Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas

When I first met my boyfriend, I quickly learned that he has two favourite ingredients: cheese and Franks red hot sauce. Years later, this is still applicable to his life. This week, I pushed his comfort zone with some unrelated (though successful!) food experiments, so I wanted to thank him with this rich, cheesey, gooey, spicy rendition of quesadillas.

I started this recipe with raw chicken thighs, because that's what I already had on hand. If you had some leftover roasted/rotisserie/already shredded chicken, or a couple of chicken breasts to subsitute instead, it would still definitely be delicious. If you don't have a slow cooker, I would recommend poaching the chicken in a saucepan with a little bit of water and adding the seasonings afterwards. Also, feel free to use buffalo chicken sauce rather than making your own like I did. I already have an issue with condiments taking over my fridge (gotta catch 'em all!) so when an opportunity presents itself to help streamline my condiment collection, it's a wise decision to do so.

Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas
Author: Amanda
Difficulty: easy
Serves: 4 quesadillas

Ingredients

• 3 chicken thighs (or 2 chicken breasts, or ~2 cups shredded cooked chicken)
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup vinegar-based hot sauce, such as Franks
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 cup crumbled bleu cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3-4 green onions
• 4 ten inch tortillas

Directions
Cook chicken in slow cooker with melted butter and hot sauce on low for approximately three hours, or until done and sauce is not burnt up the sides of the slow cooker. Shred chicken with two forks, and add cheeses and garlic powder. Ensure cheese is melted and well incorporated. Remove from slow cooker and allow to chill to improve texture. Spoon 2 tablespoons of chicken mixture onto one half of a tortilla and fold over. Fry in an ungreased skillet on low-medium heat, moving frequently on the pan to avoid sticking, and flip once to dry fry the other side. Remove from heat, cut into wedges, and serve.


Step-by-Step Photos

Place chicken in slow cooker and add melted butter and hot sauce. Cook on low for approximately 3 hours or 1 1/2 hours on high.

Keep an eye on the chicken as some slow cookers may differ from others. This is how mine looked after about three hours. The chicken is cooked but the sauce has not started burning on the sides of the vessel.

Shred the cooked chicken with two forks. If you are already working with shredded and cooked chicken, simply add the chicken to the hot sauce mixture and warm up in a saucepan.

Add the cream cheese and crumbled bleu cheese to the shredded chicken. Also add the garlic powder. Break up the cream cheese so that it melts easier. I left the slow cooker on for 10-15 minutes to allow everything to melt sufficiently.

Ensure the cheese is mixed well into the chicken and hot sauce. At this point, if you wanted to call it quits and have buffalo chicken dip instead, I doubt anyone would fault you. The chicken mixture was a little too saucy at this stage for me to comfortably turn it into a quesadilla - I was afraid it would all spill out into the skillet and all of my hard work would be for naught. So, I did the logical thing and transferred it to another bowl to chill in the fridge.

I chilled it for about 45 minutes, enough to give it a bit of texture again. Of course, allowing the chicken mixture to chill separately and mixing it with softened cream cheese would also work in a pinch, but I wanted an even distribution of both cheeses throughout. Slice green onions and stir them in.

Spoon 2 tablespoons onto one half of a tortilla and spread evenly, leaving a one-inch border around the edges to help limit spill-over. Fold the tortilla in half and gently press down to secure.

On an ungreased skillet on low-medium heat, place the quesadilla and frequently rotate it around so it doesn't stick to the pan. Occasionally lift to check for doneness, and flip once to cook the other side.

Remove from heat and use a knife or pizza cutter to cut into wedges.

Serve! My boyfriend dipped his in some sour cream, but I found them perfectly rich on their own.