These BBQ Chicken Quesadillas are really flavorful! BBQ sauce is surprisingly great in quesadillas. Cheesy, crispy, tangy and savory! It’s an excellent way to use up any leftover roasted chicken or turkey.
This past week has been really interesting. A few things happened.
On 4th of July, while we were heading to my in-laws’ house, our car ran over a huge piece of sharp metal on the freeway. Loud pop! Immediately, we knew we had a flat tire. Ahhhh…. Why on July 4th? Don’t be kidding me! Thank goodness that our tires are run-flat. We were able to continue our day and made home safely. Oh man, that hole on the tire was so big that you can fit a golf ball through it! Ka-ching! There goes $220! Sad… But thankful, we weren’t hurt and the car didn’t have any other damage.
A couple of days ago, a real-life cop show happened right next door. Undercover police stormed my neighbor’s garage in the afternoon with guns. I was home, so I witnessed some of the actions. I was told by the police to stay inside. I was definitely a bit scared and confused. Luckily, there wasn’t any shot fire or anything like that. Apparently, the police believed that there were drugs hiding in the garage. The police searched the garage and the apartment for hours. Cars were towed away. By the time, Bryan and I went to bed, the police was still here. They were here for at least 9 hours. Even though this suspicious garage was my neighbor’s, he never uses it. It is rented out (or lent) to his friends. It is very unfortunate. We know our neighbor is a nice guy. We truly believe he is innocent. I hope he is ok and doesn’t get drag into this mess any deeper. For now, things are peaceful and quiet. Hope it is going to stay this way.
Now, with all the craziness out the way, let’s talk about quesadillas!
If you don’t know what a quesadilla is, it is like a grilled cheese sandwich. A folded flour tortilla fills with cheese and sometimes, chicken. Then cook on the griddle to crisp up the tortilla and melt the cheese. To make this even special and better, BBQ sauce is added to this recipe. Sweet and tangy BBQ sauce works well with the Monterey Jack cheese and roasted chicken. Not to forget the cilantro and chile, that freshness and spiciness help to balance the flavors. When Bryan and I took a first bite, we immediately thought of the BBQ chicken pizza from CPK (California Pizza Kitchen). It tasted just like that! How awesome! We love these quesadillas. Hope you will too!
BBQ Chicken Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 2 bone-in chicken thighs (about ¾ pound)
- 3 (10-inch-diameter) flour tortillas
- 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
- 1 small jalapeno or Serrano chiles (remove stem and seeds, then minced)
- 3 tablespoons onion (finely diced)
- ½ cup cilantro (roughly chopped)
- ⅓ cup BBQ sauce
- salt
- ground black pepper
- salsa (for serving)
- guacamole (for serving)
- sour cream (for serving)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
- Clean and pat dry the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Place on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 30 – 40 minutes until cook through. Remove from oven and let them rest for at least 20 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Remove and discard the skins. Shred the chicken with two forks into thin strips or bite-size pieces. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
- Reduce the oven heat to 200˚F. Place a clean baking sheet in the oven.
- On a work surface, lay out the tortillas. Working on the bottom halves of the tortillas, sprinkle half of the cheese. Add chicken, chilies, onion, and cilantro. Drizzle about 1½ tablespoon BBQ sauce over each tortilla. Sprinkle rest of the cheese. Fold the uncovered tortilla over the fillings to form a half-moon shape.
- Heat a large flat griddle pan or 2 large pans over medium-high heat. Place 2 quesadillas on the griddle or 1 quesadilla on each large pan. Cook until crisp & golden brown on both sides, about 5 – 7 minutes total. Transfer the quesadillas to the baking sheet in the oven and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining quesadilla.
- Transfer the cooked quesadillas to a clean chopping board. Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges. Place the wedges on serving plates. Serve with guacamole, sour cream, and salsa.
Notes
- The chicken can be cooked 1 day ahead. Cool, shred, put in a Ziploc bag and keep in the fridge.
- If you have leftover or store-bought roast chicken or turkey, that would be perfect too. Just shred them with forks and they are ready to be used.
- I used 1 small Serrano chile, which made mild quesadilla. Use more if you like spicy food.
- Remember to use latex gloves to cut chile. Burning fingers are no fun.
- Bull’s-eye is our favorite store-bought BBQ sauce. This is what I used in this recipe.
- If you don’t feel like getting or making too many dips, just get one. Salsa is refreshing and light, which works perfect with these quesadillas.
All the food you make looks incredible and homey Lockness. Love how simple and yummy this looks. 😉
Thank you for the sweet comments, Bonnie! These quesadillas are fantastic! They are even better with homemade salsa and guacamole.
I hope you still had a great 4th of July despite all the flat tire drama and the unexpected expense! It’s awful to start a trip like this. Ah, chicken quesadillas are hard to resist!! Yours are looking so yummy!!!
Other than the tire, we had a wonderful 4th of July. Ate tons of food at my in-laws and relaxed at home for the rest of the day. BBQ sauce definitely is a great addition to quesadilla. Hope you will try it one day. 😉
Sorry to hear about the tire. But if it was me, I’d feel alright with those quesadilla in front of me! I really love chicken quesadilla with plenty of cheese. Never had enough of them and the BBQ sauce idea was great!
Happy Friday 🙂
Thank you Maggie. 🙂 The BBQ sauce add great flavors to the quesadillas. Excellent addition. If you are making quesadillas one day, you should try adding BBQ sauce.
Holy cow – what an intro to the quesadillas! That is a bit too much excitement but glad to hear all seems to be quiet and well now.
I love that these quesadillas taste like CPK’s BBQ chicken pizza! That is good stuff. I make plain chicken quesadillas and this is such a great twist for me to try. Thanks on the Bulls Eye tip, too. I’m always looking for a good store-bought sauce and there are so many to choose from!
Haha… Yea, crazy kind of week! My neighbor has been cleared up now. All is good.
Yea, there are so many BBQ sauce in the store. Sometimes, it is overwhelming. Bull’s-eye is great! It is amazing with french fries. And of course, it makes these quesadillas tasted like CPK pizza.
That is a crazy week! These quesadillas must have helped take your mind off of it. Love these flavors!
It sure was a crazy week. So glad it is all over. Thank you Lisa! These quesadillas were so easy and comforting.
Yikes, sorry to hear about the creazy week. Hope everything is better now. Hopefully these chicken quesadillas helped – they look wonderful!