Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Beef and Bean Burritos

Lately, I've been craving beef and refried bean burritos, but surprisingly they're very hard to find. Been to Chipotle or Qdoba lately? The new trend is to have whole beans and rice in your burritos. I didn't want any of that - Just nice, mashed up, comforting, refried beans.

After endless complaining at work, a coworker finally tried to shut me up by sending me a recipe from The Pioneer Woman's Beef and Bean Burritos. Believe me this recipe is so easy, there's really no recipe to follow.


First, chop up a half an onion and cook it with a pound of ground beef.


When the meat is browned, pour off most of the fat and add some spices (I added 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp oregano, 2 tsp of chili powder).  Add about a 1/3 cup of red enchilada sauce. I just bought the kind at the store that looked most authentic. Look, part of the label is in Spanish! You want the beef to be covered in sauce, but not drowning in it.


Allow the beef simmer on low. While the beef is simmering heat up a can of refried beans and add about a 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. I used a colby-jack because that's what I had in my fridge. Mix the cheese in and let it melt as the beans heat up. Now, I've eaten a lot of refried beans, and why I never thought to mix in the cheese, I'll never know. Best idea ever.


To make your burrito, warm up your flour tortillas and add a layer of beans and a layer of beef. At this point you can leave it, or add more stuff. I added some sour cream and chopped green onion. Again, stuff I just had in my fridge. Fold in the sides, roll up the burrito and put it on a plate. Once you have two burritos made, spoon some more enchilada sauce on the top, and add some more shredded cheese. Nuke for 30+ seconds until the cheese melts and sprinkle some cilantro on top. This made 7 burritos. I guarantee these are super easy and really good.

For those of you who are addicted to lists:

1 lb ground beef
1/2 white onion, chopped
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1 can of red enchilada sauce (some will be used to mix with beef, some will be spooned on top of burrito)
1 can refried beans
Shredded cheese (about 1 1/2 cups depending on how many burritos you're making)
Flour tortillas
Cilantro