Looking at the post below, I’m sure the long list of ingredients/lengthy-looking instructions may be off-putting when you can just grab a burrito for $7 elsewhere. It’s really not as difficult as it may appear (I promise) and once you’ve got a knack for making homemade burritos you’ll never want to stop.

I put down that this recipe serves four people, but admittedly I did have some leftovers of the main aspects of the dish—rice, a small amount of beans, pico de gaillo. We all know there was no leftover guac, that’s ridiculous. I had enough of everything to throw one together the next morning (call it a breakfast burrito and you’re good to go) and it was still fantastic.

When I was putting these together, I was with my brother and one of his friends who used to work at a popular burrito chain. They ended up barbecuing some meat, shredding it and throwing it into theirs; feel free to mess with the toppings to your liking, it’s pretty hard to make a burrito taste bad. We didn’t quite have all the same equipment as a burrito place would (as in we used a Sesame Street grilled cheese press to grill them) but they still turned out beyond my expectations.

To me, the trickiest part of this recipe is properly folding the burrito to make sure nothing spills out when you press it. I describe it as best I can in the instructions and you’ll be able to get a sense of what it should look like from the photos. Best of luck!

Note: Don’t skip the grilling part. This holds everything nicely in place and gives the proper texture. Also, I tried taking photos of the steps and failed miserably, so I will put up one or two to get your started but then you’re on your own!

Ingredients

Serves 4

For refried beans:

• 1 (450g) can of black beans, keep the liquid
• 3 cloves garlic
• Pinch of chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp. cumin

For guacamole:

• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
• 3 tbsp. red onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• Handful of chopped chives
• Salt to taste

For pico de gaillo:

• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp. lime juice
• Salt to taste

For Mexican-style rice:

• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 tbsp. lime juice
• Salt to taste

Additional toppings:

• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 cup lettuce, shredded
• Sour cream as preferred
• Spicy salsa as preferred
• Hot sauce as preferred
• 4 medium-sized flour tortillas

Method

For refried beans:

Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add garlic and cook until aromatic, roughly 2 minutes. Add in black beans, chili flakes and cumin. Mash the beans with a potato masher, slowly adding in the liquid from the can, until all liquid is used up and a relatively smooth, creamy (but not runny) texture remains.

For guacamole:

Mash avocados, onion, lime juice, chives and salt in a bowl. If making ahead, leave pits in bowl to keep the avocado green.

For pico de gaillo:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

For Mexican-style rice:

Cook rice as directed on packaging. Once done, stir in butter, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Take a spoonful or two of the pico de gaillo and add it in. Tip for perfect rice: Rinse desired amount of rice and place it in a pot or rice cooker. Place your hand on top of the rice. Slowly pour in water until the liquid just covers your fingers. Bring to a boil then lower heat until all liquid has evaporated (this will depend on how much rice you use). Perfect every time!

For assembly:

Preheat the sandwich grill.

Place one room temperature flour tortilla on a clean, dry work surface. Take 1/4 of the bean mixture and spread it into a rectangle in the middle of your tortilla, leaving plenty of space on the sides. Grab a large handful or two of rice and pat it down on top of the beans. Sprinkle some of the shredded cheese over top of the rice, then layer on the pico de gaillo and shredded lettuce. Along one side of the longer part of the rectangle, put a generous spoonful of sour cream and spread it so in runs parallel with your food. Do the same thing with guac on the other side. Put in as much salsa as you want (just don’t make it runny) and any hot sauce if desired. At this point, your burrito should be open-faced, the ingredients in a loose rectangle in the centre.

Fold the sides of your tortilla inwards, over top of the ingredients by about 2 inches. Holding the sides in place, take the front of the tortilla and fold it over the rectangle so that it tucks as tightly as possible under the ingredients. Slowly roll it forward towards the back fold. You’re now ready to grill.

Place the burrito in the grill and press down lightly. Allow to grill for 4-5 minutes until the tortilla has lightly browned and the inner ingredients have warmed up. Eat right away and enjoy!