Chicken Chipotle Quesadillas make great use of leftover shredded chicken and are an incredibly delicious appetizer or tasty meal!
These chicken quesadillas are the best chicken quesadillas I’ve ever had because they are packed with flavor and texture. The best part is that they’re very easy to make, too!
These Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas happened because I had leftover chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. One little can will make a heck of a lot of chipotle flavored food. For example, I was able to make chipotle chicken wings and my cheesy chipotle bacon pull apart bread and still have enough left over for all these quesadillas just from one teeny weeny little can.
So if you find yourself with extra chipotle chiles after making these shredded chicken quesadillas, you can make those things or some chipotle huevos rancheros or even some chipotle aioli, all of which are delicious.
Best ingredients to put in Quesadillas:
If you want to make the best homemade shredded chicken quesadilla recipe ever, then you have come to the right place! You can spice up your ordinary quesadillas by adding red onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, chipotle in adobo, shredded chicken, green onions, cilantro, and lots of cheese. These chipotle chicken quesadillas are best served with sour cream, lime, cilantro, and avocado.
How many calories?
These chipotle chicken quesadillas have 612 calories per serving, and this recipe makes six quesadillas. Once you have a taste of these chipotle quesadillas, though, I promise you that you won’t even be thinking about the calorie count.
Can you prepare them ahead of time?
I would recommend serving your chipotle quesadillas fresh. I have found that the quesadilla tends to get soggy and the cheese will harden if you refrigerate them.
If you needed to save time, you could probably make the chipotle and chicken portion of your chipotle quesadillas ahead of time and then refrigerate them until you are actually ready to combine it with the cheese and tortillas on the pan.
How to make Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas:
- To make your chipotle chicken quesadillas, you will start by heating some oil in a pan and cooking the red onion until it’s soft and tender. Then you will add the garlic and cook for a bit before adding the chipotle peppers and diced tomatoes. Make sure to also add the liquid from the diced tomatoes as well. Cook all these together for about 20 minutes while stirring frequently. Your sauce should thicken and most of the liquid should be evaporated at this point. This is when you should stir in the chicken, green onions, and cilantro. You will need to reduce the heat and keep this mixture on low to keep it warm while you prepare the rest.
- Your next step is to heat up another pan on medium heat. If you would like a little crispier tortilla, you can put some oil in the pan, but you don’t necessarily need to. You will then place a tortilla on the hot grill and cover it in a delicious layer of cheese. Then, spread some of your chipotle chicken mixture over half of the tortilla. Once the cheese has melted, fold the tortilla in half to make your chipotle chicken quesadilla. Then repeat with all of the rest of the tortillas while keeping the rest of your chipotle chicken quesadillas warm in the oven.
- Make sure to let your chipotle quesadillas sit for a moment so that they don’t ooze all over the place when you try to cut them for serving. These shredded chicken quesadillas are best served with fresh lime slices, sour cream, avocados, and extra cilantro. Enjoy!
This recipe was pretty darn easy to make. At first I thought the chicken mixture was going to be too spicy, but once you mix in all the ingredients and fold it into a crisp tortilla with melted cheese, then spritz it with a little fresh lime juice and dip it into some sour cream, the spice ended up being downright perfect. Please let me know if you get the same “holy cow these are freakin’ good” reaction I got!
Chipotle Chicken Quesadillas
RECIPE VIDEO WILL AUTOPLAY
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil (I used avocado)
- 1 medium red onion (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes (with liquid)
- 4 tablespoons chipotle in adobo (minced)
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken (white & dark meat)
- 4 green onions (thinly sliced)
- 1 handful cilantro (roughly chopped)
- 6 large flour tortillas
- 24 ounces mexican blend cheese (shredded (sharp cheddar, monterey jack, asadero, queso blanco, etc.))
- Serve with sour cream (lime, cilantro, avocado, etc.)
Instructions
- In a large pan over medium heat, heat the oil and cook the onion until soft and tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or so until fragrant. Add the chipotle peppers and the diced tomatoes with their liquid. Stir frequently and cook until the sauce thickens and the liquid has mostly evaporated, about 20 minutes. Stir in the chicken, green onions, and cilantro. Reduce heat to low just to keep mixture warm.
- Heat a clean grill on medium heat. I like to put a touch of oil in the pan to make the tortilla extra crispy, but that's not necessary and is a matter of preference. Place tortilla on hot grill, cover with a layer of cheese, and then spread some of the chicken chipotle mixture over half. Once the cheese has melted, fold the tortilla over to make your quesadilla. Repeat with remaining tortillas. You can keep them all warm in the oven until you're ready to serve. Allow them to rest for a couple minutes before slicing to ensure everything doesn't ooze out.
- Serve with fresh lime slices, sour cream, avocado slices, extra cilantro, and an ice cold beer or a margarita (or a beergarita).
NUTRITION INFORMATION
This post was originally created in February 2015 and has been updated with more fun facts and tidbits for your reading pleasure.
Gosh, how I love quesadillas. I even have a quesadilla maker! Love the chipotle flavor here too.
Made these tonight for dinner and my husband was RAVING about how amazing they were! Thanks for a winner of a recipe!
Sierra, YAY! So glad you liked them! I remember fighting over who got the last one with my husband. Thanks so much for coming back to let me know. 🙂 Krissy
Thank you for the recipe! It inspired me to create our own with yours as a base. Yum! I didn’t have plain tomatoes so I used a can of original Rotel, dried cilantro, added some cumin, canned corn and black beans. Filling and delicious!!!
These are a hit with both adults and kids! Simple, but so flavorful!
I LOVE quesadillas!! This recipe sounds faaantastic!!
My kids all time favourite recipe and something they can manage on their own. I love it!
Flavorful and so good!
My oldest son loves chicken quesadillas. I bet he could go through every one of these in one sitting, they look great.