By Cody’s cafe’s soft-launch opened Monday at eleven AM. Cody texted me a photo of the first customer at three minutes past eleven — a Sapulpa hardware-store regular who’d been bringing Cody coffee in the pre-opening weeks and who Cody had told to be in line first on opening day. Mama texted me a photo of the line out the front door at twelve-fifteen PM — about a dozen people deep, stretching down Main Street past the bank. The first day of service was a sellout. Cody ran out of the pulled-pork buns by one-thirty PM and the cornbread by two PM. He closed the kitchen at three with eight customers turned away.
The cafe’s opening review by the Tulsa World’s small-business reporter ran Friday. The review was extremely positive — calling Cody’s pulled-pork buns “the most exciting new sandwich in northeastern Oklahoma” and the herb rub on the Sunday-pork-loin “the kind of cooking that says a serious mind ran the menu.” Cody texted me the review at six AM Friday. He slept twelve hours Monday night and has been catching up on sleep across the rest of the week.
Sunday I made chicken sheet pan quesadillas because Dustin had been wanting quesadillas all week and the sheet-pan format scales the dish for the apartment without requiring me to stand at the stove pressing each one individually. Sheet-pan quesadillas are a viral cooking-Twitter technique that I’d been seeing for six months and that I’d been wanting to test — one giant quesadilla baked on a sheet pan, then cut into individual servings.
The technique: a pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs marinated thirty minutes in lime juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper. Seared in a hot cast iron skillet for four minutes per side, sliced into thin strips.
The fajita base: one yellow onion sliced and one red bell pepper sliced sweated in the same pan after the chicken for six minutes until softened.
The sheet pan assembly: brush a half-sheet pan with oil. Lay six large flour tortillas across the pan, overlapping at the center, with each tortilla’s edge hanging slightly over the pan’s edge. Sprinkle two cups of grated Monterey jack and sharp cheddar mixed across the tortillas. Layer the chicken, peppers, and onions evenly. Add another two cups of cheese on top. Place six more tortillas on top, again overlapping. Press down firmly. Brush the top with melted butter.
The bake: four-fifty for ten minutes, then flip the entire quesadilla using a second sheet pan placed over the first and inverting (this is the move that makes the technique scale), then five more minutes on the other side until both sides are deeply golden.
Cut into twelve squares with a pizza wheel. Served with sour cream, salsa, guacamole, and lime wedges. Dustin had four squares. The leftover eight fed us through Wednesday.
Tortillas overlapping, cheese-chicken-cheese, flip with a second sheet pan. Here’s the build.
Chicken Sheet Pan Quesadillas
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 18 minutes | Total Time: 28 minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded (rotisserie works great)
- 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 1/2 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup corn (frozen, thawed, or canned and drained)
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 large (10-inch) flour tortillas
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
- Sour cream, salsa, and guacamole for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven. Heat oven to 425°F and lightly brush a large rimmed sheet pan (18x13) with olive oil or cooking spray.
- Season the filling. In a medium bowl, combine the shredded chicken, black beans, corn, red onion, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt. Stir until everything is evenly coated.
- Assemble quesadillas. Lay two tortillas flat on the prepared sheet pan. Spread half the chicken mixture over each tortilla, leaving a small border around the edges. Sprinkle the combined cheeses evenly over each, then top with the remaining two tortillas.
- Brush the tops. Brush the top of each quesadilla lightly with olive oil or melted butter — this is what gets them golden and crispy in the oven.
- Bake. Bake for 14–18 minutes, flipping once at the halfway point using a wide spatula, until both sides are golden brown and the cheese is fully melted and bubbling at the edges.
- Slice and serve. Remove from the oven, let rest for 2 minutes, then slice each quesadilla into wedges with a pizza cutter. Serve with sour cream, salsa, and guacamole on the side.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 485 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 21g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 620mg