Dinner ideas do not come to me very often. I was pretty excited to create these BBQ Chicken & Avocado Quesadillas for my kids the other night.
(photos updated June 2016)
PIN IT NOW TO SAVE THIS RECIPE FOR LATER!
In fact, when I have to come up with a dinner idea on the spot, I blank completely.
Thank goodness for Pinterest
and good bloggy friends who post yummy dinners.
Plus, dinner is much harder to photograph…
all my natural lighting from my front windows is gone
by the time I have dinner plated up.
Now if you asked me about a dessert recipe…
I could probably rattle off at least 10 decadent options for you.
And I probably have all the ingredients in my pantry to make those dessert right away.
Dessert is so much easier to photograph too.
I’m not sure why my brain doesn’t like dinner.
Maybe all the chocolate chips and homemade oatmeal cream pies have warped it totally.
It’s a good thing that my kids are very active
because there are some night when the hubby is working long hours,
that we exist on cereal, pancakes, and of course leftovers.
Let’s not forget the token chicken nuggets and mac & cheese that happens all the time too.
This easy dinner was based on the leftovers from the other night.
All day I was thinking about the chicken that we had in the fridge.
What could we do with it other than have another salad again???
For some odd reason I thought about the avocado sitting on the counter,
and suddenly all I could think about
was putting it in a grilled cheese sandwich or a quesadilla.
And do you know what? Cheese, chicken, and avocados are delicious together.
These BBQ Chicken & Avocado Quesadillas were so good that I just had to share it with you right away.
There is still chicken left in the fridge and one more ripe avocado…
can you guess what I am making for lunch again today???
(original photo from May 2012)
Yield: 8 quesadilla wedges
BBQ Chicken & Avocado Quesadillas
Cheese quesadillas filled with barbecue chicken and avocado chunks makes a great easy dinner recipe. This meal always disappears in our house.
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
5 minutes
Total Time
15 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 flour tortillas
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded or finely diced cooked chicken
- 1/4 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 ripe avocado, diced
Instructions
- Heat a skillet on medium heat.
- Stir together the chicken and barbecue sauce.
- Place 2 tortilla shells side by side in the bottom of the pan and sprinkle half of each tortilla with cheese. Top with half the chicken mixture and 1/2 of the avocado chunks. Sprinkle with cheese.
- Fold the tortillas over and cook until the bottom is golden brown. Flip the quesadillas over carefully and heat the opposite side until that side is golden brown and the cheese is melted.
- Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Cut each tortilla in half. Serve immediately. Makes 8 wedges.
Katie says
Um, perfect timing on this post! Last night, I was trying to figure out what I could do with an avocado, and then I remembered this dinner idea!! Better yet, I had leftover roasted chicken from the night before! Now, we were out of bbq sauce, but I threw some stuff together that resembled it, and it was fabulous!
Carole says
Nice use of avocado. It would be super if you linked this post in to Food on Friday Series which is all about avocado this week.
Amie says
What exactly is BBQ chicken? The chicken in your picture looks saucy. Like a “pulled chicken” thing.
Or is it a chicken that has been barbecued and shredded?
Jocelyn Brubaker says
Yes, it is shredded chicken that has barbecue sauce on it. Sorry for the confusion. I updated the recipe to reflect that.
Molly says
I made this for lunch yesterday, well half of one as I only had 1 tortilla left, and I was certainly not disappointed (though I am disappointed now that I don’t have any more tortillas and would love to have this for lunch again!). Such a great flavor combination, yum!
I struggle with dinner ideas too, usually just circulating through the same “tried and true” recipes. I like to save the experimenting for the fun stuff!
Autumn says
I just tried this recipe using canned chicken and it tasted great and was quick! Kids asked me to make it again.
Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
Love that it’s only a few ingredients and looks delicious.
Michele says
All my favorite things together. Can’t wait to give this a try.
Donna says
Made these today! YUMMY! Added some caramelized onions. Definitely a keeper! Thx
Christie+-+Food+Done+Light says
Yum! Avocados make everything delicious. Love how they will taste in this quesadilla.
lamia says
Luck on my side or what. I had bbq cgicken left over, rioe avocados sitting in my fruit bowl and i searched quesadillas on pinterest and bang all my ingrediebts showed up. My boys will love this. Thanks. Pinterest is always a saviour.
Brittany says
I made these for dinner last night and they were SO good. Highly recommend to anyone looking for a quick, delicious dinner or lunch idea.
Mandy says
Could you use corn tortillas instead?
Jocelyn Brubaker says
You could use them if you like. I prefer flour tortillas in my quesadillas. Feel free to use whichever you like best 🙂
Mandy says
Can you use corn tortillas instead?
Kathleen M says
Totally needed a different easy quick idea for tonight. I am going to grab a rotisserie chicken and make it. We have 4 kids and left over chicken is just a rare thing. Haha
April says
Unlike most other comments, I made these last night to try and they wer delicious!! I only had Monterey Jack cheese and sweet honey BBQ sauce, frozen grilled chicken from Tyson, tortillas, and an avocado. It actually all went together perfectly!! Thanks for the recipe! It’s a new staple in our house!
Jocelyn says
I am so glad to hear you tried the recipe and loved it! It’s one of our favorites too!
April says
I forgot to include we used ranch as a dipping sauce cause my son wasn’t too fond of the avocado. We all ended up loving it with it.