I love my family. I especially love it when they send me fast, easy and delicious dinners like this one. My brother and his wife (the same ones that brought us the famous cornbread and honey butter, to name a few) sent this to me a few weeks ago and it turned out to be a fantastic meal, perfect for a weeknight when you need to throw ingredients together quickly.
The crispy tortilla is topped with cheese and after being melted, it serves as a sturdy base to a delicious topping of salsa verde marinated chicken or pork, beans, and other fresh toppings of your choice.
I happen to love the flavors of salsa verde and loved the freshness of this meal. Plus, my kids went ga-ga over their own crunchy, cheesy circle of goodness.
Plan Ahead: the recipe calls for cooked chicken. Also, the flavor of the chicken or pork intensifies as it marinates so you may want to plan an additional 2-3 hours for that (but it isn’t absolutely necessary).
Ingredients
- 4 flour tortillas
- 1/2 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 1/2 cups cooked, shredded chicken or pork
- 1 cup green salsa (salsa verde) plus more for serving
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- Toppings: lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, avocado, etc.
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the tortillas on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the tortillas, bake until golden brown, about 8-10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss together the chicken (or pork), salsa verde, 1/4 cup cilantro, beans, and cumin (this can marinate all day if you like). Spoon mixture evenly over the tortillas and bake until heated through about 8 minutes.
- Top warm tostadas with lettuce, tomato, and sour cream and other toppings as desired. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro. Serve immediately with additional green salsa if desired.
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Nate and Kylie
heaven.
pure heaven.
thanks for sharing!
cheesy circle of goodness, indeed! frankly, this is like an improved pizza–the crispy crust (and all-around mexican-ness of it) really seals the deal for me!
Oooh, I love the idea of melting the cheese as the first layer. Never thought of that. Can’t wait to try this, but as always I’m missing some of the ingreds.
I found your blog a couple months ago and I LOVE it! You really are teaching me how to cook. Keep on posting, I have searched tons of blogs and yours is my favorite. Thank you!
yum! i’m picturing cafe rio salad dressing on mine…
What a yummy and quick dinner you have here! And packed with flavor!!!
Melissa – thanks for your nice comment! I’m glad you’ve liked the recipes so far…I appreciate you being so kind.
This looks fantastic!! Bookmarked.
mmmmm these sound so good! And easy…I like that!
So this recipe feeds four?
oh i love this! the cheesy ring looks soooo good!
Looks so good! What salsa verde would you recommend? I have tried one in the past and it didn’t really like it. It was ok mixed with stuff, but not with just chips.
I love salsa verde and chili verde anything! My favorite Mexican dishes always start with those. Yum!
This looks delish! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Thanks for the recipe!
Yum! I basically made the same ones a few weeks ago and I couldn’t figure out how to get a great pic so I never posted them. I love your pic from above- it’s great. Mine were made without Salsa Verde, I will try it next time, I love green salsa.
Oh yum! That just sounds really, really good right now! I may have to check my pantry/fridge and see if I have all the ingredients to make it for dinner tonight!
Wonderful! Crunchy, cheesey…what can I say? I am drooling!
So nice from your brother and his wife! The tostadas sound delicious
This recipe appears in a cookbook called “Great Food Fast”, and it is WONDERFUL! I’m so glad this recipe is getting some recognition and love!
Love your blog.
So we have had these for dinner the last two nights in a row. The first night with chicken and salsa verde and then last night with some left over carne asada we had on Sunday – both delish!!
We love tostadas, and this looks like a great change up on our normal recipe!
Chelsea – yes, this recipe makes 4 tostadas.
Shelly – the only brand of salsa verde I’ve ever bought is Herdez and I really like it (hope that isn’t the one you didn’t like!!).
Leigh Anne – glad these have satisfied TWICE! Thanks for letting me know.
Mel, I want to make these for a Super Bowl party. How did you cook the pork? Crock pot? Thanks!
Hey Camille – I’ve made these a couple of times and the first time I used leftover Kalua Pork (recipe is on the blog) and another time I used another crockpot pork roast that actually wasn’t that great alone but the leftovers worked great in this recipe. Basically, a pork roast cooked in the crockpot would work great here.
I made these the other night and instead of plain black beans, I added some Balsamic Black Bean Salsa to it that was in the fridge. WOW! Those are the BEST. As my husband says "People would pay for this!"
Cicily – oooh, great idea on that balsamic black bean salsa. So glad it was tasty!
Just made these today for Easter dinner with some friends and they were a big hit. The pulled pork had great flavor all by itself and we ended up just making them sort of into burritos. I would say up the cilantro because that was my favorite part – but could just be the current state of my tastebuds! Either way, this dish is a winner in my book.
Elizabeth – what a fun, light meal idea for Easter dinner. I’m so glad that you liked them!
Thanks for the recipe! I use your site all the time for planning dinner! Do you think I could freeze the pork mixture to use for a “freezer dinner” later? Have you ever tried that or would the cilantro not freeze well?
Jackie – I think the pork mixture would freeze just fine for a later use. I haven’t tried it with this recipe, but I freeze cooked pork all the time and it reheats just fine. I don’t think the cilantro would be a problem.
I’m in love with these. We had them tonight & they are definitely going on my list of favorites.
Mel – These are SO good. All 3 kids devoured them. I used corn tortillas (it was all I had) and was worried they would get soggy when they went back in the oven wth the chicken mixture, so I just heated the chicken mixture separately and we spooned on the tortillas as we were ready to eat them. Great flavor, fun to eat.