These gluten-free Corn Tortilla Quesadillas are cheesy and delicious. Filled with spinach, black beans, and dreamy caramelized onions for big flavor!
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Quesadillas are a super-easy weeknight meal. Excellent with salsa or sour cream on the side, but even better with my Roasted Tomatillo Guacamole! Or double up on the veggies and serve with these Roasted Mini Peppers.
Why Make This Recipe
- Crowd-Pleasing Vegetarian Meal: This dish is packed with fiber, and is hearty enough that even meat lovers won’t miss the meat.
- Easy to Make: Once the caramelized onions are done, you can have these quesadillas on the table in under 20 minutes.
- Gluten-Free: No flour in corn tortillas, which makes this dish perfect for anyone avoiding gluten.
🥗 Ingredients
- Corn Tortillas: I love using the tiny “street taco” size corn tortillas for this dish, but you can use any size you like. Just keep in mind that smaller tortillas will be easier to flip when cooking. Both white corn and yellow corn tortillas will work perfectly.
- Black Beans: Feel free to use whatever beans you prefer for this recipe. Refried beans would also work well. Or leave them out if you prefer.
- Spinach: Make sure your spinach is fully thawed and drained so that your quesadillas don’t get soggy. You can use fresh spinach as well, but sauté it first to wilt it, and press out any extra moisture.
- Cheese: You can use one of the pre-shredded Mexican cheese packages to save time, or grate your own cheese. Choose a cheese that’s nice and melty. I’d recommend a combination of Monterey Jack and Colby or Cheddar Cheese, or try Pepper Jack for a spicier quesadilla.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet. Add 2 large onions, sliced, to the pan. Cook gently over medium-low heat, stirring every few minutes, until onions are soft and golden brown (about 25-30 minutes). Set aside.
Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat. Add ½ tablespoon of butter and when it fully melts, use a spatula to spread it out over the surface of the pan. Then add as many corn tortillas as will fit in your pan.
Cover each tortilla with a small amount of black beans, caramelized onions, spinach, and cheese, then cover with second tortilla.
Cook until bottom tortilla is crispy and browned in spots and the cheese is almost melted. Then brush vegetable oil lightly over the top tortillas with a pastry brush. Flip over and cook until second side is lightly browned.
Add quesadillas to a serving plate, and repeat the steps for the next batch of quesadillas.
When the quesadillas are done, serve as is, or serve with toppings like your favorite salsa, sour cream, and/or chopped cilantro.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Corn Tortilla Quesadillas
You can make quesadillas with corn tortillas and with flour tortillas. They are often made with flour tortillas because flour tortillas are more flexible, and also tend to stick together better with the filling. That means they are easier to flip even at larger sizes. But you can absolutely use corn tortillas for quesadillas. In fact, these are sometimes known as taco quesadillas, since they are the combination of a corn tortilla taco shell with a flour quesadilla. Just follow this recipe and my Expert Tips below!
I’d say this version of corn tortilla quesadillas is pretty healthy. Corn tortillas are lower in calories and fat than flour tortillas and are higher in protein and fiber. And, the filling of black beans, onions, and spinach contains lots of nutrients too without a lot of calories. That said, there is butter, oil, and cheese in this recipe. For a healthier version, I would reduce the amount of each that you use to cook the onions and the quesadillas. For a vegan quesadilla, use vegetable oil only, and non-dairy cheese.
Yes, you can. Brush vegetable oil on tortilla, flip it over, and cover with the filling. Put it in the air fryer around 350 degrees, and wait until the cheese starts to melt, before brushing another tortilla with oil and pressing it on top. (Otherwise, the top tortilla will blow off the top of the quesadilla due to the circulating air.) Flip the quesadilla after a few minutes to allow the bottom tortilla to brown.
The best way to reheat these quesadillas is to heat your large skillet or griddle again and add a bit of oil or butter. When that melts, add the quesadillas. Cook for several minutes over medium heat, then flip over and cook for another couple of minutes, until the cheese is melty again and the tortillas are crisp. An air fryer is also fantastic for reheating these easy corn tortilla quesadillas. Using a microwave isn’t advised, since there’s no way to achieve a crispy tortillas with a microwave!
👩🍳 Expert Tips
The trickiest part of using corn tortillas for quesadillas is that they don’t flip as easily as flour tortillas. If you are using large corn tortillas, you might want to cut them in half and make half-circle quesadillas.
Or, add your bottom corn tortilla to the skillet, and put the filling on one side only. Then, when the tortilla has warmed a little, fold the empty side over the top to make half circles.
My recipe uses a combination of butter and oil for these corn tortilla cheese quesadillas, but you can use one or the other if you prefer. I love the flavor from the butter, but brushing oil on the tops of the tortillas before you flip them gives you really evenly browned, crispy tortillas.
If you use butter and it starts to burn or smoke at any point, turn down the heat and wait a minute or two until it cools down before putting on another quesadilla.
Also, try not to use too much oil or butter. Too much can make your quesadillas soggy rather than crispy. That’s why the pastry brush is so useful for brushing on just a thin layer of oil.
Try using a pizza cutter to cut your quesadillas—that makes quick work of it!
If you’re a meat lover, these quesadillas are a great vehicle for leftovers because there are so many options for quesadilla fillings. Add shredded chicken left over from a rotisserie chicken, or leftover taco meat. Or add bacon or chorizo. And definitely check out these Sheet Pan Quesadillas from our friends at Wholefully.
Or keep the all-veggie filling but top with a fried egg. Of course, you can go the other direction and take out most of the filling to make a simple cheese quesadilla with corn tortillas. Whatever filling you use, kick it up a notch by adding some Quick Pickled Shallots on top. Or, make this Taco Bell Chipotle Sauce recipe for drizzling or dipping.
If you are cooking for a crowd, making baked corn tortilla quesadillas is a good alternative. Put tortillas on an oiled sheet pan, then assemble and top with corn tortilla. Brush the top tortilla with vegetable oil. Then bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes, until cheese starts to melt. Flip and bake for a few more minutes.
Got extra black beans? Try making a batch of this Black Bean Salsa with Corn and Red Peppers to go on the side!
Want another vegetarian quesadilla recipe? Try using eggplant and apple in the filling!
Other Vegetarian Weeknight Recipes
If you like these vegetarian quesadillas, you might want to check out some of my other favorite vegetarian recipes. Or check out my entire Main Course archive for lots more inspiration.
If you try this Corn Tortilla Quesadilla recipe, I would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to me.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
More Recipes to Try
📖 Recipe
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Corn Tortilla Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 2 large onions peeled and sliced
- 2 ½ tablespoons vegetable oil divided
- 2 ½ tablespoons butter divided
- ½ can black beans rinsed and drained
- 12 ounces frozen spinach thawed
- 24 4-inch corn tortillas
- 2 cups shredded Mexican cheese 8 ounces
- Salsa, sour cream, and/or cilantro to serve (optional)
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter in a 10-inch nonstick skillet.
- Add sliced onions to the pan. Cook gently over medium-low heat, stirring every few minutes, until onions are soft and golden brown (about 25-30 minutes). Set aside.
- Heat a 12-inch nonstick skillet or griddle over medium heat.
- Add ½ tablespoon of butter and when it fully melts, use a spatula to spread it out over the surface of the pan.
- Add as many corn tortillas as will fit in your pan. Cover each tortilla with a small amount of black beans, caramelized onions, spinach, and cheese, then cover with second tortilla.
- Cook until bottom tortilla is crispy and browned in spots and the cheese is almost melted.
- Brush vegetable oil lightly over the top tortillas with a pastry brush.
- Flip over and cook until second side is lightly browned.
- Add quesadillas to a serving plate, and repeat the steps for the next batch of quesadillas.
- When the quesadillas are done, serve as is, or serve with toppings like your favorite salsa, sour cream, and/or chopped cilantro.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this vegetarian quesadilla recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
Elizabeth M Burke says
Everything looks good except using a "non-stick" pan. Basically you're cooking your food in microplastics which do come off on the food. Go back to using good cast iron or stainless steel. Please. Toss all those "non-stick" pots and pans.
Kristin says
This was a very tasty and easy to make dinner ! Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes!
Chef Molly says
Thanks so much for letting me know! I love this one too--an easy back-pocket meal!