Easy Mexican Burritos Recipe

A flour tortilla is wrapped around a variety of ingredients to produce a burrito, a meal popular in Mexican & Tex-Mex cuisine that originated in California. Sometimes the tortilla is briefly toasted or heated to soften, stretch, and help it stick to itself. Burritos can sometimes be served “wet,” which means they are drenched in a flavorful sauce and eaten with a knife and fork.

Burritos are stuffed with savory substances, most frequently a piece of meat like beef, chicken, or pork. They also frequently contain other ingredients like rice, sauteed veggies (whether in all or refried), vegetables like tomatoes and onions, cheese, and toppings like salsa, guacamole, pico de gallo, or whipped cream.

Burritos are frequently compared to dishes that are similar to them, such as tacos, where a tiny hand tortilla is rolled up in half from around ingredients instead of being wrapped as well as sealed, or enchiladas, which are made with corn masa tortillas, are covered in a flavorful sauce and are meant to be consumed with a fork and knife.

History

The Maya civilization of Mexico employed maize tortillas to wrap food as early as 1500 B.C., with ingredients such as dried chilies, tomatoes, mushrooms, and squash, among avocados. A traditional burrito was a tortilla stuffed with beans & meat sauce and cooked similarly by the Pueblo people in the Southwest of the United States. Instead of the modern burrito, these preparations might alternatively be credited with giving rise to the simpler taco.

It is unknown where the contemporary burrito actually originated. The burrito or taco was referred to as a regional food from the Mexican state of Guanajuato in the 1895 Diccionario de Mejicanismos by Feliz Ramos I Duarte. It has been suggested that this might have its roots in the 19th-century vaqueros, or cowboys, of northern Mexico.

The tale of Juan Méndez, a taco vendor who used a donkey to transport himself and his goods while selling tacos on the street in Ciudad Juárez’s Bella Vista area from 1910 to 1921, is a well-known example of folklore. Méndez covered the dish with a tiny tablecloth and many huge handmade flour tortillas to keep it warm. The term “burrito” was later used to refer to these substantial tacos as the “meal of the burrito” (also known as “snacks of some little donkey”) gained popularity.

Another Genesis tale takes place in Ciudad Juárez in the 1940s when a street seller made meals wrapped in tortillas to sell to underprivileged kids attending a state-run middle school. The street seller would refer to the kids as his “burritos” since burro is slang for a fool or a dullard. The children’s somewhat disparaging yet lovable moniker was eventually applied to the meals they consumed.

Alejandro Borquez established the Sonora Cafe in downtown Los Angeles in 1923, which eventually became known as El Cholo Spanish Cafe. The 1930s saw the introduction of burritos onto American menu choices somewhere at El Cholo Spanish Cafe near L.a. In the Mexican Handbook, a compendium of regional dishes from New Mexico written by historian Erna Fergusson, burritos were first featured in American media in 1934. In Southern California, a refrigerated burrito was invented in 1956.

Ingredients

• Meat that is lean: 1 lb.
• Taco seasoning blend in a single package (1 ounce).
• Cannellini Beans: 1 ½ cup 
• Grain of corn: ¾ cup
• Steamed rice: 3 cups
• 6 substantial flour tortillas
• Cheddar cheese crumbles: 1 ½ cups 
• Red onion, chopped finely, lettuce, diced tomato, salsa, sour cream, fresh cilantro, avocado, or guacamole are all optional garnishes.

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to approximately 350° F. Cooking oil should be used to coat a 9 x 13-inch casserole dish.
• Follow the directions on the seasoning package when cooking beef using taco seasoning mix.
• Spread 1/4 cup beans along the middle of the tortillas; top with 1/2 cup rice, meat, 2 tbsp corn, and 1/4 cup cheese to make one burrito.
• Each tortilla is folded in on the opposing edges before being rolled up burrito-style. Put in the dish that has been prepared, seam-sides down. To make a total of 6 burritos, repeat the process with the remaining ingredients.
• Bake for 25 minutes with a foil cover (until heated through). It will take around 30-35 minutes for the burritos to fully reheat if you bake them straight from the refrigerator.

Notes

Before baking, wrap each burrito individually in aluminum foil to prepare it for freezing. When you’re ready to eat, simply take 1 (or more) burritos out of the freezer. Individual burritos in foil wrappers should be baked straight from the fridge (while they are still frozen): Burritos covered in foil should be placed on a baking pan and baked for 45 to 55 minutes at 350 degrees.