These easy Chicken Quesadillas always hit the spot! Tortillas are loaded with melted cheese and bites of tender, seasoned white meat chicken. Throw in the veggies of your choice and serve with some homemade salsa (recipe included) to really impress!
Why We Love This Chicken Quesadilla Recipe
This chicken quesadilla recipe is a weeknight staple in my house. Here’s why my family keeps requesting it:
- Cheesy: This may be a given, but it’s still worth mentioning! Cheddar creates the melty cheesy goodness, but you can swap it with another cheese if you’d like.
- Filling: The protein-packed chicken and cheese really helps keep you nice and full after just one serving.
- Sneaky Veggies: This is one of my favorite things about quesadillas! I can sneak some corn, bell peppers, and fresh tomato salsa onto the plate of every picky eater at the table.
What kind of cheese should I use?
These are semi-hard cheeses that melt perfectly and all have great flavor. Asadero and Oaxaca are more authentic options for Mexican quesadillas.
- Cheddar
- Moneterey jack
- Colby Jack
- Asadero
- Oaxaca cheese
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How to Store and Reheat
Chicken quesadillas are best enjoyed fresh. If you do have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. For the best results, reheat back in the pan over medium heat until warmed through again. The air fryer also works well.
Top Reader Review
“Such an easy but delicious recipe!! To make it even easier I used rotisserie chicken!!” – Gail
Easy Chicken Quesadillas Recipe
Ingredients
Quesadilla Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- ½ red bell pepper chopped
- ½ green bell pepper chopped
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter ⅛ stick
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ⅓ teaspoon ground chili pepper
- 2 (10-inch) flour tortillas
- 1 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 tomato chopped
- 4 tablespoons canned corn drained
Salsa Ingredients:
- 1 tomato chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 pinch kosher salt
Equipment
- Food Processor
Instructions
For the Quesadillas:
- Add olive oil to a nonstick pan, sauté chopped onion, and green and red bell peppers for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1 onion, ½ red bell pepper, ½ green bell pepper
- In the same pan, melt butter over medium heat.1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Add cubed chicken, cumin, paprika, salt, garlic powder, and chili pepper. Cook for 15 minutes until chicken is fully cooked through.2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground paprika, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, ⅓ teaspoon ground chili pepper
- In a separate pan over low heat, warm 1 tortilla on each side, until slightly golden.2 (10-inch) flour tortillas
- Add half each of the shredded cheddar cheese, cooked chicken, bell pepper and onion mix, and corn.1 cup freshly shredded cheddar cheese, 1 tomato, 4 tablespoons canned corn
- Flip half of the tortilla over the ingredients, and let it cook on low heat until cheese has completely melted.
- Remove from pan. Cut into three triangles.
- Repeat the process with the remaining tortilla and ingredients.
- Serve with salsa and enjoy!
For the Salsa:
- In a food processor, add tomato, onion, vinegar, cilantro, and salt1 tomato, 1 onion, 2 tablespoons white vinegar, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, 1 pinch kosher salt
- Pulse for 1 minute.
- Serve with warm quesadilla.
Notes
How To Make Chicken Quesadillas Step by Step
Sauté the veggies: Add 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 chopped onion, 1/2 chopped red bell pepper and 1/2 chopped green bell pepper to a skillet over medium heat. Sauté for about 10 minutes or until softened. Once softened, remove the veggies from the pan and set aside.
Cook the chicken: Melt 1 tbsp of butter in the same pan. Add 1 cubed chicken breasts, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp garlic powder. Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.
Warm the tortilla: Heat one tortilla at a time over medium heat on both sides to brown them.
Cook the quesadilla: Add 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, half of the cooked chicken, half of the cooked veggies and 2 tbsp corn to one half of the toasted tortilla. Flip half of the tortilla over and let it warm all the way through to melt the cheese.
Slice it: Cut the quesadilla into triangles.
Make the salsa: Add 1 chopped tomato, 1 chopped onion, 2 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro and a pinch of salt to a food processor. Blend until you reach the desired consistency.
More Mexican Chicken Recipes We Love
Don’t use corn tortillas. They work for tacos, not for quesadillas. You need the pliability of flour tortillas to hold the cheese and the filling together. It needs to withstand the flip.
You can use boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts. The flavor from the dark meat of the chicken thighs is great, but this recipe uses seasoned chicken breast. Just make sure to cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces – if the chunks are too big the quesadilla may not hold.
Note: This recipe is one of those few exceptions on our site that has more than 10 ingredients. We try to keep things VERY easy around here, and limiting ingredients and time spent is one of our favorite ways. That being said, this recipe is too delicious to leave out of our recipe box! It’s an exception that is so flavorful and worth the extra ingredients if you have the time and resources to make it.
Such an easy but delicious recipe!! To make it even easier I used rotisserie chicken!!
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Gail!
This recipe is easy and unbelievably delicious. My husband was amazed.
I’m so glad it was a hit, Janis!