Say hello to these smothered chicken quesadillas! They’re packed with flavor and ready to serve in 30 minutes. What’s not to love?
The BEST Chicken Quesadillas
We have A LOT of amazing quesadilla recipes over here on The Cheese Knees (ahem, air fryer quesadillas, ground beef quesadillas and a classic cheese ‘dilla), but these smothered chicken quesadillas officially take the top spot for fave quesadilla recipe of mine.
You’ll absolutely love the creamy cheesy flavor of the smothered chicken + the perfectly sautéed peppers and onions to round out a truly amazing quesadilla recipe.
PS: our recipe for the chicken quesadillas is definitely Mexican-inspired, but not authentic as we’re using shredded cheddar cheese instead of an authentic Mexican cheese.
why you’ll love ’em!
- Easy to make
- Serves 4, but can easily be doubled or tripled
- Great to freeze for later
- The whole fam will love ’em!
Chicken Quesadilla Ingredients
For the smothered chicken
- Shredded chicken: we used rotisserie chicken to save time!
- Unsalted butter
- All-purpose flour
- 2% milk
- Shredded pepper jack cheese
- Ground cumin
- Salt
Other Quesadilla Fillings
- Yellow onion: red onion will also work.
- Red and yellow bell peppers: the color pop of red and yellow bell peppers looks really nice in these quesadillas, but feel free to use any color bell pepper you have on hand!
- Fresh lime juice
- Salsa: choose your favorite variety!
- Monterey jack cheese: the flavor of monterey jack cheese offers a little heat while melting really well. Feel free to sub for any other shredded cheese that has good meltability.
- 10-inch flour tortillas: we love using large tortillas for quesadillas because you can pack in all the filling ingredients really well! But any size tortilla will work, just be mindful it will impact the size of your quesadillas.
How to Make Chicken Quesadillas
Prepare the chicken
If you are using pre-shredded chicken, set the chicken aside. If you are baking your chicken or preparing it in the Instant Pot, do that now. When the chicken is shredded, place it into a large bowl and set aside.
Prepare the roux
Heat a medium saucepan over medium/high heat and add butter. Once melted, add the flour to the butter and whisk the two ingredients together. Then, slowly add the milk to the saucepan, whisking constantly, and whisk until the cheese sauce has thickened.
Remove the sauce from heat and add the pepper jack cheese to the saucepan and whisk the cheese into the sauce until melted. Add the cumin and ½ teaspoon of salt to the sauce and whisk to combine.
Saute peppers and onions
heat a large skillet over medium/high heat and add one tablespoon of olive oil. When the oil is fragrant, add the onion to the skillet and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the sliced peppers and salsa to the skillet and season with the rest of the salt.
Toss the ingredients together and sauté until the peppers are cooked but not mushy.
Assemble Quesadillas
Place one tortilla in a skillet and add ¼ cup of shredded monterey jack cheese to the bottom of half of the tortilla. Place ⅓ cup of shredded chicken on top of the cheese, and then ¼ cup of peppers and onions over the chicken.
Fold the other half of the quesadilla over all of the ingredients and press the quesadilla down with a spatula. Cook the quesadilla until the quesadilla is browned. Carefully flip the quesadilla over to the other side and cook until browned. Repeat until every quesadilla is made!
Simple
Cheese Quesadilla
Sometimes simple is best. Here’s a quick recipe for a cheese quesadilla. In this post, we’ll teach you how to make a cheese quesadilla, plus how to stuff it and make it your own!
Top Tips for Chicken Quesadillas
- For the meat: You can use any variety of shredded meat that you would like for this recipe. We love it with chicken, but pork or beef would also be delish!
- For the milk: If you don’t have 2% milk, any type of unsweetened milk will work.
- For the tortillas: We used large 10-inch flour tortillas but large burrito tortillas or medium sized tortillas will work, too. They will just yield smaller quesadillas.
Toppings for Chicken Quesadillas
A dilla isn’t a dilla without the toppings! Here are some ideas:
- Shredded cheese
- Sour cream/Greek yogurt
- White queso
- Diced tomatoes
- Fresh cilantro
- Chives
- Queso fresco
- Green onion
- Salsa
- Guacamole
FAQs
A quesadilla is a Mexican dish that is made with a tortilla filled with cheese and other ingredients that is fried in oil or butter.
Anything your heart desires! We love serving our chicken quesadillas with salsa, guacamole, sour cream and lettuce.
Pan fry your quesadillas over medium/high heat using either olive oil or avocado oil.
Storage
While we recommend eating your quesadillas fresh, you can absolutely make them for later.
Transfer leftover quesadillas into a large, gallon-size bag and store in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Can you freeze quesadillas?
Quesadillas can easily be frozen.
- Let your chicken quesadillas cool completely.
- Then, wrap with tin foil. Remove as much air as possible and seal tightly.
- Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Chicken Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 1 lb. shredded chicken we used rotisserie chicken
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup 2% milk
- 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt separated
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or olive oil separated
- 1 small yellow onion thinly sliced
- 1 large red bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1 large yellow bell pepper thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
- 3 tablespoons salsa
- 1 cup monteray jack cheese shredded
- 4 large 10-inch flour tortillas
Instructions
- First, prepare your chicken. If you are using pre-shredded chicken, set the chicken aside. If you are baking your chicken or preparing it in the Instant Pot, do that now. When the chicken is shredded, place it into a large bowl and set aside.
- Next, create a roux. Heat a medium saucepan over medium/high heat and add butter. Once melted, add the flour to the butter and whisk the two ingredients together. Cook the roux over heat for 1-2 minutes
- Slowly add the milk to the saucepan, whisking constantly. Whisk until the cheese sauce has thickened.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and add the pepper jack cheese to the saucepan and whisk the cheese into the sauce until melted. Add the cumin and ½ teaspoon of salt to the sauce and whisk to combine.
- Pour the pepper jack cheese sauce over the shredded chicken and toss.
- Next, heat a large skillet over medium/high heat and add one tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet. When the oil is fragrant, add the onion to the skillet and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the sliced peppers and salsa to the skillet and season with the rest of the salt. Toss the ingredients together and sauté for 3-4 minutes or until the peppers are cooked but not mushy. Remove from heat and add the peppers to a mixing bowl.
- Carefully wipe the skillet out with a paper towel and heat the skillet again over medium heat and add 1-2 teaspoons of oil to the pan. Place one tortilla in a skillet and add ¼ cup of shredded monterey jack cheese to the bottom of half of the tortilla. Place ⅓ cup of shredded chicken on top of the cheese, and then ¼ cup of peppers and onions over the chicken. Fold the other half of the quesadilla over all of the ingredients and press the quesadilla down with a spatula. Cook the quesadilla for 3-4 minutes or until the quesadilla is browned. Carefully flip the quesadilla over to the other side and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until brown.
- Repeat step 7 until all of the quesadillas are made.
- Top your quesadillas with your favorite fixings.
Tips & Notes
- You can use any shredded meat that you would like for this recipe.
- If you don’t have 2% milk, any type of unsweetened milk will work.
- We used large 10-inch flour tortillas but large burrito tortillas or medium sized tortillas will work, too.
