Bring Leftover Pot Roast Back To Life With This Simple Mexican-Style Spin

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No sooner has a person finished shopping for the perfect marbled hunk of chuck, braised it for hours, and ultimately let the finished product rest before devouring it, than do they tire of the leftovers that three or four pounds of protein can create. Simple sandwiches are the obvious leftover pot roast contender; so obvious, in fact, that you might have tired of those, too. So, sandwiching your leftover pot roast into a quesadilla, instead, is almost as easy a way to break up your second (or third, or fourth) day pot roast routine.

Literally all you need for a pot roast quesadilla is the titular meat, plus a couple of tortillas and some melty cheese. Either corn or flour tortillas are fine, though the latter are less liable to crack, which can be a concern if you're loading up on ingredients. With any luck, your pot roast already came out plenty flavorful, so you'll want to stick to a milder cheese like stringy, milky Oaxaca, already a quesadilla favorite. The meat should have turned out tender, too, but you might still want to chop it into bite-sized pieces for maximum chomping friendliness. You can then just shred the cheese to cover one tortilla, arrange your pot roast pieces, cover with more cheese for maximum adhesion, and cook in a skillet on the stovetop over medium-low, flipping every two to three minutes until it's all properly gooey.

There are a ton of ways to flavor a pot roast, and you can carry those elements over into your toasty tortilla-bound leftover creations as well. If you've made an Italian-style pot roast, for example, you could swap your quesadilla's usual cheese with some mozzarella. The traditional German pot roast known as sauerbraten, meanwhile, might merit a filling such as Wildbrine's Organic Jalapeño Lime Sauerkraut. You could likewise add a few extra pickled pepperoncini if you've made an old-school Mississippi pot roast, along with some chipotle ranch for dipping.

Another way to upgrade leftover pot roast is to give it the rich, comforting birria treatment (gently simmering it in red chile-spiked broth), whether you plan to work it into quesadillas or tacos or serve it with chilaquiles. It's even easier if you shred your roast as a matter of course, rather than slicing or cubing it, and if you reserve some of your precious braising liquid for the secondary preparation. And yes, it involves a few extra steps versus something like a simple sandwich, but that's the price to pay for using such a versatile protein. Just make sure to season and blend your braising liquid with extra dried chiles like guajillo, ancho, and arbol, and spices like cumin and cinnamon before straining to reintroduce to your meat's latest act. It really only takes a few minutes to present what seems like a totally new plate.