Use leftover spaghetti meat sauce for these easy fajitas

I am not speaking about grilled chopped meat in your fajitas, because this time, just to switch things up a bit, I stuffed them with meat sauce (yes, the one you use for your spaghetti!) and feta cheese, and they taste amazing.

There are some days when I scan the contents of my refrigerator and try to put together the leftovers I see. It’s quite challenging to combine odd ingredients, because it requires a tad more imagination than cooking straight from a cookbook. But when I hit a jackpot, I make sure the recipe will be for keeps, because leftovers often stare back at me in the refrigerator.

Meat sauce — or ragù, as we call it at home — is a big favorite of my kids. I always have leftover sauce, because with kids, sometimes it’s the only thing they eat, and at other times, they refuse to touch it. So instead of always cooking pasta with the leftover sauce, I modify the way I serve it. Believe it or not, my kids wipe out these fajitas as quickly as I prepare them.

Fajitas with meat sauce and feta recipe

Born out of my leftover spaghetti meat sauce and open package of feta cheese, this twist on fajitas made quite an impact at the table.

Serves 4

Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 tortilla wraps
• 2 cups ready-made meat sauce, or make your own (see recipe below)
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, cubed
• Baby lettuce
• 4 medium tomatoes, sliced
• 2 medium red onions, sliced

Directions:

1. Fill the tortilla wraps with the meat sauce, feta, lettuce, tomatoes and onions.
2. Roll and serve.

Meat sauce recipe

Yields 2 cups

Prep time: 5 minutes | Cook time: 45 minutes | Total time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons tomato concentrate or paste
• 1/4 cup water
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 1 small carrot, minced
• 4 ounces ground beef
• 4 ounces ground pork
• 2 cups tomato puree
• Salt
• Ground black pepper

Directions:

• In a bowl, mix the tomato concentrate and water, and then set aside.
• In a saucepan over medium heat, sauté the garlic, onion and carrot with the olive oil. Toast for about 3 minutes.
• Add the pork and beef, and cook until the color changes.
• Pour in the tomato concentrate mixture and the tomato puree. Cover. Simmer for 30 minutes on low heat. Stir occasionally.
• Season with salt and pepper.

More Tex-Mex recipes

Tex-Mex chicken salad
Tex-Mex stuffed potato poppers
Tex-Mex chicken grill packets