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These Mexican-inspired Beef Burritos are super easy to make using mince beef and some other store cupboard standbys. Make them as a quick dinner or wrap them up for lunch or a picnic.
We all love an easy beef mince recipe during the week, the latest is my easy Beef Burritos recipe, which gives us a delicious handheld meal-in-one for quick dinners, packed lunches or picnics.
The only cooking involved here is making up the beef mince sauce filling (which is similar to my Chilli Con Carne recipe). The rest is all simple prep. Even the rice uses a pre-flavoured pouch of microwave rice as a handy shortcut.
Everything is ready in 30 minutes, and you can make this a little extra by baking or frying a little before you eat if you like.
Why You’ll Love These Minced Beef Burritos
⭐️ Simple to make – ready in about 30 minutes
⭐️ Make ahead for lunches or add your fave sides
⭐️ Healthy, budget-friendly and packed with flavour
About This Beef Burritos Recipe
I’ve covered nachos, tacos, enchiladas, fajitas and carnitas – it’s about time burritos got a look in!
Tasty Mexican/Tex Mex flavours really work with beef mince, but honestly, all of the add-ons for making burritos has sometimes put me off in the past.
Here I’ve adapted the fillings a little to make them super easy to bring together and hardly any preparation required. Of course, if you prefer you could make homemade salsa, flavour your own rice and refry some beans.
There’s a lot of debate about whether authentic burritos are actually Mexican or TexMex/American creations. They’ve been adopted by so many fast food chains, the version we know and love has certainly been adapted and evolved from it’s original name, which means “Little Donkey” in Spanish! [Source: TheRecipe.com]
Minced Beef Burritos Ingredients
For the beef sauce:
- Beef mince – I like to use 5% or 10% fat mince meat here
- Onion – Fresh or frozen, pre-chopped is fine if you want to save time
- Mild chilli powder
- Sweet smoked paprika
- Ground cumin
- Dark brown sugar
- Tomato puree
- Beef stock cube
For the burrito filling:
- Large tortillas
- Microwave rice pouch – Mexican flavoured if you can
- Fresh salsa – The type from the fridge if possible
- Black beans – Tinned and drained
- Grated mozzarella – Other cheese will work, but we like the cheese pull of mozzarella!
How to Make Homemade Beef Burritos
- Brown the beef over a medium heat in hot oil, then add onions, spices and sugar and cook as per the recipe below.
2. Add tomato puree, stock cub, water and seasoning. Stir and cook on low with the lid on as per the recipe below. Add water if necessary.
3. Heat the rice, then add them to the warmed tortillas, along with the salsa, beans and cheese.
4. Roll the burritos tightly and serve as they are OR bake in the oven in foil OR fried on both sides on a medium heat.
Substitutions
- Fillings – You can really add whatever you like to your burritos. Just be careful not to overload it so it spills everywhere! Extra veggies like sweetcorn or peppers would be great. You could even make a naked version of this recipe, like my No Cook Burrito Bowl. You could even adapt it to a similar version of my BBQ Chicken Wraps.
- Shortcuts – Try out my Easy Beef Taco recipe for a slightly more cheat version of this recipe.
Leftovers
In the fridge You can keep the burritos in the fridge for 3 days so you can save some and enjoy another day. Reheat fully in the microwave, in the oven or on the hob before serving.
In the freezer The meat filling is fine to be frozen. Just wait until it’s totally cold and then put into a freezer proof container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating.
Best Burritos Recipe Top Tips
Serving suggestions
- Chips or wedges
- Mexican-style side salad
- Veggie nachos
Spice level
We’ve used mild chilli powder in this recipe but you can adjust the spice levels according to your family’s preference. You can either use less, omit it altogether or use hotter chilli powder if you love heat!
FAQs
Yes, you can. I use microwave rice because it’s so convenient and it means we don’t get sticky, soggy rice. It’s just a little drier and more solid, so works well. But go ahead if you’d rather cook your own.
You can also use the filling from a previous day’s rice bowl dish, like my Mexican Chicken & Rice.
One of the great things about this dish is that it tastes like a total treat because it’s so full of flavour. However, it’s lighter than a takeaway may be, especially if you use lower fat mince.
As always, this is my twist on this dish based on the flavours me and my family love, and the ones I hope you will too.
While it’s true that classic burritos can be made up of meat, beans and rice, you could always check this recipe out if it’s true Mexican burritos you want to have a go at.
Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.
Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
Easy Beef Burritos {30 Minute Meal}
Ingredients
For the beef sauce:
- 2 tsp Sunflower
- 500 g Beef mince
- 1 Onion, Peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp Mild chilli powder
- 1 tsp Sweet smoked paprika
- 2 tsp Ground cumin
- 1 tbsp Dark brown sugar
- 3 tbsp Tomato puree
- 1 Beef stock cube, Undiluted and crumbled
- 100 ml Boiling water
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the burrito filling:
- 4 Large tortillas
- 250 g Microwave rice pouch, Mexican-flavoured if possible
- 200 g Fresh salsa, From the fridge section
- 400 g Black beans, Drained and rinsed
- 125 g Grated mozzarella
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a saute pan over a medium heat. Add the beef and brown all over for about 5 minutes, breaking up with a spoon.
- Add the onion, spices, and sugar and cook for a further 5 minutes until the onion has started to soften.
- Add the tomato puree, stock cube, boiling water and salt and pepper. Give everything a good stir, turn the heat to low, put the lid on and cook for 15 minutes until thick. Check during this time and add a splash more water if everything is looking too dry.
- When the meat is almost cooked, heat the tortillas and rice pouches according to the pack instructions.
- Lay out the warm tortillas, share out the rice, meat mixture, salsa, black beans and cheese and roll up tightly.
OPTIONAL:
- Serve as they are.
OR:
- Wrap in foil and bake in an oven preheated to 200C for 10 minutes until the outside is starting to crisp.
OR:
- Heat 2tsp sunflower oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat. Fry the burritos on all sides until golden.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is by far one of the most popular dishes in our house, we have it pretty much every week! We have ours with homemade chips and a little salad, very simple but so effective! Thank you Sarah 🙂
Easy to make, absolutely scrumptious and a huge hit with family and friends. What more could you want. One comment, leaving out the expletive, from one very fussy friend ‘OMG that was *#* banging’
Absolutely banging, as a uni student I’m looking for an economic and delicious dish that’s fun to make, this is everything I could’ve dreamed of. Damn.
Simple, tasty, a real crowd pleaser! We managed to get 6 portions out of this by adding a few extra bits. Love it.
Thoroughly enjoyed this dish. It was quick and easy to make and very tasty! I have enough leftovers to have for lunch tomorrow. Perfect!
These are absolutely lovely. I put mine in a dish and baked them in the oven with more cheese!!
These were delicious and a big hit with everyone, even my fussy children! Thank you for yet another great recipe
I made these on Saturday and was absolutely amazing and so easy to make. Stuck to the recipe and would not adjust in any way. Tonight we are having the crispy chicken burgers with hot honey Mayo. I’ll report back on the chicken burgers but I know they will be a hit. Thank you so much for sharing.
Anyone airfried these? I like the crispness but can’t bear to put the oven or grill on
Great meal! Very easy and quick! I served them with guakamole dip, thank you for the recipe!