Restaurant-Style Shrimp Quesadilla Recipe

Quesadillas have been eaten for centuries in Mexico, but the original version was a bit different from what we would recognize today. The Aztecs of central Mexico were skilled in agriculture, and one of their most important crops was maize, which they ground into flour to make tortillas. They warmed these up and filled them with local plans like squash. The cheese was added later after the Spanish conquistadors introduced it to Mexico. They also gave the quesadilla its modern name, which comes from queso, the Spanish word for cheese. Now countless varieties of quesadillas can be found, from simple tortilla and cheese versions to more elaborate recipes including meat, beans, and vegetables along with the cheese.

Recipe developer Michelle Bottalico has created a recipe for shrimp quesadillas that are simple to make at home but are as delicious as the ones you can get in a restaurant. Shrimp is seasoned with a spice blend of cumin, paprika, garlic powder, and chili powder before being fried with onions and bell pepper. This flavorful filling is layered inside a tortilla with shredded Monterey Jack cheese. After the tortilla is fried in a little butter, the outside becomes golden and crispy while the inside is warm and gooey from the melted cheese. Next time you have a hankering for restaurant-quality Mexican food, you can try this shrimp quesadilla recipe in the comfort of your own home.

Pat the shrimp dry, place them in a bowl with the cumin, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder, salt, and pepper, and toss well to mix evenly. Set aside.

Heat the oil on medium high in a large heavy-bottomed skillet.

Place the onion and bell pepper in the skillet and saute for 4-5 minutes until softened.

Clean the pan with a paper towel, lower the heat to medium, and melt 1 teaspoon of butter in the pan.

Fold the empty half of the tortilla over the layered half, press down with a spatula to let the cheese adhere, and let it cook for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is partially melted and the bottom of the tortilla turns golden.

Place the other half of the butter in the pan and repeat the cooking process for the other tortilla.

Many of the ingredients in shrimp quesadillas can be tweaked or substituted according to your preferences or what you have available. The one thing we don't recommend substituting is the raw shrimp for cooked. Unfortunately, cooked shrimp won't take on as much flavor from the spices, and since they're already cooked, the additional cooking time can make them tough and rubbery. The good news is you can choose fresh or frozen shrimp depending on what's available.

You can also switch up the spices in the recipe according to your preferences, or you could leave some of them out. Another option is to use dried herbs like oregano and thyme or to add fresh cilantro to the vegetables. Besides the onion and bell pepper in these quesadillas, other vegetables you could use include spinach, scallions, and thinly sliced mushrooms or zucchini.

We used avocado oil for frying the vegetables and butter for frying the tortillas, but you can use all one or the other or use a substitute for avocado oil like olive or canola if that's more convenient. Finally, don't make the mistake of choosing the wrong cheese for quesadillas. Instead of Monterey Jack, other cheeses that work well are cheddar, Asiago, pepper jack, and Mexican cheeses like Cotija, Chihuahua, and Oaxaca, a stringy cow's milk cheese that's similar to mozzarella.