If you try to cover a variety of ethnic and regional foods, Quesadillas are a perfect fit for both Mexican and Southwestern cuisine! In this post, you will find a web-based assignment where students learn more about quesadillas before preparing in the lab.

Set

• Because quesadillas is such a long word with unique letters, I play “build a flower or snowman” with my students to introduce the food.
• I just draw it on my chalkboard. Each student guesses a consonant only and the object is to see if the word can be solved before the flower or snowman is built. They must keep guessing consonants until all are filled in the word and then they may select vowels if necessary. It’s just a fun way to introduce the food and it keeps students brains working!

Materials

• iPads or Laptops
• Screen & Projector (optional)
• Lab Ingredients

Activities

• Once students have guessed the food, they begin the web-activity to learn more about quesadillas. The resources have been curated for them and are linked on the assignment.
• After reviewing the information learned about quesadillas, students read through their recipe and answer the pre-lab questions. Pre-lab questions can be optional, but I find students will actually read the recipe more closely when they do them.
• While we prepare a chicken quesadilla, there are tons of options that would work if you wanted to mix it up. Due to the type of quesadilla we are making (full) and the use of “quarters” in the recipe, I show this video titled, Easy Chicken Quesadilla Recipe (similar to what we are making) ahead of time so they know how to cook, flip and quarter their finished product.
• There are also many cooking methods that can be used to prepare quesadillas. We are pan-frying ours in very little oil, but they can also be grilled in a quesadilla maker, waffle iron or panini press as well as baked in an oven. I also like to share this sheet pan version with them in case they want to make a big batch to serve in a gathering.
• Students then head to the kitchen to apply what they’ve learned as they prepare their own chicken quesadillas! Note: This lab can easily be prepared in a 43 minute period.
• If your students enjoyed working with tortillas in this manner, they might also enjoy the Tortilla Trends: Lesson & Lab.

Attachments

• Quesadillas Web Activity (Please make a copy)
• Friendly Reminder: To make a copy, go to “FILE”, click “MAKE A COPY” and then it’s yours to edit.
• Chicken Quesadilla Recipe & Pre-Lab Questions (PDF)

Photo by Lottie Griffiths on Unsplash