Breakfast Quesadillas
By Andrea Rivera WawrzynPublished on February 10, 2023
Time
50 minutes
Yield
Serves 4
What Kids Are Saying
"It was like heaven on a plate!" —Brooklyn, recipe tester, age 10
Ingredients
Before You Begin
To thaw frozen tater tots, let them sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours or arrange them on a paper towel–lined plate and heat in the microwave for 1½ minutes. “Bulk” sausage doesn’t have a casing (it looks like ground meat). If you can’t find bulk breakfast sausage, you can cut open the casings of tube-shaped breakfast sausages, remove the meat, and discard the casings.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Line large plate with double layer of paper towels. In medium bowl, whisk eggs until well combined and uniform yellow color.
- In 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat until shimmering, about 2 minutes (oil should be hot but not smoking).
- Carefully add thawed tater tots to skillet. Use spatula to break up and flatten tater tots. Cook until crispy and deep golden brown on first side, about 4 minutes. Flip tater tots. Cook until crispy and deep golden brown on second side, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Use spatula to transfer tater tots to paper towel–lined plate.
- Add sausage to now-empty skillet and cook over medium heat, breaking up meat with rubber spatula, until well browned, 4 to 6 minutes.
- Add beaten eggs to skillet. Use rubber spatula to stir egg mixture until eggs have clumped and are still slightly wet, about 2 minutes (scrape bottom and sides of skillet several times as eggs cook). Turn off heat and slide skillet to cool burner.
- Lay tortillas on rimmed baking sheet. Use pastry brush to paint tortillas with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Flip tortillas so oiled sides are down.
- Sprinkle cheese evenly over half of each tortilla. Use spatula to divide cooked tater tots and then egg mixture evenly over cheese (see photo, “Step-by-Step: How to Fill Breakfast Quesadillas”).
- Fold tortillas in half, forming half-moon shape with fillings inside, and use spatula to press lightly to flatten.
- Place baking sheet in oven and bake quesadillas until spotty brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Use oven mitts to remove baking sheet from oven and place on cooling rack (ask an adult for help). Transfer quesadillas to cutting board. Let quesadillas cool for 5 minutes. Use chef’s knife to cut into wedges and serve.
Time
50 minutesYield
Serves 4What Kids Are Saying
"It was like heaven on a plate!" —Brooklyn, recipe tester, age 10Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
Give cheesy quesadillas the breakfast treatment! We load ours up with scrambled eggs, crumbled breakfast sausage, and crispy smashed tater tots for a fun and filling family breakfast. Rather than cook the quesadillas one at a time on the stove, we fit all four on a sheet pan and bake them for about 5 minutes—so easy! In step 2 of this recipe, kids are asked to heat vegetable oil in a skillet until it’s shimmering. Explain to kids that oil is shimmering when it begins to move slightly in the pan, with little waves on the surface. This indicates that the oil is hot enough for cooking. (They may need to get eye level with the pan to see this, but remind them to keep their face far away!) If small wisps of smoke rise up from the oil, the pan is too hot for this recipe—this stage of oil heating is called “just smoking,” and it’s often used to cook foods such as steaks.
Before You Begin
To thaw frozen tater tots, let them sit in the refrigerator for 24 hours or arrange them on a paper towel–lined plate and heat in the microwave for 1½ minutes. “Bulk” sausage doesn’t have a casing (it looks like ground meat). If you can’t find bulk breakfast sausage, you can cut open the casings of tube-shaped breakfast sausages, remove the meat, and discard the casings.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Line large plate with double layer of paper towels. In medium bowl, whisk eggs until well combined and uniform yellow color.
- In 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat until shimmering, about 2 minutes (oil should be hot but not smoking).
- Carefully add thawed tater tots to skillet. Use spatula to break up and flatten tater tots. Cook until crispy and deep golden brown on first side, about 4 minutes. Flip tater tots. Cook until crispy and deep golden brown on second side, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off heat.
- Use spatula to transfer tater tots to paper towel–lined plate.
- Add sausage to now-empty skillet and cook over medium heat, breaking up meat with rubber spatula, until well browned, 4 to 6 minutes.
- Add beaten eggs to skillet. Use rubber spatula to stir egg mixture until eggs have clumped and are still slightly wet, about 2 minutes (scrape bottom and sides of skillet several times as eggs cook). Turn off heat and slide skillet to cool burner.
- Lay tortillas on rimmed baking sheet. Use pastry brush to paint tortillas with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Flip tortillas so oiled sides are down.
- Sprinkle cheese evenly over half of each tortilla. Use spatula to divide cooked tater tots and then egg mixture evenly over cheese (see photo, “Step-by-Step: How to Fill Breakfast Quesadillas”).
- Fold tortillas in half, forming half-moon shape with fillings inside, and use spatula to press lightly to flatten.
- Place baking sheet in oven and bake quesadillas until spotty brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Use oven mitts to remove baking sheet from oven and place on cooling rack (ask an adult for help). Transfer quesadillas to cutting board. Let quesadillas cool for 5 minutes. Use chef’s knife to cut into wedges and serve.
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