For The Perfect Quesadilla Every Time, Never Skip This Step

A quesadilla at its simplest is nothing more than a cheese-filled tortilla sandwich, but there are numerous ingredients you can add to make it into a more substantial meal or snack. You can add canned tuna for a quick protein boost, fold in canned chili to make things more flavorful, or make a fusion quesadilla with a layer of pressed dumplings. Whatever ingredients you add, though, one tip can improve the overall structure of the dish. Katie Vine, who blogs about recipes at Dinners Done Quick, suggests making sure the add-ins are similarly-sized.

This step, she says, "Keeps it more even, giving you better flavor distribution throughout the quesadilla, makes it easier to cut and eat, but also, most importantly, it helps it to cook better." Having the filling ingredients all be the same size will give the outside of the quesadilla a more even surface which will allow it to cook more evenly. Vine also says that a relatively homogeneous filling will help the quesadilla hold together better when you eat it.

As for how finely the ingredients need to be chopped, she told us, "I usually strive for about ½-inch pieces, but it doesn't have to be exact. I absolutely chop both meats and veggies to size; it makes things easier to blend and much better to eat (no one wants to be trying to get through a big piece of chicken or steak and having the other toppings fall out)."

You may be tempted to take the easy way out and just toss everything into a food processor with a shredder blade, but Katie Vine cautions against doing so. Nor should you employ a box grater, unless you're prepping a block of cheese. "Shredding [or] grating is great for cheese, but for other ingredients it can cause them to get lost in the mix a bit, Vine explained.

There is one exception to this rule, though. As Vine admitted, "If you wanted to hide veggies from picky eaters, it might be a good option." It's not only parents of small children who may want to resort to such tactics, either — apparently Donald Trump's former doctor used to have kitchen staff sneak cauliflower into his mashed potatoes. If you want to try hiding vegetables, it might be easiest to add them alongside meat or a sufficiently bulky substitute so it can provide some covering camouflage. Vine also recommended that wetter vegetables like zucchini and onions should be drained first to keep the quesadilla from getting soggy. Still, for anyone who doesn't dislike vegetables, her advice is pretty simple: "If you want actual pockets of flavor and to know what you're biting into, opt for dicing instead."