Crispy, creamy, oven baked quesadillas are a game-changer in producing a delicious classic for a crowd!
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Quesadillas are one of my personal favorite comfort meals. Melted, gooey cheese and delicious stuffings all between two perfectly crisped tortillas, it honestly doesn’t get much better. But when it comes to making quesadillas for the masses, it can be a tedious process. Enter the sheet pan quesadilla! With this recipe, you can easily feed a crowd without having to stand over the hot stove flipping tortillas all evening – you get the same super crisp exterior and cheesy inside, but with a fraction of the effort. The chicken is mixed with a creamy, tangy avocado crema-like sauce, surrounded by cheese, and baked to perfection in the oven!
Looking for more easy dinners? Try our Sheet Pan Greek Chicken and Potatoes, Sheet Pan Sweet and Sour Chicken, and our Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas!
Oven Chicken Quesadilla Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds of shredded chicken
- 10 flour tortillas
- 4 cups of shredded cheese
- 1 avocado
- Juice of 3 limes
- ½ cup of cilantro
- ¼ cup of sour cream
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- ¼ teaspoon of pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil or melted butter
Ingredient Modifications
- Make it gluten free. This recipe works best with a flour-like tortilla. We recommend using this gluten free version to sub for regular tortillas. The tortilla needs to be pliable to be able to wrap around the filling, so if you use an almond or cassava-based tortilla, make sure to steam or heat them before wrapping. We don’t recommend corn tortillas for this reason because the tortillas tend to crack and the cheese melts out the sides.
- Use a different filling. You can sub in any protein or sauce of choice to make this filling, the filling of your dreams! It would be super tasty with carnitas and green chili or ground beef and red sauce.
- Make it vegetarian. Use a trio of cheeses, vegetables (like corn, bell peppers, onions), and black beans for the filling for a deliciously, crispy, veggie quesadilla.
- Make it BBQ. Toss your chicken in your favorite BBQ sauce to make a BBQ quesadilla.
- Make a cheesesteak. Add some steak strips, sauteed bell peppers and onions, and provolone for a Philly cheesesteak quesadilla.
- Make a breakfast quesadilla. Add scrambled eggs, cheese, and bacon for a breakfast version.
How to Make a Quesadilla in the Oven
- Preheat. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Make the sauce. To a blender, add the avocado, lime juice, cilantro, sour cream, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.
- Coat the chicken. In a medium size bowl, toss the chicken in half of the avocado crema mixture.
- Prep the baking sheet. Brush the bottom of a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Line the tortillas. Place two tortillas in the center of the sheet, then drape two tortillas on each side, one on the bottom, and one on the top, overlapping them with the tortillas in the center of the baking sheet.
- Add fillings. Add a layer of cheese on top of the tortillas. Spread the chicken mixture on top, then add the remaining cheese on top of the chicken.
- Build the quesadilla. Place two tortillas on top of the fillings (similar to the bottom of the pan) and start to fold the tortillas from the bottom over the top of the mixture until everything is enclosed inside.
- Brush with oil. Brush the top of the tortillas with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil until lightly coated, then place another baking sheet on top of the folded tortillas (the quesadilla will be sandwiched in between the baking sheets).
- Bake. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the top baking sheet and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until the top of the tortillas is browned.
- Serve and enjoy! Let cool slightly, slice, serve alongside remaining avocado crema, and enjoy!
Add-Ins
The options for add-ins are truly endless. Here are some ideas:
- Add vegetables. Add your favorite sauteed vegetables to the mix. Bell pepper, onion, and corn would be really tasty.
- Add beans. Black, pinto, or refried beans would be perfect accompaniments.
- Add spice. If you like a little spice with your meal, add some sliced or pickled jalapenos. Or even better, blend a jalapeno in with your avocado crema sauce!
Topping Suggestions
We recommend saving half of the avocado crema to top your quesadilla. You also can’t go wrong with a traditional pico. Mango salsa gives a tropical twist that plays well with the flavors of the crema.
How to Serve
This quesadilla is a hearty meal all on its own, but a black bean and corn salsa or chips and 7 layer dip would be super tasty alongside the chicken quesadilla if you want to add a little more to the meal.
How to Store and Reheat
To store, allow your quesadilla to cool completely, then store in a container in the fridge for 3-5 days. To reheat, microwave or heat in a saute pan on the stove over medium heat until heated through. For the crispiest quesadilla, reheat in the oven at 350°F until the outside is crisp and the inside is heated through.
Frequently Asked Questions
Any standard cookie sheet (16” x 14”) or sheet pan (18” x 13”) will work for this recipe, you’ll just need two of them!
These quesadillas are cooked at 425℉.
This recipe bakes for 25-30 minutes until the outer exterior of the tortillas is nice and crisped.
The secret to crispy quesadillas is brushing the sheet pan and the top of the tortillas with oil, then using a second sheet pan to sandwich the quesadilla in the middle. This ensures the quesadilla stays together and gets crispy on all sides.
We love a simple Mexican blend of cheeses for our quesadillas, but really any shredded cheese of your preference will work!
More Favorite Chicken Recipes
Baked Chicken Quesadilla in Oven
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds chicken shredded
- 10 flour tortillas (gluten free or regular)
- 4 cups Mexican-blend cheese shredded
- 1 large avocado (or 2 medium)
- 3 limes juiced
- ½ cup cilantro
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil (or melted butter)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425℉.
- To a blender, add the avocado, lime juice, cilantro, sour cream, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth.
- In a medium size bowl, toss the chicken in half of the avocado crema mixture.
- Brush the bottom of a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Place two tortillas in the center of the sheet, then drape two tortillas on each side, one on the bottom, and one on the top, overlapping them with the tortillas in the center of the baking sheet.
- Add a layer of cheese on top of the tortillas. Spread the chicken mixture on top, then add the remaining cheese on top of the chicken.
- Place two tortillas on top of the fillings (similar to the bottom of the pan) and start to fold the tortillas from the bottom over top of the mixture until everything is enclosed inside.
- Brush the top of the tortillas with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil until lightly coated, then place another baking sheet on top of the folded tortillas (the quesadilla will be sandwiched in between the baking sheets).
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the top baking sheet and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until the top of the tortillas is browned.
- Let cool slightly, slice, serve alongside remaining avocado crema, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
- Make it gluten free. This recipe works best with a flour-like tortilla. We recommend using this gluten free version to sub for regular tortillas. The tortilla needs to be pliable to be able to wrap around the filling, so if you use an almond or cassava-based tortilla, make sure to steam or heat them before wrapping. We don’t recommend corn tortillas for this reason because the tortillas tend to crack and the cheese melts out the sides.
- Use a different filling. You can sub in any protein or sauce of choice to make this filling the filling of your dreams! It would be super tasty with carnitas and green chili or ground beef and red sauce.
- Make it spicy. Add a jalapeño to the avocado crema mixture to make a spicy filling/dipping sauce.
- Make it vegetarian. Use a trio of cheeses, vegetables (like corn, bell peppers, onions), and black beans for the filling for a deliciously, crispy, veggie quesadilla.
- Make it BBQ. Toss your chicken in your favorite BBQ sauce to make a BBQ quesadilla
- Make a cheesesteak. Add some steak strips, sauteed bell peppers and onions, and provolone for a philly cheesesteak quesadilla.
- Make a breakfast quesadilla. Add scrambled eggs, cheese, and bacon for a breakfast version.
This sheet pan quesadilla is genius! And so delicious! I found I only needed half the chicken and cheese, and I subbed Greek yogurt for the sour cream in the avocado sauce, which BTW was bomb! I’m looking forward to making this again with your other suggestions!
Amazing, Laurie! We’re so glad you loved this recipe. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us!
Great recipe! I reduced the cooking time by about 5 minutes. Next time I plan to add peppers and onions too!
Great idea, Emily! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I made these quesadillas for a friend dinner and they were SUCH A hit! They turned out SO delicious and crispy (even though I accidentally used the wrong kind of pan). I wouldn’t have thought of coating them in the avocado sauce *before* baking but it turned out so delicious. I served it with roasted veggies, the Fed & Fit pumpkin dump cake and nonalcoholic margaritas – 11/10 would recommend! Thank you for another great recipe โกฬ
WOW! What an awesome friend you are, Mary! We’re so glad you all loved these recipes!
These were delicious and quick to make. They fed a crowd at our house. The avacado sauce is amazing. Will be making this again.
We’re so glad you all enjoyed this recipe, Melissa!!
This was really yummy! The sauce is delicious – love that part of it was used on the chicken itself and the rest as a dipping sauce.
We added black beans to our and that was a good addition.
YUM! Black beans are a great idea!! We are so happy you enjoyed it, Whitney!
I loved this recipe. I had never made a sheet pan quesadilla before and even though I picked up the wrong size tortillas, it worked great! My somewhat picky daughter was initially skeptical but ended up loving them and ate multiple portions. I was thrilled! The recipe was easy, flavorful, family-friendly, and will be added to my rotation of recipes!
Yay, Erinn!! We are so happy you loved them! Major win that they were hit with your daughter! Thank you so much for taking the time to share with us!
These were super easy to make and incredibly tasty! My husband loved the cilantro dipping sauce, but the cilantro was a little much for my liking so I used smashed avocado as a topping. This is definitely going in my dinner rotation.
Great idea on the avocado as topping, Jennifer! We are so happy you and your husband loved it!
Our family loved these and we will definitely be making them again for guests or parties. We made them with half corn tortillas and half flour, and easily accommodated food restrictions that way.
Two things I think could improve the recipe itself though – an exact measurement on the lime juice rather than just quantity of limes; our limes were pretty juicy, and it made for some pretty tart cream. Wondering that was how the recipe intended or not.
The other note would be that they worked best with burrito size tortillas (as opposed to taco size); we used a combo of both & the burrito size made the folding easier!
We are so happy your and your family enjoyed, Julie! Great point on the limes! We like keep that specific measurement pretty general as it should be altered to taste, but a good rule of thumb is: an average sized lime yields about 2 tablespoons of juice. So somewhere around 6 tablespoons, give or take, should be perfect!
Great tip for the tortillas too! Thank you so much for taking the time to share!