This Chorizo Quesadillas recipe is a great easy weeknight dinner. Plus it makes a lot of leftovers, so it’s an easy dinner for two nights.
For more ideas of what to cook, check out all of our recipes.
Every time we go out for Mexican food, I order something with chorizo because I almost never make chorizo at home.
Chorizo, if you’ve never had it, is a spicy pork sausage found in a bunch of Mexican dishes. It’s seasoned with a bunch of seasoning, most notably paprika.
For a long time, I couldn’t buy chorizo around here, which is why I never made it. Then, finally, our local grocery store started selling it, so Chorizo Quesadillas made their way into our dinner rotation.
When I make it, I borrow my mom’s quesadilla maker because it’s a great kitchen gadget and makes quesadilla making so easy. If you don’t have one, you can also make quesadillas in a large frying pan. Don’t worry. We have instructions for both cooking methods below.
Quesadillas are such a fun recipe because the fillings can be changed up so easily. If you’re looking for more ideas, our list of Easy Quesadilla Recipes is sure to inspire you. There are ideas for quesadillas for breakfast, dinner, and dessert in the post.
Chorizo Quesadillas Recipe
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Chorizo Quesadillas Ingredients:
- 16 oz. chorizo
- 2 medium onions
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 12 flour tortillas
- 1.5 cups shredded Mexican cheese
How To Make Chorizo Quesadillas:
Cut the casing off of the chorizo sausage and pull the meat out into a large pan. While it’s cooking, break it apart into crumbles.
While the chorizo is cooking, slice the onions and peppers.
After ten minutes, add the onions and peppers to the pan.
Cook them until the onions are translucent and start to caramelize. Add in the salt, Adobo seasoning, and onion power. Cook another minute.
Pre-heat your quesadilla maker.
Put down one tortilla and a handful of cheese in the center of the tortilla. Spread it out but make sure to leave an empty border around the outside so the ingredients have somewhere to spread out when they cook.
Small aside: Usually, when we post recipes, we encourage you to skip pre-shredded cheese and instead use grated cheese that you actually grated yourself from a block. Block cheese lacks preservatives that bagged cheese has, so it melts better.
In this case, though, we’re thinking more about flavor. A bagged Mexican Cheese blend has four cheeses (Monterey Jack, cheddar, queso blanco, and asadero). Buying all four of those in blocks, then shredding them takes this from an easy, frugal dinner to one that’s just not going to be on your weeknight rotation.
Top with some of the chorizo and caramelized onion mixture.
Add just a little more cheese on top, and finish with a second tortilla.
Close the quesadilla maker tight and let the quesadilla cook, about five minutes, until the tortilla gets golden brown.
Remove, cut into six slices.
This recipe will give you enough to make six quesadillas, so you can put some in the fridge for a quick lunch the next day. And oh my gosh, they’re so good reheated.
How To Cook Quesadillas Without A Quesadilla Maker:
When the filling is done, put a little drizzle of olive oil or cooking spray in a pan on medium heat. When it’s heated, put down a tortilla, then cheese, then the filling, a bit more cheese, and a second tortilla. Put a lid on top and cook a couple of minutes until the tortilla is browned. Then flip the quesadilla, cover again, and cook on the second side until it is also golden brown.
Chorizo Quesadillas: Frequently Asked Questions
Let the quesadillas cool to room temperature. Then, store any leftover quesadilla pieces in an airtight container in the fridge. These will last about three days this way.
You have three options for reheating quesadillas.
First, you could reheat them in an air fryer. You could also reheat them in a large skillet on the oven (adding a tiny bit of olive oil to the pan). And finally, you could reheat them on a sheet pan in the oven.
Each method will have a different cooking time and temperature.
Flour tortillas work better in quesadillas than corn tortillas because they’re more flexible. So you don’t have to worry about them cracking when you’re cooking or flipping them. The cheese and fillings also stick better to flour tortillas.
Of course, if all you have is a pack of corn tortillas, you can go ahead and use those. They’ll just end up a little different.
Spicy chorizo should be the refrigerated section of your local grocery store where the rest of the Hispanic items are (where the queso fresco is). I’ve been able to find chorizo logs regularly at Walmart now, so definitely check your local Walmart.
If not, there’s not really a good substitution for chorizo. It has a unique flavor, so another pork sausage wouldn’t taste the same.
What To Serve With Chorizo Quesadillas:
While these are a pretty solid meal, with meat, a vegetable, and card, you’ll want so serve these with a couple things to make the meal complete. First, sour cream and homemade salsa are the perfect dips. And of course, a bottle of hot sauce (just in case these aren’t spicy enough).
On the side, we always serve refried beans and yellow rice. Sometimes I serve guacamole too.
Chorizo Quesadillas
This Chorizo Quesadillas recipe is a great easy weeknight dinner. Plus it makes a lot of leftovers, so it's an easy dinner for two nights.
Ingredients
- 16 oz. chorizo
- 2 medium onions
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 2 red bell peppers
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon Adobo seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 12 flour tortillas
- 1.5 cups shredded Mexican cheese
Instructions
- Cut the casing off of the chorizo sausage and pull the meat out into a large pan. While it’s cooking, break it apart into crumbles.
- While the chorizo is cooking, slice the onions and peppers.
- After ten minutes, add the onions and peppers to the pan.
- Cook them until the onions are translucent and start to caramelize. Add in the salt, Adobo seasoning, and onion power. Cook another minute.
- Pre-heat your quesadilla maker.
- Put down one tortilla and a handful of cheese in the center of the tortilla. Spread it out but make sure to leave an empty border around the outside so the ingredients have somewhere to spread out when they cook.
- Top with some of the chorizo and caramelized onion mixture.
- Add just a little more cheese on top, and finish with a second tortilla.
- Close the quesadilla maker tight and let the quesadilla cook, about five minutes, until the tortilla gets golden brown.
Notes
If you don't have a quesadilla maker, you can make these in a pan by following the instructions above, except you build the quesadilla in a pan, then: Put a lid on top and cook a couple of minutes until the tortilla is browned. Then flip the quesadilla, cover again, and cook on the second side until it is also golden brown.
Nutrition Information
Yield
12Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 400Total Fat 22gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 12gCholesterol 47mgSodium 963mgCarbohydrates 32gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 17g
Have you made this Chorizo Quesadilla recipe? Let us know how it went in the comments.