I like to have fun with pizza dough. In today’s post, I’m making a quesadilla pizza! Think of it like Mexican meets Italian meets my Americanized twist.
This is a subsection of my blog about me trying to make a bunch of different recipes with pizza dough. To see the other post currently out, click here for chicken Parmesan pizza bites.
Playing with pizza dough has been really fun!
I have tried a few different recipes. I also already told you about the lacking success behind the steamed pizza dough dumpling.
Seriously, if you respect food even a little, don’t steam your pizza dough. I’m making mistakes so you don’t have to!
But this recipe today has had me doing little dances because it’s so darn tasty. It is the quesadilla pizza, or as I affectionately call it—the Queso-pizza!
For this recipe, I used a couple different cooking methods. I started this quesadilla pizza on the stove top, then finished everything in the oven. With that being said, this recipe calls for an oven-safe pan. I used a 12” round cast iron pan because cast iron holds its heat really well. If you don’t have a cast iron pan, that’s okay. Any large oven safe pan will do.
And I know this isn’t a true quesadilla, because there is a lot more to this than just cheese. I subbed the sauce for salsa, and instead of mozzarella I used cheddar! Or Mexican blend cheese, that is awesome too. I’ve tried both and both are tasty. 🙂
I’m that wacko that eats the shredded cheese straight outta the bag. Am I the only one on this?? I really hope not…
Anyway.
A couple notes to note before you get started:
We’re going to get that cheese on the inside all melty and the cheese on the outside to get nice and crunchy. It makes for a great texture.
For this recipe, make sure that you have read the instructions and have all of your ingredients ready to go in the way I outlined the recipe. It is extremely easy to burn the outside of the pizza if you’re not ready. Once it’s time to stuff the pizza, you want to throw everything in, close that puppy, top it up, and stick it in the oven. No dilly-dallying!
For a meaty version, I put in rotisserie or roasted chicken, whichever is more convenient. Customize to your tastes and preferences, just as you would a normal pizza! I try to leave my recipes a little bit open so you can play with different options.
What would you put into your quesadilla pizza? Let me know and if you tried it in the comments below. And if you are on Twitter, be sure that you snap a pic and use #FDLFoods so I can check it out!
Cheers!
Gem
Quesadilla Pizza
Goods you need
- 8 oz. pizza dough
- 1 cup shredded cheddar or mexican style blend cheese, divided
- 2/3 cup salsa, divided
- 3 oz. (by weight) cooked shredded chicken
Let's get to it!
Preheat oven to 425°F.
grease a 12" oven-safe pan. Make sure your dough is round, before pressing the dough to the edges of the pan.
Place pan on medium heat. Fry the dough until the underside is lightly browned and the top of the dough is dry.
Carefully flip the dough over. While the dough is cooking, place down most of the salsa on one half of the dough, reserving about a half of the salsa. Place down a 1/2 cup cheese and then the shredded chicken on top of the salsa. Flip the dough in half and take the pan off the heat.
Place rest of salsa and cheese on top. Place on the middle rack of the oven for 5-10 minutes, or until the interior is no longer doughy. If you feel the dough, it should feel like the crust of a regular pie.
Place the pan on the top rack of the oven and set oven to broil. Take out the pie when the cheese on top is brown and bubbly. Watch it closely!
Once the pie is done, take it out of the pan intermediately. Cut into 4 pieces and serve with extra salsa, sour cream, and green onions.
