Fish Quesadilla (Loaded with Fish and Seafood)

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• Unleash the flavors of the sea with our mouth-watering fish quesadilla recipe
• A fish quesadilla with Italian marianara sauce
• Elevate your quesadilla game: unlocking the art of crispy perfection and amplified flavors
• How to make the best fish quesadilla
• Meaty cod chunks and seafood filling
• How to build an impressive fish quesdilla
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• Fish quesadilla recipe

Fish quesadilla recipe that is loaded with chunky flakes of cod, succulent sweet prawns (shrimp) with meaty mussels and squid all enveloped in a Mexican-inspired marinara sauce and masses of melting cheese. An experience you'll never forget.

Unleash the flavors of the sea with our mouth-watering fish quesadilla recipe

Quesadillas are essentially the Mexican version of toasted cheese sandwiches but made with corn or flour tortillas rather than bread. They are a staple of the evening Hispanic street food scene and come in an array of varieties stuffed with cheese and tasty fillings such as chicken, pulled pork, corn and beans to chorizo and chilli and much much more. Seafood quesadillas are also very popular with prawns the go-to ingredient. It is this pescatarian variety that is very much the inspiration for our fish quesadilla recipe but this dish is the lead role in its own show. 

As a traditional street food, quesadillas tend to be more of a snack or sharer item part of a bigger feast. This fish quesadilla is much more substantial and much more the “centre of attention”. We’ve loaded it with chunks of succulent flaked cod and a medley of seafood classics such as squid, mussels and prawns usually associated with hearty fish stews and dishes like Spanish paella and the classic Italian spaghetti marinara. It is the seafood marinara sauce in particular that works so well in this fish quesadilla and as it is a rich tomato sauce, it also pairs well with the addition of authentic Mexican flavours too.     

Using the starting point of a quesadilla, a toasted/ fried cheese tortilla, but making it more of a substantial meal by loading it with a seafood marinara does sound like you will end up with something like a sloppy joe but in fact, it is very quick and simple to create the perfect cheesy and meaty filling that stays fully intact between two pieces of crispy tortillas.

A fish quesadilla with Italian marianara sauce

The trick here is to create a marinara sauce using big flavoured sweet cherry tomatoes but by bubbling the liquid away so that the texture becomes like a paste. The full flavour of Mexico comes bursting through with the addition of jalapeños, ancho and chipotle chilis, lime and coriander (cilantro). We add a little fuller flavour with a hint of cumin, paprika, cinnamon and oregano, which should also be easy to find in your pantry.

The fish, which is also briefly cooked in the sauce, also adds a wonderful rich flavour as do the seafood medley of squid, prawns and mussels which are added right at the end.

Elevate your quesadilla game: unlocking the art of crispy perfection and amplified flavors

The traditional method of preparing a quesadilla is to fry the tortillas in a pan, layer over the filling and fold it in half and continue frying it on both sides until nice and crispy. The choice is yours as to whether you want to use corn tortillas or flour tortillas. Corn tortillas arguably taste better but flour tortillas are easier to work with. As these quesadillas have a much more substantial filling, we use two tortillas and fry them on each side first then sandwich the filling between them before finishing off baking them in the oven. This way the finished item is much fatter and much more impressive. You can then go to town presenting it with lashings of sour cream, chipotle hot sauce, slices of jalapeños, handfuls of coriander and wedges of lime or whatever fits your fancy.  

How to make the best fish quesadilla

To start making the sauce, roughly chop some onions, you can use red or white onions or shallots but you want to have larger pieces rather than finely diced to add more bite to the quesadilla. Put them in a pan with some olive oil and fry them for three or four minutes. Next, start building up the Mexican flavours by adding the cumin, paprika, cinnamon and chilli paste and garlic and oregano. Frying the spices will help them release their flavour. The chilli pastes to use are ancho chillies and chipotle. Both are dried chillies rather than fresh (we will be using fresh jalapeños later) Ancho chillies are dried poblano chillies, they’re not hot and have a fruity slightly sharp flavour. Chipotle are smoked jalapeños, they are slightly hotter and add a wonderfully rich smoky flavour in all sorts of Mexican dishes. They add a real depth of authentic flavour to this sauce. Once the onions are softened and coated in all these aromatic spices, add the contents of a can of cherry tomatoes. You can use fresh cherry tomatoes, but there is already a rich sweet tomato sauce in tinned tomatoes that will lap up the extra flavour from the spices and cook down easier. It will take only about ten minutes from this point to reduce the sauce over medium heat to get it to a paste-like texture.

Meaty cod chunks and seafood filling

Cooking the fish is also very easy. Place the cod fillets on top of the sauce, sprinkle some chopped deseeded jalapeños over and place a lid on top. You don’t need to bury the fish in the sauce as you will need to take it out after only six minutes. This way the fish steams perfectly and becomes meaty and succulent. As the fish cooks, it also flavours the sauce. Once the fish is done, carefully take them out and reserve it on the side, stir the sauce to incorporate any residual liquid for that wonderful seafood flavour. If it is too wet, simply reduce it a little further as you are looking for a tomato paste-like texture. Once done, take it off the heat to cool a little.

Next, flake the cod into big meaty chunks and mix it into the sauce along with the pre-cooked squid, prawns and mussels. If you have frozen seafood, make sure it has fully defrosted before adding them. It is important to add the cooked seafood at the end into a slightly cooled sauce as cooking them longer than necessary will overcook them. Finely add some chopped coriander (cilantro) and a squeeze of lime and your filling is ready.

If you are preparing this filling to cook on a later date you can refrigerate it in a sealed container for up to four days or in the freezer for up to three months. 

For the tortillas, get as large a frying pan as you can get to be able to place as many tortillas in as possible to keep time down. Add some vegetable or olive oil and make sure it is hot. Place the tortillas in and fry them for about a minute on each side in batches until nicely browned and starting to crisp up. They don’t need to be fully crisp as final baking in the oven when you are ready to serve will finish them off to perfection. 

How to build an impressive fish quesdilla

To build the fish quesadilla, start with a fried tortilla and liberally spread grated mozzarella over all of it. You can use any cheese of your choice, cheddar and Monterey Jack are also good but you want a cheese that melts well.

Next spoon a layer of the chunky fish marinara over followed by another handful of grated cheese. Finally, top it with a second fried tortilla. Repeat this process until all your quesadillas are prepared. 

To cook, place them in a preheated oven at 200℃/392°F for 6-8 minutes until the cheese has melted nicely and oozing out.

Quesadillas are nicely served with dips, even these big sandwich-style quesadillas, so make sure there is plenty to go around. 

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