Chopped Chicken Taco Salads with Cheese Quesadilla Strips

It's been awhile since we had a big, hearty salad for dinner. I had this Chopped Chicken Taco Salads with Cheese Quesadilla Strips recipe on my to-make list and I wanted something easy and quick for Halloween night, something that could sit if we had trick-or-treaters at the door.

We all loved this. I was especially in love with the cheese quesadillas, which is funny because they weren't anything extraordinary - just tortillas and cheese - but with the salad they were absolutely perfect. I'll definitely be making this one again and again.

Chopped Chicken Taco Salads with Cheese Quesadilla Strips
As seen on How Sweet It Is

2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 limes, juiced
2 garlic cloves, minced

Cooking spray
2 tortillas
4 ounces monterey jack cheese, freshly grated

2 romaine hearts, chopped
2 avocados, chopped
1 cup sweet corn
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
1/4 red onion, diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive olive
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 lime, juiced

Combine the cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the olive oil, lime juice and garlic. Mix thoroughly. Place the chicken in a large plastic food storage bag. Add the seasonings and coat the chicken evenly, then marinate in the fridge for 2-24 hours.

Heat a large skillet or grill pan over medium-heat heat. Cook the chicken for 5 minutes on one side, then flip and cook for another 4 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and then cut into chunks.

While the chicken is cooling, add a tortilla to a large skillet coated with cooking spray. Brown on one side, then flip and add the grated cheese and the second tortilla on top. Cook until both sides are golden and cheese is melted, then remove from the skillet and slice into strips or triangles.

Combine the lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, corn and onion in a large bowl, then toss with the salt and pepper. Add olive oil, red wine vinegar and lime juice, tossing well to coat. Add in chicken and toss well, then separate into bowls. Add the quesadilla slices and serve.

Chicken Quesadillas with Avocado Corn Salsa

Ever have one of those days where you're super excited to make dinner only to discover you're out of one of the main ingredients? In my case I was all set to make this Chopped Chicken Taco Salad with Cheese Quesadilla Strips when I discovered the bag of Romaine hearts I thought I had in the fridge was actually half a heart that I needed for another recipe anyway. Oops.

It ended up being a happy accident, though, because these Chicken Quesadillas with Avocado Corn Salsa were born. And that's a very, very good thing.

Really all I did was keep the recipe the same but instead of making it into a chopped salad I took the grilled chicken and added it to the quesadillas. Then I turned the rest of the salad ingredients into a corn, tomato and avocado salsa reminiscent of this grilled corn salad we all absolutely love. Win-win all around.

Once again Baby Girl asked if I'd photograph her plate, too. This kid, she kills me with the cuteness. Also note, see how she has one triangle of quesadilla on her plate? Yeah, she ended up loving these so much she ate one of my triangles and one of SP's for a total of 3 pieces (aka almost an entire quesadilla to herself). Must be a growth spurt coming on...

Chicken Quesadillas with Avocado Corn Salsa
Inspired by How Sweet It Is

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 limes, juiced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise and trimmed of fat

cooking spray
4 burrito-size tortillas
4 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
4 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 cup sweet corn
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
1/4 red onion, diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive olive
1 lime, juiced

The night before (or a few hours before) combine olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper in a large plastic food storage bag. Add chicken and toss to coat evenly. Marinate in the fridge for 2-24 hours.

Heat a grill pan over medium-heat heat. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes, then flip and cook for another 4 minutes. Remove to a plate and let cool for a few minutes, then cut into chunks.

Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add a tortilla and cook both sides until they're spotty brown. Combine the shredded Monterey Jack and cheddar, then add 1/4th of the cheese and 1/4th of the chicken chunks. Fold the tortilla in half and cook until the cheese melts. Remove from the skillet and repeat with the remaining tortillas and chicken. Cut each quesadilla into triangles.

Combine the avocado, corn, tomatoes, and onion in a bowl, then toss with the salt and pepper. Add olive oil and lime juice, tossing well to coat. Season to taste and serve on top of the quesadillas.

Tropical Chicken Quesadillas with Pineapple-Avocado Salsa

I've had this recipe for Tropical Chicken Quesadillas with Mango-Avocado Salsa printed out for awhile but I wasn't sold on the mango. Then I had leftover pineapple from these Island Burgers with Pineapple-Lime Salsa and realized I could sub the pineapple for the mango.

I left the hot pepper out of the salsa because I'm not that into spice. I also opted to cook the onion until caramelized and leave out the red pepper because I don't particularly like peppers. As I was getting ready to cook the chicken I noticed the leftover spice rub from the BBQ Spiced Pork Tenderloin sitting on the counter. I decided to use it and wow, what a great idea. The flavors from the rub were perfect on the chicken and went so well with the onions and cheese.

But the real winner was the salsa combined with the quesadillas. The pineapple was a great substitute for the mango and when I put a little salsa on the quesadilla it was the perfect combination of tang from the pineapple, creaminess of the avocado and a slight bite from the red onion.

I can't wait to make these again.

Tropical Chicken Quesadillas with Pineapple-Avocado Salsa
Adapted from Apple a Day

For the salsa:
1 1/2 cups diced pineapple, cut into quarters (juice reserved)
1/2 avocado, peeled and diced
1 Roma tomato, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup thinly slicked red onion
Salt and pepper, to taste

For the quesadillas:
2 boneless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons ground ginger powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1/2 teaspoons crushed dried rosemary
2 teaspoons oil, divided
1 onion, thinly sliced
8 medium/soft taco size tortillas
1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican or cheddar cheese
Cooking spray

To make the salsa, combine all ingredients in a nonreactive bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Marinate the chicken breasts in the reserved pineapple juice for at least 1 hour and up to 6 hours.

Combine the brown sugar through dried rosemary in a bowl. Mix well. Remove the chicken from the pineapple juice and sprinkle the dry rub on the chicken breasts, coating evenly.

Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 350 degrees. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet. Sauté chicken until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with tinfoil and put in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Set aside to cool slightly, about 3 minutes. Cut into a small dice or shred.

While the chicken is cooking, heat the other teaspoon of oil in a nonstick skillet. Add the onions and saute until caramelized and brown, about 15 minutes.

Lay out four tortillas and assemble quesadillas in this order - cheese, onion, chicken, cheese. Top with remaining tortillas.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Lay quesadilla in the skillet and let cook until the bottom of the tortilla is golden and crispy. Flip and let cook until the other side is also golden and crispy and the cheese is melted. Repeat cooking process with remaining quesadillas. Serve immediately with salsa.

Pizza Quesadillas

These Pizza Quesadillas were an incredibly simple meal to put together. It's almost not worth writing up a recipe but I had to share it with you all. I made these quesadillas Saturday night, after a long day of swim lessons for Baby Girl, running errands and getting things done around the house. SP was lobbying for us to go out to eat but I really want to save money and knew eating at home would be better for us all. The most time-consuming part of this meal was cutting up the ingredients for the antipasto salad (sans meat and cheese) that I served alongside the quesadillas.


Full disclosure - the pizza sauce is store-bought. I wanted to keep these simple and since I don't have any pizza sauce in my freezer in the summer (I'm not keen on preheating my oven to 550 degrees when it's 90+ outside), I took the easy way out. SP has always wanted to try Don Pepino's pizza sauce so we bought a can. All I can say is wow. No artificial ingredients and less than 5 ingredients total, none of them unpronounceable. Nice.


These are a great, simple dinner or a quick throw-together lunch on a busy weekend. We will definitely be enjoying these again soon.

Pizza Quesadillas
As seen on The Girl Who Ate Everything

6 ounces sliced pepperoni
8 flour tortillas
16 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1 small can sliced black olives
1 (16-ounce) jar of pizza sauce
Cooking spray

Place three sheets of paper towels on a plate. Add pepperoni, using a triple layer of paper towels in the middle if necessary. Top with 3 more sheets. Microwave for 1 minute. Check pepperoni and if not crisp, microwave another 30 seconds. Pat off any excess fat with more paper towels.

Brush each tortilla with a thin layer of pizza sauce. Sprinkle 1/8 of the cheese on top of the sauce on the bottom tortilla. Repeat for remaining 3 tortillas. Top with pepperoni and other toppings, if desired. Sprinkle with another 1/8 of the cheese and place the other tortilla on top (sauce side in).

Preheat a medium skillet over medium heat. Spray with cooking spray. Gently place quesadilla in the pan and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side, until cheese is melted and tortillas are crispy. Slice into quarters and serve with a little bowl of warm pizza sauce for dipping.

Foodbuzz Tastemaker: Cheese Quesadillas

When I was pregnant with Baby Girl we went to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants for dinner. As you may know, pregnant woman aren't supposed to eat unpasteurized cheese. Not knowing much about Mexican cheeses, I asked our server what kind of cheese they used in their quesadillas. Imagine my surprise when he said American cheese. Obviously that's not very authentic, but I can see why they do it. American cheese has a nice mild flavor and melts beautifully.

When I was selected for the Kraft Singles Foodbuzz Tastemaker program I knew exactly what I wanted to make - quesadillas. I've been meaning to try American cheese ever since that night at the Mexican restaurant (almost 3 years ago - how is that possible!?) Baby Girl absolutely loves American cheese. She asks for a slice every day when we get home from daycare. And she's never met a carb she doesn't like. Quesadillas are a big hit in our house and something I should make more often, given their versatility and ease.


One of the things I loved about making these quesadillas was how easy they were. No cheese to shred saves time. I was able to make 4 quesadillas in a matter of minutes. They were cheesy and delicious, with a nice, mild flavor. Baby Girl likes hers plain but I had mine with diced tomato, diced avocado and sour cream.


I will absolutely make quesadillas with American cheese again. I love a good plain cheese quesadilla but the possibilities are endless in terms of fillings. A big thanks to Foodbuzz and Kraft for this opportunity. Baby Girl sends her thanks as well because she gets to eat the remaining cheese as an afternoon snack.

Simple Cheese Quesadilla

Cooking spray
4 flour tortillas
4 slices American cheese, such as Kraft Singles

Spray a griddle or large, non-stick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Toast one tortilla on both sides, then lay one slice of cheese, torn into pieces to fit, on half the tortilla. Fold the over half of the tortilla over to cover the cheese. Turn the heat down to low and flip the tortilla as needed to melt the cheese without burning the tortilla. Cut each quesadilla into three wedges. Serve with whatever toppings you like - sour cream, pico de gallo, avocado, lime wedges, etc.

As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a coupon for free Kraft Singles and a stipend.