Difference Between Tacos, Fajitas, Burritos And Quesadillas

Tacos, fajitas, burritos or quesadillas: you’ve probably heard of all these tasty dishes from Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine, very thin wheat or corn tortillas with fillings for all tastes, but would you be able to identify the differences between each of them?

Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine are two of the most delicious and appreciated cuisines in the world. Among the countless recipes of Mexican cuisine, some of the most famous and replicated have crossed borders, such as tacos, fajitas, burritos, and quesadillas, and although they are all relatively similar, there are differences between them. To find out, we investigated Mexican and Texan cuisine to specify the distinctions between these iconic dishes.

What are tacos?

Tacos are one of the most popular foods prepared throughout Mexico. Although they are made up of several ingredients, tacos have one essential and distinctive ingredient: the tortilla. Always made of corn, the tortilla is the base of all tacos, which also have a stew (meat or seafood) accompanied with onion, chopped cilantro, and lime. They can also be served with a sauce that can vary in spiciness according to the diners’ taste.

What are fajitas?

One of the most popular dishes in Tex-Mex cuisine is fajitas. Made from wheat flour and occasionally prepared with corn flour, the curious thing about fajitas is that their ingredients are always served separately. That is, the wheat tortillas on one side (in a container designed to keep them warm) and the filling on the other so that each diner can serve themselves the desired amount and assemble their own fajita. Generally, their filling is made from beef fillet, often skirt cut into small cuts and grilled, as well as vegetables, although it is also common to find them made from other meats or chicken.

What are burritos?

Designed to keep food warm for longer, burritos are nothing more than a large, closed wheat tortilla, rolled up and traditionally filled with meat stews, rice, vegetables, and legumes, with a special emphasis on beans. The key to burritos is in the tortillas, called “sobaqueras,” a type of large tortilla made with wheat, water, salt, and a little lard.

What are quesadillas?

Consumed throughout the country, quesadillas are a Mexican dish consisting of a corn or wheat tortilla folded in half and filled with various ingredients such as cheese, meats, pico de gallo, vegetables, etc. The really curious thing is that despite their name, quesadillas may or may not have cheese among the different ingredients that make up the filling.

How to differentiate tacos, fajitas, burritos and quesadillas

Although all of these dishes are truly delicious, they can sometimes be confusing when it comes to differentiating them. The basic differences between one preparation and another are the tortilla used, the filling that is usually offered, the size and the way of eating it.

Dough: corn or wheat

In the case of tacos, the tortilla must be made from nixtamalized corn (cooked with water and lime), which after being left to rest is ground, and the dough is prepared. Once cooked, these tortillas are characterized by their elastic texture.

The tortillas for fajitas are made with wheat flour, water, salt, oil, and a pinch of yeast. Once the dough is made, you cut it into balls, flatten it with a rolling pin, and cook it on the griddle for a few minutes. Just like the taco dough, the tortillas will be elastic and very light. Just like the classic tortillas are made with wheat to make fajitas, wheat flour is used to make the dough for the tortillas used for burritos, with the difference that these also have lard instead of oil among their ingredients.

Unlike all other dishes, quesadillas can be prepared with either corn or wheat tortillas, the latter being the most common. A fundamental element is the cooking of the tortilla, which must be perfectly cooked, with its texture being somewhat more rigid and crunchy than in the case of tacos, fajitas or burritos.

Ingredients

To talk about tacos, the key to distinguishing them from corn tortillas is in the filling since they must always contain a stew, as well as onion, cilantro, and lime. Let’s say that this is the base of all tacos, to which you can usually add guacamole, pico de gallo or different spicy sauces.

If the distinctive factor of tacos is the stew, grilled meat is the distinctive element in fajitas, which are also usually served with more ingredients cut into strips such as red, green, yellow pepper, and onion… Similarly, they can be complemented with pico de gallo, sour cream or guacamole.

As for burritos, the diversity of their ingredients is a clear differentiator, since in addition to a meat stew, they usually contain white rice, beans, and even vegetables or cheese. As for sauces, burritos can be served with cheese sauce, green sauce, guacamole, bean sauce…

Quesadillas, like the rest of the preparations, consist of a tortilla, this time made of wheat or corn, and a filling that can vary according to the consumer’s taste, including or not including cheese in the recipe. Among the most notable fillings are chicken stew, cheese, avocado, and mushrooms. They can be served with guacamole, pico de gallo or sour cream.

Final form

If we are talking about tacos, their final shape is that of a round tortilla with the filling in the center and not too abundant, so that when folding it to eat it, it does not spill out to the sides. The shape of fajitas is also round, but unlike tacos, all the fajitas are served on one side, and the meat and vegetable fillings on the other, so that everyone can prepare them to their liking.

As for the burrito, its shape is clearly different from that of tacos or fajitas, since the burrito is cylindrical in shape, and is presented completely closed, and cut into two halves of the same size.

When we refer to quesadillas, their shape is different from the rest of the preparations, since unlike all the others, quesadillas are shaped like a half moon and with the filling inside.