Quesadilla: Calories, Nutrition & Healthier Swaps

A quesadilla is a tortilla with melted cheese and filling — quick and tasty, with most calories from cheese.

Quesadilla nutrition facts per 100 g and per serving

Values per 100 g as eaten, averaged from food composition tables (USDA FoodData Central and others) and rounded — a specific brand or recipe will differ a little.

Quesadilla: what's in it

A serving (one, 200 g) provides 28 g of protein — about 50% of the 56 g daily reference for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult (0.8 g per kg). It has 3 g of fiber per serving — roughly 12% of the 25 g a day most adults fall short of. There's almost no sugar: the carbohydrate is mostly starch.

On the open Nutri-Score algorithm, quesadilla gets a D: more of a sometimes food than an everyday one. The score weighs calories, sugar, saturated fat and salt against protein, fiber and the share of fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts.

What to watch

• High in saturated fat: 5.5 g per 100 g, against a daily reference of about 20 g.
• It's low in fiber, so add vegetables, greens or beans to the plate.
• A serving has 2.4 g of salt — 48% of the WHO's 5 g daily maximum.

How much movement is one serving?

One serving (one, 200 g) is 496 kcal — roughly 2 h 42 min of easy walking or 62 min of cycling for a 70 kg (154 lb) person. In the diary, minutes are worked out for your weight and the activities you actually do.

Healthier swaps for Quesadilla

Swaps are picked the same way the app does it: from the same kind of food, with a serving matched to the same calories (±25%), and only when the swap is clearly better — not “salad instead of pizza”.

• Veggie burrito — 330 g, 498 kcal: −8.7 g saturated fat, −0.4 g salt.
• Shrimp tacos — 330 g, 498 kcal: −9 g saturated fat, −0.4 g salt.
• Turkey shawarma — 310 g, 496 kcal: −9.1 g saturated fat, −0.5 g salt.
• Fish tacos — 230 g, 499 kcal: −7.3 g saturated fat, −1.3 g salt.