Mexican
Bean and Cheese Burritos
Flour tortillas rolled around seasoned beans, rice, and cheddar. A cheap dinner that you can also wrap for tomorrow.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Total
- 25 min
- Servings
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Why you’ll love it
- Canned beans and leftover or quick rice make the filling.
- Mashing part of the beans helps the burrito hold together.
- They wrap tightly and keep their shape.
- Salsa is the acid, so you do not need a separate sauce.
Ingredients
Ingredient amounts scale. Oven temperature and cook time do not. Salt, spices, and leaveners are a starting point after you scale. Taste and adjust.
Check the ingredients you still need, then add them. If nothing is checked, the full list is added. Saved on this device.
Instructions
- 1
Heat the oil over medium. Cook the onion until soft, about 4 minutes.
- 2
Add the beans, cumin, chili powder, salt, and water. Warm 4 minutes, mashing about a third of the beans.
- 3
Stir in the rice and heat through.
- 4
Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet.
- 5
Fill each with beans and rice, cheddar, and a spoon of salsa. Fold the sides in and roll.
- 6
Optional: set the burritos seam side down in the skillet for 1 minute so they hold.
Pro tips
- Wet filling bursts a tortilla. If the beans look soupy, simmer off the water.
- Warm tortillas roll. Cold ones split.
- Do not overfill. A thinner burrito heats more evenly.
Easy substitutions
- Pinto beans
- Black beans.
- Cheddar
- Monterey jack.
Storage and reheating
Storage
Wrap and refrigerate up to 3 days, or freeze up to 1 month.
Reheating
Microwave wrapped in a damp towel until hot, or crisp in a covered skillet.
Nutrition
Estimates per serving, using standard ingredient averages and rounded to the nearest gram. This is not a lab analysis, and it shifts if you change brands or add sides.
- Calories
- 620
- Protein
- 26 g
- Carbs
- 78 g
- Fat
- 22 g
- Fiber
- 14 g
Budget friendly · Stovetop
You might also like
Bean Burritos
Pinto beans simmer with onion, cumin, and chili powder, then get mashed and rolled with cheese. It is a low-cost dinner that uses the pantry on purpose.
25 min · Easy
View recipe
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
A simple tomato soup simmers while cheddar grilled cheese toasts in butter. Both land on the table together, which is the whole point of the meal.
35 min · Easy
View recipe
Red Beans and Rice
Canned red beans simmered with onion, pepper, smoked sausage, and a short spice list, served over rice. The stovetop pot is about 50 minutes. The slow cooker is 6 hours on low or 3 hours on high.
50 min · or 6 hr on low / 3 hr on high · Easy
View recipe
Rice and Beans
White rice cooks with black beans, onion, cumin, and a bay leaf in one pot. It is a plain, filling plate that costs very little and uses pantry cans.
35 min · Easy
View recipeStill hungry?
More in the same lane, not a random mix.
Loaded Taco Rice
Rice cooked in the same pot as a modest amount of seasoned beef, then finished with cheddar, tomato, and lettuce. Half the usual meat, because the rice and spices do the stretching.
35 min · Easy
View recipe
Baked Eggs in Beans
A skillet of seasoned canned beans gets four eggs cracked on top and bakes until the whites set.
30 min · Easy
View recipe
Egg Fried Rice
Cold cooked rice hits a hot skillet with egg, peas, and soy until the grains are separate and the egg is fully set. It is a cheap dinner that depends on leftover rice, not fresh.
22 min · Easy
View recipe
Egg Salad
Eggs are boiled until the yolks are fully firm, then chopped with celery, mayonnaise, and mustard. It is a cool, cheap salad you can eat from a bowl or on toast.
22 min · Easy
View recipeFind something else
From the kitchen
Kitchen tools we love
Practical tools these recipes actually use. This is not a review roundup, and these are not paid placements. If affiliate links are added later, they will be labeled and disclosed.
A heavy 12-inch skillet
Most of the chicken and steak recipes are written for one pan that holds heat. Stainless or cast iron both work.
An air fryer with a real basket
The air-fryer recipes expect a single layer. A crowded basket steams instead of browning.
A half-sheet pan
Drumsticks, potatoes, sausage, and carrots all use one. A dark pan browns faster than a very shiny one.
A sharp chef’s knife
These recipes do not need a specialty blade. A sharp 8-inch knife is faster and safer than a dull one.
A large cutting board
Big enough that the onion and the raw chicken are not sharing the same puddle.
Dry cups and a liquid cup
Desserts in particular expect level dry measures and a separate cup for milk.
An instant-read thermometer
Use it for poultry, pork chops, and meatloaf. Color is a weak guide.
Read the affiliate disclosure.