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
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Use ingredients that freeze well
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Use cabbage instead of lettuce – cabbage holds up to freezing better
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Only use a small amount of “watery” vegetables like tomato as they become even more watery once defrosted
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Other raw vegetables used in burritos that do not freeze well include: avocado, cucumber
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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:
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Beef Burrito Filling – juicy and packed with flavour!
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Plain white rice – or try brown rice, quinoa, or this Mexican Red Rice!)
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Corn
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Black beans
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Cabbage or lettuce
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Diced tomato
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Red onion
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Cheese
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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
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Carnitas (Mexican Pulled Pork)
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Mexican Fiesta Menu and recipes
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Beef Burrito recipe video!
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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.
Otima receita! Irei fazer aqui no Brasil com toda a certeza.
Delicious!!! Enough said ☺
Certainly all I needed to know! 😂 N xx
Hi Nagi, I love getting your recipes via email! And just to say here in Cape Town South Africa we also use “chuffed” the way you do 😉 *L
I LOVE THAT!!! 😂
Wow!! These were amazing. I was going to cook a Nagi-free dinner tonight after all this deliciousness, but your dishes are so tasty. Might do the buffalo wings tonight.
Ha! You flatter me Steven ☺️ N xx
I made these for dinner yesterday and they were AMAZING, just like all other recipes from your blog that I’ve tried so far. Thank you so much! <3
WHOOT! So glad you enjoyed it Dina, thanks for letting me know! N xx
Made Burritos to take to Birdsville camping, spending 3 weeks in outback Australia. Also talking chicken swarma and lamb chops marinated in rosemary and garlic. Tried Burritos for dinner tonight, they were so good. Thankyou Nagi. I love your Blog.
OMG I MISSED CAMPING IN THE OUTBACK!!!!!
I made these tonight and they were lovely.. I was ‘chuffed to bits’! .. as we say in Northern Ireland
I”m CHUFFED to hear that!!! 😂
Your meat seasoning turned out really good with ground chicken. I never realized how easy it was to make the seasoning from scratch and will never go back to buying taco packets again! Thank you for the recipe.
I think you are the first to report in on this – WHOOT! So fantastic to hear that Thanh, thanks for letting me know! N xx
yummmm! we used to have burrito night every sunday when I lived back in Aus!! this brings back such nice memories! i love the stare off between dozer and the buritto too ha ha
Every day, he has a stare off with some form of food!
BOY NAGI, You make everything look sooooooooooo good. Burritos is my youngest son favorite . I never thought of frezzing it, now i can make a bunch of this mouth watering burritos.Thank you Nagi.
We love the your pork carnitas my hubby and son loves it . I enjoy seeing Dozer he’s so cute!!!!
YES! Make stacks and freeze them! 🙂 N xx
Wow! These look so good. Thanks Nagi!
Thanks Melanie!!! Hope you try it! 🙂 N x
Since they’re called everyday burritos, it’s totally okay if I eat these every day, right? Right. At least that’s what I’m going to tell myself. 🙂
He he he!!! That’s what I like to think myself! 😉 N xx
Hi Nagi, I goggled Lemon Pepper Chicken this morning and your website came up! Tried it tonight and it was delicious! Can not wait to make the beef burritos too!!! Your dog is so precious!
Oooh! So glad you enjoyed the Lemon Pepper Chicken Sherry! Thanks for letting me know 🙂 I do hope you give these burritos a go, they are SO GOOD!!
Isn’t it fun giving each other ‘language lessons’! ‘Chuffed’ – of course: use it all the time! Oh well, someone across the Pond wondered when I said I had bought six punnets of tomato plants!!! What were ‘punnets’ ? One dear US friend reckons they equate to ‘flats’ . . . Know little about burritos, but make things similar with all the wraps I seem to have around the kitchen: shall copy !!!! Oh Dozer: what did the dear boy win – the burrito . . . 🙂 ?
YES! Punnets is the other thing I didn’t realise is an Aussie thing!!!
Ha ha ha! I live in deep south US (Alabama) but grew up a Yankee (New York), and I never heard the term “chuffed”. I thought it meant a mild version of “pissed off”. Glad you included the actual meaning! Dozer looks like he’s in a trance! 😮
BA HA HA! Lucky I defined it!!!! 😉
I want Burrito now!! Can you ship some to miami? 🙂
Delicious recipe!
Naaaa. You come and GET IT! I’m just over in Sydney…. 😉 N x
Nagi, these look great! I just moved from Phoenix, AZ to my home state of SC and I cannot find good Mexican food here. I sure miss the good Mexican food in Phoenix. I will definitely be making these to satisfy my Mexican food craving! Love all of your recipes, and love seeing what Dozer is up to. He is so cute!
Thanks Naomi! Glad you enjoy seeing what that cheeky fur ball is up to…. 😉 N xx
I love all your recipes, everything I’ve made was delicious. Everyday I look forward to seeing if there’s any new recipes, keep them coming, love you
Loretta
Thank you for the lovely compliment Loretta! N xx ❤️
This is going to be my next test…I’ve never made burrito’s before, but they look like a fun way to spend some time. And a delicious way to feed myself for a week at work! Nuthin’ to lose! 😀
I’m glad Dozer won this one, such a beautiful baby he is!…and yes, we do miss your baby hands! They’re a part of you, and you are a wundermuss human – so show them! YOU, are worth it, and your recipes deserve it. 🙂
YES!!! Burritos are so so good to have on standby for quick meals 🙂 OK Baby Hands will be returning soon…. I do enjoy using my mother as a hand model, makes recipe videos sooooo much easier to make!
😂 Nagi san You are so funny, but I would fish too if I can to get sashimi grade fish! I actually never made Brittos before and also always use store bought seasoning mix too, but I would love to give it a go making my own:) Thank you for sharing the recipe😋
Ooooh! Elizabeth will LOVE THESE!!!