An everyday Beef Burrito recipe, stuffed with a simple, super tasty seasoned beef, rice and other fillings of choice. These Burritos are a brilliant freezer standby because they are just as good made fresh or frozen then reheated. The burrito beef filling is especially good – made with a homemade Mexican seasoning that’s way better than a packet of Old El Paso!
Flavour packed everyday Burrito recipe!
Having a stash of burritos in the freezer makes me feel smug. Along with homemade Frozen Pizzas, these are one of the all time ultimate freezer meals.
Except burritos have the added bonus that you don’t even need to dirty a tray to reheat them, or a plate to eat them. Food you can eat with your hands always rates highly in my world!!! 😂
I call this Beef Burrito recipe an “everyday beef burrito” because beef filling aside, it’s a terrific one for adding in what you have and what you want. The key part of this recipe is the Beef Burrito Filling – highly seasoned with a homemade spice mix that tastes like Old El Paso – except it’s preservative free!
Freezer burritos: filling tips
-
Use ingredients that freeze well
-
Use cabbage instead of lettuce – cabbage holds up to freezing better
-
Only use a small amount of “watery” vegetables like tomato as they become even more watery once defrosted
-
Other raw vegetables used in burritos that do not freeze well include: avocado, cucumber
-
Cook vegetables like capsicum/peppers, zucchini, carrot. Dice and add to Beef Filling.
What goes in beef burritos
The Beef Filling is the main flavour component in this burrito recipe. It’s highly seasoned and juicy so it provides the “wetness” in the burrito as well as the flavour mixing through the other ingredients when you roll it up.
So other than the Beef Burrito Filling, there’s endless possibilities for what to put in the burrito! For this recipe, I’ve chosen a combination of ingredients that freeze well:
-
Beef Burrito Filling – juicy and packed with flavour!
-
Plain white rice – or try brown rice, quinoa, or this Mexican Red Rice!)
-
Corn
-
Black beans
-
Cabbage or lettuce
-
Diced tomato
-
Red onion
-
Cheese
-
Coriander/cilantro
How to freeze and reheat burritos
I like to use foil to roll up the burritos as it holds it together and then I can reheat it in the foil in the oven.
To freeze, I wrap in cling wrap (for extra air tight assurance) then put it in a ziplock bag or airtight container.
To reheat the burrito, I simply defrost in the fridge overnight then pop it in the ovenin the foil to make it crisp and heat through. If I forgot to defrost overnight, then I take it out of the foil, microwave on low to defrost, then wrap it up in the foil again and pop it in the oven to crisp up.
Dipping sauces for burritos
I totally forgot to take a photo of what to dip burritos in. They do need something because you can’t make the filling too wet, otherwise it makes the tortilla soggy.
For simplicity, my go-to is sour cream or yoghurt, sometimes with a dollop of some sort of chilli sauce. If I feel like making more of an effort or I’m doing these for a group (I like doing burritos for camping), then I’ll make Restaurant Style Salsa (because it’s smooth, it’s good for dipping) or this Avocado Dipping Sauce.
So – have I convinced you that you need to fill your freezer with these burritos??? – Nagi xx
FAVOURITE MEXICAN RECIPES
-
Carnitas (Mexican Pulled Pork)
-
Mexican Fiesta Menu and recipes
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Beef Burrito recipe video!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Beef Burritos
Ingredients
Burrito Seasoning:
- 1 tsp each onion powder , dried oregano, salt
- 2 tsp each dried cumin powder , paprika
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper , or to taste (optional)
Beef:
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- ½ onion , finely chopped
- 500g / 1 lb beef mince (ground beef), I use lean
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 tbsp water
Burritos:
- 6 - 8 large soft flour tortillas or round wraps (~25cm/10”+) (Note 1)
- 3 cups cooked rice , warm not piping hot (I use white long grain)
- 3 cups iceberg lettuce or cabbage , finely sliced (use cabbage if freezing)
- 1 cup corn kernels (I use canned, drained)
- 1 cup black beans (I use canned, drained)
- 3 tomatoes, deseeded and diced
- 1/2 red onion , finely chopped
- Finely chopped coriander / cilantro (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups / 150g shredded cheese of choice (melting kind)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes until onion is lightly browned. Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until it turns from red to brown.
- Add Taco Seasoning (or use 1 packet store bought) and cook for 1 minute. Then add tomato paste and water, cook for 3 minutes until the water is mostly evaporated but the beef is still juicy, not dried out. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes – piping hot filling will steam the burrito, making the tortilla soggy.
- Optional: If not warming rolled burrito, warm the tortillas before rolling (per packet directions).
- Place a burrito on a work surface. Place 1/4 - 1/3 cup of rice just below the centre. Top with 1/4 - 1/3 cup beef, then some lettuce, corn, black beans, tomato, a sprinkle of red onion, coriander and cheese.
- Fold up the bottom to cover the filling then fold the edges in (video helpful to see how to do this). Roll up tightly, then wrap in foil. Serve as is or heat per below.
- HEATING: To warm through, pan fry (dry pan) in the foil over medium high heat for a few minutes on each side to slightly crisp and warm the outside. Or for 10+ minutes on a medium low heat if you want to melt the cheese. Or they can be baked at 180C/350F for 20 minutes in the foil – this will warm them all the way through and crisp up the tortilla slightly. If they are straight from the fridge, they will take around 30 minutes to warm through.
- Burritos are best served with something to dollop/dip - sour cream (or yoghurt) and some sort of chilli sauce are my usual because it's easy. When I'm making more of an effort, I use Restaurant Style Salsa or Guacamole.
Recipe Notes:
- MICROWAVE/STOVE: unwrap then microwave for 2 minutes then crisp in dry pan over medium heat;
- STOVE: Leave in foil and turn over medium heat in dry pan for 10+ minutes until crisp all over (takes a while to warm all the way through). 3. MORE VEGGIES / Great for Freezing: One way to pack more veggies into this and/or reduce the carbs by leaving out the rice is to add veggies into the beef filling. To do this, increase the Seasoning, tomato and water by 50% (use the scaler by hovering your cursor over Servings) then add 3 cups of diced veggies of choice, like zucchini, carrots, celery, capsicum, corn. Use a large skillet, saute these veggies after the onion, then push to the side and add the beef and proceed with the recipe. 4. Nutrition per serving assuming 10 burritos.
Nutrition Information:
Burrito recipe originally published June 2017. Updated for housekeeping matters October 2018 – no change to recipe!
Burrito Fever
Life of Dozer
Staring competition: Dozer vs Burrito. Dozer won.
Nagi you little beauty. Another fantastic receipe. I have made so many of your recipes. Amazing 🙂 xx thank you so much.
I have made these so many times and have adapted a vegetarian option. Frozen and then cooked when need make for an ideal quick meal on a hot day. Freeze perfectly.
Oops! Ok just saw the ingredients are listed after in a paler font.
Hi Naji! The video shows more seasoning ingredients than the recipe itself, can you update the recipe yo reflect quanties of each dice?
Thx
CAM
Oops! Ok just saw the ingredients are listed after in a paler font
This tricked me too. Good job I watched the video.
Hi Nagi! I was wondering if I can make these ahead of time (the morning of), then reheat in oven when I’m ready to eat.
Yes 100% Kim! N x
Easy & really delicious! This will be a family fav!
This recipe is amazing. I was skeptical about the cabbage but it worked so well!
My only problem was I put too much filling on each tortilla and couldn’t roll the first ones up, but I learned to add less with the later ones.
Tip: they also reheat great in a flat plated sandwich press 👍🏼
Simply delicious!
Nagi, these burritos are bloody brilliant. I have made them almost weekly the entire year and they were a lifesaver during Melbourne’s covid lockdown! I’m giving birth next week and am planning to make a batch of these burritos, as well as your tuna mornay, chilli mac and cheese and spinach and ricotta cannelloni to get us through the sleepless newborn weeks ahead. Every recipe on your website is a winner- thanks so much!!
Made this last night, delicious!
And the seasoning was amazing!! I’ll be making it from now on, no more store bought!
Thanks you for all your amazing recipes!
Great recipe–very simple–love the use of tomato paste in it. I had never toasted the burritos in a pan before and it really makes a difference especially if you put a lot of cheese in it which I did
I NEVER leave comments, but I came here to say how much I am loving you right now (hopefully this doesn’t come off as weird hah)!! The format of your page, how you can adjust the yield, how you group together the ingrediants with the same measurements, etc! I made this recipe, and it was delicious. I usually hate putting rice in, but it wasn’t bad! Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for taking the time to write feedback Tomboy, I really appreciate it!!! N x
Hi Nagi. Loved the beef burritos. Made with mexican rice and avocado dip for couples night cooking. Thank you for the measured proportions. I will never overstuff sgain. And yes these are really JUICY as you described. Excellent storage and reheating instructions. Look forward to exploring your other recipes for Couple’s Cooking Night!
Too bad, I’m sure you are married. I am crazy about your recipes!
FIVE pages to print the recipe??? Fix the format.. A Huge Paper WASTE!
Follow the print icon, Jonathan, like the rest of us.
yeah Jonathon
you just got angela’d
I made this last night. Amazing. Followed your insructions of how to warm them in a dry pan on the stove. I didn’t put in tomatoes because I froze some. Thank you for the recipe. Please give Dozer a big hug from me. Sorry to disappoint you but Dozer seems to be the star here… Lol….kidding…
Hey Nagi! My mum and I made this for lunch today and my family enjoyed it! My sister said that the beef filling tastes like the beef sauce on A&W’s Corn Dogs, and she liked it haha. Thanks for sharing your recipe. Will definitely make this again and again 🙂
Wahoo, sounds like you nailed it Ashley! N x
I’ve made this twice now, and my husband said it has to become a standard. I filled the burritos really full, so one each was enough for supper. I didn’t have any wraps left, so put the corn into the meat mixture and froze that… used it later for a taco salad. Thanks for your recipes, Nagi, I’ve used several of them now and have never been disappointed.
Followed the recipe as written. Made these and was planning to freeze some for later. They were all eaten before I had a chance to freeze any.
Double batch next time 😂
Absolutely a keeper! Thank you for sharing your amazing recipe.
You’re so welcome Caroline! N x