The Secrets to the BEST Quesadilla

The secrets to the best quesadilla recipe are quite simple and possibly crazy to post about but totally necessary as they are so good!

How silly is this post? The secrets to the BEST quesadilla? Does anyone really have to make a post on a food blog about a tortilla and cheese? Why yes, this girl does and I’ll tell you why — because you’ve been doing it ALL wrong.

Making restaurant-style quesadillas is a fine art, and although this is a super easy quesadilla recipe there are a few things you must always do when making homemade cheese quesadillas. Follow the recipe below exactly as written, and you’ll be making the world’s best cheese quesadillas in no time! 

I’m going to also include a couple of our favorite variations on the classic cheese quesadilla that are to die for! Keep scrolling for how to make an Oteo’s copycat quesadilla (uses a corn tortilla!) and a fabulous ground beef quesadilla.

Cheese Quesadillas Ingredients

First up, to make the best homemade cheese quesadillas EVER, you’ll need three simple ingredients:

• fresh homemade tortillas or Vista brand flour tortillas (they are BEST!!)
• shredded cheese: must be chihuahua cheese or quesadilla cheese
• butter (if you’re dairy free, use olive oil!)

No really, that’s all you need! 

What makes this quesadilla recipe so good are the tortillas. I highly recommend homemade flour tortillas (link above) or Vista flour tortillas. If you don’t have time to make homemade tortillas or can’t find Vista brand, you need to look for fresh, uncooked quesadillas at your grocery store. Tortilla Land makes fantastic uncooked tortillas as well! 

What’s the Best Cheese for Quesadillas? 

When making homemade cheese quesadillas, you need to buy flavorful cheeses that melt well. You may want to consider blending different cheeses to amp up the flavor. Chihuahua cheese or quesadilla cheese is our go-to! A Mexican cheese blend (a combination of monterey jack cheese, cheddar, queso quesadilla cheese and asadero cheese) would also work great in these quesadillas, as would a sharp cheddar, or oaxaca cheese. Avoid using mozzarella cheese, as it’s too mild in flavor to be the star of your quesadilla. 

How to Make Quesadillas 

Homemade quesadillas couldn’t be any easier to make! The basic steps for making this cheese quesadilla recipe are as follows: 

1. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat and cook the fresh to

Teriyaki Chicken Quesadilla

Teriyaki chicken stuffed in a cheesy quesadilla…it doesn’t get much better than that! I love the sweet and tangy flavor of teriyaki especially on chicken. Wrap it in gooey, melty cheese and a buttery tortilla, and you have yourself an out of this world meal!

I know this is a little weird to admit as it’s really not at all healthy and I wouldn’t ever make it for my kids after school, but I might as well let you in on my life. So here goes, at least 3-4 times a week when I would get home from high school I’d make myself a teriyaki chicken quesadilla or burrito.

I know, dinner was only a few hours away and most kids were having a snack but I was having a full on meal. But it was good, it was real good!

And then for some odd reason I totally forgot about it. Fast forward 10 or so years and I rediscovered this delicacy. I had some leftover teriyaki chicken from the night our babysitter went into labor at our house, while babysitting. Oh, you missed that?

This Actually Happened

One night I took the hubs to a Utah Jazz basketball game and due to a few changes we ended up having our friend, who was pregnant with her first, babysit for us. She wasn’t having anything happen with baby, the kids would be in bed sleeping and the neighbors had been alerted that a preggers was babysitting just in case anything did happen.

So off we went to the game and I was texting like mad, “Any baby news? How’s baby? Are you in labor? Get that baby out!!” It was all good fun and I was truly just teasing her when suddenly I got a text, “K, this is for reals, I think my water just broke.”

Holy cow!!! Was this for real? You should have seen Cade and I run out of there. I mean seriously. Just minutes before I had told him that I had a feeling that we should head home. I even had my coat in my lap. He had decided to wait a little longer as it was just half time. Nope! My feeling had been right. We ran up the stairs, down the street and straight to our car and then flew home. The next day one of our favorite family’s ever had a beautiful baby girl.

So, here’s to you Ashton and Tyler! Thanks for not giving birth in my living room! Haha, jk. But seriously, love those sweet friends.

What is a Quesadilla?

Now back to the teriyaki chicken I had leftover in the fridge. A light came on and suddenly I remembered that childhood favorite of mine…teriyaki chicken quesadilla!

A quesadilla is a tortilla that is filled with meat, cheese and sometimes other ingredients.

It is then heated on a griddle until the cheesy is melted and the tortilla is crispy.

What Do I Need to Make a Teriyaki Chicken Quesadilla?

If you have your teriyaki sauce ready to go then all you need is 3 more ingredients. Here is what you will need:

• Chicken Breast: You could use chicken thighs if you prefer. I just like how a chicken breast shreds a little better.
• Teriyaki Sauce: You can buy from a store or make homemade sauce. If you go with our homemade teriyaki sauce recipe, you will need water, soy sauce, brown sugar, g