Chicken Quesadillas filled with tender chicken cooked in flavorful salsa verde and gooey cheese. These quesadillas are so good it’s hard to eat just one. I’m serious, these are The Good! Skip to the Chicken Quesadillas recipe
The best chicken quesadillas
Quesadillas are made from tortillas — flour or corn — that are filled and folded while cooking on a hot surface. Everything inside the tortilla is heated, and if there’s cheese, it melts and the outside of the tortilla gets toasted. (If you don’t eat cheese, try this vegan queso. Either pour some over the chicken or serve on the side as a dip.)
You can use store-bought or homemade tortillas. I love this soft flour tortilla recipe especially when I’m making quesadillas. You can also use homemade corn tortillas, which are also excellent.
Here in the United States, we’re used to seeing quesadillas made with flour tortillas, and almost always we see them stuffed with some type of cheese. In Mexico, where quesadillas originated, the type of tortilla used and whether or not cheese is involved depends on where you are. For these easy chicken quesadillas, we love the combination of flavorful, juicy chicken and a mildly melty cheese like Queso de Oaxaca or Monterey Jack.
Prepare the Green Chili Chicken Quesadillas
The chicken for these quesadillas is so flavorful and very easy to make. We use the same method as our popular shredded chicken, but swap out the poaching liquid for a tomato-based green sauce in this recipe. We’ve used this homemade salsa verde as well as store-bought green enchilada sauces and loved all of them. If you’re buying your sauce, we’re interested in both the Hatch brand and the Frontera pouches. (Make enchiladas! We use a green chili based sauce to make these green chicken enchiladas.)
Whichever sauce you choose, the method of cooking the chicken is the same:
- Heat about 2 cups of the sauce in a saucepan over medium-high heat
- Add the chicken (I like chicken thighs, but chicken breast works too)
- Adjust the heat so that the sauce simmers very gently around the chicken
- Cook until chicken is very tender, 20 to 30 minutes
- Shred the cooked chicken with two forks
As for the assembly, you can make a full quesadilla by stacking two tortillas on top of each other with the filling and cheese in between, or you can do what we did in our video and put the chicken and cheese on one side of one Place the tortilla and then fold the other side up. I like the folded method as it makes eating the quesadilla easier.
A heavy-bottomed skillet or skillet works well for cooking quesadillas—think a cast-iron skillet, a heavy-duty stainless steel skillet, or the more traditional comal (a flat griddle used in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America).
More Quesadilla Recipes: Delicious Vegetable Quesadillas and Green Chili Breakfast Quesadillas.
serve you
I like to eat quesadillas straight from the pan, but here are some serving options:
Green Chile Chicken Quesadillas
- PREPARATION
Chicken Quesadillas filled with tender chicken cooked in flavorful salsa verde and gooey cheese. These quesadillas are so good it’s hard to eat just one. I’m serious, these are so good!
6 quesadillas
Watch us make the recipe
you will need
For quesadillas
6 medium to large flour or corn tortillas, Check out our Homemade Flour Tortilla recipe
3 cups shredded green chilli chicken, recipe below
8 ounces mild melt cheese such as Queso de Oaxaca or Monterey Jack, shredded (about 2 cups)
Spray oil or oil on the pan
Fresh coriander and lime wedges, To serve
Green chile chicken
3 pounds boneless chicken thighs or chicken breasts
2 cups green enchilada sauce or salsa verde, Try our Roasted Tomato Salsa recipe
Salt to taste
directions
- make chicken
- Make quesadillas
This recipe makes about 5 cups of shredded chicken. This recipe should make enough chicken for 6 quesadillas (maybe more). Store leftover chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine chicken and enchilada sauce (or salsa).
Turn the heat up to high, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat so the sauce is simmering very gently around the chicken.
Partially cover the pan with a lid, then cook until the chicken is cooked through and very tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. When cool enough to touch, shred the meat with two forks or your fingers.
Stir the shredded chicken back into the sauce. Taste the chicken and season with salt if needed.
Heat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Lightly spray or brush the pan with oil, then place a tortilla in the pan.
Spread about 1/3 cup cheese over the tortilla, then spoon about 1/2 cup shredded chicken onto one half, shaking the chicken lightly so most of the excess sauce falls back into the pot.
Gently fold the tortilla in half, then use a spatula to press the top down so it stays folded. Cook until bottom is toasted, about 2 minutes.
Gently flip the quesadilla and cook until the second side is toasted and the cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Place the quesadilla on a cutting board and cut in half. Repeat with the remaining quesadillas.
Keep cooked quesadillas warm in a 200°F oven while you finish the remaining quesadillas.
Advice from Adam and Joanne
- Add leftover chicken to rice bowls, tacos, or salad.
- Nutritional Information: The nutritional information below is an estimate. We used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, take a picture and tag #inspiredtaste – we love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition per serving: serving size 1 quesadilla / calories 444 / total fat 19.7g / Saturated Fatty Acids 8.8g / cholesterol 127.7 mg / sodium 1003.7 mg / carbohydrate 31.9g / fiber 1.7g / total sugar 3.9g / protein 34.6g