry them In a large pan heat a generous amount of frying oil to 325F degrees. Fry all of the gorditas until fully cooked and golden brown on both sides. When ready place them on a rack or over paper towels to absorb the oil. While still warm: Make an insition on the edge of the gorditas and cut open along the side. Stop halfway in order to create a pocket.
- Stuff the inside with; Sour cream, carefully spread the inside of the pocket. Then spoon in the reheated ground beef. Add the lettuce, queso fresco and salsa (to learn how to make the salsa, click this highlighted link.) Repeat with the rest and ENJOY!
Did you make this recipe?
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Vianey
I love it!
Villa Cocina
Awesome!