I often make chicken quesadillas for dinner when I have some leftover cooked chicken. The other night I had cut up a whole chicken into 10 pieces (2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and then cut each half breast in half as none of us eat a whole breast piece). Tonight, I pulled the meat off the leftover pieces. (I would normally save the bones and wings for making broth but I am overloaded on broth in the freezer right now!)
I took the meat and diced it, then put it in a saucepan with some red taco sauce and water. Basically, I emptied the bottle of “red taco sauce” then filled it halfway with warm water, shook it, then poured that into the pan with the chicken.
In the past, I’ve simmered leftover cooked chicken with cumin and chili powder or green chili sauce. But tonight was a hands-down winner. The red taco sauce added just the right amount of spice (but not too hot).
After the chicken had simmered a bit (20 minutes?) with the sauce, I started the quesadillas. Buttered one side of a flour tortilla and laid it down in a medium hot skillet. Spread some chicken across half of it, then some grated cheese. (I had a Mexican blend but have used just plain cheddar in the past.) Folded the tortilla in half and then cooked until lightly browned. Flipped over and lightly browned the other side. Put it on the cutting board and cut in quarters.
I made up some guacamole with half an avocado, a pressed garlic clove, and some lime juice and salt. We had that, some sour cream, and salsa at the table as well.
Sounds great! My chicken quesadillas usually come from having leftover chicken lying around, and there’s a definite taste difference when the innards of the quesadilla have been made specially for that purpose.