You can never go wrong with quesadillas at dinner. Adding in authentic Korean kimchi and thick-cut bacon? It's a whole new level of flavor awesomeness and an easy way to introduce your family to Korean flavors!
I've never had a bad quesadilla. I mean, even bad quesadillas are still good quesadillas. It's pretty hard to ruin a beautiful sandwich of flour tortillas, melted ooey gooey cheese, and whatever other fillings are crammed inbetween. Am I right or am I right?
Of course some quesadillas are better than others. I've grown pretty close to the Buffalo Chicken Quesadillas with Avocado Ranch Sauce. We're BFF's. And although I kind of feel bad for sneaking around behind its back with these Kimchi-Bacon Quesadillas, I kind of don't. Because there's plenty of quesadilla love to go around in this house.
And listen, I feel the need to remind you. It's not too late to enter the Mother-In-Law's Kimchi giveaway! What's that, you ask? It's basically your opportunity to win 2 jars of small-batch, artisan kimchi awesomeness from Mother-In-Law's Kimchi.
No, not my actual mother-in-law. That would be weird. She's never even heard of kimchi. It's an actual company, located right here in New York. Check them out here.
And if it's your first time encountering this traditional Korean staple, your in good hands with this recipe. You can't get much safer than cooking the kimchi in bacon fat (the cooking process tames the flavor of the fiery, fermented cabbage) and surrounding it with crispy golden-brown bacon and loads of cheese.
And go crazy with the toppings. Queso fresco. Scallions. Pico de gallo. Avocado. Gochujang Aioli. Add a couple. Heck, add them all. The more the merrier with this Kimchi-Bacon Quesadilla party.
Kimchi – Bacon Quesadillas
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 1x
Ingredients
- 8 Flour Tortillas
- 1 - 1 ½ cups kimchi, drained and roughly chopped
- 8 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped into roughly 1" pieces
- 2 cups grated monterey jack cheese
- 2 cups grated white cheddar cheese
- Nonstick cooking spray
- Optional (but recommended) toppings:
- 1 Avocado, thinly sliced
- Scallions, chopped
- Queso Fresco, crumbled
- Pico de Gallo
- Gojuchang Aioli
Instructions
- Cook bacon over medium heat in a medium pan until golden brown and fat is rendered. Remove bacon to a paper-towel lined plate to drain. Add kimchi to the bacon drippings and cook, stirring ocassionally, until it starts to caramelize, about 6-8 minutes.
- Build your quesadillas. Mix cheeses together. Sprinkle approximately ½ cup of cheese onto a tortilla, followed by a bit of kimchi and bacon. Top with another ½ cup of cheese and another tortilla. Repeat three more times with remaining tortillas.
- Spray a medium sized skillet (one big enough to fit your tortillas) with nonstick cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Cook quesadillas, one at a time and spraying pan with nonstick spray inbetween each one, for about 1-2 minutes, until tortilla is golden brown, and then carefully flip and cook 1-2 minutes more.
- Cut into wedges and serve immediately with avocado, scallions, queso fresco, pico de gallo, and/or gochujang aioli.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
Ala
My first food truck experience ever was with a Korean fusion taco truck that sold kimchi quesadillas--I don't eat bacon myself, but this post reminded me of that wonderful moment where I first sank my teeth into warm, gooey cheese and kimchi. I love the combo! And hi! I stumbled across your blog after reading your Speculoos crack pie post 😉 it's a win-win set of ingredients in my opinion, since I love making crack pie and love throwing cookie butter into anything that can take it (i.e. everything?). I love that you take the time to build rapport with your readers so I thought I'd take the time to tell you about your good reads. Have a great day, and thanks for the food truck throwback!
Chris
One of my first food truck experiences was a Korean fusion truck also! Kimchi Taco in NYC. So good! They have these crazy good kimchi nachos that I'm currently drooling just thinking about. Oooh, the speculoos crack pie 🙂 Haha it's hard to go wrong with speculoos in pretty much anything, isn't it?! It's kind of like cheating. I'm heading over to your blog right now to take a look. Thanks for stopping by!
Ashley
I love making different kinds of quesadillas for an easy weeknight meal. Plus, it is definitely hard to go wrong with all that cheesy goodness! These look awesome. Definitely different than the ones I usually make!
Chris
Hahaha so right Ashley! Just load them up with whatever you have around, and as long as it's surrounded with lots of cheese, you're good 🙂
Sarah & Arkadi
Kimchi is the best! Great recipe! Thanks!
Chris
Kimchi is pretty darn awesome! Thanks so much for the kind words. I'm heading over to your blog now to take a peek around 🙂
Taylor
So, I love quesadillas for 2 reasons 1) The name is just plain fun to say and 2) SO easy and delicious. BUT, now I have a third reason - bacon and kimchi...hello! Looks super deeeelish!
Chris
You're so right. It's impossible to say quesadilla without smiling!
Anne ~ Uni Homemaker
I agree, I don't think I have ever had a bad quesadilla ever. And I love your version of adding kimchi to it. Brilliant Chris. Will be putting this one on my bucket list. Thanks for sharing.
Pamela
I always love some queso fresco and pico on top - yummy yum!
Sandra
HELLO KIMCHI QUESADILLA....I am going to make you and then I am going to EAT YOU!!!
Chris
Hahaha Sandra, so glad you and the kimchi quesadilla have become friends 🙂
Laura
This is a great idea! I'm a huge kimchi fan.
Chris
Isn't kimchi great?! I took me a little while to really acquire a love for it, but now that I do, I'm unstoppable! It's great to add to pretty much everything!