Today I’m going to show you how to grill quesadillas. I love quesadillas, they are the perfect appetizer, and they are simple to make too. Quesadilla are a really popular snack to make these days, and pretty much any restaurant you go to has them on their appetizer menu. Traditionally they are cooked on a skillet, but we are going to take them outside and put it on the grill.
Traditionally quesadilla are made with on tortillas with some cheese and tomatoes. You could just do that if you want, but I like to add a few more things to give mine a bit more substance. In addition to the cheese and tomatoes, I’m going to add some jalapeno slices, sweet mini pepper slices, onion, and cilantro.
So here is what you will need:
8 flour tortillas, 10 inch
6 oz cheese, sliced or shredded (I like Cheddar or Jack)
4 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
4 jalapenos and/or mini sweet peppers, thinly sliced
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup cilianto, chopped
3 tbsp melted butter
In all reality you can put anything you want into these. I’ve put chicken, pork, and shrimp into these before, along with all sorts of different cheeses. Experiment; that is what makes this fun.
All right, we need to arrange all these bad boys. So, take your tortillas and arrange the cheese, tomatoes, peppers, onion, and cilantro on one half of each tortilla. Fold the other side over the top. Pretty simple huh?
Set up your gas or charcoal grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat. If you are using charcoal it is best to set up a 3 zone fire. This basically means that each zone has a little less heat. So one zone will have the medium-high heat, the next will be a little cooler, and the last zone will not have any coals. If you are using a gas grill leave one zone off.
The reason we want to do this is that tortillas will burn quickly, so you want to be able to move your quesadillas to a cooler zone quickly. So, you will want to keep your eyes on these throughout grilling.
Once your grill is ready, place the quesadillas on the grate. Grill for about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Brush with the melted butter while grilling; I use a silicone basting set like this one. The tortillas will be a nice golden brown, and the cheese will be slightly melted once they are done. Make sure to keep your eye and them and move them to a cooler zone if they start to burn.
Once they are done serve them immediately. You can eat them whole, or slice them into wedges. That is how to grill quesadillas that turn out amazing. Feel free to experiment with different ingredients. These are so simple, and fun to make.
image courtesy of plasticrevolver/flickr