Easy Chicken Quesadilla Recipe

Our easy chicken quesadilla recipe uses left over chicken taco meat and cheese to get a second meal out of leftovers. Deck it out with avocado, salsa, and lime and you have a quick killer lunch or dinner just waiting for you.

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We have tacos a lot in our house.

It’s one of the few foods my kids will happily eat.

And we’re sort of in a weird situation where we have to make 2 pounds of meat- normally this Ground Chicken Taco Meat because if we make 1 pound, it will be gone and someone will inevitably still be hungry.

2 pounds though always leaves us with leftovers.

And for us that means chicken quesadillas the next day.

It’s a quick way to make sure no meat gets left behind to slowly go bad in our fridge.

And it’s super yummy with melted cheese and slightly crisp warm flour tortillas.

Because it takes just a couple minutes to put them together, these are perfect for lunch or a dinner on our busiest days.

Ingredients and Kitchen Supplies

Here’s what we use for our chicken quesadilla recipe:

• Tortilla Wraps – We use the 10 inch ones for this recipe to create one chicken quesadilla.
• Cheddar Cheese – Feel free to switch to a Mexican cheese blend or your favorite cheese for tacos.
• Ground Chicken Taco Meat – We often make tacos with ground chicken (check out that recipe here). You could use grilled or other forms of cooked chicken if you prefer, but this meal is an easy way to reimagine taco leftovers.
• Oil – We typically uses olive oil, but cananola or vegetable oil will both work well too. If you don’t want to use oil, you could substitute cooking spray though the tortillas won’t get the same texture.

You do not need any special kitchen gadgets for chicken quesadillas, but you will need a medium sized skillet to cook them.

How to Make Our Chicken Quesadilla Recipe

1. Avengers, assemble (the quesadilla.)

Some people might tell you to make it on a seperate plate and transfer, but for ease, we often just put it together in the skillet.

To do this, turn your stove on medium and pour the olive oil into the pan.

Place the first tortilla down and sprinkle with half the cheese.

Spread the chicken evenly out across the cheese.

Top the chicken with more cheese and then place the second tortilla on top.

You may start to notice the cheese on the bottom is starting to melt already.

2. Cook the chicken quesadillas.

Continue cooking the quesadilla for about 4 minutes or until the bottom has started to turn golden brown.

Use a spatula to carefully flip the quesadilla.

Cook for about 5 minutes or until the bottom has turned a golden brown color.

You can test if it is fully ready by gently pulling the tortillas apart to see if they stick.

If not, you can flip the quesadilla again and cook for another minute or two or until the quesadilla has fully cooked through.

Remove from the pan and cut into smaller triangles.

Serving

You can serve chicken quesadillas with your favorite taco fixings, such as:

• homemade tomato salsa
• pineapple mango salsa
• pineapple habanero salsa
• black bean and corn dip
• peach salsa
• guacamole
• sour cream
• cilantro
• taco sauce or other sauces
• cheese dip

These are filling enough to be a meal by themselves or you can serve them as part of a larger spread of tacos and other dips.

Storing

OK. Seriously? Its chicken quesadillas that take like 8 minutes to make- serve them fresh!

But should you have leftovers, you can store them in an air tight container and place them in the fridge.

They should stay fresh for about 3 to 5 days.

You could also freeze them if you want to.

To freeze, put them in an air tight container and freeze for up to 6 months.

To reheat, thaw any frozen quesadillas and then either microwave them for a few seconds or gently warm them over medium low heat on a skillet on the stove.

As you reheat, flip them over a few times to evenly heat them.

Tips and Tricks

• You can build the quesadilla in the skillet like we did or make it on a plate and carefully transfer it. We find it is just easier to turn the heat on and then assemble it relatively quickly.
• Don’t turn the heat up too high. You don’t want to burn the outside and have unmelted cheese on the inside.
• Chicken quesadillas are best served hot from the stove with your favorite toppings and dips.
• Feel free to add more cheese or chicken. You could also add less cheese or chicken if you prefer to.
• For added flavor and heat, mix in a jalapeno, onions, or other peppers.
• No chicken? No problem make cheese quesadillas instead or use ground beef taco meat instead.

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