Don't waste and throw away your leftover food. Transform them into these amazing duo tacos and quesadillas using homemade aromatic Louisiana-style Cajun seasonings.
It's that time of the year when you definitely have a lot of leftover food. With the holidays coming up, this best leftover food recipe is here to help making the after-party meat look undeniably amazing.
What is better than one way to cook leftover food? Well, isn't it obvious that two ways are definitely better? You'll get two jaw-drop and lips smacking food transformations from this recipe. Want to know the process of making these? Please, keep reading.
What kind of meat should be used in this recipe?
This recipe works best with leftover poultry: chicken and turkey. With the help of butter and garlic, the old and probably dry chicken/turkey meat will become so moist and aromatic. You won't believe it is leftover food at all.
So if you're planning to serve a huge turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner and looking for an out-of-the-box way to cook the leftovers. This is your solution. Use it. And you won't regret.
And of course you can use this for your everyday leftovers too and not limited to holidays food only. That is why it is called the best leftover food recipe.
Highlighted ingredients used in this Cajun Tacos and Quesadillas recipe
Flour tortilla - it is always flour tortilla for me. I dislike corn tortilla, don't know why. But of course this is only personal reference, you can use whatever type of tortilla you like.
Cheese - quesadillas without cheese is like Thanksgiving without turkey. I don't use store-bought grated cheese though. I rather bought a small block and grate as I go due to these reasons.
- There's one thing I hate about most of graters out there is it is so hard to clean. So I prefer a handy grater on the go which is also super easy to clean, and this grater has been my favorite ever since.
Cajun sauce - you can't make Cajun sauce without the almighty Cajun spice. For this Louisiana Cajun-style sauce, I'm using very basic ingredients which are necessary.
- Onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, and black pepper are what you must have to make the sauce what it is.
- I added butter, garlic and brown sugar to give the sauce a twist and an amazing aromatic that nobody can resist. Thank you garlic!
What to served this best leftover food recipe with?
They are good enough to eat by themselves due to the irresistible Cajun-style sauce. However, these are the options you can go with to lighten up your leftover food:
- Traditional pico de gallo - you can find the recipe here
- Salsa verde - I felt heads over heels with Trader Joe's salsa verde. It's safe to say I am one of their biggest fans (who isn't right?).
- Sour cream - another layer of moist maker for that leftover chicken or left over turkey, why not right?
Other favorite Cajun style recipes
I am so in love with Cajun food and I assume since you are reading this amazing leftover idea recipe, you are too. So why limit yourself to just this recipe, right? Here are the list of other awesome Cajun recipes that you MUST see:
- Crispy Cajun fried chicken and waffles
- Grilled Cajun chicken salad
- Cajun grilled avocado sandwich
- Cajun style semi-dried squid
- Garlic Cajun boiling seafood
Duo Louisiana Cajun-style tacos and quesadillas
Equipment
- Cookie cutter
Ingredients
- 2 c chicken or turkey leftovers shredded
- 1 c cheddar cheese grated
- 4 medium flour tortillas or corn tortillas
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 1 yellow bell pepper sliced
- 8 sprigs cilantro
- 1 lime quartered
- 1 c picco de gallo optional
- salsa verde optional
Cajun sauce
- 4 oz unsalted butter
- 2 oz garlic minced
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp cayenned powder
Instructions
Cajun sauce
- In a mixing bowl, combine all Cajun sauce ingredients, except butter and garlic, and mix well.
- In a skillet over medium heat, melt unsalted butter then add minced garlic and sauté for approximately 2 minutes or until the garlic just turned golden brown color.
- Add the spice mixture and stir until everything is combined completely. Remove from the heat and set the sauce aside.
Cook chicken/turkey leftovers
- In a cooking pan over medium high heat, add chicken/turkey meat leftovers then add enough amount of Cajun sauce to coat the meat completely. Set aside.
Cook tacos
- Use a cookie cutter to cut a medium flour taco into 3 or 4 mini tacos. Heat them up on a non-stick pan over medium heat or in a microwave.
- Add Cajun chicken/turkey followed by fresh bell peppers and garnished with cilantro. Serve with pico de gallow, salsa verde, and lime wedges on the side.
Cook quesadillas
- Put 1 flour tortilla in a non-stick pan over medium or medium low heat, remember not to put oil or you end up with soggy quesadilla.
- Add Cajun chicken/turkey on top of the tortilla followed by grated cheese and bell peppers. Let the tortilla and meat mixture cook until the cheese melted. You can partially cover the pan to speed up the process.
- When the cheese is melted, use a rubber spatula to flip the edge of the tortilla and fold over. Press down the top lightly and continue cooking for another minute or until the outer part of the tortilla becomes crispy.
- Transfer the quesadilla to a serving plate and cut in half if desired. Enjoy!
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