Fried Egg Quesadillas

Hello, easy breakfast on the fly! For everyone who's a fan of fried egg sandwiches, here's a fast and fresh tortilla version. That's right, no bread, just a flour tortilla. It's quick and easy, needs just a single skillet, calls for just three ingredients ... but fills you up with healthy protein. Could a Fried Egg Tortilla turn into dinner? Naturally! Just add fixin's like salsa, sour cream, avocado, pickled jalapeño and more and you've got yourself a feast.

Real Food, Fast & Flexible. Budget Friendly. Just Three Ingredients. High Protein. Vegetarian.

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Three Things.

These things I know. Facts are facts. Truth is truth. Reality is reality.

• Breakfast Burritos Are a Pain. By all rights, breakfast burritos should be right up my culinary alley. But nope, too much trouble, too little reward.
• Tortillas Need Cooking! Flour tortillas have this raw cardboard-y flour-y taste until they're cooked. Cooked tortillas turn golden and wonderful with just a tiny bit of oil and heat. Those wrap sandwiches that look so pretty? They're good in concept but the tortillas are r-a-w raw. Breakfast burritos? All that prep and then it still takes two steps to properly cook a breakfast burrito from the freezer. See #1.
• Tortillas Keep Longer Than Bread. During the yeast shortage, we really missed having our everyday bread on hand. Turns out, a certain husband thrills for morning toast and jam. But the upside is that we really got turned onto cooking tortillas. Since they keep well and even freeze, it's easy to never run out.
• Fried Egg Sandwiches Deserve To Be A Thing. When was the last time you made a fried egg sandwich? Did you put ketchup on it?! Why don't we make more of these little wonders of the sandwich world?!

And the Winner Is ... Fried Egg Quesadillas!

We incorporated tortillas into our meals in many ways this spring but these Fried Egg Quesadillas are the clear winner, based on speed, convenience and outright deliciousness. I have at least one more tortilla recipe to share but this one's already built itself into our regular breakfast routine and yeah, the occasional supper saver too.

The idea was to make fried egg sandwiches except with tortillas. We could have just wrapped cooked egg in a golden tortilla (and do! so good!) but all of a sudden, we craved something a little more substantial.

Enter Fried Egg Quesadillas.

Things to Know About Tortillas. (Yes, Tortillas Freeze!)

• Yes, you can make your own. Some day, even I'll give that a try.
• But decent tortillas are easy to find and inexpensive. They work for us. You too?
• We even buy the huge stacks of tortillas at Sam's Club / Costco, even just for the two of us.
• They keep! They last a good month in the fridge.
• Better still? They freeze! I separate the giant stack of tortillas into smaller stacks, enough for a couple of weeks, then slip a stack into freezer bags. Tortillas freeze really well, better than bread since they stack so densely.

Keys to Success

• A Good Non-Stick Skillet Helps This Cuisinart non-stick skillet (affiliate link) rarely gets put away, that's how useful it is. It comes with a glass lid which is handy. A well-seasoned cast iron skillet (affiliate link) also works but may need to more oil to prevent sticking for both the tortilla and the eggs.
• A Non-Stick Skillet Needs a Non-Stick Spatula I've been using the same non-stick spatula (affiliate link) for at least 20 years, not the same one of course, it needs replacing every four or five years.
• Timing Is Everything My husband makes Fried Egg Quesadillas with two skillets, one for the tortillas, one for the eggs. With one skillet, you'll warm the tortillas while gathering the other ingredients, then add the cheese to the warm tortilla to start the melting process, then cook the egg in the same skillet, then cook the quesadilla in the same skillet. One skillet for the win!
• Watch the Cheese A quesadilla isn't a quesadilla without cheese but it's easy to overdo the cheese, delicious, for sure, but the calories will mount.

You Might Wonder Be Wondering ...

WHAT ABOUT CORN TORTILLAS? Corn tortillas are a little less pliable, harder to fold over. That said, you could put the eggs between two corn tortillas, then cut the round into wedges. Yeah, sure, corn tortillas would work fine. I talked myself into this!

WHAT ABOUT BAKING THE QUESADILLAS? This would work great and be especially helpful for making quesadillas for a family or a group.

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FRIED EGG QUESADILLAS

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time-to-table: 10 hours
Makes 1 quesadilla
Easily doubled

• 1 flour tortilla brushed with a tiny smidgin of oil
• 1 - 1.5 oz grated cheese (for 1 - 2 eggs), preferably a good melting cheese but we also like the crumbly queso fresco
• 1 or 2 large eggs with a little oil if needed
• Pepper to taste

FOR A FEAST
• Salsa (Best Quick Tomato Salsa (Red Salsa) or Green Chile Sauce (Salsa Verde))
• Guacamole (especially My Guacamole)
• Sour cream (especially Lime Crema)
• Pickled onion (especially Spiced Pickled Red Onions)
• Pickled jalapeños (especially Quick Jalapeño Pickles)
• Sliced avocado
• Cooked rice (especially Mexican Cauliflower "Rice")
• Cooked beans (especially Creamy Slow Cooker Beans)

WARM THE TORTILLA Place a non-stick skillet on the stove on medium heat. Brush the tortilla lightly on both sides with a tiny touch of oil, just enough to baaaaarely wet the surface. Drop the tortilla into the still-warming skillet and let it warm up to soften and just begin to develop a little color, just a minute or two per side.

Turn the skillet down to low. Lift the tortilla from the skillet and put it on a plate, the browner side facing up.

GIVE THE CHEESE A HEAD START Sprinkle the cheese across the tortilla, not quite to the edge but almost so the tortilla's heat will start the melting process.

PARTIALLY COOK THE EGG Turn the heat back up to medium. If the skillet is dry, brush the center of the skillet with a tiny bit of oil, just enough to prevent the egg from sticking as it cooks. Drop the eggs onto the oiled area and use the tip of a spatula to break the yolk and half-heartedly mix the yolk and the white, no need to scramble them, it's ideal when sections of yolk and white remain distinct and separate. Sprinkle the egg with a little pepper, there's probably no need for salt since the cheese is pretty salty. Let the egg partially cook, scraping and turning a bit to cook evenly, the egg should still be quite wet.

FINISH THE QUESADILLA Spread the egg across half the tortilla. Fold the other half over top and press a bit with the flat of the spatula, helping the melting cheese and egg adhere to one another. Gently drop the quesadilla into the center of the skillet and let cook until the tortilla reaches a pretty golden color, flipping at least once.

SERVE Slice the tortilla into wedges and serve with all the fixin's that make your morning heart happy.

ALANNA's TIPS One egg or two? That depends on your appetite and the size of your tortilla. In our household, "he" has the appetite for two eggs and "she" has the appetite for just one. We usually buy 8-inch (20cm) flour tortillas and these nicely hold either one egg or two. For two quesadillas at a time, separately warm both tortillas but then cook the eggs for both together. Finish the two quesadillas at the same time, butting up the two folded halves against one another in the skillet. When eggs were in short supply, my husband and I shared a single quesadilla made with a single egg, he had 2/3, I had 1/3. We were both surprised how filling those small portions were. Perhaps it's just a good balance of protein:carbs?

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Quesadilla (assumes 1 teaspoon oil, 1 8-inch flour tortilla, 1 large egg, 1 oz cheese): 344 Calories; 20g Tot Fat; 9g Sat Fat; 240mg Cholesterol; 645mg Sodium; 24g Carb; 2g Fiber; 4g Sugar; 16g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 8 & PointsPlus 9 & SmartPoints 12 & Freestyle 10 & myWW green 12 & blue 10 & purple 10

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Seasonal Cooking: Early Summer Across the Years

Gingerbread Muffins Strawberry Ice Cream Maple Glazed Salmon Those Pink Potatoes Herbed Saltines Magical Breakfast Cream Citrus Slices with Orange Flower Water, Spices & Chocolate Shavings Simple Grilled Salmon One Quick Tip: Tomato Knife for Clean, Sharp Slices Mini Blueberry Tarts Easy Ham Salad

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More Easy Healthy Summer Breakfasts

~ more Easy Summer Recipes ~

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Shop Your Pantry First

(helping home cooks save money on groceries)

~ eggs ~
~ cheese ~
~ tortillas ~

~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
~ How to Save Money on Groceries ~

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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