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homemade microwaveable beef and bean burritos
One of my favorite all-time snacks/lunches must be Tina’s bran frozen burritos. About as far from homemade and good food as you can get, these little bricks of lard have a tough exterior and a bit of a “freezer” taste, but they are cheap, quick, and spicy. Throw some salsa on top and you have a decent lunch in five minutes.
Of course, Melanie saw me eating one of these recently and she asked me, “That can’t be too hard to replicate and improve, so why don’t you make it yourself?“ Why not, indeed.
So I set to work, starting with our quick and easy taco meat recipe as the base of filling, adding some canned refried beans, pickled jalapenos, and shredded cheese and I was on to something. Put them in the freezer and I have my convenient burritos, but with a healthier, tastier, homemade twist.
Ingredients:
1 batch of quick and easy taco meat (makes about 1 pound)
1 16-oz can refried beans
5 burrito-size flour tortillas
1/2 cup shredded cheese (Monterey Jack, cheddar, or store-bought Mexican-mix)
1/4 cup pickled jalapenos
Directions:
1. Prepare the taco meat according to the recipe. In a small saucepan, heat the refried beans over medium-low heat until it is soft and pliable.
2. Once the meat is done, drain it of grease and then mix in small bowl with the beans. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes to cool, but not freeze solid.
3. Lay out your first tortilla, place about 1/2 cup of mixture in the center, add a couple tablespoons of cheese, and then four or five slices of jalapeno (depending on how much heat you like). Leave at least two or three inches on the left and right to fold the burrito. Bring the side nearest you up and just over the top of the filling. Fold over the left and right sides of the tortilla and then roll the whole package over the remaining tortilla. (You can see an illustration of how to fold a burrito here except I like to close both ends for my frozen burritos. It keeps it from falling apart during reheating.) Repeat for the rest of the filling.
4. Wrap each burrito in wax paper and place in the freezer until solid. To prevent freezer burn, I like to vacuum seal the burritos. (My sister gave us a Foodsaver vacuum sealer for Christmas last year and despite my initial misgivings it’s awesome at saving all kinds of food and preventing freezer burn.)
5. To reheat, put in the microwave on a microwave-safe dish and heat on high for 2 minutes, flip, and then 1 minute more. (The time depends on the strength of your particular microwave.) Serve with some fresh salsa.
Makes about 5 8-oz. burritos
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