These open-faced ground beef tortas are pieces of warm, crusty bread filled with lots of ground beef and topped with gooey, melted cheese for a quick and mouth-watering Mexican treat.
Open-Faced Ground Beef Tortas
I love cooking with ground beef. It is so versatile and goes great with so many delicious Mexican dishes apart from just tacos. A perfect example are these open-faced ground beef tortas.
A torta is almost like a sub sandwich. It is made with a warm fluffy bun that is usually spread with butter or mayo and filled with all sorts of different meats and cheeses. I love tortas because they are so easy to make, can feed a lot of people if necessary, and I just can’t resist bread and cheese.
If you are looking for a simple, yet delicious, quick Mexican treat, these open-faced ground beef tortas will do the trick. And because they are open-faced, you won’t feel as guilty about eating too much bread.
How to Make
Open-Faced Ground Beef Tortas
To begin, I brown a pound of ground beef and add salt and pepper to taste.
Once the beef browns, I add a 1/4 diced onion and 1-2 diced garlic cloves and let them cook until translucent and aromatic.
After this, I add 1 diced tomato and let that cook with the meat.
If you want this spicy from the get go, you can also add a diced jalapeño. I omitted this part since my little ones would be partaking in this meal. However, I also made some of my mom’s easy and fast jalapeño salsa for each person to add to their own torta. Regardless of whether you add jalapeño or not, I think the salsa really compliments the flavor of the tortas.
Find the recipe for the Easy and Fast Jalapeño Salsa by clicking here.
Now comes one of my favorite parts. . . the bread! You can use Mexican bolillos, also known as pan blanco. Bolillos are small loaves of plain white bread that are crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. However, whenever I cannot make it to the Mexican grocery store to pick some of these up, I buy a fresh French bread loaf from my local grocery store and it’s almost as good. In this case, I used French bread.
Next, I cut the French bread down the middle (length-wise), then carefully scoop out some of the soft white middle part (what is that part even called?) to create a nice gap to place the filling.
Following this step, I spread mayo or Miracle Whip (depending on your preference) on the inside of each half. Then, I toast the bread on a baking sheet in a 375 degree oven. I place the bread face up for 2-3 minutes, then take it out, flip it and let the other side toast for another 1-2 minutes.
Once I take out the bread, I fill each half with the cooked ground beef. Next, another one of my favorite parts, sprinkle the top with lots of delicious white cheese.
Finally I place them back in the oven, until the cheese is hot and melted.
Slice them up into individual servings, top with the jalapeño salsa and enjoy. (My mouth is watering!)
Have you ever had a torta? What is your favorite kind? Share with me in the comments.
Open-faced ground beef tortas are pieces of warm, crusty bread filled with lots of tasty ground beef and topped with gooey, melted cheese.
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 diced tomato
- 1/4 diced onion
- 1-2 diced garlic cloves
- 1 loaf French bread or 4 Mexican bolillos
- 2 cups grated white cheese
- Mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
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Brown the pound of ground beef in a deep skillet or pan.
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Add in the diced onions and garlic and sauté until translucent and fragrant.
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Add the tomatoes and let them cook through.
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Season meat with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
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Cut the bread length-wise and carefully scoop out some of the soft white middle part, without puncturing the bread, to create a gap along the middle of the bread for the filling.
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Spread mayo or Miracle Whip on the inside of each of the halves of bread.
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Toast the bread on a baking sheet in a 375 degree oven. Place the bread face up for 2-3 minutes, then flip it and let the other side toast for another 1-2 minutes.
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Spoon the ground beef onto each of the halves of bread and sprinkle with cheese.
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Place back in the oven until the cheese has melted.
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Slice the bread into individual servings. Top with jalapeño salsa for an extra treat.
You can also add a diced jalapeño to the meat when it is cooking for an extra kick.
Top with this easy and fast jalapeño salsa.
These look so yummy! I just pinned the recipe and added it to my menus for next week!
Thanks for sharing!
That’s great! Let me know what you think!
Yummy this look so tasty, I would love to try this one day!
I hope you do!
This looks delicious! We were just talking about what to fix this week when we have company, and I’m adding this to the menu.
These are great for company because it’s so easy to make a lot. Plus if you have leftovers you can pop them in the oven or toaster oven for a few minutes and they taste just as good.
Oh my goodness these look so amazing!!! Tortas are my son’s favorite, I should definitely make them for him! I had never really thought about making them!
These are a nice variation from other tortas. And they are super easy but yet make a great dinner.
These look great!!! They seem easy to make as well. I have pinned and will be trying next week!! Thank you!!
Oh good! Let me know how they turn out.
This looks super yummy! Will any cheese work?
Yes any cheese will work, but I like to use white Mexican cheese. A Monterey Jack or a good Mozarella would be good too.
These look amazing! Remind me like an open-faced steak n cheese grinder! Going to try these soon!
I hope you like them!
Oh, yum! I’ve never had tortas but they look amazing! Going to pin this!
These are a slight variation on the typical tortas since they don’t have the top bun and they are broiled in the oven. But they are so good!