On a related note, some day I will make and eat a chupaqueso. (Scroll down.)
Possibly with avocado.
Hot pan, butter in pan, butter on tortilla #1, tortilla #1 in pan buttered side down, cheese on tortilla, butter on tortilla #2, tortilla #2 in pan, buttered side up, flip when tortilla #1 is browned to my liking, out when tortilla #2 is.
Damn, now I’m hungry again.
Heat up tortilla on the comal.
Put cheese on half the tortilla.
Fold over.
Remove quesadilla from comal.
Eat.
Repeat until no longer hungry/you’re out of tortillas.
For a quesadilla, not really. Just flour or corn tortillas (I’ll go either way on this), a quesadilla cheese (either manchengo, oaxaca or something labeled queso quesadilla), and fried in a pan, not the microwave. (I prefer the crispy fritas style rather than in a comal.) It might be a single corn tortilla folded over, or it might be two flour tortillas with filling sandwiched in between (which is more like a sincronizada than a Mexican quesadilla). Fillings may include fried poblanos, huitlacoche, squash blossoms, or mushrooms. I really don’t want cumin or chili powder in my quesadilla. The heat comes from the salsa served aside it.
This.
A quesadilla has 2 ingredients - tortilla and cheese.
needs to be pre-cooked. It’s a good way of using up leftover meat.
But it’s also my “I can’t be bothered to cook” food. Cheese, tortillas, microwave. (Or occasionally skillet. But if i can’t be bothered to cook, I can’t be bothered to clean, either). Buying special equipment for quesadillas is kind of silly.
Spray some nonstick spray on a nonstick pan.
Put shredded cheese on a tortilla. Fold the tortilla in half and put it in the pan.
Cook on medium-high until cheese starts to melt and bottom of tortilla starts to brown.
Flip it over. If you’ve cooked it enough, cheese will not fall out when you do this. Tossing and catching it is showing off.
Cook until browned to your taste on the second side.
If you like, you could add other stuff (if needed, this stuff should be cooked to a point where you’d be comfortable eating it before it goes into the quesadilla) with the cheese. I like pickled jalapenos. Don’t add too much stuff, though. Quesadillas are best eaten with your hands, and the two sides of the tortilla should stick together when it is held up. And be sure to drain any liquid from anything before you add it to the quesadilla. Soggy quesadillas are no good.
I melt a little butter in a no-stick pan. Lay out flour tortillas and fill one side with shredded cheese and maybe lightly cooked finely sliced green/red/yellow peppers and onions - not too much. (you can really put anything in, it’s basically a grilled sandwich with a flat bread.) Fold the blank side over the filling. transfer to pan, press down with spatula and let cook till nicely done. Flip, press down a minute more. Serve. So easy, and I really can’t make enough, they disappear fast. They disappear out of the refrigerator in the middle of the night, too.
The recipes above all use tortillas. We also enjoy quesadillas made from fresh masa.
Prepare filling of your choice from plain cheese to something more elaborate such as sauteed squash blossoms (a la pukymel), roasted chiles, chopped shrimp sauteed with fresh tomato, onion and cilantro etc. Take a small ball of masa and flatten (tortilla press or rolling pin work) it to the size of a small tortilla, 10-12 cm. Place filling on on half on the masa and fold in two. Seal the edge by squeezing gently. deep fry until golden.
Top with the salsa of your choice, having several to choose from is nice like a green salsa or a dried chile salsa, crumbled queso seco (parmesan can be used) some fresh crema and shredded lettuce.
While the Quesadilla Making Process is well documented here, I’m zombie-fying this thread to ask the deeper question:
What Cheese to use?
In my early explorations I tried Queso cheese (isn’t melt-y enough). Then tried Oaxacan cheese that wasn’t as good as Monterey Jack. That seems to most approximate the amazing qualities of the Highland Park ‘My Taco’ Quesadillas.
So I’m asking for more depth of field for the choice of cheese, what say you?
Kraft Mexican Blend Shredded Cheese. Maybe toss in a little shredded Pepper Jack or Moz if there’s any in the fridge.
Well, LOOK AT ALL YOU FANCY PEOPLE with your fancy quesadillas. Were these a thing back in 2010?
Put a damn tortilla in a pan. No, you don’t gotta oil it. Turn on the heat.
Sprinkle some damn cheese on top.
Fold it in half.
Go do something like post on the Straight Dope.
Come back and hope you haven’t burnt everything. Flip the quesadilla.
Go get a beer from the fridge.
Take the finished quesadilla out of the pan. Boom!
As the dad of two young kids, I make a crapload of quesadillas. Tortillas+cheese+heat. THat’s all there is to it. The only simpler dish is toast.
If anyone has a good recipe please let me know… I’ve been boiling mine and it just doesn’t seem right.
No, no, no. Don’t boil your toast. Deep fry it!
Boil it in oil.
Ok… I deep fried a loaf, but it has this kind of weird melted plastic taste to it.
And before you think I’m stupid or something, I knew enough to cut off the end of the bag with the twist tie.
I’ve used a folded tortilla in something like this to good effect. Such a device isn’t limited to quesadillas.
Am I the only one who uses a quesadilla maker?
It’s the only way to get my kid to eat tuna.
Tuna
Monterey Jack
dab of sour cream, just enough to make the tuna get a little creamy
2 flour tortillas
spray tortilla with oil, butter it, or rub some bacon on it. I love bacon grease personally. Just a little. Just enough. 
assemble stuffings on top of tortilla, not too much though. Cover the skillet for about 2 minutes so the cheese gets a little melty, uncover and cook another minute or two, so you can hear the sizzle of the tortilla frying. Then cover with another greased tortilla, smoosh it down a bit on the melty cheesy tuna, then flip it. I maneuver with two spatulas myself. Get that side sizzle-y as well and then flip it on a plate. I like to have a side of chilled avocado chunks (or a squeezy tube of the packet guacamole), lettuce and tomatoes.
We have them about once a week, sometimes with tuna, sometimes with chicken or beans.