The best Grilled Vegetable Spinach Pesto Quesadillas ever! All the vegetables get grilled and stuffed into tortillas with a spinach pesto and ooey gooey cheese!
Grilled vegetables meets spinach pesto and cheese meets crispy, corn and flour tortilla meets my face. It’s official, I am obsessed with this ‘dilla.
And I (and you 😉 ) have my wonderful hairdresser and friend Nancy to thank for it (Hi Nancy!). Haileigh, my oldest daughter was getting her hair done at the salon. She’s almost 14, has a few highlights and is heading into highschool. My life = over. I kid. sort of.
Anyways, we all were standing around chatting about this and that. I asked Nancy if we were her last client of the day, she said that we were and that she was going home after to make dinner. Well you know me, being the nosy food-obsessed person that I am– I asked her what she was cooking up. Nancy told me she was making grilled vegetable quesadillas, a recipe she found on Pinterest.
As she went through the ingredient list, I ooooed and ahhhhed, trying not to drool while hearing and imagining grilled portobellos, peppers, yellow squash, zucchini and onions. Then there’s basil pesto involved and goat cheese. My brain stopped right there on the words goat and cheese. I wish I was a fan, truly I do. because goat cheese is all the rage these days… but for the life of me I cannot. I’ve tried and I can’t get past the furry sock texture.
So I thought of a way to make this quesadilla happen, minus the goat cheese and with a from scratch fresh spinach pesto. The results were amazing, mind blowing deliciousness. I am not exaggerating.
I may or may not have wept a smidgen after my last bite. These grilled vegetable spinach pesto quesadillas are legit.
So the other day, I whipped up my recipe for fresh spinach pesto, I gather all the other ingredients and grilled a bunch of vegetables for the most amazing quesadillas ever. Ever-ever.
Remove and discard the stems form the portobellos.
Slice the cheeks off of the peppers, slice the squash and zucchini into planks and slice a medium red onion into 1/4 inch rounds.
Brush all sides with safflower oil.
Place the veggies onto a preheated medium to medium-high grill, close the lid and grill for about 4 to 5 minutes or until charred.
Flip the veg and continue to grill for a few more minutes.
Once the vegetables have good grill marks, are firm yet tender– go on and remove them and transfer to a platter or cutting board…
Slice the mushrooms, peppers, squash and zucchini. I keep the onions whole, but do what you like.
In the meantime, preheat a griddle or large skillet and brush with a little oil.
Then on an 8-inch tortilla (I’m using a corn/flour blend) sprinkle a little Farmers cheese and crumbled feta.
Next, top with veggies, a few dollops of pesto and then more feta and grated farmers cheese.
Then place the whole thing onto the hot griddle…
Next, top with a second tortilla.
And then griddle until golden, crispy and cheese is ooooozing.
Now let the Vegetable Spinach Pesto Quesadillas cool a bit before you slice into half-sies, fourths or eighths. But just know it gets a leetle messy after fourths.
Oh. Dang.
Hello, lover.
Even after I ate my entire grilled vegetable spinach pesto quesadilla I made sure to save all leftover grilled vegetables, pesto and grated cheese– and I’m glad I did because I made them again later in the evening for my bff and I– after we sipped glasses of wine, got ding-dong-ditched by some neighbor kids and talked for hours. And she wholeheartedly agrees that these are top-notch, life-changing quesadillas.
Enjoy! And if you give this Vegetable Spinach Pesto Quesadillas recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
My cookbook Simply Scratch : 120 Wholesome Homemade Recipes Made Easy is now available! CLICK HERE for details and THANK YOU in advance!
Grilled Vegetable Spinach Pesto Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 2 portobello mushroom caps, stems removed
- 1 small red bell pepper, cheeks removed
- 1 small orange bell pepper, cheeks removed
- 1 small yellow squash, trimmed and sliced into 4 planks
- 1 small zucchini, trimmed and sliced into 4 planks
- 1 small red onion, peeled and sliced into rings
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil, or extra light olive oil
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- 8 8-inch flour tortillas
- 8 ounces farmers cheese, grated or Monterey jack
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- fresh spinach pesto, or use your favorite
Instructions
- Preheat your outdoor grill to medium/medium-high heat.
- Brush both sides of all the vegetables with oil and place on your preheated grill. Close and grill for about 3 to 5 minutes. Use tongs to carefully flip the vegetables and continue to grill for another 2 minutes. The vegetables should have grill marks but still be a bit firm. Transfer the grilled vegetables to a cutting board. Once they have cooled a bit, slice the mushrooms, peppers, squash and zucchini.
- Preheat a griddle or a large (12-inch) skillet. Brush lightly with oil.
- Build the first quesadilla but sprinkling a little of both cheeses on a tortilla. Add a fourth of the mushrooms, peppers, squash, zucchini and onions. Drop a few spoonfuls of pesto evenly onto the vegetables and then sprinkle with more cheese. Place a second tortilla on top.
- Once the bottom is deeply golden and the cheese has melted, carefully flip the quesadilla and cook for a few more minutes or until the second side is deeply golden. Transfer to a wooden board and allow to cool a few minutes before cutting into wedges.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
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I really kind of want it all to meet my tummy! 😀
So simple and so yummy. I love this!
I want this ‘dilla in my mouth ASAP!
Very cool! Will have to try your version!
I love your pictures! This recipe looks amazing…..
Love the colors!! What a delicious looking lunch. Putting this on my “to-make” list for certain.