A Mexican Fiesta In Your Mouth - The Best Burritos Recipe

Burritos are arguably the best of Mexican food all rolled up into a hearty tortilla, easy for eating on the go. You can have vegetarian or bean burritos, put chicken, ground beef, or rice in them, you can have burritos for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and they’re incredibly easy to make. I’m going to take you through a few different ways of making burritos and help you decide what kind you would like today.

All burritos have at least three elements in common - the rest is up to you! They all have tortillas, cheese of some kind, and salsa. Whether you like your salsa mild or scorching, whether you like your cheese American, Monterey Jack, or Cheddar, you’ve got to start with the tortilla. It should be a soft flour tortilla, and the biggest one you can get.

Basically the size of your burrito totally depends on the size of your tortilla. The tortillas you get should also be fairly stretchy when warm - that’s how you know they’re fresh. Throw one in the microwave for 30 seconds with damp paper towels under and over it, and when you take it out, try rolling it up into the smallest roll you can. You should be able to roll it pretty tightly.

Breakfast burritos are really good to make up the night before and eat on the run. To make these you put some cooked Mexican rice in a frying pan with  small bites of sausage or bacon, fry until the bacon or sausage is mostly cooked, then break some eggs into the mixture, and scramble the whole thing until the eggs are fully cooked.

Spoon the mixture into warm tortillas and sprinkle some cheese over the top, and a bit of salsa over that, then fold up using the instructions below. There’s no need to cook these any more than that, but you can pop them in the microwave if they’ve gone cold.

This is where you can really get creative. Try thin strips of chicken breast, green peppers and mushrooms, along with some spices, fried up like you’d do for fajitas. Or ground beef with cinnamon and cumin, cooked with some sharp onions and a bit of red pepper. Or meltingly delicious pork belly, slow-cooked, and then shredded with a bit of cabbage.

Bean burritos are the essence of the burrito - super quick and super easy. All you need is a can of refried beans, or (drained) pintos or black beans. Spread over the tortilla, top with cheese, fold, bake, and go!

When it comes to folding burritos, it mostly depends on the size of the tortilla you’ve managed to acquire. If you have large tortillas, you will be able to do the special folds that keep the contents of the burrito firmly tucked inside, but if you have smaller ones, then it’s perfectly find just to fold them in half, or roll them up as best you can. They’ll taste just as nice anyway.

To do the special burrito fold, you must make sure that the contents of the burrito are in a line down the middle, so there’s space on all sides. Take the sides of the burrito and fold inwards just once. Hold the folds there while you roll the rest of the burrito up from the other direction. This should be fairly simple, but there’s always a burrito that just won’t cooperate. Don’t worry if one side flops back open again. As long as one side is firmly fixed in place, you can just eat from the other side and hold the better-folded one.

If you are able to warm your tortilla up beforehand like they do at Chipotle, you might not need to cook your burrito at all, as long as everything you put in it is warmed up. But if that’s not possible then just pop your burritos in the oven until the cheese is melted and the tortilla slightly brown on top. I personally really like the nice crunchiness that bit of baking provides.

When you serve your burrito, there are three typical garnishes that come with it - guacamole, salsa, and sour cream. You can serve these on the side and dip your burrito as needed, or you can just dump them over the top of the burrito. You can also serve lettuce or alfalfa sprouts with or in the burrito. I also like to include some cold black olives. And of course, tortillas chips are the natural accompaniment. If you don’t have Mexican rice or refried beans in your burrito, it might be nice to serve them alongside.

You can eat your burrito either with your hands or with a fork, whichever you’re more comfortable with. There’s no right way to do it.

Good luck with the burritos recipe of your choice!