~ This easy, cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Quesadilla recipe takes just minutes to throw together! With fiber-rich whole grains and lots of protein, it’s perfect as a quick meal or a hearty, nourishing, keep-you-powered-up snack! Plus, it’s got all the delicious flavors of a pepperoni pizza – a total family favorite anytime! ~
This Recipe Is: • Ready in 30 Minutes or Less •
* (Our little disclaimer …) We partnered with Flatout for this sponsored post, but all opinions are entirely our own. Thanks for supporting brands that support Two Healthy Kitchens and our mission of healthy eating! *
Wanna see your kids’ little faces light up?
Declare pizza night! (Cheers … happy dances … joy!)
Oh sure, as moms we’re usually happy dancing right along with them. Pizza’s delicious and super easy … and everyone loves it! Score!
Except … as a nutrition-minded parent, when I actually meet face-to-face with a typical pizzeria-style pepperoni pizza … the joy kind of fades away.
I find myself staring at all that artery-clogging, full-fat cheese, and the little puddles of glistening grease pooling around the pepperoni, not to mention that empty-calorie, fiber-devoid crust … and I just know I could have done so much better for my family.
So I love coming up with strategies that capture all the easy, delicious, happy-dance-inspiring flavors of pizza, but that also make it just a little bit healthier!
Pizza doesn’t have to be an empty indulgence … even pepperoni pizza!
Two of the easiest fix-it-up strategies right off the bat are simply to amp up the whole grains, while dialing back the fat in the toppings. Remember our Easy Pepperoni Bread, our Pizza Pasta Bake, and our kid-favorite Mini Pizzas? A few smart substitutions can make all the difference!
Same goes for this super-fast Pizza Quesadilla!
When Ty arrived home off the school bus one day, I threw these together on a whim (because you know I’ve pretty much always got Flatouts laying around). He devoured them. Loved them!
Ok! What had started out as a whim suddenly seemed like a recipe idea worth sharing with all of you.
So Ty happily munched his way through a few more test batches as we perfected the spices and just the right ratios. That kid can eat! At 14, and with both lacrosse and soccer going pretty much year-round, he needs a steady, unwavering stream of fuel.
This Pizza Quesadilla is perfect! Loaded with complex carbs and whole grains from the Flatout flatbread, plus protein from the reduced-fat cheese, turkey pepperoni and even the flatbread, too (9 grams of protein in one Light Italian Herb Flatout – no kidding!), this quesadilla has true keep-you-full staying power.
And hey – we even snuck in some vitamins and all that great lycopene hanging out in the pizza sauce!
Add some fresh fruit or a few carrot sticks, and you’ve got a balanced meal in moments! Not bad for 5 minutes of work!
And I’m so not kidding about this quesadilla recipe being ready in literally just minutes! With summer upon us, we’re all gonna need quick snacks and meals, so we can get to the zoo or the pool or the park fast! This’ll have you fueled up and out the door in no time.
And, if your kids are old enough, this recipe is just the kind of fun food they’ll enjoy making for themselves (while you put your feet up on the deck … or, well, maybe go throw in some more laundry 😉 ).
You can absolutely encourage your kids to get creative here, too!
Although Ty and I specifically designed this recipe as a Pepperoni Pizza Quesadilla, it could easily be adapted for whatever toppings your kiddos like best.
Hey hey, health-minded mom … for a real nutritional upgrade, they can even ditch the pepperoni altogether and pile on some nutrient-rich veggies!
One word of caution, though: the higher you pile the goodies, the messier your quesadilla will get. Not a problem if you’ve got a plate and napkin handy. But, if you’re truly whipping these up on the fly, be a little more judicious with the fillings.
As this recipe’s written, this quesadilla is wonderfully flavorful and cheesy, but it’s really not all that messy – great as a grab-and-go. Perfect in case you need to get out the door to the pool even faster (or if your son just snags one as he jogs by, heading out the door with a quesadilla in one hand and a lacrosse stick in the other)!
So today … we’ve got lots of reasons for happy dancing: from pepperoni pizza (that’s actually healthier!), to summer.summer.summer!!!, to easy recipes kids can tackle on their own.
Dance away, my friends (and ignore your kiddos if they laugh at you!).
~ by Shelley
5-Minute Pepperoni Pizza Quesadilla
This easy Pepperoni Pizza Quesadilla recipe takes just minutes to cook! With whole grains and lots of protein, it's perfect as a quick meal or hearty snack!
• Ready in 30 Minutes or Less •
Ingredients
- 1 Light Italian Herb Flatout flatbread
- 2 tablespoons of your favorite pizza sauce
- 1/3 cup shredded, reduced-fat Italian cheese blend
- 1/8 teaspoon dried basil
- 5 slices turkey pepperoni
- additional pizza sauce, if desired, for dipping
Instructions
- Lay flatbread on work surface and spread pizza sauce evenly over entire flatbread.
- On one half of flatbread, sprinkle about 2 tablespoons cheese and basil. Lay pepperoni slices evenly on top, and then sprinkle the remaining cheese evenly on top of the pepperoni.
- Fold quesadilla in half, bringing the sauce-only half of the flatbread on top of the side with toppings.
- Preheat a medium nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook quesadilla, covered, for about 3 minutes on the first side, just until toasty golden-brown.
- Flip quesadilla over and continue cooking on the second side, covered, for about an additional minute, until cheese is melty and the second side of the flatbread is a light, toasty golden-brown.
- Remove from heat, cut into wedges, and serve with additional pizza sauce for dipping, if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 servings Serving Size: 1/2 quesadillaAmount Per Serving: Calories: 202
Nutrition information should be considered an estimate only, and may vary depending on your choice of ingredients or preparation. No guarantees are made regarding allergies or dietary needs. Always consult a physician or dietician for specific advice and questions.
Hey thank you for sharing this article with us Shelley it’s really very helpful & I will definitely try these at home
Thanks so much Prakash! I always try to incorporate helpful tips, serving suggestions, etc. – things like that to help my readers be totally successful when they make a recipe in their own homes. I’m glad you thought this was helpful, and I’m really excited for you to give these a try! ~Sehlley
I made with whole wheat tortillas bc that’s what I had on hand. My 20 month old approved!!
Hi Stacy! I’m so delighted to hear that your little one loved these quesadillas! 🙂 I actually just made this recipe again for my own (not-so-little-anymore) son as an after-school snack earlier this week. Never disappoints – always a hit at our house! Thanks so much for taking a moment to leave your sweet comment – it really makes my day! ~Shelley
Can I cook this on my George Forman panini grill?
Hey there, Michele! I don’t own one, so I haven’t tested this quesadilla recipe on it to be able to say 100% for sure – but I don’t really see why it wouldn’t work. Any other readers out there own a George Foreman who could help her out? And Michele – if you give it a shot – I’d love to know how it works! ~Shelley
Made this on my George Forman grill today! The sauce got (seriously) piping hot, but I did 3 minutes anyways (usually 2, but I wanted more toasty goodness) and it was fantastic. 🙂
Andrea – thanks so much for taking a moment to help out – truly appreciated! And I’m thrilled you loved this as much as we do! 🙂 Happy holidays! ~Shelley
Hi I was just wondering you say these are healthy but could you include or tell me what the nutritional facts are like calories and what not?
Hi, Star! Great question – and you’re definitely not the only reader who’s asked about nutrition info. There are actually some pretty specific reasons why we have (at least thus far) opted not to include nutrition info with our recipes, so let me offer a little explanation and further info on how you might more accurately calculate your own. We’ve actually debated since the beginning of this blog whether or not we should supply nutrition info (and address it in our FAQ (http://twohealthykitchens.com/about/).
Especially with Gretchen’s (my original business partner’s) master’s degree in nutrition, she could easily have calculated that manually – plus there are loads of online calculators to use. However, for a variety of reasons, we have decided over and over again not to do that. One big reason is that we generally don’t specify exact brands (although one exception is in this post, where we specifically recommend using Flatouts), so the final nutritional profile of a recipe can vary widely, depending on the purchasing decisions our readers make. In the end, it could almost be a bit misleading to quote nutritional info, if readers make significantly different purchasing choices than we did in testing. Although that problem wouldn’t be a big issue with some of our recipes, it could be for a lot of other recipes on our site. For example, the final nutritional profile of our most popular recipe ever – our very simple 3-Ingredient Crock-Pot Chicken Tacos – could vary tremendously (particularly, in this case, the sodium) depending on which taco seasoning and which salsa someone purchases.
My best suggestion would be to use your favorite online nutrition calculator. Do you subscribe to our newsletter? A few months ago, we sent out a whole list of different recipe calculators in our newsletter. Too long to publish here (this is already such long answer! ? ), but shoot me an email if you’re interested, and I can send that along for you!
Also … having said all of this … I want you to know that we do get questions like this from other readers from time to time, too. As a result, we are always re-evaluating this very good question and exploring how we may be able to offer nutrition information in a way that we can feel good about – a way that’s helpful and not potentially misleading. So stay tuned …
Thanks so much for reaching out to us! I hope these explanations help you out at least a little!
Have a wonderful weekend! ~Shelley
Just made the quesadillas for dinner! So tasty even though I bought the original plain Flatouts by mistake. We’re anxious to try the Italian herb flavor next time. Great browning technique!