Ground Beef Gorditas Recipe
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If you’ve never been introduced to authentic ground beef gorditas then welcome! You are about to experience the wonderful flavors that come with preparing your food at home, in your own kitchen with real ingredients. Mexico has given us wonderful dishes to enjoy, and this ground beef gorditas recipe is not the exception.
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 gorditas, you have many options. Here are the 3 most common;
Gordita means “chubby” or “little fat one” in spanish. Its place of origin is Mexico and the combination of flavors keeps their popularity high.
Consistency of the Dough
Preparing the dough 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 you 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 add so much flavor to these gorditas, it is a must! Having said that, I do like to keep the skin of the potato in the recipe for that extra dose of fiber. You can peel the skin and discard it before cooking the potato if that’s your preference.
Cotija Cheese
The more we talk about flavor, it is inevitable to mention cotija cheese. Its salty, milk tones pair wonderfully with the fried corn flavor. The potato takes this recipe to another level of goodness.
Frying temperature
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.
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Ground Beef Gorditas
Course: MainCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Medium10
servings10
minutes40
minutes50
minutesIf you’ve never been introduced to authentic ground beef gorditas, welcome! You are about to experience the wonderful flavors that come with preparing your food at home, with real ingredients. These masa harina thick round tortillas are prepared to be stuffed with the filling of your choice.
Ingredients
1 lb Ground beef, sirloin
1 roma tomato, finely diced
1 cup mixed veggies
1 cups chicken or beef broth, low sodium
1 tsp kosher salt or to taste
Ground black pepper to taste
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 corn masa harina
1 1/2 cups water plus more if needed
1 cup cotija cheese
1 large russet potatoes = 340 g (cooked in salted water)
- Additional Stuffings
Sour cream
Lettuce, shredded
Queso Fresco, crumbled
Refried Beans (optional)
Pickled Jalapeños (optional)
Avocado (optional)
- Frying-Cooking
Avocado oil or good frying oil
Directions
- 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!
