My experience with burritos runs 40 years deep. Inspired from the amazing Mexican restaurant where I worked after college, I picked up enough tips to make a pretty mean burrito. Fast forward to raising a family, I needed a go-to meal that satisfied my crew.
Answer: burritos.
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I’ve made these burritos for numerous tailgates, game day parties and weeknight meals. And I’m sharing below how to make a big batch and freeze them for whenever the craving strikes.
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The best burrito starts here
The tortilla
For a full sized burrito, I recommend an XL, gigantic tortilla as big as the size of your head.
I use smaller, taco size tortillas to make party appetizer burritos find that stuffing it to the gills is a little trickier. More on that below.
Filling components
I typically stuff my burritos simply with beef, rice, and cheese when preparing them for a tailgate since I’ll be serving many people with different preferences.
- spicy ground beef. the seasoning is quickly mixed from easy pantry ingredients. Much better than any taco packet seasoning mix!
- jalapeno and onion. minced and mixed in the beef
- rice. cilantro-lime rice specifically. So necessary for the burst of lime and hit of herby freshness.
- shredded cheese. sharp cheddar and Monterey jack make everything all melty and cheese-pull-y.
Other ideas:
- beans -I think a spread of our favorite black bean dip would propel this recipe from amazing to whatever is beyond amazing. (In all fairness, this was my sister’s idea—she’s an awesome cook!)
- roasted veggies – roast a pan of your favorite vegetables like red onions and colorful peppers
- sauteed corn – sauté up some frozen roasted corn in a little butter for added flavor and texture
No season packet burrito filling
Instead of using a premixed packet of taco or burrito seasoning, make your own blend! It might take three extra minutes to measure out the spices, but your meat will taste that much better because it’s fresh.
- chili powder
- cumin
- garlic powder
- salt
- sugar (just a tich!)
The secret to a crispy burrito
Butter.
Yup, butter. It’s what creates that toasty, warm and slightly crunchy texture.
Brush softened butter on the outside (and inside) of the tortilla. For a lot of them, I work assembly-line style: buttering and then filling.
How to make burrito filling
Right at the end, add a few chopped jalapenos if you like and give them a super quick saute – you just don’t want them to go all mushy on you. The crunch from the jalapenos is the absolute best bite.
Time to get rolling.
How to fold a burrito
The proportion of tortilla to filling is about 2:1 meaning there’s about twice as much tortilla as filling so that you get all those goodies inside without the burrito’s sides splitting open.
- Butter one side of the tortilla with butter and flip over the buttered side down on a baking sheet.
- Place a measured amount of meat filling in a vertical line down the middle of the tortilla. Continue with your rice, cheese, and extra jalapenos, if adding (as shown in the top left pic)
- Brush the left edge of the tortilla with a little more butter. This will be your outside edge that keeps the burrito closed (again, top left).
- Fold the top edge of the tortilla into the middle, covering about 1/8-1/4 of the filling (top right).
- Repeat #3 for the bottom edge.
- Turn the burrito 90 degrees so that the buttered edge is on the top (furthest away from you). Holding both the right and left sides, start at the bottom and roll the burrito away from you over top of the filling towards the buttered edge until you have a closed packet. This is usually two rolls worth (last pic).
- Place the burrito seam side down on a buttered baking sheet and bake until crispy.
Party-sized burritos
The recipe card below has the full step by step instructions for making and baking burritos from frozen but to make them for a party, keep these tips in mind:
I find 6″ tortillas to make the perfect bite-sized burrito.
Use about 1 T of meat and rice filling each. You still need the 2:1 ratio of filling to tortilla.
Butter, roll and bake until golden for about 10 minutes.
Serve an easy homemade cheese sauce for dipping.
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Crispy Baked Ground Beef Burritos
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Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ lb ground beef, I use 85% lean
- 4 TBSP medium chile powder
- 3 TBSP ground cumin
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ tsp sugar
- 2 TBSP tomato paste
- 1 TBSP salt
- 6 TBSP water
- 1½ cup grated cheese, I use a combo of medium/sharp cheddar with Monterrey Jack
- 15 burrito sized tortillas, prob like 10-12"
Cilantro Lime Rice
- 1 cup basmati rice, or 2 prepared bags of frozen brown or white rice
- 5 TBSP unsalted butter, divided
- 1 lime, juiced
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a pan and add chopped onion. Saute for 5 minutes until golden brown.1 TBSP olive oil, 1/2 cup chopped onion
- Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds.2 cloves garlic
- Using a slotted spoon, remove onion and garlic from the pan to a small plate and set aside.
- Over medium heat, add ground beef to pan spreading out evenly. Cook, tossing lightly until browned completely, about 8 minutes.1 ⅓ lb ground beef
- Return onion and garlic to the pan along with tomato paste, spices, seasonings, and sugar. Stir over low heat until combined and tomato paste is incorporated about 1 minute.4 TBSP medium chile powder, 3 TBSP ground cumin, 1½ tsp sugar, 2 TBSP tomato paste, 1 TBSP salt
- Add water a tablespoon at a time.6 TBSP water
- Simmer for about 5 minutes until the meat absorbs the water.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Cilantro Lime Rice
- Add 2 cups of water to a 4-quart saucepan along with the rice, 1 tablespoon of butter and a teaspoon of salt.1 cup basmati rice
- Bring to a low boil. Once the water and rice are boiling, reduce the heat to the lowest it can go. Cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 20 minutes. Try not to peek.
- After 20 minutes is up, let the rice sit for 5 minutes. Take the lid off and fluff with a fork.
- Add butter, lime juice, chopped cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste.5 TBSP unsalted butter, 1 lime, 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, salt and pepper
- Let the rice cool completely.
Assemble the Burritos
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Butter one side of the tortilla with butter and flip over the buttered side down on a baking sheet.15 burrito sized tortillas
- Place a measured amount of the meat filling in a vertical line down the middle of the tortilla. Continue with your rice, cheese, and extra jalapenos, if adding.1½ cup grated cheese
- Fold the top edge of the tortilla into the middle, covering about 1/8-1/4 of the filling.
- Repeat #4 for the bottom edge.
- Brush the left edge of the tortilla with a little more butter. This will be your outside edge that keeps the burrito closed.
- Turn the burrito 90 degrees so that the buttered edge is on the top (furthest away from you). Holding both the right and left sides, start at the bottom and roll the burrito away from you over top of the filling towards the buttered edge until you have a closed packet. This is usually two rolls worth.
- Place the burrito seam side down on a buttered baking sheet.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until the burritos are toasted and golden brown.
Notes
- Rip or cut as many pieces of parchment paper AND aluminum foil as burritos you plan to make. You need one piece of parchment and one piece of foil per burrito.
- Fill and fold burritos as outlined above making sure to have the outsides buttered.
- Wrap each burrito first in the parchment paper and then the aluminum foil. I do the double wrap technique to eliminate the risk of freezer burn and the parchment makes it easy to unwrap the frozen burritos.
- Load up a freezer-safe storage bag with one layer of burritos. Seal. Freeze burritos for up to 3 months.
- To bake: unwrap the burritos and place them on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Bake frozen at 425º for 20 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
- Serve with fresh guacamole, a variety of salsas and lime wedges.
When cooking the burrito after freezing, do you remove the parchment and foil before baking? And do they bake from frozen? And for how long at what temp?
Sorry so many questions.
We love this recipe, but just froze them for the first time
Hi Jill – great questions. I just did this as well! At the bottom of the recipe card, there is a note about baking temp and time (let me know if you aren’t seeing it). 425° for 20 minutes on a baking sheet is perfect and yes, remove the parchment and the foil before baking. Wrapping the burrito first in parchment helps make it super easy to remove the frozen burrito from the foil. Hope that all helps and let me know how you like making the baked burritos ahead of time…thanks Jill!😊
This recipe is another winner! I made the cilantro lime rice the day before so it made for less prep tonight and opted to use a 7 grain wrap instead of the flour burrito and it worked great. These have a very nice crunch after baking, excellent with a little sour cream and plenty left for the freezer~what’s not to like about that?? Thanks Lori!
Woohoo Joyce! So happy you all loved it! And such a good idea to use the 7 grain wrap and that there’s plenty for leftover…always awesome on a night when “what’s for dinner?” is a question no one wants to answer!
Thank you! I love this recipe, and I’m a San Francisco native who grew up eating burritos from the Mission district!! This is a slightly different kind of burrito, and still amazing, in my opinion. I loved learning how to make this “crunchy” style. I followed the recipe to the letter and my family gobbled them up in about 10 minutes flat. I froze some leftovers and those worked out great too!
Today I’m making these again using leftover chicken breasts that we cooked over the weekend in the sous vide. I think the rice, with the cilantro – lime seasoning, is key… I’ll chop up or shred the chicken and mix it up with the homemade seasoning that you described. We’ll see how it goes! I’m not worried 😉
Sarah you made my day! Thank you so much!! I actually was born in SF (on the Presidio) so we have that in common😀. Cilantro Lime rice is a staple in our house with any Mexican recipe and if you want a sous vide chicken recipe, check out this one – it’s a lemony garlic flavor bomb. Be safe and well and thank you for taking the time to comment!!
This recipe is going to be a game-changer for us! My husband will cry tears of joy when I tell him I can make him burritos in advance. Also a perfect meal to prep for when I’m too pregnant to want to cook/the baby comes!
Yassss Sarah! This makes me so happy –
And you can beef it up however you like (no pun intended 🤣)!