Hey Party-Makers,

Over the years, my family has become kind of notorious with my friends for cooking delicious meals. And I’m not going to fake humility here, lying to seem humble isn’t even worth it in this case. My family cooks really great food. My dad is the biggest grill master and salsa maker you have ever met. Literally it’s like magic happens whenever he touches a grill (don’t worry, the carne asada blog post is coming). And my mama, well, let’s just say that she has an arsenal of specialties that led all of my childhood friends to believe I ate a feast at every meal in my house (which I mostly did).

This recipe brings back countless memories of potlucks, birthday parties, cast parties, classroom food parties, and all the other celebrations I forced on my family through the years. My mom would make these in ridiculous batches. One year while we were in college, we were driving back with a big group from a weekend retreat that happened to go through my home town, and my mom cranked out 300 of these in one morning. Every year after that, we stopped by the house on our way back to UGA and she always delivered ridiculous amounts of burritos and rice. Those might have been my most popular days.

Going into this month of celebrating La Patria, I knew if I was going to share any recipe at all, this HAD to be one of them. The thing I love about this recipe, is that it is legitimately SUPER easy, pretty inexpensive, and completely doable for large groups. Don’t believe me? Ask my mama (although sometimes I’m convinced she has an invisible pair of extra hands because homegirl can cook a four course meal in 30 minutes flat).

So let’s talk about the secret of this recipe. If you’re not following us on Instagram, check out this post for our recipe for our home-made seasoning. We use this stuff on EVERYTHING, and we love it because it’s free of gross chemicals, fatty animal oils, is totally allergy friendly, vegan, and JAM PACKED with flavor. This seasoning, used in conjunction with a good sofrito for your beans is what brings this recipe to life. If you take nothing else away from this recipe, take away the fact that you need to start using sofritos to give your food a flavor boost.

If you’ve never made a sofrito before, our base sofrito is pretty easy to make. Simply heat oil over medium high, and add diced onion and garlic and cook until transparent. Turn the heat down low, and add our seasoning to your sofrito. Sometimes we add tomatoes in there, but usually not for our bean dishes. Once your sofrito is done, add three cans of blended pinto beans, and taste test them. If they taste bland, add more seasoning! Add a little salt, add a little cumin. I personally like to add just a pinch of cayenne. You want your beans to EXPLODE with flavor. They’re going to be the superstar of this dish–yes even more so than the cheese–so season until your taste buds fall in love with your lowly, blended pinto beans.

Hand to heart, loving and seasoning your beans well is really the only secret to these burritos. Other than making sure your seasoning is on point, the only other piece of advice I would give you would be to invest in a good electric griddle, if you don’t already have one. We have one similar to this one and it is AMAZING. This griddle saves us so. much. time when we’re cooking everything from fried rice and fresh tortillas, to these burritos. I mean, it has the capacity to lightly fry EIGHT burritos at a time. I’m sure I’m not the only hangry person in this world who sees beauty in the efficiency of that.

Also, before I forget, folding burritos can be a tricky business! I’ve gone through my fair share of ugly burritos, and trying to explain how to fold one is really confusing. Thankfully, I found this great tutorial that will transform your burrito wrapping, and save me the trouble of tripping over my typing in an attempt to explain it : )

And now, for real, you’re good and ready to start your burrito-making and add a new quick recipe to your weeknight/large hosting repertoire. Enjoy, Party-Makers!

Easy, Foolproof, Flavor-Packed Burritos

This Latin American classic is a super easy weeknight meal, and is perfect to make in large batches.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

• 1 Package Burrito Flour Tortillas Eight per package
• 3 Cans Pinto Beans Blended until smooth
• 2 Cloves garlic Minced
• 1/2 Onion diced
• 2 Tbs Nutritional Yeast Seasoning of Choice
• 1 pinch Ground Cayenne
• 1/2 Tsp Cumin
• 8 Oz Mexican Cheese
• Canola Oil Enough to coat pan or griddle

Instructions

 

• Make your sofrito by heating a pan lightly coated in oil over medium high, and adding garlic and onion. Cook until transparent and add your seasoning.
  
• Add blended pinto beans to the sofrito and correct your seasoning. Add salt, cumin, more seasoning, and a pinch of cayenne, until you reach a rich flavor to your beans.
• Create an assembly line with your tortillas, cheese and beans. Heat your griddle to 400 degrees, or your pan to medium-high heat. Add oil as it is heating.
  
• Grab a tortilla, spoon on some beans in the middle of the tortilla and add a generous amount of cheese. Wrap your burrito and add it to the griddle. Flip burritos once they have browned a little (about two minutes per side). Repeat this process for the rest of your burritos.
  
• Serve warm, top with salsa and sour cream, pair with rice and salad and enjoy!
  

Notes

This recipe can be very easily modified to add protein. We put left over taco meat or rotisserie chicken in our burritos sometimes by simply heating up leftover proteins, and seasoning with a little chili powder and lime, and then adding those to the rest of the burrito.

Mary-Beth Johnson

Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.