Sausage & Egg Breakfast Quesadillas
Crisp, golden low-carb tortillas folded around soft scrambled eggs, crumbled breakfast sausage and plenty of melted cheddar. Make a batch and freeze them for 10-minute weekday breakfasts.
Nutrition per serving
1 quesadilla (2 wedges)- Net carbs
- 6.7g
- Calories
- 470kcal
- Protein
- 27g
- Fat
- 36g
- Total carbs
- 22 g
- Fiber
- 15 g
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient (optional ingredients excluded). Brands vary — check your labels if you track closely.
Ingredients
Chorizo & green chile: Spicy Mexican chorizo and mild green chiles give the quesadillas a Tex-Mex kick. Pepper Jack is great here.
- Brown the chorizo exactly as you would the sausage, to 160°F (71°C), and pour off all but a teaspoon of the red fat. Stir the green chiles into the eggs along with the chorizo.
Vegetarian (spinach & mushroom): Browned mushrooms and wilted spinach replace the sausage, for a meat-free quesadilla that freezes just as well.
- Cook the mushrooms in the olive oil over medium-high heat 6–7 minutes, until browned and dry, then add the spinach just until wilted. Press out any liquid before scrambling the eggs and folding the vegetables in, so the tortillas stay crisp.
Denver (ham & peppers): Diced ham, green pepper and onion, like a Denver omelet folded into a crisp tortilla.
- Cook the ham, pepper and onion in the butter over medium heat 4–5 minutes, until the vegetables soften, then scramble the eggs in the same pan and stir everything together.
- Nice to have (optional)
- Also add
- Nice to have (optional)
- Also add
- Nice to have (optional)
- Also add
- Nice to have (optional)
Estimated cost $6.63 for 4 servings ($1.66 each) · how we estimate
Instructions
-
Brown the sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, breaking it into small crumbles, 7–9 minutes, until no pink remains (160°F/71°C). Spoon it onto a plate, leaving about a teaspoon of fat in the pan.
-
Beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Lower the heat to medium-low and scramble them in the sausage fat until just set but still soft and glossy, 2–3 minutes; they cook a little more inside the quesadillas. Stir the sausage back in, tip it all onto the plate and wipe out the pan.
-
Lay the tortillas flat. Sprinkle a quarter of the cheese over one half of each, spoon on a quarter of the egg mixture and fold the empty half over, pressing gently.
-
Brush the skillet with a little of the oil and set it over medium heat. Cook the quesadillas two at a time, 2–3 minutes per side, until crisp and golden and the cheese has melted.
-
Rest 1 minute, cut each into two wedges and serve with salsa and sour cream.
Tips for success
-
Leave the eggs slightly underdone in the pan. They finish cooking as the quesadillas crisp, and fully cooked eggs turn rubbery. - Low-carb tortillas vary a lot. Choose one with about 4 g net carbs or less per 8-inch tortilla, and note that most contain wheat.
- To freeze, cool the filling completely, assemble the quesadillas without cooking them and freeze flat with parchment between them. Cook from frozen in a covered skillet over medium-low, 4–5 minutes per side, until the center is hot (165°F/74°C).
Nice to have, not needed
- A panini press or sandwich maker cooks two at once without flipping — a skillet works fine.
Storage & meal prepMeal-prep friendly
- Keeps 4 days in the fridge
- Freezes up to 2 months
Reheat: Re-crisp cooked quesadillas in a dry skillet, or in an air fryer at 375°F (190°C) for 4–5 minutes; cook frozen ones in a covered skillet over medium-low, 4–5 minutes per side.
Prep tip: Freeze them assembled but uncooked, with parchment between, so they crisp up fresh when you cook them.
Refrigerate cooked quesadillas up to 4 days, or freeze assembled, uncooked quesadillas up to 2 months.
Variations
3 variations, each with its own ingredients and macrosChorizo & green chile
FlavorSpicy Mexican chorizo and mild green chiles give the quesadillas a Tex-Mex kick. Pepper Jack is great here.
- bulk breakfast sausage → raw Mexican chorizo
- + ½ can diced green chiles (4-oz can)
7.6 g net · 436 kcal · 27 g protein · 32 g fat · ≈$2.02 per serving (+0.9 g net carbs vs the original)
Vegetarian (spinach & mushroom)
DietBrowned mushrooms and wilted spinach replace the sausage, for a meat-free quesadilla that freezes just as well.
- bulk breakfast sausage → mushrooms
- + 2 cups baby spinach
- + ½ tbsp olive oil
6.6 g net · 334 kcal · 22 g protein · 23 g fat · ≈$1.79 per serving (−0.1 g net carbs vs the original)
Denver (ham & peppers)
ProteinDiced ham, green pepper and onion, like a Denver omelet folded into a crisp tortilla.
- bulk breakfast sausage → cooked ham
- + ½ cup green bell pepper
- + ¼ cup onion
- + ½ tbsp butter
7.7 g net · 389 kcal · 27 g protein · 26 g fat · ≈$1.82 per serving (+1 g net carbs vs the original)
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