This rice and bean burrito has the perfect combination of amazing texture and flavor. It's easy to make and you'd never know it was vegan!
This recipe was originally published on 1/28/16
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.
Have you ever grilled a burrito? It's a game changer! This easy meal is on the repeat around here.
We are burrito people. As in, anything goes. When dinner is coming and we don't know what to make, burritos it is! And when we discovered grilling them for that ultimate texture, they happened more than they didn't.
Grilling not only gives you great texture, it also seals the seam so that the kids will eat them without complaints that they are falling apart. You. Are. Welcome.
Ingredients
- Tortillas
- Cooked brown rice
- Cooked black beans
- Avocado
- Salsa Crema
- Corn
- Chopped cilantro
How to Make a Rice and Bean Burrito
These bean and rice burritos are too easy to make! Gather all your fillings and follow these steps:
- Place just enough filling so that it take up the center of the tortilla and doesn't spread over to the edges.
- Fold sides of the tortilla in.
- Close up the ends and tightly roll the burrito closed.
- Grill the burritos.
- Garnish and enjoy!
How to make salsa crema
A good sauce is always important. I love sauces and think they finish off a meal perfectly! Many of the vegan sauces I make use a non dairy milk, and often I love to use the Silk brand. It really puts the creamy in my creamy sauces.
This salsa crema pairs perfectly with the rice and beans, and is easy to make as well. Just put the following ingredients in a blender and blend!
- Unsweetened cashew milk
- Salsa
- Raw cashews
- Lemon juice
Filling suggestions
The best thing about burritos is that you can really fill them with anything. They are so customizable, and it's easy to make everyone happy with one dinner. Which then makes mom happy!
Here are some of our favorite fillings, other than the recipe here:
- grilled or roasted veggies
- make a giant salad and serve it burrito style
- Simple Mexican Rice
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- riced cauliflower (instead of rice)
- vegan taco meat
- vegan carnitas
- if you want to mix it up, fill it with other types of flavors like this pizza burrito
- I love using unique veggies and mixing flavors like this fall inspired burrito with roasted butternut squash
- vegan breakfast burrito fillings are always a hit
If you want to mix things up from the vegan salsa cream sauce, here are some more tasty sauce options:
- spicy cilantro cream sauce
- creamy sriracha sauce
- cilantro lime sauce
- mango habanero cream sauce
- smoky taco cream
Tips and tricks
As easy as these burritos are, a few extra helpful hints will come in handy:
- Make sure the tortillas are soft before filling. If they're not, warm them in the microwave for about 30 seconds.
- Do not overfill the burritos, it will make them difficult to fold.
- Salt the filling to taste, your other ingredients may already be salty enough.
- Grill seam side down so that it seals the burrito shut
- If the tortilla is sticking then it needs to cook longer. Check periodically being careful not to burn it.
- If you accidentally burn it, don’t worry, it is easy to use a serrated knife to scrape off the burned surface.
- If you are not using a high speed blender to make the sauce you can either soak the cashews overnight or grind them into a fine powder using a coffee grinder.
- You will have some leftover sauce, but it holds great in the fridge and is perfect as a dip, spread or a dressing. You could also mix some in with the rice and beans.
- To prepare in advance make the Salsa Crema, and cook rice and beans.
- For the easiest dinner, use canned beans and precooked rice!
Tips for freezing burritos
Make extra burritos and freezing them is a great way to have grab and go meals. Here is how I freeze them to keep them best:
- Make the burrito
- Wrap it with parchment paper
- Wrap with tin foil
- Put them in a plastic sealable freezer bag or wrap with plastic wrap
When you are ready to eat, unwrap the frozen burrito, then wrap it in a damp paper towel and heat in the microwave. Or you can unwrap it and put it in the tin foil and heat it in the oven.
Common Questions
Burritos can be as healthy, or unhealthy, as their ingredients. They key is what you put inside. They are a great way to get in greens and extra veggies in a fun way. Kids tend to be more open when veggies are served in a burrito. Mixing new veggies with ones they like is a good way to ease them in.
You sure can! Just make the burritos, let them cool, wrap tightly, and freeze! See more details above.
Yes you can! The best way to is make and freeze them. You can also prepare the individual ingredients in advance and then assemble when you're ready to eat.
More Vegan Mexican Recipes
You just can't go wrong with Mexican food. It's so delicious, easy to make, easy to customize, and it keeps the whole family happy! Try these other plant based recipes:
- Mexican Street Corn Salad
- Coleslaw with Cilantro Lime Dressing
- Vegan Pozole Verde
- Birria Tacos with Jackfruit
- Crispy Potato Tacos
Vegan Rice and Black Bean Burrito Recipe
Equipment
- blender (optional for sauce)
Ingredients
For Burritos:
- 2 tortillas , gluten-free if needed
- ¾ cup cooked brown rice
- ¾ cup cooked black beans , drained and rinsed
- ½ an avocado , sliced
- sea salt , to taste (depends on salt in your beans)
- ½ cup Salsa Crema , use more if preferred (see recipe below)
- corn and chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)
For Salsa Crema:
- ¾ cup unsweetened cashew milk (I used the Silk Brand)
- ¾ cup your favorite salsa
- 1 cup raw cashews (see note)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional for added tang and to cut sweetness, depending on salsa used)
Instructions
For Burritos:
- Combine rice and beans in a bowl. Add salt to taste.
- Place half of the rice/bean mixture into the middle of each tortilla. Make sure tortillas are soft. If not, warm them in the microwave for about 30 seconds.
- Place half of the sliced avocado on top of the rice and beans. Drizzle some salsa crema if you want.
- Fold sides of the tortilla in, then roll tortilla packing in the filling into a nice tight burrito closed on all sides.
- Place seam side down into a frying pan. I did not use or need any non stick surface. Cook on medium low for about 5 minutes, or until seam is sealed and tortilla is a deep brown. Burrito should come off easily, if it is sticking then it needs to cook longer. Check periodically being careful not to burn it. If you accidentally burn it, don’t worry, it is easy to use a serrated knife to scrape off the burned surface.
- Flip burrito to the other side and brown again, about 5 minutes.
- Once fully grilled, place burritos on a plate and drizzle Salsa Crema over the top. Garnish with corn and chopped cilantro if desired. Devour!
- Serve!
For Salsa Crema:
- Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
Notes
- Salsa Crema makes 2 cups.
- If you are not using a high speed blender you can either soak the cashews overnight or grind them into a fine powder using a coffee grinder.
- You will have some leftover sauce, but it holds great in the fridge and is perfect as a dip, spread or a dressing. You could also mix some in with the rice and beans.
- To make this super fast, I use canned beans and precooked rice.
- Make Salsa Crema, and cook rice and beans if not using pre-cooked.
- Feed baby rice, beans and avocado in a bowl, topped with sauce. Make sure to mash beans and avocado a bit. You can feed younger baby pureed avocado and/or beans.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
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Nancy Elliss
Hello, thanks for your recipe but I'm struggling to find stockists for the Silk Cashew Milk in Adelaide, Australia - or even any kind of Cashew Milk really. Would almond milk work given that we're putting cashews into it as well?
veggiesdontbite
Hi Nancy! Yes! You can definitely use almond milk. Any plant based milk should work okay really. Hope you enjoy!
Smruti
do you think this would work with almond milk and cashews? My local store only stocks varieties of Silk almond milk--no cashew milk to be found.
veggiesdontbite
Hi! Yes, I think it would work just fine! The flavors will cover up any difference in tastes in the milk.
Sara Hayward
Hey! So amazing! My gluten free wraps didn’t work so well to make burritos though.. any suggestions?
veggiesdontbite
So happy you liked it!! Yes, the gluten free wraps are tough because most are brown rice based and don't fold well. I do not use gluten free tortillas often, we use a whole grain variety because we love the texture and the ingredients are pretty good. But there are a few gluten free ones that I have had that are great, the ones by Follow Your Heart and the ones by BFree. Both brands are soft like a regular tortilla!
Krista
I LOVE this recipe! The only two things i changed was doubling the salsa for the cream sauce because I love a little extra spice, and cooking the rice in life juice with the cilantro.
My carnivore family LOVES this meal too!!!!! Thank you!!
Krista
I meant cooking the rice in LIME juice, not “life”...hahah
veggiesdontbite
Life juice! HAHAHAHA!!! Love it. Burritos are life so I get it! LOL! Glad you guys love these! We love them so much. I love cooking rice with lime and cilantro, and in fact have a recipe in my cookbook that does this. I wanted to keep this particular burrito recipe as simple and easy as possible so that's why I kept it plain...but for sure use the lime and cilantro to fancy it up!!
Holly S.
Thank you for developing this recipe! I have a question though. I can have nuts but my husband can’t. Any ideas on how I could make this sauce without nuts and still keep it vegan? I’m fairly new to this lifestyle and would appreciate some help. Thanks!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Holly! The cashews are a key ingredient in making this ultra creamy. The only thing I can suggest is to follow suit with some of my other creamy recipes and use some potato, white beans and/or cauliflower. I haven’t tried it though so not sure how it would work but let me know if you try it!
Trish
Wowza these were great. So mine didn't look anywhere near as pretty as yours, I'm awful at rolling up burritos, however, it didn't affect the taste which was incredibly good. Husband raved on about these. And the crunch factor - mmmmmm. Oh, and that salsa crema, going to slather that on everything tomorrow. Couldn't stop dipping my finger in it as I was getting everything else ready. Thanks for an easy, amazing, simple, flavorful meal!!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Trish! Thanks so much for the great review. It makes me so happy to hear you guys love these as much as we do! I think my middle could live on them if I let him. LOL!! Look for my new book coming out this fall, it's all burgers and burritos with lots of sauces!!
Nicole
Made these tonight for the first time and they were ah-mazing. Seriously, where have these been all of my life?! Easy and so yummy. That sauce is divine, and grilling them to get the perfect crunch is brilliant. I told my husband that we will be eating these weekly. I'm in my first trimester and the nausea and food aversions are killing me, but these I devoured.
veggiesdontbite
First, congrats on your pregnancy!! That's so great!! Second, I am SO happy that you loved these and especially in your first trimester! That's a huge compliment! Coming from someone who was sick their entire pregnancy, I totally get it. I literally lived on burritos. Something about a tortilla filled with stuff was my fave. We have these weekly around here and can't get enough. I always grill my burritos now and can't believe I ever didn't grill them! LOL! Best of luck and I look forward to hearing about the little one!
Laura
Made these for a last minute cookout over the weekend and they were amazing! Even the meat eaters were grabbing for more! Have you tried freezing these? I have extra filling and thought I would a make/freeze for later. I would think they would hold up well except the avocado has me wondering.....
veggiesdontbite
Yay!!! So awesome to hear!! I would freeze the rice and bean part only. If the avocado is mixed in then I guess you can always try. Avocado does freeze but I've only ever used it frozen in a smoothie so not sure how it defrosts. The sauce freezes great though!
Mel B
I just made this delicious gem this evening after having it saved on my phone for weeks! I am so glad I gathered my supplies and got to work! It was amazzzzzing! I live on Texas! We live on Mexican food! We just returned home from a Cali trip and our tradition is every time we return to the Lone Star State we go eat Mexican (Tex-Mex).. Well since our flight arrived at 1am and I want to wear a bathing suit this summer we opted out of stopping at our favorite joint and came home. I pulled out my handy dandy saved links on my phone the next day and went to town on this bad boy! It was a hit! I put the avocados on top and added vegan cheese. Didn't need to though! Next time I will just do extra Crema! It was so good! This will definitely be a repeat recipe!
veggiesdontbite
Bahaha!!!! I'm dying at your bathing suit comment. Right there with you, need the rest of this baby weight off! Thank you so much for making these and for your sweet comment!!
Samantha Woods
The Salsa Crema...be still my beating heart. It tastes AMAZING! Just made it - YUM! Thank you!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Samantha! I dip SO much in it. LOL! The sauce is perfect for those burritos, which I created very mild in taste without much in the actual filling for the reason that I wanted the sauce to be the main flavor!
Samantha Woods
I swoon. We devoured these burritos with the salsa crema tonight....PERFECT!!! Soooooo good!! LOTS of salsa Crema, yes!
veggiesdontbite
That makes me so happy to hear!!
Laura
I love mexican and have only recently gone vegan after being vegetarian for a while and was a little worried i wouldnt be able to enjoy mexican food like i use too, but then i came along this recipe and it is so incredibly easy and delicious! Thank you for sharing 🙂 that salsa crema, yum yum!
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much Laura!! Mexican is one cuisine I still enjoy so much. I'm so happy you loved them! We still eat these weekly!
Janet Yaker Murray
This is serendipitous! I had something very similar for breakfast today.
Here's a suggestion to enhance the flavor of the beans. I rinse a can of black beans, throw them in a pan, add my favorite seasonings (including a couple of bay leaves) and then let them simmer in vegetable broth until the broth is absorbed. When done, I puree about a third of the beans. it makes the bean mixture easier to handle and really blends in with the rice.
I'm looking forward try the cashew crema!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Janet! Your beans sound delicious! I purposely left the filling in this quite simple and plain because I wanted to let the crema take control! But we do also make it similar with a refried bean filling. I'll take burritos any way!
Vicky @ Avocado Pesto
No babies for me yet so no one opening up all the cabinets (but me) but I can still understand the need to make something super quick and it being an added bonus when it's pretty too!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Vicky! Yep, quick and easy is key around here!
Gin
OMG I need that salsa crema in my life! Those burritos too. Love it all, pinned!! 🙂
veggiesdontbite
Thank you Gin!! You'll love them! SO easy and yummy!
Marly
This looks like such a flavorful recipe - from the burrito to the vegan cream sauce!
veggiesdontbite
Thanks Marly! I think I've had about 10 of these this week. Oops.