What is a Quesadilla? Basically, it is the Mexican version of a flattened, toasted sandwich. Crunchy tortillas stuffed with melted cheese and any type of filling you like. My gluten free Chicken and Corn quesadillas are my fav - packed with colourful veggies, black beans and pulled chicken, they’re quick, healthy and really hit the spot after a workout!
Serves: 5
Prep & Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Inside the Metabolic Window meal
Ingredients:
250g cooked shredded/pulled chicken breast meat
½ medium red onion, finely sliced
½ large red capsicum, deseeded, finely sliced or diced
10 cherry tomatoes, washed, halved
1 cup kernels from 1-2 fresh corn cobs, (or 1 cup frozen corn, thawed)
1 cup of tinned black beans, rinsed, well drained, partially mashed
2 wedges of fresh lime
½ tsp ground cumin
sprinkle of dried chili flakes (optional)
rock salt and freshly cracked pepper, to season
½ small avocado, mashed
½ cup fresh coriander, chopped
70g low- fat shredded mozzarella cheese
5 x (6-inch / mini) corn tortillas
canola cooking spray oil
1-2 tbls of jalapeños (optional)
Method:
1. Caramelize onions and capsicum first. Lightly spray and heat a large non-stick frying pan or griddle pan over medium high heat. Place onions and capsicum into pan and cook for 3-4 mins, until soften and slightly browned. Caramelizing these two ingredients adds a deliciously-sweet flavour to the quesadillas.
2. Next, add chicken, cherry tomatoes, corn and beans. Squeeze lime wedges over the top, sprinkle with cumin, chili flakes and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring occasionally. When mixture is done, remove from heat and prepare tortillas.
3. Heat another smaller non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Lightly spray pan with cooking spray.
4. Spread half of each tortilla with a little mashed avocado. Place 1 tortilla into the pan; cook for 60 secs to brown, then add 2-3 tbls of the chicken filling. Top with some cheese, coriander, jalapeños if you like, then fold the other half of the tortilla over to form the quesadilla. Press down firmly using a flat spatula for a good 60 secs until cheese has melted.
5. Transfer the chicken quesadilla to a plate. Cut in half and serve immediately with a delicious fresh salsa and/or large, green salad!
6. Repeat process with remaining tortillas and chicken quesadilla mixture.
Shar’s Tips -
- When preparing the cooked/ bbq chicken, I suggest you pull it apart using a couple of forks. This shreds the chicken and makes it easier to mix in with the rest of the ingredients, and to stay inside when pressing the tortilla down.
- You can add all of the fresh quesadilla ingredients once chopped to the tortilla in the pan, then fold, and skip steps 1 & 2.
I find that heating all of the ingredients for the quesadilla in the pan first, not only adds more flavour, but it allows the mixture to compact nicely inside the quesadilla and prevent ingredients falling out when eating. Whichever you choose, they still taste delicious!
- I like to include cooked beans as a little extra protein- filler. You can substitute black beans with kidney beans or any bean of choice.
