An impressive cheese quesadilla made in the air fryer with four different cheeses! Each cheese is optional so you can put this together to suit your own tastes. It’s incredibly quick and easy while being a work from home lunch or simple weeknight dinner that you can really look forward to!
Once you discover air frying quesadillas, I’ll wager that you probably won’t go back to the frying pan. They make for a perfect air fryer meal, especially if you’re only cooking for one or two. The major benefits are:
- Not needing to stand over the frying pan.
- Being able to fill it a little more, without the threat of filling spilling out when you press down on it with a spatula.
Top Tips for Air Frying Quesadillas
You need a slightly lower heat. 350F / 180C does the job. Any hotter and the tortilla gets more browned and crispy than my personal preference, and the filling gets a little drier.
You need to secure the quesadilla in the basket. Sometimes the fan will blow your top layer tortilla right off, and it will get stuck on the heating element. Not ideal and not very safe. You can use toothpicks to secure your quesadillas together. Or if you have an air fryer accessories pack, you could even place something like the skewer rack on top of your quesadilla. They will still allow enough air to flow to cook the quesadilla perfectly, while weighing it down.
I personally do not add oil to the tortillas. You can brush a little on over them if you want an extra crispy tortilla, but there is no need, I prefer a slightly softer tortilla anyway.
So now it’s just a question of what you want in your quesadilla! You can of course follow my cooking instructions to make any quesadilla you like in the air fryer, but I will walk you through my cheese quesadilla recipe.
Ingredients for The Perfect Cheese Quesadilla
So, my perfect cheese quesadilla has these four cheeses. If you cook with cheese a lot, you may happen to have all of these cheeses on the go already:
- Feta – this packs in lots of flavor and has a lovely softer texture which stops the quesadilla feeling too oily.
- Ricotta – this just gives pockets of soft, milky creaminess.
- Cheddar – gives you a great deep flavor and makes sure there’s some melty cheese going on in there too.
- Mozzarella – the pre-shredded stuff – gives us some extra melty and stretchy cheese and helps it all bind together. This is the most optional of the cheeses. I like it but you don’t need to buy it especially.
I then like to add some extra flavor boosts in too:
- Sliced green chili – this doesn’t make it hot, but the capiscum hit is a welcome way to break up the cheese overload.
- Fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves – adds a nice freshness, which again helps to cut through the cheese a little.
You won’t regret going the extra few minutes to put all of this together. It is quesadilla heaven. Super flavorful and fresh, with a beautiful texture and not the heavy, oily vibes that some cheese quesadillas can give you.
Toppings
With its soft creamy filling, I personally feel that sour cream can be skipped with this recipe, and that it’s all about the salsa. Realistically, if you’re putting this together for a quick and easy lunch you probably aren’t going to make a salsa from scratch and will reach for a jar, but if you do have the time I highly recommend throwing together a blender salsa for the occasion (that’s the recipe I used for the salsa pictured).
Guacamole or avocado cubes or slices will always be welcome too of course!
Air Fryer Cheese Lover’s Quesadilla
Ingredients
- 2 mini tortillas
- 1 Tbsp ricotta
- 2 Tbsp Feta
- 2 Tbsp cheddar
- 2 Tbsp mozzarella
- ¼ green chili, sliced
- 2 Tbsp fresh cilanto / coriander , roughly chopped
Instructions
- Heat the air fryer to 180C / 350F.
- Assemble your quesadilla. Add the ricotta to both tortillas and then scatter the feta, mozzarella, cheddar cheese, coriander and green chili on top of one of them.2 mini tortillas, 1 Tbsp ricotta, 2 Tbsp Feta, 2 Tbsp cheddar, 2 Tbsp mozzarella, 1/4 green chili, 2 Tbsp fresh cilanto / coriander
- Put the other tortilla on top, ricotta side down, and press to seal. Use a spatula to place the quesadilla in the air fryer basket. Put some toothpicks in the tortilla to help hold the pieces together.
- Air fry for 5 minutes, or until the tortilla is slightly golden and the cheese is melted.
- Slice and serve with desired toppings.
I adore cheese quesadillas they are my food heaven ❤️
All your recipes are beautiful thank you for taking the time to share with us my faves are the Texican recipes