Chicken Tikka Masala Quesadillas

The perfect way to enjoy leftover chicken tikka masala in a delicious and convenient lunch or dinner.

Prep: 15

Cook: 15

Total: 30

Yield:2 quesadillas

Separate chunks of chicken from tikka masala sauce. Roughly chop chicken and set aside. Spread approximately half (¼ cup or so) of tikka masala sauce on one side of one tortilla.
Heat large skillet over medium heat. Add ½ tablespoon butter to skillet and melt completely. Once butter is melted, place tortilla with sauce in skillet, sauce-side up.
Spread approximately ½ cup chopped chicken across top of tortilla, then cover with 1 cup shredded cheese. Place second tortilla on top, covering chicken and cheese completely.
Let quesadilla cook approximately 3 minutes, until cheese has melted to top tortilla. Carefully remove quesadilla from skillet with spatula or slide quesadilla out of skillet onto plate (see Notes).
Melt another ½ tablespoon butter in skillet. Once melted, flip quesadilla over and return to skillet to brown other side.
Cook 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer fully cooked quesadilla to plate. Repeat process with remaining 2 tortillas, to create second quesadilla.
Once both quesadillas are prepared, cut each quesadilla into quarters and serve with additional tikka masala sauce, chutney, and chopped cilantro if desired.

Ghee or a neutral oil will both work just fine here. I prefer using butter, though, because the milk solids really help the quesadilla brown up nicely.
The easiest way to flip this 2-tortilla quesadilla is similar to flipping a cake out of a pan. Cover the quesadilla in the skillet with a plate. Keep one hand on the bottom of the plate and in one smooth motion, flip the skillet and plate over so the plate is now beneath the quesadilla. Set it aside just long enough to butter the skillet again and then slide the quesadilla back in the pan to brown the other side.
For a one-tortilla quesadilla, lay one large tortilla out flat. Cover one half of the tortilla with sauce, cheese, and chicken, then fold the "naked" half over to cover the filling. Butter the pan as instructed above and cook one side of the tortilla, then remove the half-moon tortilla from the skillet, butter it again, and repeat until both sides of the quesadilla have been cooked.