BBQ Chicken Quesadilla With Pineapple
BBQ Chicken Quesadilla with Pineapple tastes like a trip to Hawaii without leaving your kitchen. Sassy BBQ sauce, zippy red onion and sweet pineapple put a tropical twist on this classic Mexican dish.
What is a quesadilla?
Ok, first things, first….what IS a quesadilla?
A quesadilla is a Mexican dish made by stuffing a variety of ingredients such as cheeses, meats, vegetables, herbs, etc into a corn or flour tortilla, and then cooking it in a pan or griddle on the stovetop.
The cheese melts, binding the ingredients together on the interior of the quesadilla and the tortilla crisps up becoming a slightly crunchy exterior shell.
It’s often served with some sort of sauce or condiment like salsa, sour cream or guacamole for dipping.
What do you put inside a quesadilla?
The fun part about quesadillas is that you can really put anything that you’d like inside them.
A Mexican quesadilla might have grilled chicken, onions, bell peppers and monterey jack cheese and cilantro.
A breakfast quesadilla could have scramble eggs, bacon, tomatoes, and cheddar cheese.
A pizza quesadilla is great with pepperoni, black olives, mozzarella cheese, basil and served with marinara sauce for dipping.
A dessert quesadilla can be filled with Nutella and marshmallows then topped with a chocolate drizzle.
BBQ Chicken Quesadilla With Pineapple came to be one evening when we were in the mood for my Hawaiian Chicken Nachos, but I didn’t have any tortilla chips on hand. Instead, I used flour tortillas and made quesadillas using a lot of the same ingredients.
These quesadillas are now in our family dinner rotation.
What ingredients do you need to make BBQ Chicken Quesadilla With Pineapple?
- 8″ flour tortillas
- shredded chicken (check out my favorite method here)
- sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- BBQ sauce (I like this one)
- pineapple
- red onion
- cooking spray
How do you make BBQ Chicken Quesadilla With Pineapple?
In a medium sized sauce pan, toss the shredded chicken in the BBQ sauce over medium-low heat. Mix until the chicken is fully coated in the sauce and is warmed though. Set aside.
Slice the pineapple into thin wedges approx 1″ x 1″. Dice the onion.
I recommend shredding your own cheese at home as it melts much better than the pre-shredded in the store.
Spray fry pan with cooking spray and place it on burner over med-high heat.
Place one tortilla in sprayed pan and layer with approx 3 T of shredded cheese. Using a spoon or tongs, layer 2oz of the BBQ chicken on top of cheese, and spread it out evenly across tortilla.
Top with 1/4 c of the sliced pineapple and diced onion. Sprinkle another 3T of shredded cheddar and top with another tortilla. Spray the top surface of the quesadilla with more cooking spray.
Using a large spatula, flip the quesadilla in the pan to cook the other side. Continue flipping from side to side every couple of minutes until both sides of the tortilla are golden and the cheese is melted though.
Transfer to a plate and use a pizza cutter to slice the quesadilla horizontal and vertical into 4 equal pieces.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients. This recipe makes 4 quesadillas. If you have multiple fry pans or a large griddle, you can make multiple quesadillas at one time.
Serve with extra BBQ sauce on the side for dipping or drizzle a little sauce over the top of of each quesadilla.
What can you serve with Quesadillas?
If I am serving classic Mexican quesadillas, I’ll serve sides like:
- Spanish rice
- refried beans
- black beans
- corn
- shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes
- chips and salsa
- queso cheese dip
With these BBQ Chicken Quesadillas, I like to serve:
- fruit salad
- my Best Ever Side Salad
- Veggies and ranch dip
- roasted brussels sprouts
- sweet potato fries
FAQ’s
Cheddar, Monterey Jack, Colby and Mozzarella cheese are all great options.
If you are trying to save a few calories, use less cheese. You want enough cheese to bind the other ingredients together, but you don’t need to have an excessive amount. Also consider filling the quesadilla with vegetables like peppers, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, etc instead of meat.
Yes! Quesadillas can be made with either corn or flour tortillas.
Please Leave a Rating and/or Review and Follow Along on Social Media
If you make this recipe, please leave me a star rating and/or review at the bottom of this blog post.
Sign up here if you’d like my recipes latest sent straight to your inbox.
Please tag me in your Instagram photos if you make any of my recipes. It’s so fun to see!
Follow along on social media: Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest
BBQ Chicken Quesadilla With Pineapple
Equipment
- 1 fry pan
- 1 medium sauce pan
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 tongs
- 1 Pizza Cutter
- 1 large spatula
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a medium sized sauce pan, toss the shredded chicken in the BBQ sauce and warm over medium-low heat. Mix until the chicken is fully coated in the sauce and is warmed though. Set aside.
- Slice the pineapple into thin wedges approx 1" x 1" x .25". Dice the onion.
- Spray fry pan with cooking spray and place it on burner over med-high heat.
- Place one tortilla in sprayed pan and layer with approx 3 T of shredded cheese. Using a spoon or tongs, layer 2oz of the BBQ chicken on top of cheese, and spread it out evenly across tortilla.
- Top with 1/4 c of the sliced pineapple and diced onion. Sprinkle another 3T of shredded cheddar and top with another tortilla. Spray the top surface of the quesadilla with more cooking spray.
- Using a large spatula, flip the quesadilla in the pan to cook the other side. Continue flipping from side to side every couple of minutes until both sides of the tortilla are golden and the cheese is melted though.
- Transfer to a plate and use a pizza cutter to slice the quesadilla vertical and horizontal into 4 equal pieces.
- Repeat with the remaining ingredients. This recipe makes 4 quesadillas. If you have multiple fry pans or a large griddle, you can make multiple quesadillas at one time.
- Serve with additional BBQ sauce for dipping.
Notes
- fruit salad
- my Best Ever Side Salad
- Veggies and ranch dip
- roasted brussels sprouts
- sweet potato fries
