I make quesadillas when I have tons of left over in the refrigerator that I need to get rid off. Those are the best quesadillas. The ones made with the leftovers. Trust me.

I have no idea why it works, it just does.

But these ones came out so yummy, I had to share. You could go out and get the ingredients that I used, but again, you can also be adventurous and take some of what I did and make it your own with your own leftovers tonight.

Leftover Chicken Quesadillas
makes 4 quesadillas, 16 triangles when cut

¼ cup of red onion – finely diced
¼ cup of cilantro – finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
2 cups of roasted chicken, shredded (from your local supermarket –any roasted chicken will do)
1 cup of cheese (I had a Mexican mix cheese bag, and a block of jalapeño Monterrey Jack cheese, which I grated into the other mixture – you can use cheddar, Queso Quesadilla, Manchego, any good type of melting cheese will do)
¼ cup of refried beans (optional)
½ cup of sour cream or Mexican crema* (divided into ¼ cup for the quesadillas and ¼ for the dipping crema)
8 corn tortillas Note: you can also use flour tortillas.

Cool Cilantro dipping crema
¼ cup of sour cream (or Mexican cream if you can find it)
1 tablespoon of chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon of lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Add the dice red onion and chopped cilantro in a bowl. Add a pitch of salt and pepper plus about 1½ tablespoon of the lime juice, mix and put aside.

Start putting together your quesadillas. Spread about 1 tablespoon of the sour cream over each of the tortillas. If you are using refried beans, spread that on the other side of the tortillas – ending up with one tortilla with sour cream, the other with refried beans.

Take a handful of the cheese and sprinkle over the tortilla, trying to cover the whole thing. Add the shredded chicken, sprinkle with a dash of salt and pepper, and then add the onion/cilantro salsa on top. If you want, you can also add some hot sauce to give them a bit of kick-in-the-butt flavor. Cover with the other tortilla.

Make all of them and put aside.

Heat a large cast iron or frying pan to medium high heat.

Add a small amount of oil (about ½ teaspoon) and spread it around the bottom of the pan with a spatula.

Carefully add your filled tortilla and Cook until light golden brown, about 1-2 minutes. Flip over and cook until golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Take out of the pan, cut into 4 triangles and Served while hot. Top with the Cool dipping crema.

Enjoy!