This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.
Pizza quesadillas make the perfect, easy one-pan dinner! This recipe was specifically tested to achieve a crispy outer tortilla, as well as serve multiple people, without having to use multiple pans. With chicken sausage or ground beef, marinara sauce, and melty ricotta and mozzarella cheese wrapped in a tortilla, you get a delicious and protein-rich pizzadilla.
Quick Look: Pizza Quesadilla
- Total time: 15 minutes of prep, and under 10 minutes to cook.
- Main ingredients: Tortillas, marinara sauce, mozzarella, ricotta cheese, and basil.
- When to use: A family friendly recipe for busy weeknights or a Friday night dinner – especially great for picky eaters. They’re also great for school lunches!
- Dietary information: This recipe is HYH diet friendly and can also be gluten free. It can fit into a Mediterranean-style diet. This can also be vegetarian if you leave out the meat.
- Why you’ll love it: This pizza quesadilla is a great way to have an easy pizza night at home. It’s great for sharing, crispy and cheese, customizable with different toppings, and contains a good amount of protein. By crisping the tortilla in the pan before baking, you avoid a soggy, limp texture.
While most recipes have you make a single tortilla in a pan, with this tortilla folding technique you get several pizza quesadilla servings all in one pan so it’s ideal for family meals or meal prep. If you want something even more simple and fast, try air fryer quesadilla.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Olive oil – Coating the skillet with olive oil helps the bottom of the tortillas become golden brown and crispy. Other recipes may skip this, but I’ve found it is important to avoid a soggy quesadilla!
- Flour tortillas – You’ll need 3 large, burrito-sized (10-inch) tortillas. Cutting them in half creates the perfect shape for folding into pizza triangles. Usually this only comes in flour, but Siete also makes burrito-sized cassava tortillas.
- Whole milk ricotta cheese – Adds a creamy texture that makes the filling almost like a combination of pizza and lasagna. You want to use a good quality brand that’s smooth and creamy rather than grainy. This means they don’t have added stabilizers like xanthan gum or guar gum and instead rely on vinegar. This is brands like BelGioioso, Calabro, and Bellwether farms.
- Marinara sauce – Use your favorite marinara or pizza sauce. I recommend Raos, Sauz, or Carbone. If you’re sensitive to garlic and onions, try one of their “sensitive marinara” sauces.
- Italian chicken sausage or ground beef – Either works well here so you can use any you have leftover. Make sure the meat is fully cooked before assembling the quesadillas.
- Mozzarella cheese – Freshly shredded low-moisture mozzarella melts especially well without making the tortillas soggy.
- Fresh and dried herbs – Fresh basil adds brightness to the rich, cheesy filling – similar to a Margherita pizza. You can also add dried oregano, if you’re a big oregano fan.
Variations
- Vegetarian – Simply leave out the chicken sausage or ground beef and make this recipe all cheese, or you can add in small, chopped veggies.
- Vegetable additions – I recommend finely chopped spinach, green onions, olives or peppers. With vegetables that release more moisture like mushrooms, you may need to pre-cook them before adding so they don’t make make the quesadilla soggy.
- Hot honey – Drizzle hot honey over top (especially good with the sausage version!).
How to Make a Pizza Quesadilla
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the bottom of a cast iron or oven-safe skillet and spread it around to evenly coat the pan. Cut each of the three large tortillas in half so you have six tortilla halves.
Step 2: Working with one tortilla half at a time, spread ricotta into a triangle shape in the center. Top with marinara, sausage, shredded mozzarella, and basil. Try to not overfill, which can cause the filling to spill out during cooking.
Step 3: Fold both sides of the tortilla over the filling to form a triangle-shaped pocket. Place seam side down into the skillet. This helps keep it closed while cooking. Continue assembling the remaining tortillas, arranging all six triangles in a circle so they resemble individual pizza slices.
Step 4: Place the skillet over medium heat and cook for 3-4 minutes. Carefully lift the edge of one tortilla to check the bottom. You’re looking for a golden brown, crisp surface before transferring the skillet to the oven. Sprinkle the remaining shredded mozzarella over the top of the tortillas.
Step 5: Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
For extra crispy edges and browned, bubbly cheese switch the oven to broil for 1-2 minutes. Keep a close eye on the skillet during this step because tortillas can brown very quickly under the broiler.
Recipe Tips
- Don’t overfill the tortillas – It can be tempting to add extra filling, but this makes the triangles difficult to fold and more likely to open during cooking.
- Place pizza quesadillas seam-side down – The weight of the quesadilla helps hold the tortilla closed as the bottom crisps.
- Use low-moisture mozzarella – It melts beautifully without releasing as much liquid as fresh mozzarella, which helps keep the tortilla crispy.
Serving Suggestions
If you’re serving this to kids (or adults who act like kids), a marinara dipping sauce makes these pizzadillas a little more interactive and fun. Or if you’re a “ranch with pizza” person, don’t miss my homemade ranch dressing.
This pairs easily with a simple side salad like this bibb lettuce salad, or apple fennel salad, where the acidity from the dressing compliments the richness from the creamy cheese filling.
Storage Information
- Refrigerator – Store leftover pizza quesadillas in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freezer – If you love pizza pockets, this works very similarly! I prefer to air fry it when reheating. 350°F for about 10–14 minutes, flipping halfway through. The lower temperature will help to heat it through from frozen without burning the tortilla.
- Reheating – For the best texture, reheat them in a skillet over medium-low heat or in an air fryer at 375°F for 4-5 minutes until the tortilla is crisp and the filling is warmed through. While you can reheat in the microwave, the tortillas will be softer rather than crispy.
More Weeknight Recipes
If you love these pizzadillas, here are some similar recipes that use a lot of the same ingredients – in case you have any leftover!
Vegetarian
Easy Naan Pizza with Garlic and Burrata
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 review in the recipe card! Don’t forget to tag me @thedizzycook on Facebook and Instagram, and follow along on Pinterest for more great recipes!
Pizza Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 large tortillas, burrito-sized, roughly 10 inches
- 6 tablespoons whole milk ricotta cheese
- 6 tablespoons marinara sauce
- 1/2 pound cooked ground sweet Italian chicken sausage or ground beef, browned in a pan
- 4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese, roughly 1 ½ cups, divided
- 12 basil leaves
- Dried oregano or thinly sliced basil leaves for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF and spread the olive oil on the bottom of a cast iron (or oven-safe) skillet.
- Cut each of the 3 tortillas in half. Take a half tortilla and spread the bottom with roughly 1 tablespoon of ricotta in a triangle shape (like a slice of pizza) in the center of the tortilla half. Top with 1 tablespoon of marinara sauce, 2 tablespoons of cooked ground sausage, 2 tablespoons of shredded mozzarella cheese, and 2 basil leaves. Fold both ends of tortilla over the filling, forming a triangle. Add the pizza pocket, folded tortilla side-down, to the oiled skillet. Continue building the triangles, placing them into the pan like pizza slices forming a circle.
- Cook over medium heat on the stove for about 3-4 minutes, carefully lifting the tortilla to check that the underside is golden brown and crispy. Top the tortillas with the remaining ½ cup shredded mozzarella. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake for 5 minutes. If the cheese isn’t brown and edges of the tortillas golden brown and crispy, broil on high heat for 1-2 minutes. Top with oregano leaves or fresh basil and enjoy.
Notes
- Vegetarian – Simply leave out the chicken sausage or ground beef and make this recipe all cheese, or you can add in small, chopped veggies.
- While you can add in your own vegetables, just be mindful of ones with more moisture (spinach, zucchini, mushrooms) as they can make the tortilla soggy. Also be careful to not overfill.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
