- Prep-time: / Ready In:
- Makes 4 quesadillas
- Serving size: 1 quesadilla
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Change up your wrap routine with these fun folded rice-and-bean quesadillas. Each quadrant of a whole wheat tortilla is slathered in scrumptious Tex-Mex ingredients and stacked on top of each other to create a perfectly balanced, hand-held snack. Creamy black beans get a spicy kick from chili powder, brown rice soaks up the tangy flavors of pico de gallo, homemade guacamole gets lightened up with mashed peas, and fresh spinach adds leafy green goodness to each bite. This is a great meal when you’re in a rush or need something cute and quick to pack into your kid’s lunchbox. Serve with extra pico de gallo or hot sauce, and chow down!
For more vegan quesadilla recipes, check out these tasty ideas:
- Chipotle Hummus Quesadillas
- Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadillas
- Cinnamon Apple Quesadillas
- Caramelized Onion & Pepper Vegan Quesadillas
By Shelli McConnell,
Ingredients
- ¾ cup frozen green peas, steamed until very tender
- ½ of a medium ripe avocado, seeded, peeled, and quartered
- 1 cup no-salt-added black beans or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 tablespoon unsweetened, unflavored plant-based milk
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 4 7- to 8-inch whole wheat flour tortillas
- 4 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- ¾ cup cooked brown rice
- ½ cup purchased pico de gallo (fresh salsa)
- 1 cup shredded fresh spinach
- 3 tablespoons sliced black olives
Instructions
- Put peas and avocado in a small bowl; mash them with a fork until mostly smooth. Put beans, milk, and chili powder in another small bowl; mash them until mostly smooth.
- Lay a tortilla on a work surface. Make a cut in tortilla from the center to the edge closest to you. Imagine the tortilla divided into four equal sections. On the bottom left section, spread one-fourth of the avocado mixture and sprinkle it with 1 teaspoon of the nutritional yeast. On the top left section, spread 3 tablespoons of the rice and top it with 1 tablespoon of the pico de gallo. On the top right section, spread ¼ cup of the spinach and top it with one-fourth of the olives. Finally, on the bottom right section, spread one-fourth of the mashed beans.
- Fold the avocado section over the rice. Fold that portion over the spinach. Finally, fold the three sections over the beans. Repeat to make three more folded tortillas.
- To cook, put a large nonstick skillet on a burner. Turn the burner to medium. When the skillet is hot, carefully place two quesadillas in the skillet. Cook about 2 minutes or until quesadillas are golden brown on the bottom. Use a pancake turner to carefully flip quesadillas over. Cook 2 minutes more or until the other side is golden brown. Remove from skillet. Repeat with the remaining quesadillas. Serve quesadillas with the remaining ¼ cup pico de gallo or salsa.
Per serving (1 quesadilla): 254 calories, 41 g carbohydrates, 10 g protein, 6 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 385 mg sodium, 9 g fiber, 4 g sugar
Note: Nutritional information is provided as an estimate only.
Comments (15)
(5 from 4 votes)I have an old George Foreman hamburger grill that works great as a panini press for sandwiches like this. It also works great for frozen hash browns and for smashed (already cooked) potatoes to add some crispy flavor. I used Mission whole wheat tortillas. https://www.missionfoods.com/products/better-for-you/whole-wheat-tortillas/
The timing on this is very unrealistic. "Homemade" guacamole itself takes more than 15 minutes to make and so does "fresh" salsa.
What brand of Tortillas do you recommend? I can't find any that are very good.
Almond tortillas but they are small. No oil in them. Trader Joe’s sells them I use them and I am very happy I discovered them. I gave up tortillas because of the oils in them and other not so good for you ingredients.
I like Mission brand whole wheat tortillas. They're tasty. I also like to buy Milagro brand corn tortillas from the Mexican tiendas here, but they're smaller.
I’m allergic to avocado. Could you suggest a substitution for that section? Thanks!
Try any other vegetable that you are not allergic to that you like. I personally enjoy corn, more greens, red/yellow pepper, capers, humous, etc. Only you know what you're not allergic to and what your taste preferences are.
Humus with salsa on it. I like it that way.
This is one of our favorites. I’ve done it with refried black beans or home cooked pinto beans. I’ve substituted salsa for the pico de gallo if I don’t have any. I sometimes add some violife cheese. I freeze beans and rice so I can make this very quickly!
Avocado is high in saturated fat. I leave it out of everything now. I make burritos without avocado and they are delicious.
For some perspective: A medium avocado has about 22 grams of fat, 3 of which are saturated. https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/avocados/#:~:text=Source%20Of,-Fat%20(mostly%20monounsaturated&text=A%20whole%20medium%20avocado%20contains,fiber%2C%20and%2011%20milligrams%20sodium. The American Heart Association recommends not more than 13grams of saturate fat/day on a 2,000calorie/day diet. If one ate 1/2 medium avocado that would equate to about 1.5 grams of saturated fat or about 0.12% of a days allotment of a 2,000calorie/day diet.
The green button above says add to meal planner, but it does not allow you to do so! So how do you do that?
Hi Windy, Sorry to hear you've having trouble adding the recipe to Forks Meal Planner. Once you click the 'Add to Meal Planner' button it should take you to your meal planner account. Did you try searching for the recipe, once you were there? Sometimes it doesn't show up on the home page. I just tried it and it worked for me. You could also try another browser and see if that works? Hope that helps. Let us know if you're still having problems.
Great flavor combinations. Very satisfying.
Excellent, add roasted diced green chilies to the avacado mix. Garlic powder, grated onions, and pepper to the bean mix, and cook the rice with garlic, onions, (carrots, celery) This is very satisfying, and filling.