Quesadilla is a popular Mexican food, made by toasting tortillas filled with cheese. This is a veg quesadilla recipe with stepwise pictures and a video.
What is a Quesadilla?
Basically, a Quesadilla means a grilled tortilla filled with cheese. But often this tortilla is filled with spicy fillers like cooked veggies, meat or a mix of veggies and meat along with a lavish amount of cheese. The best quesadilla will give the sticky cheesy bite where the filling should not fall apart.
What cheese to use in a Quesadilla?
Ideally, Mexican cheese varieties are the best to get an authentic street food feel. But at home, you can use any easy-to-melt cheese preferably shredded. A few good choices are Mozzarella, Cheddar, and Monterey Jack.
What are the different combinations of fillings?
Veggies – Literally you can use any cooked vegetable in a quesadilla. Popular veggies are corn, bell peppers, Jalapeño, onion, tomato, zucchini and mushrooms. You can use your leftover stir-fry too.
Protein – seafood or meat are non-veg choices for the necessary protein addition. In veggie options, crumbled tofu(or Indian paneer/cottage cheese) or mushrooms can be used.
Seafood – grilled salmon and roasted prawns or shrimps along with onions and peppers with spice mix make wonderful seafood filling for a quesadilla.
Meat – Use your favorite minced meat or chicken filling with cheese and salsa.
Corn tortilla or flour tortilla?
Though both are used commonly in restaurants, my personal choice is flour tortilla. The white flour or wheat flour tortilla will be perfect to hold the fillings when making a Quesadilla or Burrito. Corn tortillas may get cracks and leaks.
In fact many times I make Quesadillas from the leftover wheat flour chapatis(Indian flatbread) which turn out more than perfect.
Try these corn dishes: Elote, Corn salad, Capsicum corn masala
Quesadilla spices, dip & sauce:
Guacamole is the best dip for Quesadillas. Some other popular sauces to use are spiced mayo, pureed salsa, and sour cream. I used a mix of spices that were salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, pepper powder and cumin powder. You can customize the spice mix as you wish.
Easy grilled vegetable Quesadillas recipe with stepwise pictures follows. For exact ingredients and video please check the recipe card.
Preparation:
- Chop the veggies you use and keep them ready. I use finely chopped vegetables like onions, bell peppers, corn and crumbled tofu. You can also use zucchini, celery, tomato, mushrooms or cucumber as per the availability.
- The measurements for the fillings given will make fillings for 5 Quesadillas.
- Make the spice mix ready. Salt, chile powder or paprika, cayenne pepper powder black pepper powder and cumin powder are the basic spices used usually.
Recipe:
How to make veggie fillings:
- Heat 2tbsp oil in a cooking pan and toss all the veggies you have.
- Used 1tbsp chopped garlic, 1/4 cup onions, 1/2 cup of multi-colored bell peppers, and 1/2 cup of corn(boiled or frozen).
- Saute all these for two to three minutes and add crumbled tofu.
- Add the spice powders and salt, stir, cover with a lid and cook for a few minutes.
- Sprinkle some coriander leaves(cilantro). Switch off and let the filling cool down a bit.
How to grill veggie Quesadillas:
- Heat a large skillet and grease it. Place a large flour tortilla.
- Fill half of the tortilla with grated cheese and stir-fried veggies on top.
- Spread one more layer of cheese to cover up the veggies.
- Use any sauce here as you wish. Fold the other half of the tortilla and press it to hold.
- Roast each side of the quesadilla for a minute until cheese melts.
- Repeat the same for other tortillas. Cut into half and serve with Guacamole or spicy mayo.
Quesadilla | Easy grilled vegetable Quesadillas
Equipment
- Grill pan
- Cooking pan
Ingredients
- 6 Flour Tortillas
- Cheese
- Cheddar/Mozzarella/Monterey Jack
To make the filling:
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 tbsp Garlic
- ¼ cup Onion
- ½ cup Bell peppers capsicum
- ½ cup Corn boiled or frozen
- 1 cup Tofu or paneer or mash potato
Spice mix:
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp Paprika or chile powder
- ½ tsp Cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp Black pepper powder
- ½ tsp cumin powder
Instructions
Preparation:
- Chop the veggies you use and keep them ready. I use finely chopped vegetables like onions, bell peppers, corn and crumbled tofu. You can also use zucchini, celery, tomato, mushrooms or cucumber as per the availability.
- The measurements for the fillings given will make fillings for 5 Quesadillas.
- Make the spice mix ready. Salt, chile powder or paprika, cayenne pepper powder black pepper powder and cumin powder are the basic spices used usually.
Recipe:
How to make veggie fillings:
- Heat 2tbsp oil in a cooking pan and toss all the veggies you have.
- Used 1tbsp chopped garlic, 1/4 cup onions, 1/2 cup of multi-colored bell peppers, and 1/2 cup of corn(boiled or frozen).
- Saute all these for two to three minutes and add crumbled tofu.
- Add the spice powders and salt, stir, cover with a lid and cook for a few minutes.
- Sprinkle some coriander leaves(cilantro). Switch off and let the filling cool down a bit.
How to make veggie Quesadillas:
- Heat a large skillet and grease it. Place a large flour tortilla.
- Fill half of the tortilla with grated cheese and stir-fried veggies on top.
- Spread one more layer of cheese to cover up the veggies.
- Use any sauce here as you wish. Fold the other half of the tortilla and press it to hold.
- Roast each side of the quesadilla for a minute until cheese melts.
- Repeat the same for other tortillas. Cut into half and serve with Guacamole or spicy mayo.
Video
Notes
1) Feel free to use spice powders as per your taste.
2) If using corn tortilla choose the large-sized one for easy-to-use purposes.
