Making cheese quesadillas in an air fryer is quick, easy and convenient! You get to enjoy perfectly crisp, golden tortillas with gorgeously gooey cheese inside in just minutes. Enjoy them as they are or load them up with your favorite fillings and serve with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream! These are ideal when you need an easy lunch or weeknight dinner, or quick snacks for game days or movie nights.
If you enjoy an easy cheese quesadilla made on a griddle, then you will absolutely LOVE this air fryer quesadilla recipe. It requires less effort on your end because all you have to do is assemble and pop them in the air fryer – no flipping required. Just let the air fryer do what it does best- make deliciously crisp food as fast as possible!
If you you’re here reading this, you’re obviously into air fryer recipes like I am, this will be a game changer. Kid needs a quick meal? Five minutes later they’ve got a cheesy quesadilla in front of them. It’s just so convenient.
This base recipe is for a plain cheese quesadilla but you can easily add whatever filling sounds best to you. I like to make my air fryer chicken fajitas recipe for dinner and then dice up the leftovers to add to these quesadillas for an easy, yet satisfying lunch the next day.
2-Ingredient Quesadilla
You will only need 2 ingredients to make a classic quesadilla but you can customize however you want. Here’s a list of the simple ingredients you’ll need and notes on optional extras:
- Tortillas– I used 8-inches flour tortillas in this recipe. You can use corn tortillas or cassava tortillas to make it gluten free. Just adjust the amount of cheese and filling to fit the size of your tortilla.
- Cheese– any type of melty cheese will do like cheddar cheese, pepper jack, or Monterey Jack, Colby or a shredded Mexican cheese blend. You can use Queso Oaxaca, a stringy Mexican cheese, if you want to be really authentic.
- Oil (optional)
- Guac/ Salsa/ Pico de Gallo/ Sour Cream or your favorite toppings
How to Make Quesadillas in the Air Fryer
This is possibly one of the easiest ways to make quesadillas. Here are the basic steps to do it.
Preparation:
- Preheat the air fryer to 350° F (175° C).
- Shred the cheese. I prefer buying them in blocks instead of pre-shredded because they do not contain additives and melt better. I grate a few cups at a time and keep it in a container in the refrigerator for quick use later on. Pre-shredded works fine too though!
Steps:
- While the air fryer is preheating (or before if yours preheats fast), lay a tortilla out on a flat surface and sprinkle ½ cup grated cheese onto half of the tortilla. Leave a ½ inch border around the edge. Add additional filling if desired.
- Fold the empty half over the cheese-covered half. If desired you can spray each of the outer sides with cooking spray but you will still get decently a crispy tortilla without this step.
- Gently place the prepared quesadilla in the air fryer basket or tray. Repeat with the other tortilla and ½ cup of cheese, gently laying it down in the air fryer without overlapping with the other tortilla or letting cheese spill out.
- Air fry for 5-8 minutes until cheese melts and they are crisp and golden, flipping the tortillas over after the first 3 minutes if needed.
- Once toasted to your desired level, remove the quesadillas from the air fryer. Cut and serve immediately. I recommend serving them with salsa, guacamole, and sour cream but you can serve them however you prefer.
Cooking Notes:
- If using a basket-style air fryer, open it after the first minute of cook time and use a spatula to press the top of the tortillas down into the melted cheese to keep it in place.
- Check quesadillas for doneness at 5 minutes in an oven-style air fryer and 6 minutes in a basket-style air fryer.
Filling Options
There are so many ways to load air fryer quesadillas up using different meats and veggies. As written, it’s a vegetarian quesadilla recipe, but you can easily add whatever filling you want. Here are some fun twists to explore:
- Meats– you can use shredded pork, beef, chicken, or turkey meat. I like using leftover shredded crock pot chicken to make it a chicken quesadilla. You can also use rotisserie chicken, ground beef taco meat, or leftover meats you have in your fridge.
- Vegetables– you can use black beans, refried beans, black olives, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, cilantro, spinach, etc.
- Breakfast edition– fill your quesadilla with scrambled eggs and/or bacon or sausage.
- Dairy-free options– use dairy-free cheese to make it vegan. I tried this with Violife cheddar and it melted fine.
If you are using toppings, make sure to sprinkle more cheese on top of it to ensure the top portion of the tortilla will stick properly.
Pro-Tips for the Best Results
Recipe Tips
- Keep cheese about 1/2 inch from the edge of the tortilla. This will ensure that the cheese will not ooze out as much once they melt, so you have less mess to worry about later on.
- Adjust cooking time. Air fryer models differ and so does the cooking time! I find that the oven-style ninja air fryer takes 3 mins per side maximum, while bucket- style Cosori air fryer takes 3 to 4 mins per side.
- When using oven style air fryer. Make sure the edges of the quesadilla aren’t over the heating elements and leave closer to an inch of room around the edge of the tortilla so it doesn’t melt and drip out onto the burners. You can also put them on a pan and just flip half way through.
- Consider flipping the tortillas. I know I said it isn’t necessary and in most air fryers it isn’t but if yours heats unevenly, flipping will give you evenly crisp sides. If you’re new to this, make sure to check it after the first minute or two and press the top part of the tortilla down with a spatula if it is lifting up from the air flow in the air fryer.
- Always cook the quesadillas in a single layer. If you are planning to make more, cook in batches instead for maximum crispiness.
Serving and Storing
Serve these yummy air fry quesadillas with guacamole, classic Salsa, sour cream or Greek yogurt, or plain dairy free yogurt.
These are best enjoyed right off the air fryer while they are still crisp and gooey. However, you can always store leftover quesadillas in the fridge for up to three days in an airtight container. You can simply reheat them in the air fryer for a minute or two until they are crisp again. You can microwave them too but won’t get that crispness back and the tortilla will be tough.
Quick Air Fryer Cheese Quesadillas (Vegetarian)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 8” flour tortillas
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese divided
- Optional – up to 2/3 cup of filling divided*
- Optional – cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 350° F (175° C).
- While air fryer is preheating (or before if yours preheats fast), lay tortilla out flat** and sprinkle ½ cup grated cheese onto one half of it leaving a ½ inch boarder around the edge. Add additional filling if desired, making sure to sprinkle more cheese on top of the toppings to ensure the top portion of the tortilla will stick properly.
- Fold the empty half of tortilla over the cheese covered half. If desired you can spray each of the outer sides with cooking spray but they will be plenty crispy without this step.
- Gently place prepared quesadilla in air fryer basket or tray. Repeat with other tortilla and ½ cup of cheese, gently laying it down in the air fryer without overlapping with the other tortilla.
- Air fry for approximately 5-8 minutes total until crisp and golden, flipping the tortillas over after the first 3 minutes. If using a basket style air fryer, open after first minute of cook time and use a spatula to press the top tortillas down into the melted cheese to keep it in place. Check quesadillas for doneness at 5 minutes in an oven style air fryer and 6 minutes in a basket style air fryer.
- Once toasted to your desired level, remove quesadillas from air fryer, cut and serve immediately. I recommend serving with salsa, guacamole and sour cream but you can serve however you prefer.
Notes
- Air fryer models differ and so does cooking time:
In oven style air fryer– quesadillas were perfectly crispy and melted in 4 minutes total at 350° with no flip needed if placed directly on the rack. - In basket style air fryer: quesadillas took 3 minutes per side and were still crispy enough without flipping but were more evenly crisped if flipped half way through. If using this type of model you do have to open the basket and push down the top tortilla 2 minutes into cook time.
- If cooking directly on the rack of an oven style air fryer- make sure edges of quesadilla aren’t over heating elements and leave closer to an inch of room around the edge of the tortilla so it doesn’t melt and drip out onto the tray.
- Can use a whole wheat or gluten free tortilla if desired.
- To make dairy free, use a dairy free cheese that melts well. I tried it with Violife cheddar and it melted fine.
Nutrition
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