Pimento Cheese Chicken Quesadillas with Jalapeños.
Helllllllllo lover.
In what might be the best or worst decision I’ve ever made, I’m combining two celebrations in one for this recipe.
Oh yes I am.
PIMENTO CHEESE CHICKEN QUESADILLAS. Say it with me.
These might be the cheesiest (and spiciest!) things to ever come out of my kitchen.
Let me tell you how much Eddie loved these. He instantly ate an entire quesadilla as soon as I finished photographing them. A few hours later, he reheated the remaining quesadilla and ate it again. And then was still talking about them the next day. And he already asked for them again tonight!
They are so cheesy that I could just die.
Also, I totally cheated here and used rotisserie chicken. We don’t have our normal stash of cooked, shredded chicken since our kitchen is still in shambles, so I grabbed a warm one at the grocery store and shredded it myself.
Which, can we note, is huuuuge. Because I don’t think I’ve touched rotisserie chicken since before I was pregnant with Max! Every time Eddie brought one home that year, I would retreat to our room and try to keep out the smell. It took me about three years to get over that, but here we are. One of those weird things for me.
The other part about these quesadillas that I deem completely necessarily: the spicy, pickled jalapeños. Whyyyy are pickled things so good. Why? I can never get enough, and I normally don’t even do spicy. These add such perfect heat to an otherwise cheesy overload.
Can I say it’s classy trashy food? Pretty sure that’s a thing.
So I would definitely say that your weekend meal is SET.
Pimento Cheese Chicken Quesadillas with Jalapeños
Ingredients
pimento cheese
- 12 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese freshly grated
- 1 4-ounce jar of pimentos, drained
- 4 ounces 1/2 block cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
quesadillas
- 4 8-inch flour tortillas
- 1 cup cooked and shredded chicken breasts
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 cup pickled jalapeños
- 2 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese freshly grated
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- for serving: cherry tomatoes avocado, lime wedges
Instructions
pimento cheese
- Add all ingredients together in a large bowl and mix well until combined. You will have some leftovers, so store it in a sealed container in the fridge! Best dip with crackers and veggies, woohoo!
quesadillas
- to assemble the quesadillas, spread a few tablespoons of the pimento cheese on one side of the tortilla. Top with 1/2 cup of the chicken and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of the chili powder. Add 1/4 cup of the jalapeños on top (add less if you’re not into spicy!) and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese. Top with the other tortilla. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and chicken.
- Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat. For each quesadilla, I melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the skillet and add the quesadilla, cooking on both sides until golden. I cook it about 5 minutes per side, just so the tortillas are super crispy and the cheese is very melty. Serve with extra jalapeños, tomatoes and avocado. With a spritz of lime!
Did you make this recipe?
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I appreciate you so much!
But oh no what do we drink with these? Do we need a mint julep margarita?
53 Comments on “Pimento Cheese Chicken Quesadillas with Jalapeños.”
i literally read the title of the post & thought “OH NO SHE DIIIDN’T”…THESE.ARE.EVERYTHING. yes to quesadillas. yes to pimento cheese. YES to pickled jalapenos. thank you for ensuring chris & i eat nothing but quesadillas for the rest of our lives. xx
hahahah you kill me! xo
Ummmm, pimento cheese is HEAVENLY!!!! My bf is from Virginia and always talks about these little tea sandwiches that his mom would make. So I make it for him from time to time and am always so glad that I did because it’s addictive. This is such a good idea to do with the leftovers!!! So, so yummy!!!
i love that!! so cute!
My mom always makes waaaaaay too much pimento cheese for every holiday. I scoop crackerfuls every time I walk by it, but thanks for giving us a legit way to make a meal out of it.
it’s just sooooo good.
sooooo, we are having these for dinner tonight, right? Or to state that better, will you please make these for dinner tonight?
But wait…. what two celebrations are we celebrating?
cinco de mayo + the kentucky derby!
I only have yellow cheddar cheese on hand. . . it won’t have the look, but will work, right?
for sure! i actually used a mix of white and yellow in my pimento cheese this time!
i was literally just saying two things the other day – 1) that i wanted to make quesadillas and 2) that i didn’t know what pimento cheese was. haha
these are seriously drool-worthy!!!
ha!!! how funny is that. now you can try both!
This is just what I needed after a trip to Charleston where pimento cheese was everywhere and I became obsessed!!
thanks claire!
Oh my goodness… I just do not even know how to express how happy I am right now. On
xoxoxo
WHAT THE WHAT. GIVEME.
ha i KNOW
Welllllllllll I was planning on making your rosemary chicken, bacon, and avocado salad for dinner tonight BUT it’s cold & rainy here in STL and I’m very easily swayed, so pimento cheese chicken quesadillas it is. :D
(And P.S. maybe it’s just my computer, but the recipe is displaying the pimento cheese ingredients twice.)
sorry about that! i fixed it, thanks for letting me know. :)
oh my. these sound super rich but so delicious! normally not into pickled jalapeno but i think the tang and spice here would be good against all that pimento cheese (:
thanks heather. :)
oh. my.
I’ve recently discovered a weakness for pimento, this is HAPPENING.
thanks allie!
Juicy Lucys (cheese stuffed burgers) are a THING here in the Twin Cities, and a couple years ago I made pimento cheese Juicy Lucys as an intro to pimento cheese and my world was forever changed. This sounds like a good addition to my growing collection of pimento cheese inclusive recipes.
I trust that the Mint Julep Margarita recipe is coming tomorrow ;-)
i am dying to try one!!
This is totally my kind of food!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
thanks paige!
These almost brought an absurdly inappropriate tear to my eye because they look just like my favorite meal from a bar in my hometown!! Except they add bacon and grill the chicken ughhhh so good. It’s been too long!
bahhhh i should have added bacon!
The PERFECT meal for celebrations!! There’s no holding back!
thanks angelina!
awesome meal and very colorful!
thank you!
Hi
Do you really add 2 jars of pimento cheese in? And 2 of just about everything? It seems the recipe repeats itself so want to make sure this is intentional and not a mistake… sorry! I just cannot figure out why I am seeing double the ingredients listed when it is all added in at the same time… help me figure this out!! I LOVE pimento cheese..
haha hi! i fixed it, i have no idea what i did to make it show up twice! sorry about that! just one list of ingredients. :)
oh my word these sound heavenly! i love pimento cheese but never would have thought to put it on a quesedilla! and i’m all about some spicy food so give me allllllllll the jalepenos!
I made cheese quesadillas last night and now I’m super sad they weren’t these quesadillas.
My favorite thing to do with pimento cheese is grilled cheese sandwiches. Ridiculous. This may be my new favorite thing, though. Other than just spooning it into my face.
I was thinking about making just the pimento cheese as an appetizer for a barbecue I am having for 6 people (myself included). About how much does the recipe make, and do you think a single batch would be enough? It looks pretty rich. Also I know if this would even make a difference given all of the glorious cheese, but do you think one could substitute all or part of the Mayo for NF Greek yogurt?
This food looks so delicious it is delicious
The recipe I just found out, thank you for sharing. Your article is useful
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Wow, it’s awesome!
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I had saved these recipes, thinking they all looked fantastic, and made a batch of the pimento cheese soon after. Today I got home and wanted a quick meal so went back to check them out, finding the quesadilla. I used a frozen breaded chicken filet but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. It was a quick and scrumptious meal, and a little different from what I might usually make.
The photographs of these foods on the Kentucky Derby recipes are so inspiring. I had to save them and use them. And so glad I did.