Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas are a perfect quick dinner for Halloween night before taking the kids out or as an appetizer for a party.
Jump to RecipeFor Halloween, most of the time it’s about the spooky, scary, and sometimes gruesome-looking recipes. But when you have young children, it’s good to keep it on the lighter side. For that reason, we decided to make some Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas for our boys for dinner.
Quesadillas are great because you can adjust your fillings to each individual’s tastes. My boys like simple meals, so we went with refried beans and shredded cheese. We’ve also made quesadillas with chicken before, and quesadillas with spinach artichoke dip inside.
The biggest trick to these is getting the faces cut out and making sure that side of the tortilla shell gets warmed a bit before cooking. Once you cut the Jack-O-Lantern face out, you can’t flip it because your fillings will fall out.
Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas would be perfect for a Halloween party with kids (or kids-at-heart). Or, they are great for something quick and easy before taking the kids out for some trick-or-treating.
Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas Step by Step
Ingredients
- 16 oz refried beans
- 2 cups Mexican cheese, shredded
- 20 flour tortillas
Preparation
Use a small, sharp knife to cut your Jack-O-Lantern faces out of half of the tortillas. If you have small cookie cutters in the correct shape, that will work too. Cut one at a time. I tried stacking mine and they moved as I cut so I had to start over at one point.
Place each face tortilla in a medium pan over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes, just enough to slightly cook the tortilla.
Meanwhile, spread out about 1 tbsp of refried beans on the uncut tortillas.
Top the refried beans with shredded cheese.
Place a cooked face tortilla on top of the cheese.
Set the full quesadilla into the pan and cook for another 3-5 minutes. The tortilla should start to brown and the cheese will start to melt. DO NOT FLIP THE QUESADILLA! If you do, all of your fillings will come out. That’s why we pre-cook the top half.
Serve warm with your choice of salsa, sour cream, or other dipping sauce.
Leftovers
You can stack any remaining Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas with parchment paper between them in a leftover container. Refrigerate for up to 2-3 days. Reheat in the oven at 350F for about 5-10 minutes or on a pan over medium heat. Just remember, if you do it in the pan, you won’t be able to flip to cook both sides.
Recipe
Originally Published On: September 29, 2021
Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas
Ingredients
- 16 oz refried beans
- 2 cups Mexican cheese (shredded)
- 20 flour tortillas
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Use a small, sharp knife to cut your Jack-O-Lantern faces out of half of the tortillas
- Place each face tortilla in a medium pan over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes, just enough to slightly cook the tortilla
- Meanwhile, spread out about 1 tbsp of refried beans on the uncut tortillas
- Top the refried beans with shredded cheese
- Place a cooked face tortilla on top of the cheese
- Set the full quesadilla into the pan and cook for another 3-5 minutes until the tortilla starts to brown on the bottom and the cheese melts (DO NOT FLIP)
- Serve warm with your choice of salsa, sour cream, or other dipping sauce
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Other Halloween Recipes
- 6 Delicious Healthy Snacks for Halloween
- 7 Delicious Halloween Snacks to Make with Children
- Yummy Crunchy Halloween Bark
- Cobweb Cake
- Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas
- Mac and Cheese Bites with Pumpkin
- Nearly-Headless Nick’s Deathday Cake
More TexMex Recipes to try
- Chili Nacho Dip
- Bean and Cheese Tostadas
- Taco Pizza
- 5 Layer Bean Dip
- Frito Pies or Walking Tacos
- Taco Tostadas
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Pico de Gallo Recipe
- Tex-Mex Queso Recipe without Velveeta
- Southwestern Salad with an Avocado Dressing
- Taco-Stuffed Bell Peppers
- Homemade Queso with Real Cheese
- Chicken Enchilada Skillet
- Two Minute Salsa
- Sheet Pan Nachos
- Chicken Flautas with Buttermilk-Avocado Sauce
- Taco-Stuffed Poblano Peppers
- How to Create an Allergy-Friendly Taco Bar
- Chicken Enchilada Suizas Skillet Dinner
- Chipotle Chicken Tacos
- Halloween Quesadillas
- Tortilla-Crusted Chicken
- Taco Dip
- Chicken Tortilla Soup (Gluten Free and Dairy Free)
Recipes Using Tortilla Shells
- Homemade Tortilla Shells
- Veggie Tortilla Pinwheels Roll Ups Recipe
- Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas
- Chicken Flautas with Buttermilk-Avocado Sauce
- Hawaiian Chicken Wraps: An Easy Summer Meal
- Chicken Enchiladas
- Chipotle Chicken Tacos
- Spinach and Artichoke Quesadillas
- Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas with Homemade Fajita Seasoning
- Buffalo Chicken Taquitos
- Crispy Chicken Wraps
- Chicken Enchilada Skillet
- Chicken Fajitas from Scratch
- Avocado Fish Tacos
- Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas
- Seafood Enchiladas
- Bean and Cheese Tostadas
- How to Create an Allergy-Friendly Taco Bar
- Shrimp Tacos with Homemade Coleslaw Recipe
100% doing this for dinner on Halloween night! WHat a fun and cute idea!
This is a simple recipe that also looks tempting. I often prefer vegetarian snacks and this one is great!
Aren’t these so cool and cute! hahaha thanks also for sharing the recipe.
That’s such a clever idea! My son would love eating one.
These jack-o-lantern quesadillas are awesome and so festive for Halloween! A fun snack to make for the kids.
As a mom of 2 and a strict vegetarian, this recipe would be an interesting change for us. We are Indians so we primarily eat wheat flatbreads( popularly called parathas)
This is the easiest Halloween inspired snack I’ve seen so far. And it’s obviously delicious.
Wow, those are clever ways of making quesadillas in tune with the Halloween theme. Surely, if I have my way, I will try to do this at home.
Halloween is almost here. This is such a fun activity to do with the kids. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
These are the cutest ever!!! I looove the idea, very creative…I am doing it for sure.
Pinned this for when my granddaughter comes to visit this weekend. I’m excited to make these for her because I know they’re going to make her giggle.
Nnnniiiccceeeee….I love the faces on these quesadillas! They turned out perfect. Thanks for sharing about them.
Great recipe. I love quesadillas – but then again, I love everything with melted cheese 😉
These are cool ideas for this spooky month. We would love to try it with my little brother and cousin haha. Thank you for sharing!
That’s so cute! What a great idea. Thanks so much, I’m definitely going to try this <3
This is very unique and creative too.. I often see pies and other desserts to be associated with Halloween but not Quesadilla which happens to be my favorite snack too haha.. My niece will surely love this idea
Interesting version of traditional Quesadillas. Love the photos, accessible ingredients, and clear instructions. Look fun to eat!
This is soooo cute! So perfect for Halloween. Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea. Will definitely include this on our menu. 🙂
Jack-O-Lantern Quesadillas looks spooky and tasty! I hope I can try it. So good and yummy!