Chicken & Bacon Quesadillas
Chicken & Bacon Quesadillas
An original recipe from The Tasty Page
“Gurrrl….”
That’s what I said I after taking one bite of these delicious quesadillas.
I’m the type of person that if someone pays me a compliment I’ll say thank you and then follow it up with a billion reasons of why I suck. But occasionally I’ll do something awesome and admit it’s pretty cool. I’ll give myself a mental high five and think, “Joyce, you are the shit!”
These bacon and chicken quesadillas are one of those times.
With Cinco de Mayo this week I was thinking of what to make aside from tacos from a box. Apologies to authentic Mexican palettes. I’m sure “tacos from a box” is the equivalent of drenching soy sauce on anything and calling it Chinese food. Anyway, I was going through my pins and a few cookbooks and nothing was exciting me. It got to the point where I thought, maybe we’ll just make cheeseburgers and call it a day.
So smoky & good!
Then I was a Trader Joe’s getting the usual – bananas, 4 dozen eggs, frozen riced cauliflower (if I was lucky), and dark chocolate peanut butter cups. There were Cinco de Mayo stations set up with ingredients for a variety of Mexican food, like guacamole. I saw their tortillas, went to the spice aisle and saw cumin, went to the meat section and saw chicken and bacon and out of nowhere a huge lighthouse-sized light bulb went off and I thought, “CHICKEN AND BACON QUESADILLAS!”
I put all the spices in a bowl and when I mixed them together the aroma was amazing. Experimenting with these spices and never having made this before, I loved that I was already off to a good start. I rubbed the mix on the chicken and when it hit the pan to sear the sound and smell just made me smile. Then when it was done cooking and I gave it a taste test I was almost speechless. Almost because I was listening to Zayn’s album while cooking and couldn’t help but to sing along.
Yum…
Once the chicken and bacon are cooked, assembling the quesadillas was easy and their cooking time is less than five minutes. Perfect for when you’re hungry and need to eat right now – or if you’ve had one too many piña coladas while cooking and need something solid to soak up the alcohol. Just saying…
Smoky deliciousness…
I hope you enjoy these quesadillas as much as my family and I did! You will definitely get a lot of compliments. Soak it in – because you really did just cook something awesome.
Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. onion powder
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. dried oregano
- 1 pound chicken breasts
- 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil or olive oil for chicken; more as needed for tortillas
- 8 flour tortillas (I recommend Trader Joe’s Handmade Flour Tortillas)
- Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend (I recommend the Trader Joe’s blend)
- Salsa, optional and for serving
- Guacamole, optional and for serving
- Sour Cream, optional and for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 420 degrees.
- Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or non-stick aluminum foil.
- Arrange bacon in a single layer on cookie sheets and bake for 12 minutes. If you like your bacon really crispy bake for another 3 minutes.
- Once bacon is cooked, cut or tear up into bite-sized pieces. Place in a bowl and set aside.
- While the bacon is cooking mix cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, ground coriander, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt, and ½ tsp. dried oregano in a small bowl.
- Heat a 12-inch skillet to medium heat and add 3 Tablespoons oil.
- Pat chicken dry and cut off any excess fat.
- Sprinkle about one half the spice mixture on the chicken (you can use the other half as needed, or save it for another use, like the next time you make these quesadillas. *See note below).
- Add chicken to hot pan and cook untouched for 8 minutes. Flip over and cook for an additional 8 minutes. If your chicken is a thick cut cook for about 10-12 minutes per side. Make sure not to overcook so it doesn’t dry up.
- Once the chicken is cooked, place on cutting board. Let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Cut into bite-sized pieces and place chicken in a bowl.
- Set up bacon, chicken, and cheese in prepared bowls.
- In a 12-inch non-stick pan add ½-1 Tablespoon oil over medium heat.
- Working in batches, place one tortilla in the pan and spread with about 6 Tablespoons cheese. Top cheese with chicken, bacon and an additional 2-3 Tablespoons cheese.
- Place another tortilla on top and cook for about 2 minutes, until golden. Flip and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes until the tortilla is golden and the cheese has melted.
- Place quesadilla on a board and cut into 4 slices.
- Serve with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream.
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