BBQ chicken quesadillas
Smoky barbecue chicken, red onion and melty cheddar and jack in golden tortillas, quesadillas that pack cold and reheat in a minute.
- 30 min total
- 18 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.07 a serving
- 550 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: It’s ready in 30 minutes, start to finish.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 2 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded
- ⅓ cup bbq sauce
- ¼ red onion, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped (optional)
- 4 flour tortillas, large
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
From your pantry
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 550 calories, 35 g protein, 33 g carbs and 31 g fat, and costs about $2.07 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No flour tortillas? Whole wheat tortillas work.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the chicken and it with the barbecue sauce in a bowl.
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.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
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.
the onion and the cilantro.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Sprinkle a quarter of the cheese over half of each tortilla, top with the chicken, onion and cilantro, and fold them closed.
Dolly’s tip: Cheese goes down first. It melts into glue that holds the filling in.Heat ½ teaspoon oil in a large over medium heat and cook 2 quesadillas at a time for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until and the cheese .
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.
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: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Press down gently with a spatula after you flip. It helps everything stick together.Cook the other 2 the same way, adding a little more oil to the pan first.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Cool the quesadillas uncovered on a board for 15 minutes, cut each into 3 wedges, and pack them in containers.
Timer: 15 min
Dolly’s tip: Cooling them uncovered keeps them from steaming soft. They keep 4 days in the fridge or 2 months frozen.At lunch, microwave the wedges for 45 to 60 seconds, until hot all the way through.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop plans your lunches along with the week’s dinners, puts what you need on the same grocery list, and walks you through each step.
