These corn zucchini blossom quesadillas take less than 30 minutes to cook and make a nourishing and delicious weeknight meal.
Summer brings two of my favorite ingredients, zucchini blossom and corn. Separately they go into a lot of dishes but together they make the most delicious quesadillas. Quesadilla is hands down one of my favorite Mexican classics. They make for a quick weeknight meal that takes less than 30 minutes to throw together.
Ingredient note
Zucchini blossoms: for this recipe I used male zucchini blossoms. The male flowers have thin stalks with no fruit while the female flowers will start to produce zucchini fruit behind them. Remove the anthers inside, wash, dry the flowers, and use them whole or chopped in the quesadillas. If you can't find zucchini blossoms, squash blossoms will taste the same.
Corn: when buying corn on the cob, look for ears with tight green husks with slightly sticky tassels (that’s the hairy bit up top). Avoid brownish crackly husks and dry or black tassels. Those are signs of older corns. Peel back the husks a bit to peek at the kernels. Look for plump kernels and avoid those with holes where kernels didn’t grow.
Cheese: use a good quality, melting cheese like Oaxaca or Asadero. If you can’t find either, a good substitute is mozzarella.
Tips for making quesadilla
Making quesadillas is about as easy as it comes. Get all your ingredients ready before you start. Warm a tortilla in a skillet, top with cheese and fillings. When the cheese is melted and gooey, top with another tortilla and flip it over. Keep the fillings simple with just a couple ingredients and use about ½ cup of cheese per quesadilla. Too much filling will take longer to cook and spill all over the pan.
What to serve with quesadillas
The quesadillas can be served with crumbled queso fresco, cilantro, Serrano chile peppers, fresh lime wedges, flavored sour creams, and mango guacamole. My favorite pairing with these corn zucchini blossom quesadillas is a tropical mango salsa. With a tropical, sweet flavor and chunky texture, this mango salsa pairs well with the quesadillas and brings another dimension of flavor. The salsa can be made a day ahead and refrigerated until ready to use.
In less than 30 minutes, you have a fuss free dinner of sweet summer corn, savory zucchini blossoms, and melty Oaxacan cheese, layered between two crispy tortillas. These corn zucchini blossom quesadillas are so delicious and will satisfy your craving for a veggie forward weeknight meal.
For more Mexican dinner inspiration, check these recipes: chili con queso, mango guacamole shrimp bites.
Corn zucchini blossom quesadillas
Ingredients
Quesadillas
- 8 inch flour tortillas
- 2 cups Oaxaca cheese, grated
- 1 cup fresh corn kernels
- 16-20 zucchini blossoms, stamen removed
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
For serving
- mango salsa (optional)
- mango guacamole (optional)
- ½ cup queso fresco (optional)
- ½ cup sour cream or crema Mexicana
- 2 tbsps cilantro, chopped
- lime wedges
- 2 Serrano peppers, thinly sliced
- your favorite hot sauce
Instructions
- Lay 4 tortillas on a work surface. Spread about ½ cup of cheese over each tortilla. Top with ¼ cup of corn and 4-5 zucchini blossoms.
- Season with salt and pepper. Top with the remaining tortillas, pressing down to make a sandwich.
- Heat a skillet over medium heat.
- Place the quesadilla in the skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes until cheese is melted and tortilla begins to brown and crisp in spots (turn down the heat if needed).
- Flip the quesadilla over with a spatula and continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes.
- Transfer the quesadilla to a plate and repeat with remaining quesadillas.
- Cut the quesadillas into quarters and transfer them to a serving platter.
- Serve the quesadillas immediately with queso fresco, cilantro, lime wedges, Serrano peppers, hot sauces or mango salsa.
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