Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Quesadillas

The challenge

Achieving a crisp, dinner-worthy quesadilla at home.

The convention

Cooking in a skillet on the stovetop, which risks sogginess or tedium.

The quickie

Improvising a griddle using the grill and a baking sheet.

Sports bars have hijacked the quesadilla, but we’re utterly game to replicate the cheesy sandwich at home by mimicking commercial kitchen griddles. We wanted to create a quesadilla at home, one that would feature a crisp tortilla filled with tasty ingredients and that wouldn’t fall apart. And we wanted to bulk the dish up from appetizer status to main course.

At home, quesadillas are usually cooked in the skillet with oil, so it’s hard not to end up with soggy tortillas. Plus, space in the skillet is limited, so you either have to work in batches or try to jam everything in, which makes flipping a challenge. We decided to avoid these pitfalls—and add tons of smoky flavor—by moving the entire operation to the grill.

HOW THIS QUICKIE WORKS

• The chicken and vegetables are grilled and thinly sliced
• A grill is transformed into a griddle by topping it with a baking sheet, ensuring a roomy surface to heat up crisp and tasty tortillas
• The quesadillas are assembled with filling, topped with cheese, sealed, and griddled

HOW THIS QUICKIE COOKS UP

The quesadillas only need to grill for about 4 minutes on each side before the tortilla wrappers are golden brown and crisp. When they are cut into wedges and served, not only do the flavors of the fillings meld beautifully, there are absolutely no signs of sogginess. The quesadillas are so good, quick, and easy to make that we’ve all but sworn off sports-bar menus completely.