Keto Tangy Chicken Quesadilla w Air Fryer Portobello Fries

Make this mock version of a drive-thru-style chicken quesadilla from your favorite fast-food Mexican restaurant! A full serving of chicken is mixed with a special tangy secret sauce. The chicken filling is cooked inside a “tortilla” made of colby jack cheese. The cheese tortilla allows you to omit a traditional tortilla to save tons of carbs and make your meal Keto. While the popular fast-food taco place doesn’t have any Keto side dish options, you’ll be pairing your quesadilla with portobello “fries”. Strips of meaty portobello mushroom are coated in a crispy Keto breading and fried in your air fryer. For meal prepping, you can keep the completed quesadilla and portobello fries together in meal prep containers in your refrigerator for up to 3 days. For longer-lasting leftovers, keep the portobello fries in their own container, where they can last up to 7 days in the refrigerator. Prepare the chicken filling in advance to store for up to 3 days, and scoop it into your cheese tortilla whenever you’re ready for a hot quesadilla.

What’s The Original Secret Recipe For Tangy Quesadilla Sauce?

The original drive-thru chicken quesadilla comes with a tangy sauce inside. Most popular chain restaurants won’t give away their secret recipes for their unique sauces, but leave it to Carb Manager to figure it out for you! Tangy quesadilla sauce is typically made with a base of mayonnaise mixed with garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and the pickling liquid from a jar of jalapenos. The jalapeno liquid is left out of this recipe and replaced with a little sour cream to add that vinegar tang.

Add-Ons To Include With Your Meal

No quesadilla is complete without some extra toppings! Thankfully, many Mexican or Spanish ingredients are already Keto-friendly. You can serve your quesadilla and portobello fries with extra sour cream for dipping. Carb Manager has multiple Keto guacamole recipes you can include, or you can even add slices of fresh avocado to the quesadilla. Top the quesadilla with shredded lettuce and chopped tomato for a refreshing complement. Don’t forget to include a fiery hot sauce if you can take the heat!

Jessica L.

Net Carbs

5 g
Fiber

2.6 g
Total Carbs

8.2 g
Protein

48.5 g
Fats

64.1 g

791 cals

Quantity

Serving Size

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Portabella mushrooms, raw

2.5 oz
Olive Or Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tsp
Black pepper

0.13 tsp
Almond flour

1 tbsp
Parmesan cheese

0.5 tbsp, grated
Chili Powder

0.25 tsp
Chicken Breast Boneless Skinless Raw

4 oz
Salt

0.13 tsp
Black pepper

0.13 tsp
Cumin, ground

0.13 tsp
Onion powder

0.13 tsp
Garlic powder

0.13 tsp
Olive Or Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tsp
Mayonnaise

1 tbsp
Sour cream

1 tsp
Chili Powder

0.25 tsp
Cumin, ground

0.13 tsp
Black pepper

0.13 tsp
Onion powder

0.13 tsp
Paprika

0.13 tsp
Colby Jack cheese

0.75 cup, shredded

Step 1

Prepare the portobello fries first by slicing a large portobello cap into long pieces about ½”-1” thick. Place all the slices in a bowl and toss them with olive oil and pepper until they’re evenly coated. Next to the mushroom slices, arrange the almond flour, parmesan, and chili powder on a plate. Line your air fryer tray with parchment paper, if necessary, and have it ready on the side as well.
Step 2

Turn the air fryer on to preheat to 375 degrees. One by one, press a portobello slice into the almond flour breading, then flip it over and press it into the breading on the other side. You can gently brush off any excess breading, but make sure each portobello slice has an even, thin coating on both sides. Arrange all breaded portobello slices on your prepared tray.
Step 3

Cook the portobello fries in your air fryer for about 15 minutes. You may need to flip or rotate the “fries” about halfway through, depending on your style of air fryer. To check for doneness, the portobello fries will have shrunk somewhat and will have soft flesh with a crunchy, fried outside coating. Let the fries cool as you complete the recipe. While they’re cooking in the air fryer, you can behind making the quesadilla.
Step 4

Make the chicken by patting a thin-sliced breast dry with a paper towel. Season the chicken with salt, pepper, cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder. Heat the olive oil on medium-high heat in a pan. Once the oil is hot, place the chicken in and cook it until it’s golden-brown on both sides. It should take about 8 minutes to cook the chicken. You may cook it at a higher temperature to blacken the spices if you prefer, but this mock-drive-thru quesadilla usually has juicy pieces of chicken.
Step 5

Set the chicken aside to cool on a cutting board. When it’s cooled, chop the chicken into small pieces. The finer you can chop the chicken, the less likely you’ll have pieces that fall out of the quesadilla later. Leave the chopped chicken aside as you mix together the tangy drive-thru sauce. Stir together in a large bowl mayonnaise, sour cream, and just a pinch each of chili powder, cumin, black pepper, onion powder, and paprika until you have a tangy sauce. Fold the chopped chicken into the sauce and set the bowl aside.
Step 6

It’s time to make the quesadilla! Arrange the shredded cheese in the base of a non-stick 8” or 10” pan. Spread the cheese out so it’s all in a thin, even-layered circle filling the bottom of the pan. Place the pan over medium heat on the stove, and cook the cheese undisturbed until it melts. Once the cheese is melted, place the chicken with tangy sauce filling on one half of the cheese “tortilla”.
Step 7

Again, leave the cheese undisturbed as it continues to cook past melting to bubbling and then hardening to a dark orange disc. When you can slide a spatula between the cheese tortilla and the pan, gently lift and slide the quesadilla from the pan onto your serving dish. Use your spatula to fold the cheese tortilla over the chicken filling and hold it in place for a few seconds as the cheese continues to harden in its final form. When the cheese has hardened and cooled, cut the quesadilla in half for serving with the portobello fries.