I’m an American in Europe, and while Mexican food has improved a lot here, it’s not quite the same as back home. I had a conversation the other day where someone asked me what could be improved at the burrito places by me, and I realized that I couldn’t quite remember what makes a standard Mexican burrito so special in the US, beyond a few ingredients like corn tortillas and refried beans. So, what is it? What are the ingredients in a perfect burrito in your opinion?
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Bacon, eggs, cheese, and potatoes.
Substituting bacon for some kind of sausage is also acceptable.
Beans and cheese.
Burritos use flour tortillas, tacos use corn tortillas.
ETA: it’s in NO way fully authentic Mexican, but as an American living in Europe, I got Danny Trejos Mexican cookbook for Christmas and it’s been really good for making stuff here. I did have to find a Mexican food importer to order some stuff from though because you CANNOT find actual corn tortillas outside a big city in the UK; the ones they sell at Tesco are half corn/half flour.
*Pinto beans or refried (pinto or peruano) beans
*Rice
*Avocado/Guacamole
*Potatoes
*Cactus (nopales)
*Onion
*Cilantro
*Some some mixed veggies like small cubed steamed carrots.
*Bonus if it is a wet burrito with sauce all over the exterior.
*And a side of refreshing agua de jamaica
Refried beans
Rice
Onion
Cilantro
Hot sauce
Cheese
Lemon juice
Meat, preferably cabeza if you can find it. If not, carne asada, shredded chicken, or carnitas.
Texan opinion: Flour tortillas for burritos. Corn tears too easily for a good burrito. Otherwise, your protein of choice, grilled onion and green peppers, rice and beans (refried or black are both popular) are optional, and either a salsa or avocado based sauce. I avoid both because it makes it too wet.
Neato Burrito
COWBOY CRUNCH – BEEF
Slow-cooked Angus beef, crushed nacho chips, bbq rice, refried beans smothered in a ranch dressing wrapped in a flour tortilla.
Flour tortilla, Carne Asada or Carnitas, rice, bean, pico de gallo, salsa, sour cream, guacamole.
American in Europe here and I’ve long thought about what makes them so bad.
My findings as to where they go wrong:
* The meat options are always “wet” and shapeless. Every meat option whether beef, pork or chicken looks like pulled pork (in shape/form) drowned in flavorless sauce. So you don’t get texture when you bite into it and it just tastes like mush.
* Speaking of “wet”. Same goes for the rice and beans. It’s wet. So add wet meat plus wet rice plus wet beans/veggies and you get a wet burrito that bites like a cream pastry.
* Tomatoes are way too sweet. Which I don’t know if it’s indicative of the quality of tomatoes in the U.S but to me tomatoes should have a neutral/slightly acidic flavor. Some of the tomatoes they use here (specially Spain/Italy) are super sweet and overpowers the taste of everything else. This was my complaint with Taco Bell in Spain. The tomatoes are way too tasty and it ruins the whole point of Taco Bell in a weird way.
* They have a general aversion to spicy/hot ingredients. So their “spicy” salsa is the previously mentioned sweet tomatoes with a sprinkle of paprika (they f’in love Paprika in this continent). The hipper places carry hot sauces but I swear they water them down 10:1.
All in all things are changing for the better and there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
California burritos are the perfect burrito
If you want a more traditional burrito, odds are you’ll find the perfect burrito in San Diego. If there’s one thing that San Diego does better than any other city in America its Mexican food
1. Carne Asada
2. See #1
Cheese, black beans, steak, bell peppers, onion.
Never thought of a burrito as Mexican.
The biggest issue with European wraps – you can’t call those things burritos – is the spice. They mix tomatoes with paprika and call it salsa.
You need slowly cooked meat that is well seasoned.
Real chilis in the salsa with cilantro and lime.
And throw in some beans.
Beyond that, I don’t care. Add whatever you want, but get the spice right.
Scrambled eggs, bacon, seasoned fried potatoes, and cheese. Breakfast burrito is the most important burrito of the day.
Breakfast – Smoked Brisket, eggs, cheese, avocado, and Salsa Rojo.
Lunch or Dinner – Carnitas or Carne Asada, Rice, Beans, Cheese, Pico de Gallo, Guacamole, and Crema. With Orange salsa or chile de aorbol salsa ranchero.
So many things can make a good burrito but I’ll throw out my go-to:
Flour tortilla
Carne adovada/carnitas
Cheese
Papitas
Red chile/green chile
It’s more or less a tie for me. Carne adovada is already cooked in red chile so always go with red if you’re even asked, and carnitas goes best with green chile. Feel free to substitute that meat for chicharrones, sausage, chicken, etc and swap the green chile and red chile depending on the meat and how you’re feeling that day. I’m personally not a big fan of egg but feel free to add it and make it a breakfast burrito.
Feel free to smother it with cheese and chile too, but I’m just going handheld.
Flour tortilla, freshly-shredded Monterey Jack cheese, grilled onions and bell peppers, chunky spicy salsa, pinto beans, grilled chicken or carnitas.
The best kind of burrito is a fajita. I don’t need another bland carb inside a slightly less bland carb.
Chicken tinga, sauteed onions and peppers, rice, beans, cheese, avocado, pico, and crema
Meat, beans, guac, and pico.
My parents have owned a food truck for 5 years at this point at I worked for them during the first 2. I would get free food anytime I wanted and it was cool. Burrito was easily the best because it was good and filling. My personal favorite was
Large tortilla heated up on the flat top
Spanish Rice
Light layer of refried beans
Chicken/Al Pastor mix slightly toasted on the flat top
Lettuce
Onion
Cilantro
Salsa Verde
Shredded cheese
Lime juice
If I had them, also some Fritos
Wrapped up and place the burrito back on the flat top to crisp up the tortilla
It was absolutely delicious and amazing in my book.
Flour tortilla, carne asada/suadero/adobada, caramelized onions, and guacamole. Salsa macha on the side since it’s my favorite.
I’m a simple man when it comes to burritos.
I’m partial to Arizona -berto style burritos. My favorite is carne asada, but carnitas is great too. Large Sonoran-style flour tortillas, guacamole, pico and lots of carne asada beef or carnitas. That’s it. Grab some pickled jalapenos, carrots and onion to eat alongside. Cilantro is used in the pico and probably guac too. Beans and rice are on the side if you want it.