Chorizo Quesadilla
Quick Overview: Chorizo Quesadilla Recipe
- ⏱ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🔥 Cook Time: 15 minutes
- ⏰ Total Time: 25 minutes
- 🍽 Servings: 4
- 🌶 Flavor: Savory, meaty, spicy, cheesy
- 🍳 Method: Stovetop
- 💡 Tip: Use block cheese and grate it yourself for the best melt.
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Table of Contents
What Makes This Chorizo Quesadilla So Good
- Versatile: These are great as a weeknight dinner, a game day snack, or an easy lunch the next day.
- Real chorizo flavor: Mexican fresh chorizo is bold and spiced right out of the casing. Just a little cumin and chili powder to season veggies.
- Layered cheese technique: Spreading cheese both under and over the filling means every bite is melty and the tortillas stay crispy and golden. If you love cheesy dishes, try my Jalapeno Popper Chicken Quesadillas for another irresistible variation.
- Fresh peppers in the filling: Jalapeno and red chili pepper add real heat and a little freshness. You can control the spice level easily.
- Perfectly crispy tortillas: Medium-low heat is the key.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chorizo: Use fresh (raw) Mexican pork chorizo, not the cured Spanish kind. Take it out of the casing and crumble it as it cooks.
- Jalapeno and red chili pepper: Both bring heat and a little brightness. Remove the seeds and membrane for mild heat, or leave them in to make it spicier. When working with hot peppers, I always recommend wearing gloves.
- Chili powder and cumin: Add them about halfway through cooking so they bloom without burning.
- Flour tortillas: Go with burrito-size to make it nice and hearty.
- Monterrey Jack cheese: Block cheese, freshly grated. It melts beautifully and has a mild creaminess that lets the chorizo shine.
Substitutions
- Chorizo: Pork chorizo is classic, but beef chorizo works just as well.
- Add-ons: Black beans, corn, or a little sauteed bell pepper are all great if you want to stretch the filling. Just drain well and pat dry.
- Cheese: Pepper Jack is a great swap if you want more heat.
Quesadilla Filling Proportions (per quesadilla)
- 2 large burrito-size tortillas.
- 4 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, divided (2-3 oz on the bottom, 1-2 oz on top).
- Half the chorizo and vegetable filling ( 3-5 oz of protein per quesadilla)
How to Make Chorizo Quesadillas
PRO TIP: Want it spicier? Leave the seeds and membrane in the chili peppers and use spicier peppers. Want it milder? Remove the seeds and membrane from the both chili peppers
Heat a pan over medium heat with a little oil. Add the onion, jalapeno, chili pepper, and crumbled chorizo all at once. Break up the chorizo as it cooks. Add the chili powder and cumin about halfway through.
Cook until the sausage is fully cooked through and the vegetables are softened. Set aside.
(You can use the same pan if it’s large enough.) Preheat a pan over medium to medium-low heat (you want it warm enough to crisp the tortilla, but not so hot it burns before the cheese melts). Lightly grease with oil or cooking spray.
Add the first tortilla. Spread 2 to 3 oz of cheese evenly across the whole tortilla. Add half the chorizo and vegetable mixture, spreading it evenly. Sprinkle another 1-2 oz of cheese over the top, then place the second tortilla on top.
Cook until most of the cheese is melted and the bottom tortilla is golden and crunchy. Flip carefully with a large spatula and cook the second side until crispy.
Transfer to a cutting board and let it rest about 5 minutes before cutting. This keeps the cheese from oozing out when you slice it.
Make Ahead and Storage
- Make ahead: The chorizo and vegetable filling can be made a day or two ahead and refrigerated. When you’re ready to eat, just reheat the chorizo and assemble and cook the quesadillas fresh.
- Store leftover cooked quesadillas in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- To reheat, skip the microwave (it makes the tortillas soggy) and use a lightly greased pan over medium heat. A couple of minutes per side will crisp them back up.
Serving Suggestions
- For dipping, you can’t go wrong with my easy salsa or the best guacamole. Sour cream is always welcome too.
- But have you ever tried dipping a quesadilla into queso? It’s like cheese heaven! My queso dip with chorizo is a natural match here since it’s made with the same chorizo and peppers. Or go with my queso blanco recipe.
- For a full meal, round things out with Spanish rice or black beans and corn salad on the side. And if you’re hosting a party, my guacamole cups make a perfect bite-sized addition to the spread.
Chorizo Quesadilla Recipe FAQs
The filling, yes. The assembled quesadillas are best cooked fresh so the tortillas stay crispy.
Keep finished quesadillas in an oven set to 200°F on a baking sheet while you cook the rest. Just note it compromises some crispness if sits longer.
Mexican chorizo is fresh and uncooked, made with ground pork and chili spices. Spanish chorizo is cured and sliced. For this recipe, you want fresh Mexican chorizo from the sausage section of your grocery store.
More Recipes You’ll Love
If you’re a fan of bold Mexican and Tex-Mex flavors, these are worth adding to your list. My chorizo nachos use the same seasoned chorizo and are just as easy to throw together for a crowd. For something a little different, my jalapeno popper chicken quesadillas are another cheesy, crispy favorite that disappears fast.
Love tortilla-based dinners? My homemade chicken enchiladas, ground beef enchiladas, and steak enchiladas with jalapeno cilantro cream sauce are some of the most-loved recipes on the site.
If you’ve made my beef enchilada rice casserole recipe and found a lot of good information here, PLEASE leave a 🌟 star rating! Let me know how you liked it by leaving the 📝 comment below as well. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter!
Chorizo Quesadilla Recipe
Ingredients
Chorizo:
- 8 oz chorizo uncooked
- 1 small sweet onion
- 1 jalapeno
- 1 red chili pepper
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- coarse kosher salt to taste
Quesadilla:
- 4 soft flour tortillas – burrito size
- 8 oz Monterrey Jack cheese block, grated
- cooked chorizo and veggies from above
Instructions
Chorizo Filling:
- Dice onion, jalapeno, and chili peppers. Take chorizo out of it's casing and crumble. PRO TIP: if you want to make your quesadillas spicier, leave in the seeds and membrane of the chili peppers. If you want to make it mild, take out the seeds and membrane from jalapeno peppers.
- Preheat a pan over medium heat, add some oil, add in diced onion, jalapeno, chili pepper and chorizo. Break up the chorizo as much as you can as it cooks. Cook until the sausage is completely done and veggies are softened. Add the seasoning about half way through the cooking.
- Once the sausage and vegetable are done take it out of the pan or set it aside.
Quesadilla:
- Each quesadilla will take two large tortillas, 4 oz of cheese, and half the chorizo and vegetable mixture.
- Preheat a pan over medium to medium low heat (you know your stove, the pan shouldn't be too hot for the tortilla to burn before cheese is all melted).
- Grease the pan with some oil or cooking spray. Add tortilla and spread 2-3 oz of cheese evenly all over the tortilla.
- Spread half the chorizo and vegetables mixture over the cheese and spread another ounce or so over the top. Top it off with the second tortilla and let it cook until most cheese is melted and bottom tortilla gets crunchy.
- Use a large spatula to flip the quesadilla and let the other side get nice and crunchy.
- Take tortilla out onto a cutting board and let it cool about 5 minutes to cool before cutting or the cheese will ooze out too much.
Notes
- Make if gluten free: simply use gluten free tortillas but note that size is different. They come smaller so you will get more quesadillas out of this filling recipe.
- Proportions: Each quesadilla uses 2 large tortillas, 4 oz of cheese, and half the chorizo filling. This recipe makes 2 large quesadillas, serving 4.
- Make Ahead: The chorizo filling can be made 1-2 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator. Assemble and cook quesadillas fresh for the best crispy tortillas. Warm up chorizo mixture when needed.
Nutrition
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Categories:
Appetizer Recipes, Cinco de Mayo Recipes, Mexican and Tex-Mex Recipes, Mexican Appetizers, Mexican Dinner Recipes, Snack Ideas,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
