Best Chicken Quesadilla Recipe

Your simple two-ingredient cheese quesadilla is a miracle of simplicity: Drop your favorite kind of tortilla (we like corn, but flour is fine) on a hot frying pan, top it with shredded cheese and another tortilla. Or: fold it over. Flip it once to get both sides toasted and the cheese nice and melty. Done.

But when you start to add other ingredients, it can get complicated. Most recipes either end up tasting dry, or the ingredients fall out when you try to eat it.

We did a little thinking and found a smart solution to both problems: a quick sauce that you cook everything in, first. The sauce does double duty, flavoring and softening the cooked veggies and helping them to stick together, so they don't fall out as you're eating.

We're keeping the rest of this chicken quesadilla recipe simple. Chili powder or taco powder both work fine for seasoning: use whichever you have on hand.

And you only need one kind of cheese. We like sharp Cheddar, which gives it a touch of grown-up flavor, but you're welcome to use any cheese you like. Monterey Jack or a spicy pepper Jack also work well.

Leftover rotisserie chicken works best here, but you can also pan-sear (or air fry) some thigh or breast meat just beforehand and then shred it with a pair of forks.

For veggies, peppers are traditional, and you can also throw in some onions. But we elected to swap those out for mushrooms. Though they're not traditional, we found we preferred them over onions, which are fine, but not terribly interesting. The mushrooms give the dish a richer, meatier flavor and texture.

Be sure to get out all your favorite condiments, including sour cream, salsa, and fresh guacamole for serving along side, or on top. And give it a squeeze of lime!

Made this recipe? Tell us what you thought in the comments below!