Quesadilla

Name: Quesadilla
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 2 unit flour tortillas (8-inch); 6 oz Oaxaca cheese (pulled into shreds, or Monterey Jack grated); 1 tsp butter; 1 pinch salt

Sandwiches & Handhelds · Latin American & Caribbean

4 ingredients · 15 minutes · 2 servings

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346kcal20.4g protein22.3g fat15.5g carbs~$1.45/ serving*

Contains dairy · sometimes contains gluten — check the label

Restrictions

ContainsdairyIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Sometimes contains — check the labelgluten (guacamole, tortillas)Some brands have it, some do not. The recipe cannot tell, so this is the one you check yourself.

Diets

Vegetarian · without onePescatarian · without oneNo porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

2 unit	flour tortillas (8-inch)
6 oz	Oaxaca cheese (pulled into shreds, or Monterey Jack grated)
1 tsp	butter
1 pinch	salt

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

2 tbsp	scallion (thinly sliced)
1 unit	jalapeño (sliced thin)
4 oz	chicken (cooked, shredded)
2 tbsp	cilantro (chopped)
¼ cup	salsa
2 tbsp	sour cream
¼ cup	guacamole
1 unit	lime (wedges)

Steps

Grate3 min
from a block, at room temperature
- Oaxaca cheese
cheese, pulled or grated coarse — pre-shredded bagged cheese is dusted with potato starch or cellulose to stop it clumping, and that coating keeps it from ever knitting into one molten sheet, which is the whole point of the dish
Prep2 min
cheese + salt + any optional fillings tossed together, and keep the pile modest and flat — a thick mound insulates its own center, so the outside runs out the seam before the middle has melted
Toast1 min
medium, dry pan
tortilla alone, flipping once, until it goes soft and flexible with a few pale blisters — a cold tortilla cracks along the fold, a warmed one hinges
Cook1 min
medium-low, pan wiped with butter
- butter
tortilla + cheese over one half only, then fold the bare half across and press flat with a spatula so the two faces touch through the cheese
Fry5 min
medium-low, flipping every 90 seconds
folded quesadilla until both faces are freckled brown and the fold feels heavy and slack. Medium-low is not timidity: cheese needs roughly 130-150°F through its whole mass to flow, and that takes longer than a tortilla takes to scorch at high heat, so the fast version reliably gives you a black crust over a cold seam
Rest1 min
on a rack, not a plate
quesadilla off the heat before cutting — molten cheese is liquid and will pour out of a cut wedge, while one minute of cooling brings it back to a stretch. A rack rather than a plate so escaping steam does not soften the crust you just built
Slice1 min
into three wedges through the fold, and serve with the salsa, sour cream, guacamole and lime alongside rather than inside — wet condiments in the fold steam the tortilla from within