Chicken and Black Bean Quesadillas

One of the frugal ways I stretch out our grocery budget is through planning meals that will yield several meals. Buying 3 lb of ground meat can be cooked into a stir-fry with veggies, Mexican dishes (think burrito or tacos), and meatballs. I always buy a whole chicken (or two) for several reasons. First, I think that buying a whole chicken is more affordable especially if you know how to cut up your own chicken. Second, I make my own meat stock. I sometimes cook my meat stock in a crockpot and sometimes in an Instant Pot. I store the stock in a mason jar and I transform the chicken meat into several meals.

With the cooked chicken left from the stock I made, I would shred it and place them in Ziploc bags making sure to label each bag as to what recipe am I going to use the shredded chicken. I use the shredded chicken with soups, burritos, tostadas, nacho topping, and as a salad topping too. Of course, you can also use leftover chicken from a rotisserie chicken. When I go to Sams Club or Costco, I love picking up a bag of rotisserie chicken. It is very tasty, tender, and flavorful. For a family of four, we do not always finish eating a whole chicken, so there are always leftovers! I am sharing a quick and easy recipe below where you can use your leftover chicken!

Ingredients:

Left-over chicken

1 14 oz can of black beans or premade/pre-cooked black beans

2 tbsp of homemade taco seasoning, get the recipe HERE.

1/4 cup of red onion

1/4-1/2 cup water

2 cups of shredded cheese.

Tortillas

Directions:

I love using a block of cheddar cheese. I just cut it up into thin slices if I need it for sandwiches and shred it if a recipe calls for it.

I love batch-cooking beans. You can use a slow cooker or an instant pot to cook your beans. Measure about 2 cups of cooked beans and pour them into a freezer-friendly Ziploc bag. You can do more than 2 cups depending on how much you normally use black beans in a recipe. Now when a recipe calls for black beans, you can just grab a bag from your freezer.

Here's my leftover shredded chicken. There are plenty of recipes that you can do with your leftover shredded such as soups, quesadillas, burritos, tostada, casseroles, and also as toppings for salads.

Saute the red onions until translucent. Add in the chicken, black beans, and taco seasoning. Add 1/4 cup water. Continue cooking until flavors are absorbed. Add in water if the black beans and chicken are starting to dry.

To assemble, make sure your pan is hot. I used a cast-iron skillet and a tbsp of coconut oil. Warm-up your tortilla on both sides. All you have to do is to put the desired amount of chicken and beans, top with shredded chicken. Fold in half and fry for about 24 minutes depending on how crispy you want your quesadillas to be.

Once cooked, I cut it in half so both of my kiddos can munch on it easily. Topping will include sour cream, avocados or guacamole, and salsa. Serve with a bowl of salad of fruits.

So good, simple, quick, and affordable to make. You can also use leftover ground taco meat with this recipe. Moreover, if there are some chicken and black beans leftover, you can make a burrito!!