Pesto Chicken Quesadillas
How to make easy pesto chicken quesadillas in under 10 minutes for a perfect lunch or snack. Jump to the Pesto Chicken Quesadilla Recipe or read on to see our tips for making them.
How to Make Pesto Chicken Quesadillas
I know pesto chicken sounds a little strange to be putting into a quesadilla, but trust us, it works. Pesto is flavor overload — check out our homemade pesto recipe to see.
Pesto is made of fresh basil, garlic, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. If you don’t have the time to make your own batch, there are lots of store-bought options.
When it comes to the chicken, we usually have a batch of shredded chicken in our fridge — here’s how to make shredded chicken on the stove and here’s our slow cooker version. You can also shred a rotisserie chicken or roasted chicken from a night or two ago. Then pile everything onto a tortilla add fresh spinach and some cheese.
After cooking on both sides in a skillet, the chicken quesadilla is warm, toasted and the cheese is melted. A perfect lunch or snack!
Recipe updated, originally posted February 2012. Since posting this in 2012, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Pesto Chicken Quesadillas
- PREP
We love these easy pesto chicken quesadillas. I know pesto chicken sounds a little strange to be putting pesto into a quesadilla, but trust us, it works. Pesto is flavor overload — check out our homemade pesto recipe to see.
Makes 4 servings
You Will Need
8 (6-inch) flour tortillas, see our homemade flour tortillas recipe
4 tablespoons basil pesto, see our homemade pesto recipe
1 cup shredded cooked chicken, see our shredded chicken recipe
1 cup packed spinach leaves
3/4 cup shredded cheese like Monterey Jack or cheddar
Directions
Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat.
Divide the pesto, chicken, spinach, and cheese between four tortillas. Top with a second tortilla then add to the pan and cook, flipping once, until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are toasted on both sides, about 5 minutes.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
Nutrition Per Serving: Serving Size 1 quesadilla / Calories 409 / Protein 22 g / Carbohydrate 32 g / Dietary Fiber 2 g / Total Sugars 3 g / Total Fat 21 g / Saturated Fat 7 g / Cholesterol 59 mg / Sodium 866 mg
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I just made this tonight for my fiancé and I and it was so delicious! I used my homemade cilantro-jalapeño pesto, raw sharp cheddar, and I sautéed the spinach before adding it to the quesadilla. It came out amazing and I will definitely be making this, again. Thanks for sharing!
These looked great, made them tonight. Unfortunately it was kind of a mess. I had trouble when flipping the tortillas. However the quesadillas that sort of worked out tasted really good. Next time I think I’ll bake them. That way I don’t have to worry about flipping.
We do this quesadilla, too, but swap the cheddar out for feta. Love me some feta!!!
the pesto is a great idea – I make chicken quesadillas all the time, but never thought of adding pesto, yum
thanks Nancy, we use pesto in just about everything –love it!
This recipe was a breeze to make and very tasty. Doesn’t get much better than that!
These look so yummy and pretty darn healthy with the spinach. Amanda mentioned sun-dried tomatoes which sent me off thinking about pesto, sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese . . . Can’t wait till lunch time!
Adam and Joanne, have you ever tried making quesadillas on a panini maker? What do you think?
Thanks, Terry! We haven’t actually tried the panini maker, we think it would work great though — might have to try soon 🙂
Oh. My. Goodness. How did I never think of this awesomeness? Thank you! I’ll be adding some sun-dried tomatoes and calling this lunch tomorrow.