With only 5 ingredients, these extra cheesy ground chicken quesadillas are one of the easiest recipes you’ll find on my blog. They have 25 grams of protein and 15 grams of carbs each, and they’re great reheated as leftovers. Need a high protein snack, look no further!
In ques you’re a visual learner, I’ve included a recipe walkthrough with photos below. You’ll find a complete printable recipe card at the bottom of the post. If you have a recipe question I don’t cover, leave a comment at the bottom of the post and I’ll help you out.
Step 1: Cook six slices of bacon.
No more. No less. Six slices.
You can cook whole slices and crumble after cooking if you’d like. Like I mentioned in air fryer breakfast pizza recipe, cutting the bacon before cooking leads to faster, more evenly cooked bacon.
Step 2: Drain the bacon grease and cook ground chicken. Add the bacon and ranch seasoning to the cooked ground chicken.
Unlike my loaded ground beef and potatoes skillet, this recipe calls for draining the bacon grease. I hate for it to go to waste, but you don’t want your quesadillas turning into a greasy mess.
If you’re unfamiliar with ranch seasoning, you can buy it in individual packets or in large shaker bottles. I like investing in the bigger bottle to make everything from the Greek yogurt dip you see in photos here to chipotle ranch chicken burgers.
Step 3: Add tortillas to a griddle or skillet and top one half with cheese, the ground chicken mixture, and more cheese. Fold and cook until golden brown.
I’ve put the exact measurements of how much of the ground chicken mixture and cheese you need for each tortilla in the recipe card. If you don’t have a food scale, get one. But in the meantime, you can just eyeball it. The photo above should give you a decent idea of what they quesadillas look like during assembly.
I used the same Mission Carb Balance tortillas I used for my Korean chicken and kimchi quesadillas and chorizo quesadillas, but you can use any tortilla you want! If you’ve seen my air fryer quesadillas recipe, corn and flour blended tortillas make amazing quesadillas.
Pro tip: Be sure to use freshly shredded cheddar. It’ll melt 157x better than pre-shredded, and that melty goodness comes in handy when making something like quesadillas.
Greek Yogurt Ranch Dip
The dip you see is a simple mix of fat free Greek yogurt and a pinch or two of ranch seasoning mixed with a splash of hot sauce. You can get creative with it. My buffalo chicken bites and air fryer buffalo tuna patties work some light mayo in for an extra creamy dip.
That’s all folks. Enjoy your ground chicken quesadillas! And in case you’re interested in another 5-ingredient recipe with ground chicken, check out my cheesy Italian chicken pasta next.
Bacon Ranch Ground Chicken Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Chicken, 97/3
- 6 slices Bacon, cut into strips
- 2 Tbsp Ranch Seasoning
- 8 oz Cheddar, shredded
- 8 Tortillas, I used 6″ Mission Carb Balance tortillas
Instructions
- Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel and drain the remaining grease.
- Add the ground chicken and cook until no pink remains.
- Add the ranch seasoning and bacon pieces back to the cooked ground chicken. Stir well until no visible ranch seasoning remains. Transfer the ground chicken mixture to a bowl or plate and set aside.
- Place the same skillet or a large griddle over medium-low to medium heat. Spray with a tiny bit of cooking spray and add tortilla(s).
- Place 2 tablespoons (14g) of cheese on one half of each tortilla, followed by the ground chicken mixture (about 40-45g) and another 2 tablespoons of cheese.
- Use a spatula to gently fold the tortilla in half, holding the top half closed for a few seconds to melt the top layer of cheese. Cook for another 1-2 minutes per side until golden brown. (Decrease the heat if your tortillas are browning too quickly.)
Notes
More Quesadilla Filling Options
- Crispy Pork Tenderloin Carnitas
- The filling from my Cheesy Beef Baked Tacos
- Shredded Buffalo Chicken
hi, i’m from australia and it doesn’t look like we believe in ranch seasoning. can you give me some idea of what its made up of? thank you!
It’s a little difficult to completely re-create at home unless you have buttermilk powder. Aside from that ingredient, though, you can get pretty close with a combination of garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, dill, black pepper, and salt.
And for this recipe, you could cook some freshly diced onion and garlic in with the chicken. Though you’ll probably need to make an extra quesadilla or two to account for the additional volume. Hope that helps!
In South Africa we also don’t have ranch seasoning but I have made my own as close as possible to the one stated below- my family loved this dish
How much yogurt for the dip?
I think I used about 1/2 cup or so. I usually stick to an 8:1 yogurt to ranch seasoning ratio. You can tweak to your taste, though.
I made these with some cooked shredded chicken I had on hand and they were AMAZING. 5 stars from both me & the bf. Can’t wait to try with the ground chicken!
can i use shredded chicken?
Totally. I’d say about 12 ounces of cooked shredded chicken would be a good equivalent. Just mix everything else with the shredded chicken and keep the 45g filling in each quesadilla the same.
I needed something easy to make while camping and this was a huge hit. I love that the ingredient list is minimal and it’s a fun twist to the usual quesadilla. I made the chicken/bacon ahead of time and then put everything together the next day. I also used sharp white cheddar cheese which worked well. Everyone keep talking about how good they were and asking for the recipe. Safe to say this will be a regular meal to make for groups (or just me, myself and I). Thank you!!
This was a super fun take on quesadillas with less guilt. The flavors go together perfectly, and the prep and cook time was quick. Also a favorite of my kids and boyfriend, this will go in our regular dinner rotation once we’re done with our “no repeats” challenge…. over 100 days so far and we haven’t cooked the same dinner twice
We love quesadillas at our house, but I never thought to put this combo together. Super easy to make and kid friendly. I scored some major points when my nephew came to visit.
Mine didn’t look very pretty, but they were so tasty!! Simple, in bulk, and easy ingredients to find is my kind of recipe. I will be making these again.
I love this recipe! It’s an easy go to and reheats really well in the air frier. I slightly undercook mine and do 3ish minutes a side at 375 in the air frier to heat them back up.
these quesadillas are BOMB. The ranch seasoning is hard for me to come by but it is absolutely worth the hunt for these quesadillas. Super easy to make, too. Plus the minimal ingredients are a bonus, it really don’t take much time at all to make.