Ground Beef Smothered Burritos — Mexican comfort food that’s loaded with seasoned ground beef, refried beans, rice, and smothered with sauce and CHEESE!! Tastes BETTER than from a restaurant, plus these burritos are freezer-friendly and so EASY!!
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Smothered Burrito Recipe
There is something so comforting about a warm Mexican burrito that’s loaded to the max with ground beef, onions, refried beans, rice, cheese, smothered in more cheese, and covered with red enchilada sauce.
If you’re looking for easy comfort food that the whole family will love, look no further than this smothered burrito recipe! These ground beef burritos taste even better than what you get at a Mexican restaurant.
This beef burrito recipe takes less than an hour to make, and most of that time involves baking the smothered burritos! Because this recipe makes so many burritos, it’s a great recipe to have on hand when you have friends coming over.
Looking for a Vegetarian Version?
These Smothered Veggie Burritos are vegetarian and just as easy to make as the ground beef version!
Ingredients in the Smothered Baked Burritos
To make these homemade burritos, you’ll need:
- Olive oil
- Ground beef
- Sweet Vidalia onion
- Taco seasoning
- Flour tortillas
- Refried beans
- Pre-cooked rice
- Mexican shredded cheese blend
- Red enchilada sauce
- Fresh cilantro (optional, for garnishing)
Scroll to the end of this post for the full recipe card with ingredient measurements.
How to Make Beef Burritos
This is such an easy recipe for beef burritos! Here’s an overview of the cooking process:
- Brown ground beef with some diced onion and season with a packet of taco seasoning.
- Then, add the beef mixture along with a generous smear of refried beans, cooked rice, and cheese to large flour tortillas.
- Roll up the burritos and place them in a large skillet before baking for 25 minutes.
- Add red enchilada sauce on top of the beef burritos and top with more cheese.
- You’ll want to continue baking the smothered burritos until the cheese melts and the sauce is bubbly, about 15 minutes more.
How to Wrap a Burrito
Not sure how to wrap a burrito? Check out this tutorial on how to wrap a burrito. I made 7 big burritos. You could probably stretch it to 8 or 9 depending on how full you fill your tortillas.
Recipe Tips
Rice: To save time, use a package of precooked rice. I’m fond of this Spanish Rice in the burritos.
Taco seasoning: I used medium heat, reduced sodium taco seasoning for the ground beef and medium heat enchilada sauce. Dial the heat up or down in the burritos overall based on your choice of mild, medium, or hot versions of taco seasoning and enchilada sauce.
Tortillas: I also recommend using large, 10-inch flour tortillas that are specifically made for burritos. The burritos are stuffed to the max, so it’s important to have a tortilla big enough to hold everything.
Skillet: Most importantly, keep in mind you will need a very large skillet. I used this Lodge 15-inch cast iron skillet and my skillet was packed with 7 burritos. Maybe I could have fit 8 or 9 smaller burritos in it, but I didn’t test it.
Make-Ahead Instructions
You have a few options when it comes to prepping this beef burrito recipe in advance:
- Burrito filling: Assemble the beef burrito filling, let cool slightly, then refrigerate for up to 5 days.
- Rice: If not using pre-cooked rice in a packet, you can cook the rice up to 3 days in advance.
- Fully assembled: You can also opt to fully assemble the burritos, then cover them before storing them in the fridge. Wait to add the sauce until you’re ready to bake the burritos!
What to Serve with Ground Beef Burritos
These burritos are packed with so many ingredients that you can keep your sides super simple. The burritos have beans and rice in them, so stick to something light, like a side salad or veggies. Trust me, these will be the star of your dinner table!
Here are some of my favorite sides for homemade burritos:
- Borracho Beans
- Baked Tortilla Chips
- Grilled Avocado Corn Salad
- Grilled Mexican Corn
- Avocado Black Bean Salad
- Mexican Corn and Zucchini Salad
- Mexican Wedge Salad
And of course you have to wash down these burritos with a homemade margarita!
Storage Instructions
For the best burritos, I recommend eating them as soon as they come out of the oven. However, leftover ground beef burritos may be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Can You Freeze Burritos?
Yes! You may not need 7 or 8 big burritos all at once — no problem!
To freeze burritos, you’ll need to individually place them in freezer-safe containers and pull them out when you need a fast lunch or dinner on the fly.
How to Reheat Frozen Burritos
To reheat the frozen burritos, either microwave them for 1-minute bursts, or bake them at 350F for 30 minutes, or until heated through.
You won’t need to buy store-bought frozen burritos or even go out to a restaurant when you can make your own. They have so much flavor and are much more cost efficient!
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Loaded Smothered Beef Burritos
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 lb ground beef, I used 90% lean
- 1 small sweet Vidalia or white onion, diced small
- one 1-ounce packet taco seasoning, I used medium heat, reduced sodium
- 7 large flour tortillas, 10-inch, burrito size
- one 16-ounce can refried beans
- one 8.5-ounce package precooked rice, I used Spanish Rice
- 1 ½ cups + 1 1/2 cups Mexican shredded cheese blend, divided
- one 15-ounce can red enchilada sauce, I used medium heat
- cilantro, optional for garnishing
Instructions
- To a large skillet, add 2 tablespoons olive oil, beef, onion, and cook over medium-high heat for about 7 minutes, or until beef is cooked through and onions are soft and translucent; stir and crumble intermittently to ensure even cooking.
- Add the taco seasoning and stir to combine; set skillet aside off the heat.
- Preheat oven to 350F and drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil into a large oven-proof skillet; set aside.
- Lay the tortillas out on the countertop, evenly smear each with about 2 tablespoons of refried beans down the center, evenly distribute the rice (about 2 to 3 tablespoons) to the center of each tortilla, evenly top with the beef mixture down the center, and evenly distribute 1 1/2 cups of cheese down the center of each tortilla.
- Roll up each burrito and place in the prepared skillet, seam side down. Bake for about 25 minutes.
- Remove skillet from the oven, slowly and evenly drizzle the enchilada sauce over all the burritos, evenly sprinkle the remaining 1 1/2 cups cheese over the top of all the burritos, return skillet to the oven, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cheese has melted and sauce is lightly bubbling. Optionally garnish with cilantro and serve immediately. Extra burritos will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Originally posted November 7, 2018 and reposted April 21, 2021 with updated text.
Do you bake these before you freeze them
Yes. That way you can wrap them or freeze the baked burritos in individual containers which makes it so much easier later on.
What about the sauce on top when freezing? Do you still add?
Yes I still add it but if you’re worried then see how it goes adding it once they thaw.
Hello, I’m not seeing the temperature to bake anywhere?
Step 3 in the recipe card.
Hello! I plan to try this recipe tonight! Can I use something like a 9×13 glass dish if I don’t have a skillet for the oven? Thanks!
Yes that will be fine if you don’t have an oven proof skillet. If you already made it, hope that you enjoyed it!
Wow, Delicious!! And enough for 2 meals for us!
Trying to eat healthier, (as we are much older than you)I substituted a few ingredients. I used low carb tortillas and plant based rice(virtually no calories!) and low fat Mexican cheese. I also used black beans, smashed a bit, instead of refried.
Somehow I crammed 7 of these packed to the hilt in my cast iron square skillet, much smaller than your big round one. They came out perfect!! Tonite I will need to add more enchilada sauce, but that’s it!
Thank you for this amazing recipe!!
Thanks for the 5 star review, Lisa, and I am glad that you were able to make the substitutions necessary for your needs and they came out great for you!
I’m confused on the amount of cheese in each burrito.
It says 1-1/2 cups in each one.
Please clarify.
Thank you
It says “evenly distribute 1 1/2 cups of cheese down the center of each tortilla”. Meaning, of that 1 1/2 cups total that you have, distribute that. So you place a bit of that down each tortilla center, a good sprinkling, 3 tbsp or so, whatever looks good to you.
But no, you do not put 1 1/2 cups into every tortilla! Sorry for any confusion.
I prefer corn tortillas. Can I use them instead of the flour ones?
I too prefer corn. But this is a recipe where it’s tricky to roll corn tortillas with this much filling so they don’t rip. You can try it though and see if you have luck.
Making these right now for Cinco de Mayo!! My house smells amazing right now! I did omit the beans though because my family isn’t a big fan of them. I added a little extra cheese and rice. Can’t wait to try these tonight!