Arizona Cheese Crisp

Arizona Cheese Crisps are open-faced quesadillas made with extra large, thin flour tortillas, toasted with butter and cheese, and served with strips of mild green chiles.

By
Elise Bauer
Elise Bauer
Elise Bauer
Elise founded Simply Recipes in 2003 and led the site until 2019. She has an MA in Food Research from Stanford University.
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Updated March 02, 2022
Elise Bauer
Arizona Cheese Crisp
Elise Bauer

Here's one of my favorites recipes from my mother—what she calls a "Sonoran Quesadilla," known in Tucson, Arizona where they're from as "cheese crisps".

Unlike our usual stove-top quesadilla made with corn or flour tortillas and jack cheese, cheese crisps are open-faced, and made with very large flour tortillas, that are toasted with butter and cheddar cheese, and often topped with strips of mild green chiles.

According to my Tucson-native mom, these open-faced quesadillas are made with especially large, thin, flour tortillas that you could find in Sonora, the northernmost state of Mexico. Typically they are served on a large platter, sometimes cut like a pie, for everyone to share.

They are crispy, buttery, and absolutely delicious.

The tortillas one uses to make cheese crisps are much thinner than the sturdy burrito-sized flour tortillas we found to make these. It just means we need to cook them a little longer to get them crispy. Don't pile on the cheese too much; as with pizza, doing so will weigh down the result.

Arizona cheese crisp
Elise Bauer

Arizona Cheese Crisp

Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 15 mins
Total Time 20 mins
Serving 1 serving

If you want to have green chiles on your quesadilla (they are optional), you can either roast your own (use Anaheims, Hatch, or Poblano) or use canned whole green chiles.

To roast your own, blacken them over a gas stove, on a grill, or under a broiler, then put the chiles in a covered bowl for a few minutes, then rub off the blackened skin.

(See How to Roast Chiles over a Gas Flame video.) Then de-seed them and cut them into strips.

Ingredients

  • One large, burrito-size (13-inch diameter or larger) flour tortilla

  • 1 tablespoon butter

  • 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

  • 1 or 2 roasted green chiles, peeled, seeded, cut into strips (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 350°F:

    with a rack in the middle.

  2. Butter a flour tortilla all the way to the edges:

    Place the flour tortilla on a large baking sheet (a dark baking sheet or cookie sheet will work best. Spread the butter all over the top of the tortilla, all the way to the edges. The butter is important for the flavor of a cheese crisp, so don't leave it out!

    arizona-cheese-crisp-method-1
    Elise Bauer
  3. Bake the tortilla until lightly toasted:

    Bake the plain buttered tortilla for about 6 minutes or until it begins to get lightly toasted. (Check on the timing for your particular oven.)

    arizona-cheese-crisp-method-2
    Elise Bauer
  4. Sprinkle with cheese, add green chile strips, return to oven:

    Remove the tortilla from the oven and sprinkle with the cheddar cheese, leaving about 1/2-inch from the edges. Add strips of green chiles in a star pattern if you want.

    arizona-cheese-crisp-method-3
    Elise Bauer
    arizona-cheese-crisp-method-4
    Elise Bauer

    Return the tortilla to the oven and cook for 2 more minutes, or until all of the cheese has melted. Remove from oven and eat!

    My mother will use her oven's convection setting when she makes these cheese crisps. For convection, she'll put the buttered tortilla into a cold oven and heat on convection at 375°F for 7 to 10 minutes. Then she'll sprinkle the cheese and return the quesadilla to the oven for a couple more minutes.

Links:

Flour Tortillas: Where they came from and how to make them

Quesadilla Recipe

Classic Cheese Crisps - from What's Gaby Cooking

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
489 Calories
34g Fat
29g Carbs
17g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories 489
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 34g 43%
Saturated Fat 19g 94%
Cholesterol 86mg 29%
Sodium 694mg 30%
Total Carbohydrate 29g 11%
Dietary Fiber 2g 6%
Total Sugars 0g
Protein 17g
Vitamin C 0mg 0%
Calcium 424mg 33%
Iron 2mg 9%
Potassium 111mg 2%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.