Green Chile and Double Bean Quesadillas

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Another staple in our household is making black bean quesadillas using the handy dandy quesadilla maker.  I made this recipe up back in optometry school and cooked it for my husband one of the first times he came over to my apartment for dinner. It is a super easy recipe, and most of the ingredients are items I typically have in the pantry or fridge.

I also like that there are both refried and black beans in these quesadillas.  The black beans give them a fun texture, and the refried beans and cheese make the insides so yummy and ooey gooey.

green chile and double bean quesadillas

Quesadilla Ingredients

  • Can of black beans, rinsed and drained
  • Can of refried beans (we like to use fat-free)
  • Can of green chilies, drained
  • 1 cup of cheese (we like cheddar or mozzarella)
  • 10 tortillas (soft taco size.  If you do burrito size, you won’t need as many.)

How to Make Black Bean Quesadillas:

To make these tasty black bean quesadillas, first preheat the quesadilla maker (or nonstick skillet) and spray with nonstick cooking spray.  If you don’t own a quesadilla maker, I highly recommend it!  While’s it’s not dishwasher safe, it is really nice to not have to worry about a pan and flipping the quesadilla.  Plus, it comes out with perfect little segments imprinted on it!

If you don’t have a quesadilla maker, you can use a regular skillet over the stove to cook your quesadilla.  Or, if you’re really in a hurry, microwave all the ingredients together in a big bowl.  Then, put them inside the tortillas and heat covered with a moist paper towel.   Even less dishes!

So, speaking of those ingredients, in a medium bowl, mix together both cans of beans and green chilies. Stir to combine.

Now you’ll want to assemble the quesadillas.  Lay out 5 tortillas and spoon 1/5 of the bean mixture onto each tortilla.

Top each of the tortillas with 1/5 of the cheese.  Then, place a second tortilla on top and transfer the whole thing to the quesadilla maker.

Cook until heated through and the tortillas are a little crunchy. For my quesadilla maker, this took around 3 minutes per quesadilla.

Remove the quesadilla and serve with desired toppings such as sour cream or salsa.

Repeat with all the remaining black bean quesadillas, remembering to spray with nonstick spray each time.

Other Fun Add-Ins to These Double Bean Quesadillas

Also, whenever we have fajita chicken in the fridge, I will always throw that in the mixture too!   You can also add in some sauteed onions.  (Our toddlers will not touch onions, so we leave these out now that we have kids!)  This is such a very forgiving recipe to customize, and you don’t really need a recipe to recreate it once you’ve cooked it before.

Storage Instructions

I have stored these in the fridge for up to three days with no issues.  When reheating, I’ve used the microwave.  They will no longer be crunchy but rather soft.  That doesn’t bother us too much!  I have frozen them before, but I found them to be a little too wet and soggy when reheated.  The taste isn’t affected, just the texture.

Looking for other easy weeknight meal ideas?  Check out all our other meal ideas to get dinner on the table quick!

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Black Bean Quesadillas

Made with refried beans, black beans, green chilies, and cheese, these black bean quesadillas are a tasty and easy weeknight meal idea!
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword weeknight, quick
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 5 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 can (16 oz) fat-free refried beans
  • 1 can (15 oz) black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles drained
  • 1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese
  • 10 Tortillas
  • Toppings such as sour cream, salsa, etc

Instructions

  • Preheat quesadilla maker.
  • In medium bowl, mix together both cans of beans and green chiles. Stir to combine.
  • Lay out 5 tortillas and spoon 1/5 of bean mixture onto each tortilla.
  • Top each of the tortillas with 1/5 of the cheese.
  • Spray quesadilla maker with nonstick spray.
  • Place a second tortilla on top, and transfer to quesadilla maker. Cook until heated through and tortillas are a little crunchy.
  • Remove quesadilla and serve with desired toppings such as sour cream or salsa.
  • Cook each remaining quesadilla as described above, remembering to spray the quesadilla maker with nonstick cooking spray each time.

Notes

**A nonstick skillet can also be used to cook these quesadillas.
***For meat-lovers, adding in fajita chicken before cooking tastes great also!