Bean and Cheese Burritos

I can’t lie, guys. Sometimes I crave those cheap freezer burritos. They’re just so easy to buy and stash in your freezer for days when you don’t feel like cooking. But guess what? It really doesn’t take a lot of time or effort to make your own freezer burritos, with ingredients you choose, and they’ll still be super cheap. So this weekend I whipped up a batch of super simple Make Ahead Bean and Cheese Burritos to feed us for the week (and beyond). I stored half in my fridge for the next few days, and the rest went into the freezer for longer storage (but let’s be real, they’ll be gone in a couple of weeks).

You can add just about anything to your burritos, as long as the ingredient isn’t very watery or has a high water content (like fresh lettuce or tomatoes). Ingredients with a lot of water won’t store well in the refrigerator or freezer and are best added to burritos that will be consumed the same day.

How to Make Bean and Cheese Burritos – Step by Step Photos

Begin the rice first so you can prepare the rest of the filling ingredients as the rice cooks. Add 1 Tbsp cooking oil and one minced clove of garlic to a sauce pot. Sauté the garlic over medium heat for only about a minute to take the raw edge off the garlic. Next, add 1 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp cumin, and 1/4 tsp oregano.

Also add 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice. Continue to sauté the rice and spices for about two minutes, which will toast the rice and spices and enhance their flavor.

Next, add 1.5 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and allow it to come to a boil. As soon as it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer on low for 15 minutes.

After simmering for 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let the rice rest undisturbed for another five minute. Finally, fluff the rice with a fork. While the rice is simmering and resting, rinse and drain two cans of black beans, and slice two green onions.

When you’re ready to assemble your burritos, place 4 large tortillas on a plate and cover them with a damp paper towel. Microwave for 30 seconds to steam the tortillas, which will make them more pliable and easy to roll (steam the second four when you’re ready for them).

To make each burrito, place about 1/3 cup of the seasoned rice, and 1/3 cup of the black beans on each tortilla.

Then add 1 Tbsp taco sauce… (this helps keep the burritos moist)

And finally, 1/4 cup shredded cheddar and a few slices of green onion. Roll the burritos up tightly, making sure to fold  the sides in first to hold in the filling.

And now you’ve got eight burritos ready for eating or storing for later!

You can keep your burritos in the refrigerator for 4-5 days. To cook them from the refrigerator you can just place them in a skillet or on a grill pan and cook over medium until the tortillas are brown and crispy, and the cheese is melted on the inside.

Or you can freeze them for about 3 months. Knowing that we’ll eat these up within a couple weeks, I took the lazy route and just popped them into a freezer bag. If you want to store for longer and prevent freezer burn, you will want to wrap each burrito individually in either plastic or parchment before placing them in the freezer bag.

To reheat the burritos from frozen, you can either use your microwave’s defrost setting (mine took about 9 minutes on defrost) or reheat in the oven. Using the oven does take some time from frozen. Wrap your burrito in foil and place in a preheated 350ºF oven for about 40 minutes.

And then enjoy! If you want to reheat from frozen and still get that nice crispy exterior, I’d first do the defrost in the microwave and then crisp it up in a skillet at the end.