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Vegan Burrito

The ultimate vegan burrito! A flavor-packed plant based lunch or dinner idea, it’s stuffed with Mexican rice, seasoned black beans and peppers, and avocado.

Welcome to…your new favorite healthy meal. Well, at least it’s ours! Something about all those tasty fillings snuggled cozily into a tortilla makes a burrito irresistible. Because Alex and I eat mostly plant based, we decided to try our hand at a vegan burrito. To say it was a raving success is an understatement! This burrito is packed with flavor from Spanish rice (aka Mexican rice), seasoned black beans, peppers and onions, and mashed avocado. Even better, step it up with a zingy vegan sauce. Ready to cook?

What’s in this vegan burrito: the base recipe

This vegan burrito is chock full of healthy veggies like black beans, bell peppers, onions, and avocado. Alex and I were careful not to go overboard on this one prep-wise. Sometimes meals like this one can take quite a while to prepare all the components. The base recipe has just enough going on flavor and texture-wise to be perfectly delicious. Then send it over the top with sauces or more fillings below. Here’s what’s in the base recipe:

Spanish rice (otherwise known as Mexican rice): This beautiful red rice is full of flavor from salsa and adobo sauce. See below for a shortcut!
Black beans, peppers and onions: This quick saute brings big flavor from cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. It would also work as a taco filling! (It’s actually the filling in our Vegan Enchiladas.)
Mashed avocado: This is the key to bringing savory flavor and creamy texture to this burrito: a simple avocado! You’ll mash it and add salt. It also adds a lovely green color.

Variations: add a sauce!

Once you’ve got the base recipe, you can take this vegan burrito over the top with a sauce. For parties or when you have time, it’s fun to add even more flavor! (Piling on all those different components is part of what makes burritos from Mexican chains like Chipotle so tasty.) Here are all our vegan sauces fit for a burrito:

Spicy Chipotle Sauce This one is quick and has huge flavor! It’s made with tahini, adobo sauce, and Cholula.
Spicy Mayo The fastest! Make spicy mayo Mexican-style with Cholula. To make it easy to drizzle, thin it with splash of water.
Vegan Queso If you have time to soak cashews, the next 3 sauces are where it’s at. This vegan queso is insanely good! This is our top choice for a vegan cheese sauce in this burrito.
Creamy Cilantro Sauce or Chipotle Cream Two more cashew-based sauces, these are easy to mix up in advance. The Cilantro sauce is tangy, and the Chipotle version is smoky and creamy.
Vegan Sour Cream or Cashew Cream Or, go more traditional with a dollop of “sour cream”!

spoon hovering above glass filled with chipotle sauce — Try this burrito with Spicy Chipotle Sauce!

More vegan burrito fillings

Of course, there are lots more things to add to a vegan burrito to make it even more delicious! Here are a few adders to make it the ultimate vegan burrito:

Pico de gallo or salsa
Corn
Chopped romaine lettuce
Pickled jalapenos
Crushed tortilla chips or tortilla strips
Chopped cilantro

Use Spanish rice or this shortcut!

The Spanish Rice is what makes this vegan burrito, in our opinion! Though Spanish rice is actually not Spanish at all…it’s a Mexican dish! It’s sometimes called Mexican rice or arroz rojo (” red rice” in Spanish).Our Spanish rice is faster than most recipes: you’ll cook it with salsa to infuse lots of flavor. It’s so worth it and you can use the leftovers for days! It takes about 30 minutes total to make, and you can most of that time preparing the burrito filling.

Want a shortcut? Make a pot of white rice, then mix it with store-bought salsa to taste. If you’d want, stir in a little adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers to get even closer to the flavor of Spanish rice.

How to roll a burrito

Lastly…what’s the best way to roll a burrito? Honestly, Alex and I weren’t the greatest at this at first. It can still be difficult depending on the tortilla! We like to use flour tortillas because they’re the most pliable. You can use gluten-free tortillas if you wish: some brands can tend to break, depending on the ingredients. That’s where aluminum foil comes in handy! Here’s our method for how to roll a burrito:

Place the tortilla on a plate. Place the filling in the center of the tortilla, all the layers on top of each other.
Fold the tortilla in half over the filling. Then tuck it around and underneath the filling, forming a tight roll.
Fold in each side of the burrito, then roll it up. Cover in aluminum foil if desired. Cut in half and serve.

This vegan burrito recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.

Ultimate Vegan Burrito

(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

5 from 5 reviews

Author: Sonja Overhiser
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 4 burritos
Diet: Vegan

Print Recipe

Description

The ultimate vegan burrito! A flavor-packed plant based lunch or dinner idea, it’s stuffed with Mexican rice, seasoned black beans and peppers, and avocado.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked Spanish Rice* (or 2 cups cooked rice mixed with salsa, to taste)
2 large portobello mushroom caps
1/2 medium red onion
1 orange bell pepper
2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 avocado
4 large flour tortillas or gluten-free tortillas
Sauce ideas (optional): Creamy Cilantro Sauce, Vegan Queso, Spicy Chipotle Sauce, Chipotle Cream, Spicy Mayo, Vegan Sour Cream, Cashew Cream

Instructions

Start the Spanish Rice (aka Mexican Rice).
Meanwhile, remove the stems from the mushroom caps and thinly slice them. Thinly slice the red onion. Thinly slice the bell pepper.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Saute the veggies for 6 to 7 minutes until tender. Add the black beans (drained and rinsed), garlic powder, cumin, onion powder, paprika, kosher salt, lime juice, and 2 tablespoons water. Cook for 2 minutes until heated through and the liquid evaporates.
Pit the avocado. Mash it and sprinkle it with kosher salt.
When the rice is done, finish it with the seasonings per that recipe. Then get ready to roll!
Place the tortillas on individual plates. Spread 1/2 cup rice on each one, at the center. Top each with about a quarter of the vegetable and bean mixture, and a quarter of the avocado. (Add any optional sauce if desired.) Fold the tortillas in half over the filling, then tuck them around and underneath the filling, forming a tight roll. Fold in each side of the burritos, then roll them up. Cut in half and serve.

Notes

*You’ll have lots of leftovers, which you can use throughout the week or make into Spanish rice and beans by adding black, pinto, or kidney beans.

Category: Main Dish
Method: Stovetop
Cuisine: Mexican

Keywords: Vegan burrito

More vegan favorites!

Here are some more of our top vegan recipes:

Vegan Pasta Primavera Fresh, simple and full of veggies!
Vegan Shepherd’s Pie A layer of creamy potatoes covers veggies and thick gravy. A stunner!
Vegan Enchiladas Colorful and zesty, these enchiladas are perfect for parties or weeknights.
Easy Vegan Lunch Ideas All the ideas for non-boring desk lunches!
Vegan Sloppy Joes The tangy lentil filling is full of flavor and nutrients! A plant based dinner everyone will love.
Ultimate Vegan Chili The BEST vegan chili! It’s bursting with flavor and is totally plant based.
Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo It tastes decadent, but this creamy sauce is filled with healthy plant based ingredients.
Favorite Vegan Lasagna Ready to become your new favorite: guaranteed.

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

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Roasted Broccolini

Roasted broccolini is impressive with little effort! A hot oven is the best way to cook this veggie: it comes out even more delicious than its cousin broccoli.

Here’s our new very favorite easy side dish around here: roasted broccolini! Alex and I avoided broccolini for a while because honestly: it seemed like it was trying a little too hard. Hi, I’m broccolini: broccoli’s much cooler and more sophisticated cousin. But guess what? After trying it roasted, we’re solidly on the broccoli train. It’s even more delicious than roasted broccoli (if that’s possible!), with a sweet flavor and tender crunch. Even better: it looks fancier and takes less time to cook. Here’s how to cook broccolini into the very best side dish.

What is broccolini, exactly?

It might look like baby broccoli, but it’s actually not: though it’s sometimes labeled that way in the grocery store. Here’s what to know about broccolini:

Broccolini is a cross between broccoli and Chinese broccoli. It has both the long stems of Chinese broccoli and the florets of broccoli, and has a milder flavor than broccoli.
Broccolini was invented in 1993! Doesn’t it seem like an Italian ingredient with hundreds of years of history? Nope, it’s not even 20 years old.
How to find it: It’s not available at all grocery stores, but it’s becoming more widely carried. It’s usually by the broccoli, so look for the small bunches of broccoli with long stems.

The keys to roasted broccolini

Making roasted broccolini is quick and easy, but it looks like a fancy side dish! It’s so irresistible that we ended up eating most of it right off of the roasting pan. This is SO good, I kept exclaiming. Something about the sweet flavor makes it hard to stop eating. It doesn’t have that slight bitter taste like broccoli (and other cruciferous vegetables like kale, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts).

There are only a few things to know about making roasted broccolini: it’s so simple! Here’s what to do:

Chop off about 2 inches of the ends of the broccolini. The ends can be tough, so chop them off before roasting. Then mix with olive oil and salt, and lay the stalks in a single layer on the baking sheet.
Roast at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes. All you need is 15 minutes for broccolini, vs 20 to 25 minutes for standard broccoli. Roasting in a very hot oven makes it crispy and browned at the edges.
Spritz with lemon and add grated garlic. Our favorite way to flavor broccoli: just fresh lemon juice and a little fresh garlic. It takes it from good to life changing!

How to cook broccolini

There are of course other ways to cook broccolini: but none as delicious as roasting, in our minds! Here are the basic ways to cook it:

Roasted in a hot oven. See the recipe below!
Stir fried! Try our Broccoli Stir Fry.
Sauteed. Use the instructions in Simple Sauteed Broccoli.
Add it to pasta! It’s delicious in our Vegan Pasta Primavera.

Ways to serve roasted broccolini

Roasted broccolini pairs with all sorts of main dishes! It’s especially perfect for entertaining, and makes any dinner party entree seem that much fancier. Here are some ideas on how to serve it:

Salmon or shrimp. Try it with Garlic Butter Shrimp, Baked Shrimp, Baked Salmon or Salmon with Capers.
Pasta. Serve alongside Roasted Eggplant Pasta, Vegan Lasagna, Fettuccine Alfredo, or Mushroom Pasta.
In a bowl meal. It’s great to add to a grain bowl! Substitute it for broccoli in Easy Sheet Pan Dinner, or make a bowl with quinoa and chickpeas and top with tahini sauce.
In a stir fry. Try it in our Stir Fry Vegetables or substitute for broccoli in this Teriyaki Vegetable Stir Fry.

This roasted broccolini recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.