Whew, life has been hectic lately, y’all! But it’s a good hectic. In addition to launching the new Budget Bytes app (p.s. the Android app is officially coming!), I’m in the process of selling my home in New Orleans and relocating to Nashville. So yeah, my days have been CRA-ZY. But I still need to eat! So just before I left for my 8 hour drive to Nashville the other day I made these super fast, easy, and deliciously smoky Roasted Corn Quesadillas.
Roasted Frozen Corn is Amazing
The star of these quesadillas is this amazing frozen roasted corn that I got at Trader Joes. I’m beginning to see similar products pop up other places too, like Whole Foods. The corn is charred before it’s frozen and it has the most incredible smoky flavor. It’s kind of like fire roasted canned tomatoes versus plain canned tomatoes, except times ten. It’s seriously a game-changing ingredient.
If you can’t find the frozen fire roasted corn I think these quesadillas would still be quite good. You can experiment with blistering the corn in a cast iron skillet like I did for my Warm Corn and Avocado Salad, although it doesn’t quite impart the level of smokiness as the store bought fire roasted corn.
Make Your Roasted Corn Quesadillas Vegetarian
And for all of my vegetarian friends, try swapping out the chicken for a drained and rinsed can of black beans or pinto beans. :)
Roasted Corn Quesadillas
Servings 7 8″ quesadillasIngredients
- 1.5 cups chopped cooked chicken* ($2.50)
- 1 cup frozen roasted corn kernels ($0.75)
- 2 green onions, sliced ($0.20)
- 4 oz can diced green chiles, drained ($1.27)
- 4 oz shredded cheese* ($1.08)
- 1/4 tsp cumin ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 7 8-inch tortillas ($1.67)
Instructions
- Combine the chopped chicken, corn kernels (no need to thaw first), sliced green onions, diced green chiles, shredded cheese, cumin, and salt in a bowl. Stir until everything is evenly combined.
- Place 1/2 cup of the chicken and corn mixture in each tortilla, spreading it over 1/2 of the surface, then folding the tortilla to close. Repeat until you run out of filling (I filled 7 tortillas before running out).
- Place the quesadillas in a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Cook on each side until the tortillas are brown and crispy and the filling is melted and gooey. Cut each quesadilla into thirds and serve.
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Notes
Nutrition
How to Make Roasted Corn Quesadillas – Step by Step Photos
These are the main ingredients for the quesadillas, and it looks like I forgot to flip the can of green chiles on its side so you can actually see the label. LOL! But anyway… 2 sliced green onions, 4oz. of cheese (shredded), 4oz. can of diced green chiles, about 1.5 cups chopped cooked chicken, and 1 cup of frozen roasted corn. You don’t have to use the cheese I have pictured above, I just wanted to try it and it was a reasonable price, so I picked it up. It tastes almost exactly like Monterey Jack, which is what I had planned on using to begin with. 👍
Place the green onions, cheese, green chiles, chicken, and corn in a bowl, along with 1/4 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir until everything is evenly combined.
Place about 1/2 cup of the corn and chicken filling in each 8-inch tortilla, spread it over half of the surface, then fold the tortilla to close. I was able to fill seven tortillas before I ran out of filling.
To cook the quesadillas, place them in a dry skillet over medium-low heat. Cook on each side until the tortillas are brown and crispy and the filling is melted and gooey. Slice into thirds and serve! Easy and fast!
If you want to freeze your quesadillas for later, just fill and fold, but do not cook in the skillet before freezing. Stack the uncooked quesadillas with a layer of parchment paper between each, place them in a gallon-size freezer bag, and pop them in the freezer. To cook from frozen, let thaw at room temperature for about 15 minutes, then cook over low heat until crispy on the outside and melted on the side. Make sure not to use higher heat or the inside will likely not heat through before the tortilla browns.
Delicious! I used a can of corn kernels ($0.64), and heated them on medium low heat on the stove for 10 minutes using olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika (Thanks Meredith!). I also added reheated pinto beans (from a big batch of cooked dry beans stored in the freezer.) Tasty and great for using up ingredients on hand! Will be making again!
Very tasty! I used 2 chicken breasts (chopped) and one 8 oz bag of cheese since I like my quesadillas extra cheesy. I also used bigger 10″ tortillas and was able to make 5 servings. This meal was so easy and perfect for a busy night.
Taco Tuesday is a staple in our house, so I turned these quesadillas into tacos so everyone could customize theirs. It’s hard to argue with something that’s simple and still delicious!
I had a couple chicken thighs leftover from another B.B recipe and used this roasted corn, chicken filling for enchiladas with your green Chile enchiladas sauce. Topped them with white crumbled cheese! Yummy
I didn’t have frozen roasted corn so I used regular frozen corn and tossed it in some oil, paprika, and salt, then baked it in my toaster oven for about 20 minutes until it was blistered.
I used a can of pinto beans instead of chicken and got 6 quesadillas (using Aldi low carb tortillas). You’d want to serve this with taco rice or something to make this a bigger meal.
Very tasty, but a bit dry on it’s own. I’m gonna borrow from the ideas in the comments and try it with a little guacamole or something. Overall though, SUPER easy to make and very flavorful. As always, grateful to you for making it possible for me to feed myself.
Just tried these tonight. They were soooo good! My husband loved them! Thank you for the great recipe!
We used canned corn and ground chicken and it still worked well. Another great budget bytes meal!