Many families love any kind of meal in the Mexican or Tex-Mex category. This recipe for chicken cheese crisps is no exception. Similar to quesadillas, these crisps are hearty and satisfying. Even better, they’re quick and easy to make.
The recipe meets our two main criteria for meals that stay in our regular rotation: families like it and it takes less than 20 minutes to make. It doesn’t take a long time to clean up, either. You can still give your family a home-cooked meal and you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen either cooking or cleaning.
Tortilla Cheese Crisps
This recipe is simple to make but is actually pretty healthy. With just a few ingredients, there’s not much that can make it unhealthy. But you can make it even healthier by choosing whole wheat tortillas instead of regular ones. You can even use low-fat cheese, although be aware that it doesn’t usually melt as well.
By cooking them in a grill pan or griddle, you get a nice crispy crunch to the tortillas. It’s satisfying to have crispy tortillas with gooey cheese and saucy chicken in the middle. We recommend these tortilla cheese crisps served with sour cream, but you can opt to use ranch instead as well.
What makes this recipe such a time-saver is that it has so few ingredients. But even more than that, it becomes even easier because you use pre-cooked chicken. Whether you use leftover pre-cooked or grilled chicken from a previous meal or choose to buy a rotisserie chicken instead, you cut out the most time-consuming step of making tortilla cheese crisps.
If you have someone in your family who doesn’t eat meat, it’s pretty simple to make a vegetarian version of these crisps. Just use cheese and salsa only to make a vegetarian version; it’s still just as delicious. You can even use vegan cheese instead of regular cheese if someone is following a vegan diet.
If you have other family dietary issues like low carb or gluten-free diets, you can now buy tortillas specially designed for these diets. Anyone on any type of diet can enjoy these delicious chicken cheese crisps, even if you have to leave out the chicken or cheese.
Tortilla Chicken Crisps
These tortilla chicken crisps are healthy and delicious just as they are. But you can add more vegetables to them and they’re still just as good. Excellent choices for veggies to add include pepper strips, jalapeno slices, or onions. And guacamole makes an excellent dipping sauce, which not only adds more vegetables but also healthy natural fats.
Many families have to consider not only prep time but also budget factors in deciding what meals to prepare. Most of the recipes on this site are budget-friendly, including this one. With just cheese, salsa, chicken, and tortillas, this meal won't force you to spend an arm and a leg for something that can feed the entire family.
Having budget-friendly, inexpensive meals can be the difference between a very tight budget and one that has room to cover your bills. Maybe once in a while, you can save some money for a family day at the movies or a date night with your spouse. But the truth is that a lot of families are stretching their dollars as far as they can already. You can’t change the cost of your housing or utilities very much, but your food budget is something that you can control.
Having an appreciation for simple, inexpensive meals means that you can help your family save money. But even more than that, cooking at home gives you more time to spend with your family, which is unbelievably important. Recipes like these tortilla chicken crisps save you time and money, two things every hardworking parent needs.
Can You Make This Recipe With Your Kids?
Let’s face it: family dinner together is extremely important. But spending a long time in the kitchen is not important and even takes away from your valuable time together. If you want this to increase your time spent with your kids, you can have them help to assemble the chicken cheese crisps before you grill them in the pan.
Family dinners are important for the whole family. It’s a great time to connect with each other after a busy day. Your kids will only be little for a short period and you want to make it count. It doesn’t really matter how fancy the dinner is—only that you share it together.
Kids are also more likely to enjoy food that they made themselves. Helping you in the kitchen will give them a great sense of accomplishment, which can help boost their self-confidence. If your kids make a mistake while cooking, be patient and use it as a teaching moment rather than a scolding moment.
Of course, make sure your kids understand kitchen safety before all else. The kitchen has many objects that can harm curious or reckless children, so it's important to be strict about this. As long as everyone has a safe time, everyone will have a good time.
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Chicken-Cheese Crisps Recipe
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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- Total Time: 15 minutes
Description
Similar to quesadillas, these crisps are hearty and satisfying. Even better, they’re quick and easy to make.
Ingredients
- 8 taco-size regular or whole wheat flour tortillas
- 1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- 2 cups shredded or cubed cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken or leftover roasted or grilled)
- 1 cup prepared salsa
- 1 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
Instructions
- Coat a stovetop grill pan or griddle with cooking spray and preheat over medium-high heat.
- Arrange 4 of the tortillas on a work surface.
- Top each tortilla with ¼ cup of the Cheddar cheese.
- Combine the chicken and salsa in a bowl.
- Spoon the chicken mixture on top of the Cheddar cheese.
- Top each with the Jack cheese and the second tortilla.
- Transfer the tortillas to the hot grill pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, until the tortillas are golden brown and the cheese melts.
- Cut into wedges and serve.
- Prep Time: 5 Minutes
- Cook Time: 10 Minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Pan-Frying
- Cuisine: American
The image featured at the top of this post is © CC0 Public Domain / Pxhere.