Cheesy Black Bean and Corn Quesadillas

These quesadillas are an amazing way to transform ingredients from your pantry into a crowd pleasing appetizer or meal prep snack. While they’re not the highest protein recipe on my blog, they have a whopping 13 grams of fiber per quesadilla to keep you full. And I’ve included some suggestions below for boosting the protein if you have some extra meat in the fridge.

I’ll run you through the recipe and cover other ingredient notes as we go. And you’ll find a printable recipe card that just gets down to business at the bottom of this post.

Add a can of black beans and whole kernel corn to a skillet with a little spice. 

Feel free to add other ingredients to the mix. I made a batch with diced green chiles and Trader Joe’s chili lime seasoning instead of the spice blend the recipe calls for. There’s also the option of starting with fresh onion and garlic like in my refried black beans. And you could also use something like taco seasoning or other spice blends for convenience.

Though adding ingredients will likely affect the number of quesadillas you make. I wouldn’t go too far above the recommended 1/4 cup of filling per tortilla or you’ll have overflow. You could, however, use larger tortillas or make more quesadillas.

Since these black bean quesadillas are meatless as-is, you could add something like the lean chorizo I used in my easy breakfast quesadillas or rotisserie chicken like in my cheesy chicken burritos.

And here’s a bonus handful of ideas for beefing them up with a little extra protein (pun intended):

• baked cheesy beef tacos
• slow cooked beef shoulder roast
• Dutch oven Mexican chicken

Cook over high heat until no liquid remains, about 12-15 minutes.

The larger the skillet, the faster you’ll be able to reduce the mixture. Don’t be afraid to crank up the heat to get this done in a hurry. Just be sure to stand watch to avoid burning. And be sure to get the crispy bits off the edges of the skillet before cooling to fill your quesadillas.

An important note here: You really want almost no liquid remaining in your mixture. If you don’t cook off the excess enough, you’ll have trouble sealing your quesadillas without some overflow. It also helps to let the mixture cool for a few minutes before assembling the quesadillas.

Throw tortillas on a griddle or in a skillet with cheese, filling, and more cheese on one half of each tortilla.

Cheese, filling, cheese. Easy enough, right?

The recipe calls for eight 6-inch tortillas. I used Mission whole wheat carb balance tortillas, but you’re welcome to use any tortilla. For a protein boost, check out these high protein tortillas from a company I’m an investor and advisor for, Counter.

Also, be sure to use freshly shredded cheese for best results. The packaged stuff is inferior when it comes to melting, and we want some melty, melty action here.

Gently fold the empty half of the tortilla to seal via the cheese melting mechanism. 

Emphasis on the gently. You’re not smashing your quesadillas like Shake Shack burgers. Fold the empty half just enough to let the top layer of cheese melt from residual heat so it sticks together.

And then…

Flip to get both sides extra toasty. 

If you do press too hard or have a little too much liquid left in your black bean and corn mixture, you can use the flat side of your spatula to kinda push any bits back inside. The cheese should form a crust-like barrier to keep everything sealed in (see: top taco in the photo above).

Pro tip to speed things up: If you pre-measure your shredded cheese and filling for each tortilla, you can easily manage 4+ tortillas going at once. That is, if you have the pan space.

Serving Your Black Bean Quesadillas

The dip you see in the photos is a simple mix of 1/2 cup (113g) fat free Greek yogurt and 2 tablespoons (30g) Trader Joe’s spicy taco sauce. You could swap the taco sauce for hot sauce, salsa, pico de gallo, or even cheddar powder like in my queso mac and cheese.

One of my favorite salsa + Greek yogurt combos is guacamole salsa. I used it for my creamy chicken enchiladas, and it’s too legit to quit. You may also like my creamy jalapeño Greek yogurt dip.

For more sides and fixin’s ideas, check out my air fryer quesadilla recipe.

That should cover it. You’ll find the printable recipe card below. Be sure to let me know what you think about these quesadillas once you give ’em a go!