What’s for dinner tonight? Easy Weeknight Chicken Quesadillas! The quickest and easiest meal to prep for busy weeknights; store-bought rotisserie chicken is transformed with a few simple ingredients to make a flavorful filling for these quesadillas. Wrapped in tortillas with shredded cheese and then lightly toasted on a griddle, these quesadillas make for a family-friendly weeknight dinner that tastes like takeout. Serve with sour cream and salsa for dipping, or your toppings of choice.
What makes this an easy weeknight meal?
I am calling this recipe my easy weeknight chicken quesadillas because they are ready in minutes, with no fuss. Cooked, rotisserie chicken is used here for the ultimate shortcut. There is not much cooking involved here, except for some assembly. This makes for the quickest and easiest weeknight dinner for the entire family, while feeling like takeout. Similar to the flavors of takeout, but without the heavy grease, butter, or frying, this dish is a crowd-pleaser.
This is a great recipe to have in your rotation for those busy weeknights; just grab a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, and spice it up with some additional flavors! There is nothing ordinary or boring about the rotisserie chicken used in this recipe, that’s for sure.
Serve your quesadillas with your favorite sides and toppings, like rice and beans on the side, and with some fresh salsa and sour cream for dipping. The beauty of this recipe is that it is super customizable too; you can tailor this to everyone’s needs!
You can use regular flour tortillas for the kids, and low carb for yourself. Add in beans or corn to quesadillas for those who enjoy that, and omit it for those who don’t. The options are endless! I served this to my family the other night, and it was such a hit. Nothing about these quesadillas taste “light” or “healthy!”
What you will need to make this recipe
The list of ingredients for this recipe is so simple; a combination of pantry and fridge staples, along with some shortcuts. As always, you can swap out or add any ingredients you prefer (some examples: you can add beans or corn).
- low carb tortillas or wraps
- I recommend either the Tumaros white wraps or Mission Carb Balance Tortillas.
- onion
- rotisserie chicken breast
- low sodium taco seasoning
- I use low sodium here so that I can control the salt in this recipe.
- diced green chilis
- I use mild, but you can increase the heat here by using medium or spicy chilis, and tailor to your liking.
- cilantro
- scallion
- reduced fat Mexican cheese
- You can also use cheddar cheese or any other cheese of your liking.
How to make easy weeknight chicken quesadillas
The most time consuming part of this recipe really isn’t time consuming at all! You just have to heat the chicken through with some other ingredients to rehydrate it and give it some additional flavor (no one wants a boring quesadilla filling!).
To do this, start out by chopping an onion. Add it to a frying pan with some olive oil spray, and then add the taco seasoning, shredded chicken breast meat, and the diced green chilis. Cook this mixture for just about 5 minutes or so, until the flavors combine. Then, stir in the cilantro and scallions.
You can taste the filling at any point for seasoning, since everything is already cooked. You can add more taco seasoning as you wish.
Next, add the cheese to each tortilla, followed by equal amounts of the filling.
Preheat a griddle over medium heat, and then spray with cooking spray. Place the tortillas on the griddle, and then fold them over to create a half-circle shape. Cook the tortillas until they are golden in color and the cheese is melted.
Cut the quesadillas into four portions each (to make for easy dipping). Serve alongside salsa, sour cream, and other toppings of choice. You can eat these quesadillas alone, or pair them with rice, beans, or salad for a complete meal.
How-To Video
Easy Weeknight Chicken Quesadillas
Equipment
- frying pan
- griddle
Ingredients
- 4 low carb tortillas/wraps, used: Tumaros brand
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 chicken breasts, cooked, shredded
- 2 tbsp low sodium taco seasoning
- 4 oz diced green chilis
- 1/4 cup cilantro, fresh, chopped
- 1 scallion, fresh, chopped
- 1 cup reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese, or cheddar cheese
- non-stick cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat a frying pan over medium heat.
- Chop the onion and add it to the pan with olive oil spray.
- Shred the chicken and add it to the pan with the onion.
- Add the taco seasoning, followed by the diced green chilis.
- Cook this mixture for about 5 minutes or until the flavors combine.
- Add the cilantro and chopped scallion.
- Add 1/4 cup of the cheese to one half of each tortilla.
- Add an equal amount of the chicken filling to the other half of each tortilla.
- Preheat a griddle over medium heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place a tortilla on the pan and allow it to cook for a few minutes, then fold the tortilla over to form a half-circle shape.
- Cook the quesadilla until golden brown on all sides, and so the cheese is melted.
Weight Watchers
Notes
- 6 WW points (green plan)
- 4 WW points (blue and purple plans)
Nutrition
You might also enjoy:
Chicken Enchiladas with Pico de Gallo
Turkey Taco Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Restaurant Style Chicken Fajitas
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Yay!!! This recipe sounds so delicious & easy! Thanks for another great recipe👏🏻
Another simple and yummy recipe!
Love how delicious and simple this is to make. And lower fat than ordering it from somewhere.
Delicious! I added tomatoes and siracha for some heat.
So good and easy to make! I added frozen corn to the chicken mixture as suggested in the background!
Easy and yummy. Thx
Wow. This one is AMAZING. I also see myself using this chicken onion green chili stuff in other ways, like on nachos or on a sandwich! Delish and easy!
Made this last night for my daughter and I , and she said ” Wow, this is good !” Very easy but very flavorful. I cooked the two chicken breasts the night before since my grocery store was out of rotisserie chicken, apparently there is a shortage …lol
I used rotisserie chicken. Super fast, easy and delicious weekday meal!
Loved this recipe! I used rotisserie chicken for it and this recipe is a great way to make the chicken more vibrant over using plain chicken. Super easy and tasty, will definitely make this again!
Made these tonight & they were DELICIOUS! I modified for my 2 toddlers & did plain chicken & cheese.
Made this tonight and yummy yum yum! So incredibly delicious and so easy. A big hit with the family! Thank you for the awesome recipe.
Just made these with leftover taco meat. YUMMMMMMMMM!!!
These are AMAZING & so easy!!! Can you freeze ??
This was sooo good. I was feeling uninspired and I knew I would like one of stephs recipes. I did!! Thanks for inspiring me again!
So easy and delicious. The spice and flavor profile was fantastic.
These were amazing. Stephanie takes easy quesadillas to the next level!!!!!
This was absolutely delicious and sooo easy. My son asked for seconds!
Thanks for an easy and quick dinner that makes everyone happy!
Two Questions about this fantastic recipe: First, I would LOVE to know about the quantity (weight?) of the chicken breasts you want to share with all four tortillas. Second, Step #7 in the written text states: “Add 1/4 cup of the cheese to one half of each tortilla” … but in the step-by-step photo, you show cheese sprinkled on both sides of the tortilla before it is folded over (that makes more sense for “melting” purposes).. Please advise! Your Devoted Follower, Nicola
First time I tried this recipe and it was a great hit with the family (and me!). I used the Tumaros brand 70K Carb Balance wraps and they were perfect. Also used 12 oz. of rotisserie chicken breast to shred … it looked like a large amount on each tortilla before they were cooked and folded over but the quantity was perfect. This recipe was fun and delicious!
Has anyone ever used canned chicken to make this recipe?
I didn’t have green chiles on hand so I used 1/2 can of Rotel (which contains chiles). Very good, lots of flavor!