I love a good vegan quesadilla like I like my pizza – thin, crispy, and loaded with toppings. If that sounds like it’s up your alley then you’ll LOVE this easy peasy quick recipe!
The filling can be made in two minutes and then you just need to add it to a folded tortilla, and grill or pan-fry it.
The filling is also soy-free and nut-free and doesn’t use any fake vegan cheese! This makes these quesadillas fairly nutritious and cheap as chips to make with no hard-to-find or expensive ingredients required.
They can also be made gluten-free by swapping out the flour tortillas for gluten-free tortillas.
I made this recipe because I hate quesadillas with a ton of filling because it always falls out, and vegan cheese never melts properly either in other vegan quesadilla recipes I’ve tried.
The filling is creamy and delicious and the base for it is actually made from cannellini (white kidney) beans! It’s incredibly quick and creamy and you can serve as is or with some add-ins (for a pesto flavor, a red pepper flavor, etc.).
I use a similar sauce made from cannellini beans for this popular easy white bean sauce pizza and I just knew it would be amazing in a vegan quesadilla!
Toppings
Although delicious on their own, these babies were designed to be the perfect vehicles for toppings. Once you’ve made your beautiful thin crispy vegan quesadillas, have an array of goodies to top them with. Here are some suggestions that would pair well:
Vegan quesadilla pizza
So simple but so tasty and much faster than making a real pizza! My kids love them too. To make a quesadilla pizza instead of folding one tortilla, just:
- Sandwich two tortillas together with a layer of filling in-between.
- Grill each side then top with vegan cheese shreds (or a layer of vegan refried beans topped with cheese shreds).
- Grill another one-two minutes until the shreds have melted.
- Top with salsa, guacamole, vegan sour cream, and pickled jalapeños.
Then just enjoy your super easy Tex-Mex style quesadilla pizza (quesapizza?) ready in only 6-7 minutes!
Of course, if an actual Tex-Mex style vegan pizza is what you’re after then I highly recommend my spicy veggie pizza recipe.
Instructions
This is such an easy vegan quesadilla recipe you don’t even need instructions but I’m going to pop them in here with some process photos so you can make sure you’re on the right track. This recipe makes ten folded quesadillas and around 5-7 servings depending on how hungry everyone is!
You can easily halve the recipe if you won’t be feeding that many, or just make up the filling and store it in the fridge and use as needed (it also makes a delicious dip and hummus-alternative).
Simply grab the bowl of your food processor or the jug of a high-powered blender and add the cooked cannellini beans, lemon juice, cloves of garlic, and salt (image one below). Then blend/process until as smooth as possible.
Next, set to blend or process again and slowly pour in the olive oil. When you’ve poured it all in, process/blend for about two minutes more. You should be left with a delicious smooth creamy tangy sauce (image two below).
If you’re going to mix in some add-ins, remove half the sauce and then blend up the add-ins (or double the add-ins and mix in with the whole lot of sauce).
Grab a 9-inch tortilla and fold it in half, pressing down along the fold with your finger, then open again. there should be a slight line in tthe middle to act as a guide.
Spread about two-three tablespoons of the sauce on half of the tortilla by dolloping it on and smoothing it out with the back of a spoon, leaving a margin around the edges of around 1/4 inch (image three above).
Note that if you prefer you can sandwich two tortillas together instead of folding the tortillas but that way is harder to turn and cut without sauce oozing out so I don’t recommend it unless you’re making a quesadilla pizza.
Next, to heat your tortilla and get it crispy on the outside you can either:
- Cook each side on a preheated medium-hot skillet (image four above)for about a minute on each side or until golden and crisped to your preference. You can add a little oil if you want but it’s not necessary. Depending on the size of your skillet you may be able to fit two on it at a time.
- Do the same as above but use a regular frying pan – this will give a similar result, you just won’t get the pretty grill marks.
- Grill the quesadillas on medium-high heat for one-two minutes on each side. Again, you can brush them with a little oil but it’s not necessary.
Done! Now cut each half tortilla into four triangles with a sharp knife (a sharp scissors or pizza cutter will also do the job here), top your tasty thin crispy vegan quesadillas with whatever tasty toppings you chose, and enjoy!
Add-in suggestions
You can add whatever you want to give your sauce a different flavor (although it’s delicious all by itself) but here are two versions I have successfully tested (note these are to be blended/processed with half of the filling, so double up if you want to flavor all of it):
For a sweet and spicy sauce, add half a roasted red pepper, one-eighth of a teaspoon cayenne, a quarter teaspoon spicy smoked paprika, and one tablespoon of sweet chili sauce.
For a spinach pesto-style sauce, add one large handful of fresh baby spinach, a small handful of basil, and two tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
Be careful not to add too much liquid if you add your own different flavorings though as otherwise it might be too liquidy and start running out of the tortilla.
Storing leftovers
These are really best eaten straight away while they’re still warm so I’d suggest you only make as many as you think you’re going to eat – the white bean filling will actually keep for up to five days in the fridge.
If you do end up with some leftovers, cover tightly and store in the fridge for up to three days. They will soften and lose their crispiness so to eat them heat them in the oven at 360F (180C) for about 10 minutes, flipping halfway through, or grill until crispy again.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know how much you loved it with a star rating in the recipe box, review, or comment below.
Or take a picture and tag me on Instagram (@the_fiery_vegetarian), I love seeing all your creations!
Easy Vegan Quesadillas Recipe
These delicious thin crispy vegan quesadillas with a creamy tangy filling come together super fast and are ready to be loaded up with toppings for a filling satisfying lunch or dinner.
Ingredients
- 2.25 cups cooked white cannellini beans (400g)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 tsp salt
- ⅓ cup olive oil (60ml)
- 10 9-inch flour tortillas
- toppings (guacamole, salsa, etc.)
Instructions
- Blitz the cannellini beans, lemon juice, garlic, and salt in a high powered blender or food processor until as smooth as possible.
- Process again on a high speed while drizzling the olive oil in and process an additional 1-2 minutes after the oil has been added until the sauce is very smooth.
- Fold one tortilla, open up, and spread roughly two tablespoons of the sauce on half the tortilla leaving a 1/4 inch border.
- Pan fry or cook the tortillas on a griddle on medium-high heat for roughly one minute on each side until golden and crispy. You can brush the tortillas or the pan with oil if you like but it's not necessary. Alternatively, the quesadillas can be grilled for 1-2 minutes on each side on medium-high.
- Serve hot with a variety of toppings (vegan sour cream, salsa, guacamole, etc.)
Notes
To change up the flavor of the sauce you can opt to add the following add-ins to the food processor/blender with half the amount of sauce (or double the add-ins)
1) 1/2 roasted red pepper, 1/8 tsp cayenne ¼ tsp hot smoked paprika and 1 tbsp sweet chili sauce.
or
2) 1 large handful fresh baby spinach, 1 small handful fresh basil and 2 tbsp nutritional yeast.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 466Total Fat 18gSaturated Fat 3gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 0mgSodium 493mgCarbohydrates 63gFiber 7gSugar 0gProtein 14g
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