These beef, bean and cheese freezer burritos were a weekend project for me last weekend. My husband and son really like a certain brand of frozen burrito made with ground beef, beans, cheese and rice. They are kind of expensive, so I decided to make a homemade version.
I started with some premade, uncooked tortillas. We wanted to try using these because they are thinner and chewier than regular store tortillas. Walmart happened to carry some and they worked so well. They are exactly what we wanted. I had never used these before, but they come refrigerated, and you just peel one off and cook in a hot skillet for 30 seconds per side. I will use these from now on for burritos.
My son thought the ground beef in the store burrito had some kind of cheese sauce, so I browned and seasoned some ground beef, and then made a simple cheese sauce and combined the two together. The burritos also had rice, so I added some cooked basmati rice to this mixture as well. This mix was so tasty, I couldn’t stop eating spoonfuls of it while making the burritos.
You could 100 percent use canned refried beans in these. I would probably do that next time to save time. I made homemade this time though, which have such a great consistency if you have the time to make them. I used the refried bean recipe from Nopalito cookbook.
Once you cook and assemble these and cool them, you can wrap individually in either foil or plastic wrap and freeze. When anyone needs a quick lunch or a snack, they can just pull one out and microwave it until hot. I love having easy things around like that in the freezer for my kids to pull out and heat up.
Beef, Bean and Cheese Freezer Burritos
Ingredients
For the beef:
- 1.5 lbs ground beef
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
For the cheese sauce:
- 3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/4 tsp mustard powder
- few dashes of tobasco
For the wrapping:
- 10-12 uncooked tortillas or regular burrito sized tortillas
For the rice:
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 3/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil or butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the beans:
- 3-4 cups refried beans, homemade or canned
Instructions
For the beef:
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat. Season with the spices and salt and pepper to taste. You can add additional spices/seasonings here as you like.
For the cheese sauce:
- Heat the butter in a sauce pan until melted. Whisk in the flour and cook for a minute. Whisk in the milk and cook until it is bubbling and thick. Remove from heat and stir in the cheese, mustard, and tobasco. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
For the rice:
- Bring all ingredients to a boil in a sauce pot with a tight lid. Turn the heat down and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes then fluff with a fork.
For the wrappers:
- If using raw tortillas, dry fry each one in a skillet over medium for 30 second per side until puffed and browning in spots.
To assemble:
- Combine the meat and cheese sauce and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add in the rice and fold it gently into the mix. Place a wrapper on a flat surface. Place about 1/4 cup refried beans down the center but slightly off to one side. Top with about 1/4 to 1/3 cup meat mix. Fold up one side of the tortilla and tuck it against the line of filling. Fold in the sides and roll it up so that the sides get tucked in. Allow to sit seam side down to cool. Wrap and freeze.
- To reheat, remove from the freezer and microwave until hot. Low power is better to get it hot in the middle while not drying the outside too much. Remove foil before microwaving if you used foil to wrap them.