Quesadillas have been a longtime dinner staple of mine. Any dish with melted cheese as a main ingredient automatically earns a spot on my list of favorite meals. Warm flour tortillas filled to the brim and dipped in a great salsa make for a spicy, satisfying dinner.Quesadillas are as simple to make as they are delicious, plus are perfect to make for any size group. Dinner for one? Make a single quesadilla. Dinner for six? Heat up the griddle. Have a big appetite? Add more filling. Have an avalanche-threatening amount of vegetables in the back of the refrigerator that you need to use? Cook them up, and throw them all in there.
We came across a quesadilla recipe on Alexandra Stafford’s fantastic food blog, and instantly knew this would be a dinnertime favorite. While I have always loved quesadillas for dinner, Rafael was never too excited about them. Thankfully, he came across Alexandra’s recipe and being a huge fan of the blog, whipped up a batch of her roasted peppers and onions to add to our quesadillas that night. He was sold, and I was thrilled. Combining the vegetables from that recipe with our quick Chipotle Chicken made a new weeknight favorite.
Poblano peppers are the unripened version of the dried ancho chile, a staple in Mexican cooking. The green, younger poblano has a mild heat and mild flavor overall, but watch out, as you occasionally will get an extra hot pepper. Anaheim peppers are also mild in heat, but have a slightly fruitier flavor than poblanos. These two work well together in this recipe, along with sautéed red onions. Of course, we love protein, and wanted to add some here. We turn to our go-to Chipotle Chicken, diced thin. Topped with shredded mozzarella on a good flour tortilla, this is a thicker quesadilla resulting in a hearty and healthy dinner.
While this is our go-to version, there are tons of variations we like to do. Recently, we’ve been mixing-it-up by adding a thin layer of homemade bean mash with pickled jalapenos and carrots (recipe coming soon). This meal would not be complete without an appropriately delicious salsa for dipping each melty slice.
Ingredients
3 anaheim peppers
3 poblano peppers
2 red onions, sliced thin
12 oz. cooked seasoned chicken breast, diced (Chipotle Chicken recommended)
8 oz. shredded low fat mozzarella cheese
4 flour tortillas
Spray canola oil
Instructions
- Cut all the peppers in half, remove stems and seeds, and place skin side up on a foil covered baking sheet.
- Turn your broiler on with the oven rack about 6-8 inches under it.
- Cook under the broiler for about 5-7 minutes, or until the skin becomes blackened. Rotate the sheet if necessary to ensure even color.
- While the peppers are cooking, place the thinly sliced red onions in a medium pan sprayed with cooking oil over medium heat. Cook until onions begin to soften.
- Transfer the peppers to a medium bowl, and cover with plastic wrap to allow them to steam for about 5 minutes.
- When the peppers are cool enough to handle, use your hands to peel the skin off, which should be easy to do at this point.
- Cut the peeled peppers into strips, and add to the pan with the onions. Cook mixture together until everything is warm.
- Lay down a tortilla in a medium pan over medium heat, and sprinkle evenly with a quarter of the cheese.
- On half the tortilla add a quarter of the peppers mixture and 3 oz. of diced Chipotle Chicken.
- Fold the tortilla in half once cheese is melted and continue cooking until the tortilla is golden brown.
Notes
We recommend Trader Joe’s Flour Tortillas; they have great texture and are lower in calories than a lot of other store-bought tortillas. We also love Trader Joe’s Lite Shredded Mozzarella; if it’s not available, a shredded low fat jack cheese would also work well.
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