A few days ago I was really busy and so was Javier so we decided to order our lunch. We ordered burritos and I have to say they were pretty bad. From that day on I decided that I had to eat the burrito I deserve ASAP. One with lots of flavours, textures and colours. These beef burritos are really juicy, warm with melted cheese, with roasted peppers and also of course corn and beans.
Burritos are one of those Tex Mex dishes that have conquered the world. Tortillas are very versatile and I love to eat them in different ways. Actually, fajitas are a really common dish at our house, too! You can also use chicken for these burritos. To do that, you first need to boil your chicken pieces and then shred them. It needs to be cooked but don’t dry it up! It could even be a bit underdone because you add it later to the burrito preparation so it would finish cooking there.
These beef burritos can definitely be prepared ahead of time and kept in the fridge. Then you heat them up on a pan or in the oven and they’re ready to be served. The only thing I would change is that I would skip the lettuce because it wouldn’t keep well in the fridge within the burrito. Also, if you wish (you probably wish, lol) you can serve these burritos with sour cream and guacamole as well. Oh and of course, if you’re into coriander you can add some, too! As many of you know I can’t even stand its smell, lol!
Ingredients
For the roasted peppers
- 300 g peppers in strips I used red, green and yellow
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 tbsp olive oil
For the beef
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 60 g brown onion cubed
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- 1 garlic clove grated, minced or puréed
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 250 g ground beef I used beef with 5% fat
- Salt and pepper to taste
To serve
- 100 g corn I used frozen
- ½ tomato seeds removed and cubed
- 2 lettuce leaves chopped
- 100 g refried black beans
- 120 g grated cheese I used half mozzarella and half cheddar
- 4 tortillas
Instructions
For the roasted peppers
- Place the peppers and garlic cloves in a baking dish and drizzle them with the olive oil. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
- Roast in a preheated oven at 210°C / 410°F for 20-30 minutes or until very golden.
- Once ready, discard the garlic and reserve the peppers.
For the beef
- Preheat a pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil, onion, paprika and cumin and cook everything until the onion is translucent and smells sweet.
- Add the garlic and mix for 30 seconds to cook it.
- Add the tomato purée and stir for a minute. It's important to cook it out so it's not acidic.
- Add the beef and stir to cook. We want to cook it but avoid drying it up!
- Add salt and pepper to taste. Once ready, remove from the pan and reserve.
For serving
- Place the corn in a pan and let it cook (if it's raw) and the liquid will evaporate. Then leave it still on high heat so it blackens a bit. After 1-2 minutes stir and repeat until it looks nicely charred. You don't need to add oil for this.
- Mix the tomato, corn and lettuce. Add salt and pepper to taste
- To assemble the burrito, add cheese on the tortilla at the centre, forming a line and leaving 4cm/1.5in without filling on the top and bottom so that you can close it later. On top of the cheese add the beef, beans, peppers, corn, tomato and lettuce.
- To close the burritos first fold the top and bottom of the tortilla we left uncovers onto the filling. Then roll it from one side to the other, keeping those edges tucked in.
- Toast your burrito on a preheated pan or grill over medium-high heat. Alternatively, you can also heat them up in the oven.
