Cheesy chicken quesadillas
Crackly golden tortillas around melty cheese and rotisserie chicken, ready before you’ve picked something to watch.
- 20 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 2
- About $3.49 a serving
- 870 calories
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 20 minutes.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1½ cups rotisserie chicken, skin removed
- 4 flour tortillas, 8-inch
- 1½ cups mexican blend cheese
- 1 tbsp butter, divided
- ½ cup salsa
- ¼ cup sour cream (optional)
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp chili powder
Each serving has about 870 calories, 54 g protein, 50 g carbs and 50 g fat, and costs about $3.49 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No flour tortillas? Whole wheat tortillas work.
- No mexican blend cheese? Shredded cheddar or cheddar cheese or monterey jack cheese works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No salsa? Pico de gallo works.
- No sour cream? Plain greek yogurt works.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Pull the chicken off the bones and it into bite-size pieces with two forks or your fingers.
Shred. Shredding means making thin strips, either on the big holes of a grater or by pulling cooked meat apart with two forks. Shreds soak up sauce and mix evenly through a dish.
How you’ll know: Cooked chicken pulls apart into strands with little effort, and cheese comes off in long, loose strips.
the chicken with the cumin and chili powder in a bowl.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Lay the tortillas flat and sprinkle a little cheese over one half of each, then the chicken, then the rest of the cheese.
Dolly’s tip: Cheese on both sides of the chicken is the glue that holds it all together when you flip.Fold each tortilla over its filling to make a half-moon and press it flat with your hand.
half the butter in a large over medium heat and lay in two quesadillas.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heat
Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, pressing gently with a spatula, until the bottom is and .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min 30 sec
Flip them with a wide spatula and cook 2 minutes more, until the second side is and the cheese has .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: If the outside browns before the cheese melts, turn the heat down a notch and give it another minute.Food safety: Rotisserie chicken, deli meat, canned tuna and cooked shrimp are already cooked. Keep them cold until you use them, and heat them until steaming hot if the recipe warms them.
Repeat with the rest of the butter and the other two quesadillas.
Medium heat
Cut each one into three wedges and serve with salsa, sour cream and cilantro.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
