Apple, Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quesadilla

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Apple Quesadilla? Apple Quesadilla!

While we love a classic apple pie, we’ve found that when apple season hits we want to celebrate them in more ways than one! This is especially true when the Honeycrisp apples come into season. Our favorite gold-flecked apple cultivar, Honeycrisps are just as sweet and crisp as it sounds like they would be, and best of all, they’re widely available across the country at any local Kroger store. Crisp and juicy, with just the right amount of tartness to pair with savory flavors like caramelized onions and cheese, we couldn’t resist slipping them into a warm, gooey baked quesadilla. This easy fall recipe will have you convinced that apples—especially super-fresh, in-season apples from Kroger—belong on your dinner plate.

The Absolute Best Cheese for Quesadillas

The best cheese for homemade quesadillas is any cheese that melts really well! We love a good, classic cheddar quesadilla, and Monterey Jack is another excellent, if more mildly-flavored melter. But, since we’re marrying a lot of flavors with this unique vegetarian quesadilla, we decided to look for a cheese that would provide the most interesting contrast to the sweet-tart apples and the deeply savory caramelized onions. Enter in fontina! A cow’s milk cheese that hails from the Italian Alps, Fontina is positively made for melting. Truly! Classically made for making fonduta (Italian for fondue), a bit of Fontina will melt perfectly into your apple, spinach and onion quesadilla recipe, and make it downright dinner party-ready.

How to Make Quesadillas

We favor baked quesadillas—as opposed to those cooked on the stove-top—simply because it’s so easy to make a bunch of them at the same time if you bake them in the oven. Here’s how to make this healthy quesadilla:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (so that when the cheese melts, it doesn’t stick!).
2. Lay a tortilla on a flat surface. We like to use a cutting board.
3. Fill half of the tortilla with shredded cheese, fresh spinach, a fan of apple slices, caramelized onions, and a little more cheese.
4. Fold! Fold the tortilla in half down the middle so that you’ve got a half-circle, and brush the top with a little olive oil. This will help it to develop a nice crust in the oven.
5. Repeat with each of the remaining tortillas until you’ve got eight apple-cheese quesadillas.
6. When they’re all filled and on the baking sheet, pop it in the oven, and bake the cheesy apple and spinach quesadillas until they’re a little bit golden, the spinach is wilted and the cheese is melted.
7. Eat! Ideally while they’re piping hot.

Other Easy Apple Recipes:

• Salted Caramel Apple Sundae
• Apple and Maple Baked Oatmeal
• Red Cabbage and Apple Slaw
• Pecan Crusted Pork Chops with Apple Chutney

Tools You’ll Need:

• Baking sheet.
• Parchment paper. Or a silpat.
• A cutting board.
• A cheese grater is nice to have. Or, the shredding attachment for your food processor!

Apples—Your Cheese and Onion Quesadillas’ New BFF!

We hope this Honeycrisp apple quesadilla recipe encourages you to get creative with apple season! Snap a photo of your apple, spinach and caramelized onion quesadilla and maybe even a video of the beautiful people you feed it to. Tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy eating!