How to Make Quesadillas with Your Kids

Including your kids when it’s time to whip up a meal exposes them to new ingredients, making cooking a wonderful way to help develop their palates and healthy eating habits. Plus, they’ll be more likely to eat what they make. Hooray!

Teaching your kids how to make quesadillas is also a clever way to let them flex their creativity as budding chefs (something my nephews love). Start with a basic cheese quesadilla. Once they have a handle on the essentials, your kiddos can customize their meal.

Why It’s Important to Cook with Kids

There are so many reasons to cook with kids. It provides you with bonding time—how many of us have fond memories of lending a hand to a loved one in the kitchen?

Cooking is also a great way to teach your kids about their cultural heritage, and other cultures as well. As the child of an immigrant, cooking side-by-side with my dad gave me a meaningful way to learn about my heritage, although I burnt a lot of rice in the process.

At the end of the day, cooking is one of those essential skills everyone should know, so it’s best to start your kids on the basics from an early age.

How to Make Quesadillas

You can also make quesadillas under the broiler.

Ingredients

4 flour tortillas, warmed
1-1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
1/2 cup salsa

Directions

Step 1: Assemble the quesadillas

A mother looks on as her son makes a quesadilla. He is adding shredded cheese to a tortilla to the frying pan. He is five years old and is wearing a long sleeved blue shirt, his mother is in a black long sleeved top. Her hair is tied back. They are in a home kitchen with white tiles and white cabinets. They are cooking on a gas range top stove. They are both looking at the food being prepared.

To create a kid-friendly workspace, place the tortillas on a baking sheet, then have your MasterChef Junior sprinkle the cheese and salsa across one tortilla. You can top with another tortilla right now, or plan to make a half quesadilla and fold it over later. Then, gently transfer the tortilla to a nonstick frying pan over medium heat.

For older kids, pop a tortilla directly in a nonstick frying pan, then sprinkle on the cheese.

Step 2: Watch carefully

A mother looks on as her son makes a quesadilla. He is flipping it over to cook the other side in the frying pan. He is five years old and is wearing a long sleeved blue shirt, his mother is in a black long sleeved top. Her hair is tied back. They are in a home kitchen with white tiles and white cabinets. They are cooking on a gas range top stove. They are both looking at the food being prepared.

Together, keep an eye on the quesadilla. You want to know when the cheese starts to melt, so you can use a spatula to check the underside of the tortilla. (This is a task for the grown-ups.) Once the tortilla is golden brown, it’s time to fold or flip.

Fold: If you’re making a half quesadilla, use the spatula to fold your quesadilla in half, sandwiching all the melty cheese goodness in the middle.

Flip: If you’re making a whole quesadilla, now’s the time to flip. Using a spatula, flip the whole quesadilla. Cook until the other side is golden brown, too.

Step 3: Slice into wedges

Transfer the quesadillas to a cutting board. Cut them into wedges and plate them. Older kids can do this step themselves with a pizza cutter. Of course, they’ll be hot, so make sure your chefs wait a minute before diving in!

More Ideas for Quesadilla Fillings

The beauty of the humble quesadilla is that there are endless variations. Here are a couple of our go-to combos:

Pack some protein in with shredded chicken breast. It’s a terrific way to use leftovers.
Pop in some pepperoni for the ultimate pizza-dilla hybrid.
If you have a can of beans in the pantry, this recipe for Bean & Cheese Quesadillas is perfect for picky eaters.
Make breakfast for dinner with Cheesy Egg Quesadillas.

How to Serve Your Quesadillas

There are so many fabulous sides you can serve up with quesadillas. You can stick with the theme and opt for Mexican side dishes like elotes (Mexican street corn), chiles rellenos or homemade guacamole. Rice and beans are never out of place when quesadillas are on the menu. If your quesadillas are heavy on the meat and cheese, get in some greens with a simple salad. You can keep it light with a simple soup, too. Tomato is always a winner!

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