In this paper, we study an a priori error analysis for the quadratic optimal control problems governed by nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations using mixed finite element methods. The state and the costate are approximated by the lowest order Raviart-Thomas mixed finite element spaces, and the control is approximated by piecewise constant functions. A priori error estimates for the mixed finite element approximation of nonlinear optimal control problems are obtained. Some numerical examples are prese...