Veggie Bean Burrito Recipe

If you are looking for a healthy and tasty meatless dinner, try this easy veggie bean burrito recipe. It’s full of flavor and stuffed with refried beans, sautéed vegetables and a super easy Mexican rice. These are great for dinner one day and then freeze the rest for a quick and healthy lunch.

You might also like these chicken enchilada stuffed peppers.

I make burritos for my husband and son all the time. It’s Mexican comfort food and my son’s new favorite dish. However today I came up with a veggie bean burrito recipe for me. Back in college Taco Bell used to have a veggie burrito that I loved.

Sometimes I just want to skip the meat and try a healthy vegetable centric meal. This burrito filling is sautéed peppers and onions, refried beans, cheese and a quick and easy Mexican rice dish I’ll show how to make.

Recipe ingredients I used.

The basic components of these veggie burritos were tortillas, refried beans, shredded cheese, sautéed onion and pepper, Mexican rice and salsa.

To make a quick Mexican rice I used ready made microwave rice, fresh garlic, tomato paste and Mexican spices. It only took a few minutes to whip it up.

Note for vegetarian burritos you should use make sure the refried beans do not contain lard. You could also use black beans or pinto beans and mash them up a bit as a substitute.

So the basic steps for making this vegetarian burrito recipe is to saute the vegetables, make the easy Mexican rice, warm the tortillas and refried beans and then assemble everything. Lastly you bake them for about 10-15 minutes and you have an easy, tasty meatless dinner!

How to make this veggie bean burrito recipe.

1. Get a medium size skillet and heat up to medium high heat. Add the olive oil, peppers, garlic and onions. Season with salt, pepper and chili powder. Saute for 5-10 minutes until the onions and peppers have browned and cooked through. Take out of the pan and set aside.
2. To make the easy Mexican rice get out a non-stick skillet heat to medium heat. Add the tomato paste, water and spices (garlic, cumin, salt and onion powder). Whisk to combine and bring to a simmer.
3. Add in the cooked rice and mix well to combine. Then take it off the stove and set aside.
4. Warm tortillas in the microwave for 30 seconds to a minute and set aside.
5. Lastly spoon the refried beans into a microwave safe bowl and heat up for 2-3 minutes in the microwave. Mix well and set aside.
6. To assemble the burritos, use about 2 tablespoons of all of the ingredients. Smear the refried bean mixture onto the flour tortilla. Then add the sautéed onions and peppers. Next layer is the rice mixture and cheese.
7. Make tight burritos by folding in the sides a little then carefully roll up and place in the baking dish. Do this with as many burritos as you want then top them all with salsa and more cheese. (Here’s a how to fold a burrito tutorial if you are interested.)
8. Bake for 10-15 minutes in a 400°F oven until the cheese has melted and has browned a bit. Then just plate and serve. You will probably have leftover rice so you can use that as a side dish. Please scroll down to view and print the recipe card.

Other healthy ingredients to put in your veggie burrito.

If you have your favorite go to vegetables for dishes like this by all means you can add them to this dish. Other ideas would be:

• try using wheat tortillas or gluten free tortillas
• lettuce or baby spinach or or cook the spinach with the peppers
• add more vegetables like zucchini, mushrooms, green onions, green chiles, tomatoes or sweet corn to the sautéed peppers
• try cauliflower rice up the veggie power or even brown rice
• use whole black beans or pinto beans instead of the refried beans
• you can also substitute sweet potatoes or butternut squash for the beans if you they bother your stomach
• try adding some fresh cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice for a southwest taste
• add a little salsa, hot sauce, sour cream or guacamole inside or as additional toppings 
• top with enchilada sauce, or mix and melt the salsa and cheese for a con queso sauce

To make this dish lower in carbs.

If you want to make these vegetarian burritos lower in carbs, you could use low carb tortillas I bought some at Aldi but you can buy them just about everywhere. Or just make it into a burrito bowl and eliminate the tortilla.

Other ways to lower carbs are to substitute black soy beans for the refried beans, use cauliflower rice instead of white rice and you can always add chopped chicken or ground beef (taco meat) inside.

How to freeze these for a quick lunch.

Below you can see the freezer safe container I used to freeze this meal. Had I thought it out more I would have made the burrito size thinner so I could have put two in that dish. But honestly one was enough.

I would cook the burritos before hand, place them in an airtight container. Let them come to room temperature before placing the in the freezer.

You can also add a bit of plastic wrap and push down on the burrito and then add the lid. This seems to keep ice and frost from forming. Just make sure to take it off before cooking.

To reheat these, either thaw in the refrigerator overnight or place them on a microwave safe plate and use the defrost function on the microwave.

Well I hope you enjoy this veggie bean burrito recipe. They are versatile in that you can put whatever you want inside or outside them.

I love them for an easy and healthy meatless dinner. My hubby liked them to surprisingly and I got to freeze 1 for a quick lunch someday.