With all of the uncertainty of everything that is happening with the COVID-19 pandemic, having a well-stocked freezer can’t hurt! It’s always great to have delicious meals ready to pull out of the freezer in a moment’s notice and even better when they aren’t chalked full of preservatives. These freezer-friendly burritos are very versatile. You can swap the type of meat, omit the cheese, or switch up the vegetables as long as you don’t use any vegetables with a high-water content as these will get soggy once frozen and reheated.

Freezer-Friendly Beef Burritos

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Yield: 8 large burritos

INGREDIENTS

For the Burritos

2 tsp. vegetable oil
1 white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. (450g) extra lean ground beef
¼ cup pickled jalapeños, drained and roughly chopped
1 package (24g) taco or burrito seasoning
1 small 7oz can (200ml) corn, drained
3 cups cooked rice
Handful cilantro, finely chopped
Zest of ½ a lime
8 large soft flour tortillas
2 cups shredded cheese
1 (14oz/398ml) can refried beans

For Serving (optional)

Shredded lettuce
Avocado slices or guacamole
Chopped tomatoes
Salsa
Sour Cream
Hot sauce

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oil in a large fry pan over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Turn up the heat to medium-high and add the beef, cooking until fully browned, breaking it up with a wooden spoon while it cooks. In the last few minutes of cooking, stir in jalapeños and corn, and cook until any excess moisture evaporates. Drain any excess fat (if there is any). Stir in the taco seasoning along with 1 1/3 of a cup of water. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 8 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Place the rice in a medium bowl. If the rice is hot, let it cool. Stir in the cilantro and lime zest and set it aside for assembly.

It’s important that your filling is cooled before assembling the burrito otherwise the steam will make the tortillas get soggy and tear.

To assemble the burritos, smear ~3 tbsp. of refried beans in the centre of one flour tortilla. Top with 1/3 cup of rice and then the same amount of the beef mixture on top of the rice. Sprinkle ~1/4 cup of shredded cheese per burrito and roll it up, folding the edges inward so that no filling falls out. Repeat the process with the remaining tortillas and once completed, wrap each burrito tightly in aluminium foil. They are now ready for the freezer. For easy storage, I recommend to keep the individually wrapped burritos together in a large Ziplock freezer bag. This will also help to prevent freezer burn.

If you want to eat some before freezing, preheat your oven to 350F. Once heated, place the burritos on a baking sheet and bake until heated through, 25-30 minutes.

To eat from frozen, follow the same instructions but bake for 50 mins- 1 hour.

To serve you can eat them as is, but I recommend at least having some sort of sauce like salsa, hot sauce, sour cream or guacamole. I serve mine with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes and avocado on top for freshness. Yum!

These will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.