Bean and cheese freezer burritos
37 min · 24 g protein · 415 cals / serving
Ten bean and cheese burritos for the freezer: creamy refried beans with black beans, corn, salsa and cottage cheese blended smooth into a cheesy sauce, plus a good handful of cheddar, rolled tight in whole-wheat tortillas. Crisp one in a pan tonight and microwave the rest straight from frozen on busy days.
Ingredients
- 2 cans (16 oz each) fat-free refried beans
- 1 can (15 oz), drained and rinsed black beans
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 1/4 cups salsa, thick and chunky, mild or medium
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tub (24 oz) cottage cheese (1%), 1% low-fat
- 1 cup shredded (3 1/2 oz) reduced fat cheddar cheese
- 10 large (10-inch) whole wheat tortilla, burrito size
Steps
- Warm the refried beans, black beans, corn, salsa, cumin, chili powder and garlic powder in a large saucepan over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring, until hot and well mixed. If the salsa is watery, let it bubble a minute or two longer; a thick filling freezes best.
- Blend the cottage cheese until completely smooth, 20 seconds in a blender (or with a stick blender straight in the tub). Take the beans off the heat, stir it in and spread the filling out in the pan or a wide dish to cool for 10–15 minutes; it thickens and rolls far more easily once it is no longer steaming.
- Warm the tortillas, wrapped in a damp towel, in the microwave for 30 seconds so they fold without cracking. Spoon a scant cup (about 225 g) of filling in a line just below the middle of each tortilla and scatter a little cheddar on top. Fold in the sides, then roll up tightly from the bottom.
- To eat now, brown the burritos seam side down in a dry non-stick pan over medium heat, 2–3 minutes a side, until hot through. To freeze, let the rest cool, wrap each in parchment and then foil or a freezer bag, and get them into the freezer (or the fridge) within 2 hours of cooking. They freeze for 3 months and keep 3 days in the fridge, wrapped.
- From frozen: unwrap, wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave on high (1,000 W) 2 minutes, turn and microwave 2–3 minutes more, then let it stand 1 minute; the middle must be piping hot, 165°F. Crisp it in a pan or air fryer if you like.
Good to know
Why blend the cottage cheese?
Stirred in as curds it stays lumpy, weeps a little whey when you reheat and turns grainy in the freezer. Blended, it becomes a smooth, creamy cheese sauce through the beans that reheats perfectly.
Can I add rice?
Yes, a cup of cooked rice stretches the filling to twelve burritos. Cool it quickly before mixing it in, and use the burritos within the freezer time.
Which tortillas?
Large whole-wheat ones roll well and hold up in the freezer. High-fibre, low-carb tortillas of the same size make a much lighter burrito, at about 73 instead of 47; plain flour tortillas are softer and a little heavier.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 140
- Protein
- (25%)
- 8 g
- Fat
- (24%)
- 4 g
- Carbohydrates
- (51%)
- 19 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 5 g
- Sodium
- 451 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 4150 kcal goes into the pot and 3005 g of ingredients comes out as about 2955 g of food: 140 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.