We have some version of a grilled burrito or quesadilla about once a week in our house.
(Such as my popular Grilled Potato Spinach Quesadillas and my Bean Rice Tofu Grilled Burritos.)
Beyond Meat Burritos: A Family Favorite
These Beyond Meat Burritos are part of the regular grilled-tortilla-meal rotation at our house. They’ve been a family favorite for years.
They also make an excellent meal for entertaining, as the filling can be made in advance: make the filling earlier in the day, or even the night before you have guests. All you’ll have left to do is compile and grill the burritos just before your guests arrive.
Make Beyond Meat Burritos
This burrito filling—layers of cilantro lime rice, meatless veggie crumbles, black beans, salsa, and cheddar—is baked just until the cheddar melts. It’s a delicious meal by itself if you don’t feel like grilling burritos.
But grill the burritos at least once. I’m sure they’ll become a household favorite, just as they are for us.
A Few Things!
Use an Offset Spatula
An offset spatula makes it easy to compile the filling layers in this recipe.
You can find my favorite offset spatula set here on Amazon [aff. link], or in my Amazon store here.
The Meat Substitute
I call these Beyond Meat Grilled Burritos because Beyond Meat is the meat substitute that most are familiar with these days.
But I prefer to use Morning Star Farms Veggie Griller Crumbles in this recipe. Morning Star Farms Veggie Griller Crumbles is cheaper, easier to find, and doesn’t overpower the other flavors in these burritos.
But ultimately, you should use whatever ground beef substitute tastes the best to you.
Beyond Meat Grilled Burritos
Ingredients
For the rice:
- 4 cups cooked white rice, I prefer basmati (in my rice cooker 1 ½ cups dry basmati makes 4 cups cooked)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp butter or Eath Balance, diced into small cubes (or an additional 2 Tbsp olive oil)
- ½-¾ tsp sea salt
- ¾ cup cilantro, minced
- 1-2 Tbsp lime juice, freshly squeezed
For the Meat Substitute:
- 12 oz ground beef substitute, I prefer Morningstar Farms Veggie Griller Crumbles, but use your favorite ground beef substitute
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
Everything else:
- 1 14 oz can black beans, drained
- 1 ½ cups freshly grated cheddar cheese, (use your favorite vegan cheddar to keep this recipe vegan)
- 4 Tbsp salsa or pico de gallo, I recommend using a fresh salsa or pico de gallo (ie: not one from a can or bottle that stores on the shelf)
- 5-8 Guerreo's Riquisimas Soft Taco or Riquisimas Burrito size tortillas, use whatever tortilla size and brand you prefer, but this is what I recommend
To serve:
- Guacamole
- Sour Cream
- Lettuce
- Salsa
Instructions
Make the rice
- Make the rice via your favorite cooking method. (I prefer to use my rice cooker.)
Make the Beyond Meat/meat substitute
- While the rice cooks, make the ground beef substitute.
- Add the meatless crumbles/beef substitute and olive oil to a frying pan. Cook on medium heat until warm and slightly browned, about 10-15 minutes. Taste, and add additional salt if needed.
- Note: if using Beyond Meat crumbles, you will need to add salt to bring out the flavor. I recommend adding ½ tsp salt.
- While the crumbles and rice cook, you can drain the black beans and grate the cheddar.
Season the rice
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Once the rice is done cooking, let it cool uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Allowing the rice to cool for a few minutes will help keep it from clumping together when we add the seasonings.
- Now add the butter/Earth Balance, olive oil, salt (start with ½ tsp; you can add an additional ¼ tsp later, if needed), cilantro, and 1 Tbsp lime juice.
- Mix until everything is completely incorporated, the butter/Earth Balance cubes have melted, and the cilantro is evenly distributed.
- Taste, and add the remaining ¼ tsp salt and the additional Tbsp of lime juice if desired.
Layer the casserole
- Grease a 9x9 inch pan. Spread the rice in the bottom of the pan. Use an offset spatula to get the rice even and level.
- Now spread the meat substitute evenly over the rice.
- Next, dollup the salsa evenly over the meatless crumbles by the tablespoon. Use your offset spatula to spread the salsa out. Don’t worry if the salsa does not spread completely evenly. The salsa won’t touch every square inch of the casserole and that's ok. The flavor will still carry.
- Now spread the drained black beans in an even layer on top of the salsa.
- Last, sprinkle the cheddar/vegan cheddar over the black beans.
- Bake the casserole, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and every layer is warmed through.
- Let the casserole cool for 15 minutes. At this point, you can enjoy the casserole as is, or use it as a filling in grilled burritos.
Grill the burritos
- Place a generous amount of the casserole filling inside a tortilla. Try to maintain the casserole layers so that each bite of the burrito will have something from each layer. Fold the tortilla up into a burrito. (Allowing the casserole to cool for 15 minutes before compiling the burritos will help you maintain the layers as you transfer the filling to the tortilla.)
- Heat a few Tbsp of canola or olive oil in a skillet over medium heat until the oil is warm, about 1 minute. Now add the burrito to the skillet.
- Grill/fry the burrito over medium heat until the tortilla side that is face down in the skillet turns golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.
- Flip the burrito so the other side is now face down in the skillet, and fry for an addition 3-4 minutes, until this side is also golden brown.
- Remove the grilled burrito from the skillet, and place on a paper towel-lined plate to remove excess oil.
- Repeat the burrito grilling process until you've used all the casserole filling.
Serve and enjoy!
- Serve these grilled burritos with greens, and garnish with salsa, guacamole, sour cream, hot sauce, etc. Enjoy!
9 Responses
Yum. I think I could eat chipotle shoe soles! I love their flavor so much. Great recipe!
Thanks so much Mimi! These are definitely a favorite in our house! ♥️
I love the sound of all of these ingredients squished together in a burrito! That looks and sound like a perfect light dinner to me. And what a great idea to offer these when you’re entertaining! I bet all the guests, young and old(er), would absolutely love this. Thanks for sharing, Shannon, and hope you’ve been well.
Thanks Katerina! These are definitely a favorite of ours to serve for guests! Awww thanks so much hope you’ve been well too my friend!
How have I never grilled a burrito before!? You know me – I grill everything! We grill quesadillas quite often, but for some reason, I’ve never thought about grilling a burrito. That has to change soon. These sound amazing…that cilantro-lime rice is a game-changer! 🙂
Thanks David! Oh you definitely need to try grilling burritos! A grill master like yourself would make an absolutely STUNNING grilled burrito! But I warn you, they are addicting! 😆😋
These are my favorite burritos. Easy and delicious! I also think Beyond Meat crumbles have too strong of a flavor. I used Morning star like you said, and it was fantastic! -Linda
I had never grilled a burrito before. I love the crunchy tortilla, great idea!
Thanks Hailey! So happy you enjoyed them.