Kid’s BBQ Chicken & Pineapple Pizza-Dillas + Snack: Grilled Cheese Dippers with Three Sauces

Does planning, cooking, and packing kids’ lunches + snacks feel like your part-time (or full-time) job? We feel you, and we’re here to help. This 20-minute lunch is the perfect make-ahead lunchbox time-saver: a kid-approved BBQ chicken and pineapple pizza-style quesadilla complete with apple and cucumber slices, and waffle sticks for a sweet treat. But that’s not all—it’ll be snack time before you know it! Serve up buttery grilled cheese sticks with a bevy of crowd-pleasing dipping sauces: marinara, ranch, and guac. That’s right: We’re thinking outside the lunchbox (so you don’t have to!). This recipe is designed to provide lunch and snack components for multiple days. For each lunch and snack meal, 3 servings and 6 servings are provided for a 2 person and 4 person box respectively. Nutrition information under the Nutrition Values section below is for the lunch portion. Nutrition values for 1 serving of the Grilled Cheese Dippers snack is as follows: Calories: 480, Fat: 34g, Saturated Fat: 15g, Cholesterol: 65mg, Sodium: 870mg, Carbohydrates: 41g, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 4g, Protein: 13g. Download the nutrition labels to see final nutrition information for both lunch and snack components.

Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 5 mins
Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 servings 6 servings
  • 4 oz pineapple
  • 1 apple
  • 1 mini cucumber
  • 1 belgian waffle
  • 10 oz chicken breast strips
  • 4 tbsp bbq sauce
  • 6 flour tortillas
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese
  • 4 slices sourdough bread
  • 1 cup cheddar cheese
  • 2.5 oz marinara cup
  • 1.5 oz buttermilk ranch dressing
  • 4 tbsp guacamole
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 tsp cooking oil
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 8 oz pineapple
  • 2 apples
  • 2 mini cucumbers
  • 2 belgian waffles
  • 20 oz chicken breast strips
  • 8 tbsp bbq sauce
  • 12 flour tortillas
  • 2 cups mozzarella cheese
  • 8 slices sourdough bread
  • 2 cups cheddar cheese
  • 5 oz marinara cup
  • 3 oz buttermilk ranch dressing
  • 8 tbsp guacamole
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 tsp cooking oil
  • 4 tbsp butter

Instructions

  1. • Wash and dry produce.
    • Drain pineapple. Halve, core, and
    thinly slice or dice apple (whichever
    your kid prefers!). Thinly slice
    cucumber into rounds. Cut waffle
    into 1-inch-thick strips.
  2. • Pat chicken* dry with paper towels and
    season all over with salt and pepper.
    • Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over
    medium-high heat. Add chicken in a
    single layer; cook, stirring occasionally,
    until browned and cooked through,
    4-6 minutes.
    • Turn off heat; transfer to a medium
    bowl. Wash out pan.
  3. • Add BBQ sauce and pineapple to
    bowl with chicken; toss to coat.
    • Arrange tortillas on a clean work
    surface. Add chicken mixture to
    bottom half of each tortilla. Top
    with mozzarella.
    • Fold tortillas in half to create
    pizza-dillas.
  4. • Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for
    chicken over medium heat. Add
    pizza-dillas and cook until tortillas
    are golden brown and cheese melts,
    3-4 minutes per side. Transfer to a
    cutting board. (Depending on the size
    of your pan, you may need to work
    in batches, adding a drizzle of oil for
    each batch.)
  5. • To serve: Halve pizza-dillas. Divide
    between plates and serve with
    apple slices, cucumber slices, and
    waffle sticks.
    • To stash: Let pizza-dillas cool
    completely before halving. Refrigerate
    pizza-dillas, apple slices, cucumber
    slices, and waffle sticks in separate
    containers and pack as desired!
  6. • Fill bread slices with cheddar to form
    sandwiches.
    • Melt 2 TBSP butter (4 TBSP for
    6 servings) in a large, preferably
    nonstick, pan over medium heat. Once
    butter has melted, add sandwiches
    and cook until bread is golden and
    cheese melts slightly, 2-3 minutes per
    side. (Work in batches if necessary,
    adding more butter for each batch.)
    • Cut sandwiches crosswise into 1-inchthick strips. Divide between plates
    and serve with marinara, ranch
    dressing, and guacamole on the
    side for dipping.
    Chicken is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 165°.