Meal Prep Burritos

If you are a fan of easy Mexican food, try these meal prep burritos. Make a big batch of the cheesy chicken filling, wrap and freeze for a quick lunch, dinner or even snack. Just a reheat and you have a delicious chicken burrito in minutes!

You might also like these large batch chili quesadillas.

My son was coming home from college and I wanted make some freezer meals of foods he liked. So I got this idea of make meal prep burritos because I wanted him to have something easy and tasty that he could just reheat whenever he was hungry. And I knew he loves Mexican food.

This was very easy to make and when I was done I got 12 cheesy chicken and rice burritos out of this freezer friendly recipe. I filled them with chicken thighs, black beans, rice and lots of seasonings and cheese. I use simple ingredients that I bought at Aldi so there was little measuring and more of a dump and bake kind of dish.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions.

The simple ingredients I used in this recipe is chicken thighs, taco seasonings mix, jarred salsa, cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, black beans, cooked rice and large flour tortillas.

• boneless, skinless chicken thighs – I used chicken thighs because that is what my husband likes but you could also use chicken breast or if you want beef, pork or some other kind of meat like ground beef or ground turkey you could use that too. Just make sure to cut into small bite size pieces so it cooks evenly.
• taco mix and jar salsa – Using these two ingredients cuts down and many ingredients. The chunky salsa has spices, tomatoes, onions, peppers, etc. And the taco mix has all the Mexican spices to season the meat. You could use all your own spices. Usually cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, regular or smoked paprika, salt and either cayenne pepper or hot pepper flakes are used. In place of the salsa you could chop up onions, bell peppers and tomatoes and have the roast with the chicken but it’s much quicker with the salsa.
• black beans – These are my favorite type of bean for Mexican recipes but you can use kidney, chili, cannellini beans, refried beans or any kind of bean you want. You can also eliminate them if you don’t like beans. You can substitute with frozen corn if you want or add that in addition to the beans.
• flour tortillas and cooked rice – You have to use burrito size tortillas but you want to use low carb or whole wheat tortillas that’s fine. You also need to use cooked rice so this is a good recipe for leftover rice. I however had some of the 90 second white rice in the pantry so it was a great short cut. You can use white or brown rice if you want. It just has be cooked.
• sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses – I like these two cheeses for the flavor and melting ability. You can use other cheeses like pepper jack, Colby Jack, mozzarella etc. You can also use a shredded Mexican cheese blend.

How to make make meal prep burritos.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Step 1: First thing you want to do is chop up the chicken thighs into bite size pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the beans, salsa, taco mix and half of the cheese. Mix well and spread out on the prepared baking dish.

Step 2: Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Take out and add the cooked rice and mix well. Then add the rest of the cheese and mix again.

Step 3: Now we can make the burritos. You might want to heat the tortillas up in the microwave for about 10 seconds so they are more pliable and easier to work with..

Place a large burrito size tortilla and place on a large plate. Put some of the filling in the just below the center of the tortilla. Then fold up, then the sides, and finally roll the rest of the way up from the bottom.

Step 4: Max sure they are rolled up tight and then wrap well in foil. Do this with the rest of the tortillas and chicken mixture. I ended up getting 12 burritos out of this batch. If you use small size tortillas you will get even more.

You can also roll them in parchment paper and store in the baggie but I find the foil is just easy for me. IF you like to eat burritos while holding in your hand you might want to use the parchment paper and when reheating in the microwave you can keep in the parchment paper and eat it that way.

Step 5: Store in a large ziploc freezer bag and make sure to write on the bag what they are and when you made them. I also wrote reheating instructions for my son.

And that is all there is to in. In about 40 minutes you can make 12 meal prep chicken burritos to have on hand whenever you want! Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

How to reheat frozen burritos.

The easiest way I have found to reheat these burritos is to do it in the microwave and pan fry.

1. Take off the foil from the frozen burrito and place on a microwave safe dish.
2. Heat in the microwave for 2 minutes.
3. While that is cooking in the microwave, heat a small pan to medium high heat. Spray with nonstick spray.
4. When the burrito has be reheat, place it in the hot pan and brown for a few minutes. Then flip and brown the other side. This should take just a few minutes total.
5. Place on a plate and then add some salsa and cheese if you want or just wrap it back in the foil and eat it by hand.

If you want to reheat in the air fryer you can do so by spraying both sides with nonstick spray and place seam side down. Bake at 375°F for 12-15 minutes and flip half way through.

You can top these burritos with salsa, queso cheese, shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, fresh cilantro, hot sauce, or whatever you heart desires. I person love my husband’s salsa and cheese on mine but my husband eats them as is.

Well I hope you like this easy meal prep burritos recipe. You don’t have to make them with chicken if you prefer beef or pork and if you want you can even make a vegetarian option (check out this post for a veggie bean burrito for the filling).

I love that I have 12 meals sitting in a ziploc bag in my freezer that I can make for dinner on a busy weeknight. Enjoy! For more easy Mexican food recipes scroll down below the recipe card.

More easy Mexican recipes to try!

• Mexican stuffed poblanos
• low carb spaghetti squash or keto chicken casserole
• black bean salad or street corn salad
• chicken burrito casserole or enchiladas
• veggie quesadilla or veggie chili or rice casserole
• green enchilada chicken soup or poblano corn soup
• slow cooker chicken tortilla soup