Best Quesadilla – in the Air Fryer!

Here is a quick and easy (and delicious!) recipe to achieve ultimate quesadilla-in-air-fryer perfection! (Spoiler: the oven works fine, too.)

Quesadillas make a great (and fast!) meal. They are very versatile and forgiving, and no matter how you make them, they always seem to turn out great.

For one quesadilla for a single serve meal, your cook time drops to just five minutes.

Don’t worry if you don’t have an air fryer – you can use a toaster oven, a standard range oven, or you can lightly fry your quesadillas in a skillet over the stove.

If you’re not attached to the crispiness of the tortilla, even the microwave will do the trick.

How does an air fryer work?

Air fryers rapidly circulate hot air throughout their interior space using a fan.

They are essentially small convection ovens that fit on your counter.

This style of cooking attempts to mimic the results of deep frying, without all the oil (or at least a lot less).

The result?

Very crispy, crunchy, perfectly browned food!

For these quesadillas, if you air fry them without any additional oil, they will still lightly brown and turn crispy.

The instructions below do not include cooking oil.

However, if you like your quesadillas with a bit more golden brown color, you can spritz each side with cooking spray (lightly!).

Just be careful to watch your quesadillas closely if you use oil, as they will brown (and possibly burn) much more quickly than they would without oil.

With oil, two minutes per side will probably be enough for the tortilla, as long as the cheese has melted.

Another option using oil would be reducing the temperature so the cheese can fully melt without the tortilla burning.

You can find more information as well as a lot of recipes on Cuisinart’s website.

Cuisinart says you generally don’t need to flip most foods halfway through (except larger items), but for even browning I like to.

Do you need to preheat the air fryer?

No, for most foods you do not need to preheat your air fryer.

However, you’ll note that while this recipe says to air fry each quesadilla for 5 minutes, the first one took me about 6 minutes to turn golden.

So if you’d like, you can preheat it for a minute or so while you fold and toothpick your tortillas.

What cheese should I use for these air fried quesadillas?

Honestly, any cheese you like!

I used a finely grated fiesta blend of Monterey Jack, cheddar, queso quesadilla, and asadero cheeses.

Mozzarella becomes nice and stretchy when melted, so if you want to open the quesadilla up to add more filling, that would be a great choice.

Pepper jack and/or queso fresco would also be tasty.

Can you make these air fryer quesadillas gluten free with corn tortillas?

Absolutely! Just always double check the packaging to make sure there are no additives or preservatives containing gluten.

Corn tortillas can be a little harder to fold without them tearing, so I would recommend leaving them flat and layering the cheese and fillings between two tortillas.

Of course you could do that with flour tortillas as well if you’d like.

Air Fryer Quesadilla Ingredients

Before you begin, you will need:

Edible Ingredients

• 7 flour tortillas
• One 7-ounce bag of shredded cheese (1 3/4 cups)
• 2-3 roma tomatoes
• 1/2 a red onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 avocado (optional but delicious)
• 1/3 of a jalapeno pepper, de-seeded
• 1 15.25 ounce can of whole kernel corn
• 1 15.5 ounce can of dark red kidney beans
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp of lemon juice
• Lettuce, to taste

Tools

• An air fryer (or a toaster oven, oven, or even a microwave if you don’t need these to be crunchy)
• Knife and cutting board
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Toothpicks (optional, to keep the quesadillas closed while cooking – you can also push them down with a fork or something)
• Bowls and spoons for pico de Gallo, rinsed beans and corn, etc.

How to make a quesadilla in an air fryer

First, prep the quesadillas

1. To begin, open the cans of corn and beans. Drain and rinse them both. If desired, set up your station with bowls of each, or save dishes and work out of the cans.
2. After that, lay out your tortilla on a plate and cover half with cheese. Spoon some beans and corn over the cheese. If you’d like, you can add a little extra cheese on top to “glue” the quesadilla together.
3. Next, fold the quesadilla in half and secure with a toothpick if necessary.
4. Then, place the quesadilla in the air fryer basket. First, make sure the function is set to Air Fry, and set the temperature at 350° F. Turn the air fryer on, then set a timer for 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
5. While the quesadilla cooks, you can peel the onion and garlic clove for the pico de Gallo, below.
6. Once the timer goes off, flip the quesadilla over and cook the other side for another 2 minutes, 30 seconds, or until done to your taste. Remove the finished quesadilla from the air fryer and set aside.
7. Repeat with as many additional quesadillas as you want to make at once, continuing to reset your 2 minute, 30 second timer and flipping each quesadilla halfway through its five minute total cook time.

While they cook, make the pico de gallo

1. First, wash your tomatoes and jalapeno.
2. After that, dice the tomatoes and add them to a bowl. (If you are just making a small batch for one or two people, you can just make the pico on the cutting board, but for a big batch a bowl is easier.)
3. Next, dice your red onion half and add the pieces to the tomatoes.
4. For the jalapeno, first remove the seeds, then finely dice 1/3 or so of the pepper and add it to the bowl.
5. Then, you can mince the garlic (or use a garlic press if desired) and add that as well.
6. After the veggies are all chopped, pour a tablespoon of lemon juice over them (or squeeze fresh lemon juice if available).
7. Finally, add the salt and pepper, and stir to combine.

Plate and serve

1. You can slice the quesadillas in half so they are easier to eat if desired.
2. Slice your avocado and sprinkle with salt.
3. I just used the quesadilla as a scoop for the pico de Gallo, but if you want to add it to the middle you can.
4. Once your plate has a quesadilla, pico de Gallo, and avocado, top everything with lettuce, serve, and enjoy!

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Reheating quesadillas in the air fryer

You can make extra quesadillas and easily reheat them later.

Just store them in the fridge in an airtight container.

When you’re ready to eat, simply place them back in the air fryer at 350° for a couple minutes until the cheese remelts.

This way, the tortilla stays nice and crispy.

You can reheat them in the microwave, but you will end up with a soft quesadilla rather than a crispy one.

If you choose to freeze leftover quesadillas, they will need more like 8-10 minutes in the air fryer before they are ready to eat.

Variations on this recipe

Of course, as with just about any recipe, feel free to add or subtract ingredients with wild abandon to suit your tastes.

Most people like sour cream with their quesadillas, so feel free to add some. (I seem to be in a minority of people who don’t especially care for it.)

Any and every veggie you can round up would likely be a great addition – shredded carrots, pickled onions and/or cabbage, radishes, mushrooms, etc.

Other air fryer recipes you may enjoy

• Frozen broccoli in the air fryer
• Air fryer popcorn
• Frozen garlic bread in the air fryer
• Frozen bread sticks in the air fryer

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I hope you love these air fryer quesadillas as much as I did!