The BEST Pizza Quesadillas
Pizza Quesadillas (Pizzadillas) are stuffed with mozzarella and pepperoni and dipped in a flavorful homemade pizza sauce for a fun, quick, and easy lunch idea!
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As school wraps up for the year, I'm dusting off those lunch (and snacktime) recipes that are simple enough for my kids to make for themselves (or with minimal help)...yet yummy enough to keep their attention. Like tasty Pizza Quesadillas!
In summer, my kiddos revel in a little more lunchtime flexibility and variety than their typical, repetitive school lunches. They enjoy lunches that are warm, like grilled cheese sandwiches with soup, or perhaps even reheated leftovers from the night before. They enjoy lunches that need to stay chilled (and might not be considered "lunchbox safe" during the school year), like mayo-based chicken salad or egg salad.
But one of my kids' favorite things to eat when they're home for lunch -- AKA, all summer long -- is quesadillas. Not only are they tasty, but they're quick and easy to throw together with lots of different ingredient options.
Since bean and cheese quesadillas can get a little boring, sometimes we like to change things up a bit. One way to do that is by turning their favorite pizza toppings into Pizza Quesadillas...lovingly referred to at our house as Pizzadillas!
Ingredients
This is not rocket science, y'all. This is pepperoni pizza as a quesadilla! So it only requires a few (obvious) ingredients:
- Flour tortillas. White tortillas work great, but I often use whole wheat tortillas (to slightly up the wholesomeness factor) and they're equally delicious.
- Mozzarella cheese. Shredded.
- Pepperoni. You can leave small pepperoni whole or dice it up if you've got large slices of pepperoni. Either way, I prefer uncured pepperoni.
- Pizza sauce. A must for dipping! More info on that below...
Other Flavor Options
My kids like their pizza (and apparently, their Pizza Quesadillas) simple, but you can certainly add your own favorite pizza toppings to jazz things up! A few ideas...
- Mushrooms and black olives.
- Cooked, crumbled Italian sausage.
- Ham and pineapple for a Hawaiian twist.
- Jalapeños and anchovies? Or not...ha. 😉
At any rate, feel free to go crazy!
The Dipping Sauce
Regardless of how you stuff 'em, the thing that puts these Pizza Quesadillas over the top is the flavorful, AMAZING Homemade Pizza Sauce to use as a dipping sauce! (Grab the recipe at that link!)
- It's basically just homemade pizza sauce, infused with lots of herbs and simmered on the stove (to thicken up a bit) while you cook the quesadillas.
- I like to add some crushed red pepper flakes to mine to give it a little heat, as well as a bit of sugar for a hint of sweetness to counter the acidity of the tomato sauce.
The result is a pizza sauce that's good enough to eat with a spoon. And it sure does take a humble, pepperoni + mozzarella pizzadilla to the next level!
How to Make Pizza Quesadillas
(The below photos are intended to be helpful, but please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for FULL DIRECTIONS.)
It's highly complicated, y'all. Are you ready? 😉
- If you decide to use the aforementioned, highly-recommended pizza sauce for dipping, go ahead and whip it up.
- While the pizza sauce is simmering, assemble the quesadillas by laying out your tortilla on a cutting board. Sprinkle with an even layer of shredded mozzarella.
- Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and arrange pepperoni over the top.
- Lay the other tortilla on top and transfer to a large skillet that's been heated over medium heat.
- Cook for a couple of minutes until the underside of the tortilla begins to turn golden and the cheese starts to melt. Carefully flip over the quesadilla and cook for another couple of minutes, or until the cheese is completely melted.
- Slice the quesadilla into six wedges and serve hot with warm dipping sauce. Enjoy!
So what do you like to eat for lunch when you're home? Any summer vacation favorites? Send some ideas my way...because we're always looking for more creative ideas to join these ever-popular Pizza Quesadillas. 🙂
More Kid-Friendly Recipes
- Homemade One-Pot Macaroni & Cheese
- Turkey Meatloaf Muffins
- Homemade Shake-n-Bake Chicken Nuggets
- Apple Pie Snack Cups
- Crockpot Meatball Subs
The Best Pizza Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 4 (8-inch) white OR whole wheat flour tortillas
- 1 ½ cups (6 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 to 3 ounces pepperoni, diced
- Homemade Pizza Sauce, as a dipping sauce
Instructions
- Prepare the Homemade Pizza Sauce dipping sauce.
- While the dipping sauce is simmering, assemble the quesadillas by laying out two tortillas on a cutting board. Sprinkle EACH tortilla with ¾ cup of shredded mozzarella, 1 tablespoon Parmesan, and 2 ounces of diced pepperoni. Lay the remaining tortillas on top.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Transfer an assembled quesadilla onto the skillet. Cook for a couple of minutes, occasionally lifting edge of quesadilla to check color of underside, until tortilla begins to turn golden and cheese starts to melt. Carefully flip quesadilla over and cook for another couple of minutes or until cheese is fully melted. Remove hot quesadilla to a plate and repeat with second quesadilla. Alternatively, you may cook both quesadillas at the same time on a flat griddle.
- Slice each quesadilla into 6 wedges and serve immediately with warm dipping sauce.
Video
Notes
- All measurements are approximate. Use as much cheese, etc., as you like!
- The pepperoni I typically buy is very large and I prefer to dice it so that the whole piece doesn't pull out of the quesadilla when taking a bite...but leave it whole if you wish.
- Feel free to add any of your favorite pizza toppings to the quesadilla filling!
- If you find that your quesadilla gets browned before your cheese is completely melted, you can pre-heat it in the microwave first, juuust enough to start melting the cheese. Then brown both sides in the pan as directed and the cheese will finish melting beautifully!
Nutrition
Originally published May 28, 2015, and updated on May 18, 2020, June 6, 2021, and May 4, 2023.
This was such a fun spin on a cheese quesadilla. My kids loved It so much!
My kids can't get enough of these pizza quesadillas! They're a fun, different way to enjoy their favorite pizza flavors.
These pizza quesadillas made my kids so happy. They are delicious and cheesy and the best of two yummy recipes!
Hi! I have a question. Do you use the uncooked tortillas for this? We love the fresh tortillas!!! If the tortillas you used were the less perishable ones, would the fresh, uncooked kind need to be heated first before putting on toppings? We are looking forward to blending two of our favorite things!
Hi Mary! I have only ever used pre-cooked tortillas to make quesadillas. But if you prefer starting with uncooked tortillas, you could probably cook them on one side only to start. Then make sure the cooked side faces the interior of the quesadillas when you add the filling. Finally you could cook the quesadillas as directed, and the second side of your fresh tortillas would cook at the same time that the quesadilla browned and the filling melted. Hope that makes sense! 🙂
My 4 year old doesn’t like pizza but he does like quesadillas so I thought this would be a good way to appeal to the whole family, and it was! But the big surprise was that my 4 year old actually liked the dipping sauce. He was literally drinking it out of his bowl. Amazing!
I had made a big batch of the sauce because I had a large can of tomato sauce so I used the leftovers on a homemade pizza. It was the tastiest pizza I have ever made and I will be using this sauce as my pizza sauce from now on. Thank you for the recipe!
So happy to hear it, Jessica! And I agree with you on the amazing pizza sauce...I have plans to turn that recipe into its own post one day so that it's easier for people to discover it. 😉
This was so delicious!!!
That sauce is perfection! My husband and I were fighting for the last drop lol
So glad y'all enjoyed it, Mandy! And I agree about the sauce...I have it on my to-do list to turn that recipe into a stand-along pizza sauce post because I want more people to have a chance to try it! Ha. 😉
What a wonderful simple way to change up quesadillas! This is going on my list. I have to admit to being in a lunch rut too, but I keep asking the girls if they're tired of the same thing and luckily they said no. 2 weeks of school left and counting 🙂
Hope your girls enjoy these, Kristin! It's so hard to pack creative lunchboxes by the end of the school year. We just limped by on PB&Js until summer vacation hit, and now I'm getting three different lunch requests every day! Ha. 😉
My kids would love these, they really love pineapple on pizza. They look so easy, I am going to try them!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Hope y'all love them, Carrie! My family is a big fan on pineapple on pizza as well, so making some Hawaiian Pizza Quesadillas is definitely on our to-try list. 😉
My boys would love these! I might keep this in my back pocket for a quick dinner on days I've been on the road. What a yummy idea!
Thanks, Carlee...I hope these quesadillas are a big hit with your boys! This is definitely a quick, easy dinner for time-crunched evenings. 🙂