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Thanksgiving Leftovers: Apple Cranberry Quesadillas

Apple Cranberry Quesadillas – make a fun, fruit-filled apple cranberry dessert quesadilla from your Thanksgiving leftovers!

Two quesadillas on a serving plate.

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One of the biggest feast days of the year is just a little over a week away. Thanksgiving! My most favorite holiday of the year.

Sure, there’s a lot of work to get that Thanksgiving day dinner ready, but it’s so worth all the effort. Of course, we’ll have a turkey and our traditional cornbread dressing along with many, many side dishes and lots of delicious desserts. 

Once of the very best things about Thanksgiving, other than being with family and friends, is all the leftovers! It seems like we never get tired of turkey sandwiches, turkey tetrazzini, leftover dressing, vegetables, and desserts. It’s delightful to have all those things prepared and just waiting for you in your refrigerator.

I always enjoy finding new ways to use them so I was happy to have an opportunity to work with Old El Paso to come up with a unique way to put together Thanksgiving leftovers.

A Novel Use for Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thanksgiving leftovers - apple pie, cranberry sauce, and pecans

I took some of the things that I typically have leftover from Thanksgiving dinner – apple pie, whole cranberry sauce, and a few pecans – and combined them with flour tortillas to make these truly mouth-watering apple cranberry quesadillas for dessert.

For this delicious little hand pie, I scooped out the filling from the leftover apple pie and layered it in flour tortillas with whole cranberry sauce, Monterey jack cheese, and toasted pecans. You can use other cheeses as well. Cheddar, brie, Swiss, and cream cheese all work well with this recipe, too.

How to Make Apple Cranberry Quesadillas

Start by roughly chopping the pecans and toasting them in a dry pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Alternately, you can toast them in a 350 degree oven for about 5-6 minutes. I just went ahead and did them on the stovetop in the same pan that I was going to use for the quesadillas. Less clean up :-)

Layering ingredients into the stand-up tortillas.

In each tortilla, layer 1 tablespoon shredded cheese, 1 tablespoon toasted pecans, 1 tablespoon apple pie filling, 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce, and 1 additional tablespoon shredded cheese. Press the tortillas flat. (I used the stand and stuff flour tortilla bowls from Old El Paso. It made the assembly really easy.)

Quesadillas cooking in a skillet.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add half the butter. Cook half the filled quesadillas about three minutes per side or until golden brown.

Quesadillas turned to cook on the second side.

Repeat with remaining butter and quesadillas.

Cut each quesadilla in half. Dust with powdered sugar and a light sprinkle of cinnamon. If desired, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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Lana Stuart.

Questions? I’m happy to help!

If you have more questions about the recipe, or if you’ve made it and would like to leave a comment, scroll down to leave your thoughts, questions, and/or rating!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Two quesadillas on a serving plate.

Apple Cranberry Quesadillas

A fantastic use for your Thanksgiving leftovers! Apple pie filling, cranberry sauce, pecans, and jack cheese combine for a delicious treat.
5 from 2 votes
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Course: Desserts
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 8 quesadillas
Calories: 256kcal
Author: Lana Stuart

Ingredients

  • ½ cup pecans
  • 8 small flour tortillas (or stand & fill tortillas bowls)
  • 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • ½ cup apple pie filling
  • ½ cup whole berry cranberry sauce
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

  • Roughly chop the pecans and toast in a dry pan over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
  • In each tortilla, layer 1 tablespoon shredded cheese, 1 tablespoon toasted pecans, 1 tablespoon apple pie filling, 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce, and 1 additional tablespoon shredded cheese. Press the tortillas flat.
  • Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add half the butter. Cook half the filled quesadillas about three minutes per side or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining butter and quesadillas.
  • Cut each quesadilla in half. Dust with powdered sugar and a light sprinkle of cinnamon.

Notes

Substitute any favorite cheese in these quesadillas. Swiss, cheddar, cream cheese, and goat cheese are all good choices.
Toasting the pecans is not absolutely necessary but it really brings out their flavor. They can also be toasted in a 350 degree oven instead of on the stove top.

Nutrition Information

Serving 1 | Calories 256kcal | Carbohydrates 28g | Protein 7g | Fat 14g | Saturated Fat 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat 2g | Monounsaturated Fat 6g | Trans Fat 1g | Cholesterol 20mg | Sodium 319mg | Potassium 95mg | Fiber 2g | Sugar 11g | Vitamin A 211IU | Vitamin C 1mg | Calcium 145mg | Iron 1mg

Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.

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11 Comments

  1. First, I need to find those fun new tortillas. Second, oh my goodness, what an awesome way to use up your leftovers. These quesadillas look soooo delicious, love love this recipe! Hugs, Terra

  2. What a unique idea! I will definitely try this.

    Miss P

    1. Lana Stuart says:

      You’d love these. They taste almost identical to an old-fashioned fried pie!

    1. Lana Stuart says:

      Thanks, Dina! I hope you’ll try them – they’re soooo good.

  3. I would have never thought to use those tortillas for quesadillas – what a great idea!

    1. Lana Stuart says:

      It really made adding the filling so easy, Deborah. Thanks for stopping by!

  4. Great way to use up the leftovers!

  5. What a great idea to use those tortillas for a quesadilla! I loveee Thanksgiving leftovers and this is a fabulous way to enjoy them :)

    1. Lana Stuart says:

      You should try this, Sues. You’ll be surprised how well the cheese, apple pie filling, and cranberry sauce go together. Amazingly good!