So, I broke down last week and bought a burrito from the hospital cafeteria for lunch. It was SO good, but at $5.50 for the least expensive option, I knew I could do better.
I just finished tallying my cost for this recipe and I have to say, I’m sure I could have done much better. To be fair, I didn’t do any comparison shopping, I just ran in, got what I needed, and ran out. So, you might be able to make these for far less than I did. I did, however, make my own black beans instead of buying cans. That saved me a dollar or two. Oh, and I lucked out with the red bell peppers – on sale 10/$10! That’s a SUPER good price.
I seasoned up some regular old white rice, added my black beans (you can season those too, if you’d like), and then topped those with some amazing roasted vegetables. Roasting vegetables intensifies their flavor, and when you add herbs like I did, they become even more amazing. I suggest using whatever vegetables you can get for a good price (I was a bad example here), but the mushrooms really did make this special. So, get the mushrooms if at all possible!
Now I have 8 awesome burritos in my freezer just waiting to be grabbed for lunch in the morning. The recipe is enough for 10, but I already ate one burrito and I had previously used one of the tortillas for something else. To reaheat just place in a microwavable dish and nuke until hot.
Roasted Vegetable Burritos
Roasted Vegetable Burritos
Servings 10Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked long grain white rice ($0.75)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1/2 Tbsp chili powder ($0.07)
- 1 zucchini ($1.65)
- 1 red onion ($1.93)
- 1 red bell pepper ($1.00)
- 8 oz. mushrooms ($1.49)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.03)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 10 large flour tortillas ($2.99)
- 2 15oz. cans black beans ($0.75)
- 2 1/2 cups shredded cheese ($2.31)
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro ($0.75)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Chop the zucchini, bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. Toss the vegetables with 2 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp oregano. Spread the vegetables out over a large sheet pan and roast for 40 minutes, stirring once half way through.
- Combine the rice in a medium pot with 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 Tbsp of chili powder. Add 3 cups of water, place a lid on top, and bring up to a boil over high heat. As soon as it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to the lowest setting and allow it to simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let it sit undisturbed until you’re ready to assemble the burritos. Fluff the rice just before using.
- When you’re ready to make the burritos, stack a few tortillas on a large plate, place a damp paper towel over top, and microwave for 30 seconds. This will make the tortillas more pliable as you wrap the burritos.
- Place 1/4-1/3 cup of rice on a tortilla, add 1/4 cup of black beans, 1/3 cup of the roasted vegetables, 1/4 cup of shredded cheese, and a handful of fresh cilantro leaves. Roll the burrito tightly and wrap in plastic until ready to eat.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Step By Step Photos
Since the vegetables take the longest to cook, get them going first. You can use any mix of vegetables, but I like to make sure that I have an onion, some type of pepper, and some mushrooms. The mushrooms get ULTRA delicious when roasted.
Cut the vegetables into bite-sized chunks and then toss with olive oil, salt, cumin, and oregano.
Spread the seasoned vegetables out over a large baking sheet (cover with foil for easy clean up). Roast the vegetables in a preheated oven for 40 minutes, stirring once half way through.
Now the vegetables are all roasted and totally delicious. Try not to snack on them :)
While the vegetables are roasting, you can cook the rice. Combine the dry rice in a medium pot along with salt and chili powder. Add 3 cups of water, put a lid on top, and bring up to a boil over high heat. As soon as it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let it sit, undisturbed, until you’re ready to make the burritos. Fluff the rice just before using.
When you’re ready to assemble, you can make the tortillas more pliable by microwaving them with a damp paper towel over top. I do a few at a time as I’m making the burritos.
It’s really easy to accidentally over fill the burritos to the point that you can’t roll them up. So, you might have to play around with the quantities. I used about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of rice and 1/4 cup of beans per burrito.
…and about 1/3 cup of roasted vegeatbles.
And lastly, 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and a small handfull of fresh cilantro.
Roll the burritos up and wrap each one in plastic. To freeze, place them in a heavy duty freezer bag.
Hahah, okay, I had to document this… this is the first and last time my freezer will ever be so clean, neat, and tidy! See what a hurricane can do for you? :D
Your recipe reminded me of happier times trying to survive a strict budget.
Wow, look at that freezer: frozen burritos, ice and VODKA – my kind of girl! :D
Thanks for the recipe – tried to make them without one and it was complete disaster. So awesome – I do a search for what I’m craving and all roads always seem to lead to your site!
These are fabulous as written.
Second time I used:
-refried beans (family preference)
-added roasted carrots and broccoli
-rolled (open ended), poured mild chili verde over w/ a little more cheese (agree w/ earlier reviewer, the cheese inside really isn’t necessary)
It’s the roasted veggies that seal the deal. Thanks Beth!
Fantastic! I “invented” an almost identical recipe 30+ years ago and it was a family staple for years. It fell by the wayside and early this morning I spent an hour going thru stacks of recipe cards trying to find it. While that brought back many great memories, no joy in finding my recipe. Thru the wonders of the internet, this Fantastic recipe so close to what I remember that it more than fits the bill.
I love this recipe. This and the zucchini corn burritos are a staple in this mostly vegetarian house. The only thing I do differently is make only a cup of rice and keep the seasoning the same (it was a little bland before) and after I season the veggies together and put them on the sheet I sprinkle a little extra cumin and oregano. I do this because the first batch I made felt a little bland on its own. It was perfect reheated with some avocado and fresh salsa on top. I’ve made so many of these because it’s easy to reheat and feel like I’m eating a relatively healthy, fresh lunch.
For those wondering how to reheat from frozen. The best, fastest way I’ve found is to loosely wrap in a slightly damp paper towel (helps keeps the ends from drying out) and heating in microwave for around 2 minutes, Then tossing in a pan over medium heat until you get a nice gold crust on all sides. Tastes like it’s freshly made.
Yum!
I thought this might be a little too simple for my taste, I’m from Texas and eat a lot of tex-mex lol. But after grilling the burritos on the stove top and letting them rest for a minute, they were wonderful. I did use chicken stock instead of water for the rice, and instead of plain salt I used a salted fajita seasoning for the veggies. The cilantro is key for me, and grilling them on a stove top grill pan really gave them a great texture. Very happy with how these turned out!
These were excellent. I wanted to try to mimic my favorite veggie burritos from a local restaurant and these were amazingly PERFECT. It’s my first time trying something like this and i was so happy to serve and eat these. Thanks!!
Great work Beth!
These are so delicious words cannot describe how yummy these are!!! And I have 8 more in the freezer for lunch, thank you thank you :) I am going to share this recipe with my daughter in college. I cannot get over how incredibly tasty these are. Great work!
Great work! Thank you!
I vary your cooking style a bit. Add tomatoes and fry them up with olive oil and add hatch green chili’s with the other veggies. Also serve with fresh avocado slices. These are definitely better when the veggies are cooked ahead of time and left to sit overnight intensifying the flavor.
Thank you for such a simple, flexible and delicious recipe!
How long are they good in the freezer for?
There is no hard time limit, rather frozen goods tend to slowly degrade in quality over time. I like to try to use up my frozen food within three months for the best quality.
These look great! Looking for some easy freezer meals to pop in and eat before going to the gym. How long would they take to heat up in the oven from frozen?
Hmm, I’m not sure. I always used the microwave! It will probably vary depending on the size of your burrito, as well.
Just wanted to report back and throw my 2 cents in. I made a batch to freeze and they’re so simple but so delicious! Reheat from frozen at 400 degrees for 30 mins. Thanks Beth!
My husband and I made these last weekend, and they’ve been a huge hit. We’re vegan, so we used vegan cheese, and we don’t like cilantro, so we just left that part out. Also used brown rice instead of white, because that’s what we had on hand. Otherwise, we made them according to your directions. Honestly, we may also leave the cheese out next time, because it didn’t really add much. The roasted veggies (especially the red onion – wow!) are the stars here, and really pull everything together. I had one this morning for breakfast straight out of the fridge, no warming up or anything, and it was so tasty – the flavors had actually improved sitting in the fridge for a couple days. My husband liked how easy and quick they were to cook and assemble – roasting veggies takes time, but after the chopping you can mostly walk away and do something else while they cook. We will definitely make again. In fact, we may double (or triple) the recipe and stock up our freezer with these things! Thank you for the fantastic recipe.
I made this for the 2nd time last night and added butternut squash. It was AMAZING. Thanks for the great recipe!
I made them for the first time today and they are delicious! So handy to have batch of them in the freezer to take out when I’m too tired to cook. Thank you for a great recipe!