Bean and Vegetable Burritos
This is my core recipe for a perfect-every-time vegetable burrito, one that’s filling, hearty, and exactly the way I like it. This means there’s no rice in it, but you can of course add it. You can swap the spinach for another green. You can add vegetables you love and remove those you don’t. It’s totally flexible. Even more essential: You can freeze these for another day! For years, I defrosted and rewarmed burritos in the oven. It often took 45 minutes or more for them to be hot again, at which point it seemed like I could have just made it fresh. Not sure why it took me so long to realize you could warm a frozen burrito in the microwave in 3 to 5 minutes (ahem, or realize that’s why there’s even a market for frozen burritos), but my life has had three times the burritos, and thus joy, since.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, diced small
- 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 fresh jalapeño or habanero pepper, minced
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 to 3 teaspoons ground chili powder (to taste)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
- Kosher salt
- 2 (15.5-ounces) cans black, red, or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups corn kernels, fresh (from 2 ears), canned and drainned, or frozen (no need to thaw)
- 5 ounces baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 lime, halved
- 1 cup crumbled cotija cheese
- 8 ounces (about 2 cups) coarsely grated monterey jack or pepper jack cheese
- 8 large burrito-sized flour tortillas
- Hot sauce, to taste