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This High-Protein Breakfast Quesadilla, with fluffy scrambled eggs, lean breakfast sausage, and cheese, has over 30 grams of protein per serving!
Easy Breakfast Quesadilla Recipe
I can’t think of a better way to start your morning than with a good breakfast quesadilla, which combines two of my favorite things–quesadillas and eggs! They are protein-rich, come together in less than 10 minutes, and are great for meal prep. Serve them with salsa or guacamole, and enjoy! If you need more ideas, see more high-protein breakfast ideas to inspire you or try my Breakfast Burritos or High-Protein Scrambled Eggs.
Why These Quesadillas Work
I aim for at least 30 grams of protein per meal, and this high-protein breakfast is a great way to achieve that goal! It includes egg whites, cottage cheese, and lean sausage.
- It’s Satiating: These hearty breakfast quesadillas will keep you full until lunch.
- Quick and Easy: Brown the sausage, scramble the eggs, and cook the quesadilla in just 10 minutes.
- Perfect for Meal Prep: Triple or quadruple the recipe and refrigerate the leftovers for up to 4 days. They reheat well in the air fryer or skillet.
- Dietary Restrictions: Weight Watchers-friendly, vegetarian (if omitting sausage), gluten-free (if using GF tortillas), high-protein.
If you make this high-protein breakfast quesadilla recipe, I would love to see it. Tag me in your photos or videos on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook!
High-Protein Breakfast Quesadilla Ingredients
Sausage, eggs, cottage cheese, and cheddar increase the protein in this healthy breakfast quesadilla. See the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Sausage: Use any cooked chicken breakfast sausage. If it’s frozen, thaw it first.
- Eggs: I used 1 large egg and 1 egg white to reduce the calories. However, you can use 2 whole eggs if you prefer.
- Cottage Cheese is my secret ingredient. It boosts the protein content and makes the eggs creamier–you don’t even know it’s there.
- Scallions for flavor
- Salt and Pepper to season the eggs
- Part-skim Shredded Cheddar: No quesadilla is complete without cheese!
- Tortillas: I love Mission Carb Balance tortillas, which are lower in carbs, but use whatever kind you prefer.
- Salsa and Guacamole are optional, but I like dipping my quesadilla in them.
How to Make Breakfast Quesadillas
This easy breakfast quesadilla cooks in 1 pan in just 10 minutes. The recipe card below contains the printable instructions.
- Brown the sausage in a small skillet on medium heat. Once it’s browned and crispy, remove it.
- Prep the Eggs: Crack the eggs into a bowl, season with salt and pepper, and whisk in the cottage cheese and scallions.
- Cook the Eggs: Spray the skillet with oil, pour in the egg mixture, and cook them over medium heat for a few minutes.
- Make the Quesadilla: Clean out the skillet, heat it on medium-low, spray with oil, and add the tortilla. Place half of the cheese on the bottom half of the tortilla and top with eggs, sausage, and the remaining cheese. Cook until the bottom is browned and crisp. Then, fold the tortilla, flip it with a spatula, and cook longer to melt the cheese.
Variations
- Sausage: Substitute turkey breakfast sausage for turkey chorizo, ham or bacon.
- Vegetarian Breakfast Quesadilla: Omit the sausage and add black beans, mushrooms and/or bell peppers. Or swap it with soy chorizo.
- Scallions: Replace them with diced onions, which you can saute with the sausage.
- Seasoning: Sprinkle the eggs with chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and/or paprika. Or use your favorite taco seasoning.
- Cheese: Swap cheddar with another melting cheese like Monterey Jack or pepper jack.
- Flour Tortilla: Use whole wheat or gluten-free tortillas. Corn tortillas are too small here.
Meal Prep Tip
- Fridge: Refrigerate the egg and cheese breakfast quesadillas in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Although you can reheat them in the microwave, they’ll get soggy. Instead, reheat them in a skillet, toaster oven or air fryer.
- Freezer: Wrap tight with plastic wrap and freeze up to 3 months.
Serving Suggestions
Salsa and Guacamole are optional, but I like dipping my quesadilla in them. Sour cream or Greek yogurt is also an option. Hot sauce like Cholula if you like it spicy!
More High-Protein Breakfast Recipes You’ll Love
- Breakfast Casserole with Spinach and Sausage
- High-Protein Enchilada Scrambled Eggs
- Whipped Cottage Cheese Bowls
- Chorizo Egg Bites
- Meal Prep Breakfast Taco Scramble
Breakfast Quesadilla Recipe
This High-Protein Breakfast Quesadilla, with fluffy scrambled eggs, lean breakfast sausage, and cheese, has over 30 grams of protein per serving!
Yield: servings
Serving Size: 1 quesadilla
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.25 ounces cooked chicken breakfast sausage, if frozen thawed (2 links), chopped
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons egg whites*
- 3 tablespoons part-skim cottage cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
- pinch kosher salt
- black pepper, to taste
- 1 ounce part-skim shredded cheddar
- 7- inch low carb tortillas, I love Mission whole wheat carb balance or use gluten-free
- salsa and guacamole, optional for serving
Instructions
- Add the sausage to a small non-stick skillet and cook over medium heat until the sausage is browned and crispy on the edges. When the sausage is cooked, remove it from the skillet and set aside.
- While the sausage is cooking, crack the eggs into a bowl and season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Add the cottage cheese and scallions and whisk the eggs.
- Spray the skillet and add the eggs to the skillet and cook them over medium heat, folding them as the eggs set until the moisture is gone, 2 to 3 minutes, then remove from the heat.
- Heat a clean large skillet or griddle over medium-low heat and spray with oil, add the tortilla.
- Place half of the cheese on the bottom half of the tortilla, spreading it out to cover half of the tortilla. Top with the egg, sausage and remaining cheese and cook until the bottom is browned and crispy about 2 to 3 minutes, then fold the tortilla closed and flip, cook until the cheese on the inside is melted.
- Slice the quesadilla into three pieces, then serve.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Notes
*(or use 2 large eggs instead)
Variations
-
- Sausage: Substitute turkey breakfast sausage for turkey chorizo, ham or bacon.
-
- Vegetarian Breakfast Quesadilla: Omit the sausage and add black beans, mushrooms and/or bell peppers. Or swap it with soy chorizo.
-
- Scallions: Replace them with diced onions, which you can saute with the sausage.
-
- Seasoning: Sprinkle the eggs with chili powder, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and/or paprika. Or use your favorite taco seasoning.
-
- Cheese: Swap cheddar with another melting cheese like Monterey Jack or pepper jack.
-
- Flour Tortilla: Use whole wheat or gluten-free tortillas. Corn tortillas are too small here.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 quesadilla, Calories: 345 kcal, Carbohydrates: 25 g, Protein: 35 g, Fat: 18 g, Saturated Fat: 7 g, Cholesterol: 245 mg, Sodium: 981 mg, Fiber: 18 g, Sugar: 1 g
Delish! I swapped the breakfast sausage for button mushrooms and green bell pepper and added some pico de gallo and hot sauce on top of the quesadillas. Also, the cottage cheese is a total game changer! An easy to make recipe that I will definitely be turning to again.
Savory and easy to make as is or with modifications. Even my kids eat it!
Perfect!
They were fine
Could you make a few ahead of time for a few days?
Yes, these are perfect for meal prep! Triple or quadruple the recipe and refrigerate the leftovers for up to 4 days. They reheat well in the air fryer or skillet.
How many points?
Fairly simple to make and tasty. I made for the first time today and took in the car since I was running late for an appointment. Worked out just fine. Everything stayed inside the tortilla.
Huge hit. Since you posted this, my 13 yr old son has requested it almost every single morning. We ran out of cottage cheese once so I made it with 2 eggs and he protested. He loves it exactly as you wrote it, as do I, and we are both enjoying it often. Thank you!! Perfect example of how easy it is to eat high protein and high fiber with common and delicious ingredients.
So glad!
This recipe was delicious! And easy! I did mine in a cast iron skillet.
I added fresh herbs …. oregano. I only had 2% cottage cheese and resulted in some watery liquid, which I dabbed up before spreading the eggs on the Tortilla . Overall, very tasty!!
Really liked this a lot. Used morning star veggie sausage and laughing cow cheese, fines herbs, and added everything else listed. Love the addition of cottage cheese and onion. I made the eggs added the cheese and sausage and then put tortilla on top flipped it, folded over and then browned on both sides. A favorite.
It hit the spot for such a simple dish. I was looking for something more than toast and scrambled eggs. I will definitely be making this again.
its so simple but so perfect. The cottage cheese “hack” is genius.. you are right you have no idea it’s in there. I always recommend after the “flip” to add a touch of salt on the cooked side of the quesadilla. It just works. Thanks Gina!
Fabulous! I actually put this on my calendar to make on a day when I’m working from home. I ended up using a whole wheat tortilla and turkey breakfast sausage because that’s what I had on hand. It was so filling, I really struggled to eat half of the quesadilla! Will definitely make again, but maybe only half and with the low carb tortilla (and may also add some spinach to the eggs as well)! Thanks, Gina!
I’ve been regularly rotating a few of your other breakfast recipes (egg white muffins, breakfast burritos, and sausage and egg sandwiches) for meal prep a while now and I needed something new to try!! This definitely met the mark! It’s delicious and I like forward to eating it. Love the extra protein. Thank you!!
Made two of these this morning for my husband and me. Subbed mozzarella and pork sausage because we had them leftover from the weekend. Also added a few mushrooms leftover from topping pizzas. Served with salsa. They were delicious! Will make them again soon.
Great!!
I am trying to increase my daily fiber intake, and when importing this recipe into a food tracker, I only come up with 2.4g of fiber. Is the 18g accurate and where is it coming from? Thanks!
Hi Heather! Mission Whole Wheat Carb Balance Soft Taco Tortillas has 18 grams of fiber.
Delicious. Made exactly as written and turned out so well. Will definitely be making it again and again. Thank you for another yummy recipe.
Hi! Could you tell me how you got 18 grams of fiber for this? Do your tortillas have that much? Thanks
Mission Whole Wheat Carb Balance Soft Taco Tortillas has 18 grams of fiber.
Hi! Do you think there would freeze well?
If you wrap it with plastic I think so!
Another thought. I don’t think I would fry the tortillas before freezing. I would assemble the quesadillas, wrap in freezer wrap, then fry them up after thawing. Your thoughts?
I just made a version of this quesadilla with leftover sausage balls I had in the freezer from a party this week and it was divine. I am not a breakfast eater ordinarily, but this snowy morning called for a special treat–and it won’t be the last time. I think I’ll keep those sausage balls (I buy them frozen) in the freezer from now on for just this kind of occasion. Thank you–I did do the quesadilla in the toaster oven at the end.
Hi Gina,
This looks delicious. What kind of breakfast sausage did you use?
Thanks
I’m not sure which Gina used but I just started shopping at Aldi’s recently and they have small chicken breakfast sausage links that I think would be perfect for these, they are pre-cooked and come in a pack of five.
The sausage ball idea above sounds reallllly good too, I bet they probably brown better and get nice and crispy.
I like the idea of cottage cheese here, and I really want to add some black beans when I make them and have some fresh salsa on the side!
Thanks