BBQ Chicken Quesadillas! Summer on a Plate!

So let me talk to you about one of my favorite summer foods... barbeque chicken. Now I'm not talking about throwing some chicken on a grill and slathering it with some good ol' BBQ sauce. No. I am talking about the kind of chicken that goes great on pizzas or even better in quesadillas!! BBQ CHICKEN QUESADILLAS!! AMAZING!

They are so scrumptious. They remind me of summer and of concerts and beer gardens.... Oh I can't wait! These quesadillas don’t take very long to make which is great because I can barely wait to eat them when I start making them. I am an impatient cook sometimes. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach so I end up making massive quantities of food, but in the case of BBQ chicken quesadillas, more is better!

I told you about my new favorite way to cook chicken, right? Just throw it in a pot with warm water and boil it? Yea, I am pretty sure I did. Well that is what I did with my chicken breasts but I added a scoop full of taco seasoning to the water. I love this cooking method because all you have to do is bring the water to a boil then bring it down to a simmer for another 25 minutes and you end up with perfectly moist, flavorful chicken.

Now I know what your thinking, this chicken isn’t really barbeque chicken. Well technically your right. But if you lived out here in Chicago you would know that its way to cold to grill right now. I couldn't be bothered to whip out the grill and man it while there are 20 mile per hour winds gusting by me cooling down the grill and making my cooking times all bigigity. Nope. So I made turned my ordinary chicken into barbeque chicken by adding my favorite BBQ sauce to it. Is it the easy way out? Yes. Did the dish lack flavor because I didn’t grill my chicken? No. So you see, it all worked out OK!

If you love CPK's (California Pizza Kitchen's) BBQ chicken pizza you will love this! You only need a few simple ingredients and you've got a winner winner chicken dinner.
Oh yea, did you hear? I also made my tortillas from scratch. FROM SCRATCH! And you know what? It was easy! And way better then store bought. I will NEVER buy tortillas again, seriously! When you make your own tortillas you get better texture and better flavor. I used a basic flour tortilla recipe and added in a touch of cumin, for a little extra Mexican flavor. You could barely tell the cumin was in there, in fact you probably couldn't tell at all, so if you want more cumin flavor add more into the mix. But seriously, if you try to make one thing this weekend, you have to make these BBQ chicken quesadillas with homemade flour tortillas. DYNAMITE!

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas
Original Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts, Frozen or thawed (if you plan that far ahead!)
• 2 tbsp taco seasoning (You can leave this out and just add a healthy shake of salt)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 can pinto beans, drained
• 2 cup frozen corn
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp taco seasoning
• 2 cups BBQ sauce (I like Original Sweet Baby Ray's)
• 1 pkg of Mexican cheese blend

For Tortillas:

• 2 cups AP flour
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp of ground cumin
• 2/3 cup warm water

Directions:

1. Put the chicken breasts in a pot with water and taco seasoning, or salt. Bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling reduce the heat to low so the water is simmering. Walk away and let it do it's thing for 20 minutes.
2. While the chicken is cooking, make your tortilla dough*.
3. While the dough is resting, cook the onion in a skillet with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Add in the beans and saute till tender.
4. After 5 minutes or so, add in the tomatoes and corn. Stir everything together and sprinkle in the tbsp of taco seasoning. Continue to cook for 3 minutes.
5. Reduce heat to low and check on the chicken. Once the chicken is done, shred it on a cutting board.
6. In the same skillet add in the shredded chicken and BBQ sauce. Stir everything together until all ingredients are fully coated in the BBQ sauce. Keep the mixture warm by keeping it on low heat.

To make your tortilla dough:

1. In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour, cumin, and salt. Add in the oil and warm water, stirring to combine. Once combined, knead in the bowl for about 3 minutes, until dough is smooth. Divide dough into 8-10 equal pieces, rolling each piece into a ball. Allow to rest, covered with plastic wrap, for at least 30 minutes.
2. Once dough has rested, preheat cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Roll out each ball into a circle, about 6 inches in diameter. Cook one at a time in the hot skillet for about 60 seconds, flipping half-way through, when it starts to puff and a few brown spots have appeared on the first side. Keep warm the tortillas warm by putting them on a cookie sheet in the oven on warm.

To assemble your quesadilla:

1. Grab a tortilla and put it in a very warm skillet. Sprinkle some cheese onto one half of the tortilla. Top with a heaping spoonful of BBQ chicken mixture. Top with a little more cheese and fold the tortilla on top. After 60 seconds flip the quesadilla and let the cheese melt on the other side, about another 60 seconds.
2. Top with your favorite fixin's of guacamole, sour cream, extra cheese, salsa... whatever!