A big flour tortilla brushed with butter, covered in melted cheese and baked until the edges blister and crackle. Arizona Mexican restaurants serve it as the first plate on the table, cut like a pizza.

A cheese crisp is an open-faced flour tortilla covered in shredded cheese and broiled until crisp. Wikipedia notes that most Phoenix-area and Tucson-area Mexican restaurants serve it as an appetizer, yet it is rarely found outside Arizona. No inventor is recorded. Visit Arizona says the Reynoso family has served cheese crisps from their grandmother's recipes since the late 1930s, first in Globe-Miami and now in Tempe, and the Houston Chronicle credits Tucson's El Minuto, founded in 1936, with exemplary cheese crisps among its original recipes.

Where to eat Cheese crisp in Scottsdale

3 editor picks for Cheese crisp in Scottsdale, ranked by editorial score. All Scottsdale signature dishes · Cheese crisp across every city.

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Scottsdale's Original Food Tour

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Make it at home

Serves Serves 220 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 1 large flour tortilla, 10 to 12 inches
  • 1 tablespoon butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese, such as Monterey Jack and mild cheddar, or Oaxaca
  • 2 tablespoons chopped roasted green chile (optional)
  • Sliced scallions or cilantro, to finish

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 450F with a rack in the upper third, and set a pizza pan or sheet pan in to warm.
  2. Brush the tortilla on one side with butter, set it on the pan butter side up and bake 3 minutes until just starting to crisp.
  3. Cover with the cheese and the chile, then bake 4 to 5 minutes more until the cheese bubbles and the edges are brown in spots.
  4. Scatter with scallions, cut into wedges and eat while the edges still snap.

Editor tip. Do not fold it. The point is the contrast between a crackling tortilla edge and the melted center.

Common allergens: Gluten, Milk.