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Cheesy Bean, Rice, & Vegetable Burritos with Salsa Verde

After making these lard-free refried beans, I felt an immediate desire to use them as a component in cheesy bean, rice, & vegetable burritos.

Ingredients

For the Refried Beans:

  • 1.25 cups dried chickpeas
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 32oz good chicken stock or vegetable stock if you prefer a vegetarian dish
  • 1 large white onion, small dice
  • 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 1 large jalapeno, seeds & stems included, small dice
  • ½ tsp Kosher salt, or more to taste

For the Salsa Verde:

  • 8 medium-sized tomatillos, husks removed
  • 1  serrano pepper, seeds included, roughly chopped
  • ½ white onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 clove of garlic, roughly chopped
  • ½ cup cilantro, roughly chopped
  • ½ tsp red pepper flakes
  • Juice from 1 lime, or more to taste
  • ½ tsp kosher salt, or more to taste
  • Freshly-ground black pepper

For the Cilantro Lime Rice:

  • 1.5 cups dried long-grain rice
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • ¼ white onion, small dice
  • 1 Tbsp salted butter
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp dried oregano
  • 3 Tbsp fresh cilantro, finely sliced
  • Zest of ½ lime
  • Juice of ¼ lime

For the Vegetables:

  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • ¾ white onion, sliced into 1/8” thick slices
  • 1 green bell pepper, sliced into ¼” thick slices
  • 1 jalapeno, small dice
  • Salt, to taste

For the Additional Burrito Components:

  • 6 large flour tortillas
  • 12 slices Monterey Jack or mild cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup pickled jalapenos
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 perfectly ripe avocados, cut into thin slices
  • Your favorite hot sauce

Instructions

For the Refried Beans:

  • Soak the dried chickpeas overnight for 12 hours in a mixture of water and 2 tsp kosher salt and 1 tsp of baking soda.
  • Drain the chickpeas the next day, and cook them at a simmer with 32 oz of chicken stock.
  • Add ¼ of the white onion, leaving the remaining ¾ of the white onion for later.
  • Add the garlic cloves and dried oregano and cook at a simmer for roughly 2 hours, or until the chickpeas are completely tender.
  • When the chickpeas are tender, blend them with ½ of the bean cooking liquid using an immersion blender.
  • Set the blended mixture aside.
  • Also set the remaining bean cooking liquid aside in case you need it later when cooking your refried bean mixture.
  • In a saute pan on the stove, heat the vegetable oil until it is hot, and then add the rest of the diced white onion.
  • Cook until the onion is just starting to get some color and then add the diced jalapeno.
  • Add the cooked blended bean mixture into the hot oil with the onions and the jalapenos.
  • Cook on medium heat for ten minutes, or until your refried beans have achieved the desired texture.
  • If your mixture is too wet, continue to cook in the saute pan until more of the liquid evaporates.
  • Alternatively, if your mixture is too dry, you can add slightly more bean cooking liquid.

For the Salsa Verde:

  • Preheat oven to high broil, or 550F.
  • Remove the outer husks from the tomatillos and wash the tomatillos under cold water.
  • Slice the tomatillos in half and coat with a thin layer of vegetable oil.
  • Place the tomatillos on parchment paper on a sheet tray and broil on high heat for about 6-8 minutes, or until the tomatillos have taken on some dark color on the tops.
  • Remove the tomatillos from the oven and allow to cool.
  • When the tomatillos have cooled down slightly, combine the roasted tomatillos with the serrano peppers, white onion, garlic, cilantro, red pepper flakes, and lime juice.
  • Blend in a blender until slightly chunky but mostly smooth and broken down, like salsa.
  • Remove from the blender and place in a bowl.
  • Taste the mixture and adjust the quantity of lime juice to your preference.
  • Season with salt, and carefully adjust the quantity needed until the salsa tastes great.

For the Cilantro Lime Rice:

  • Rinse the rice for roughly five minutes in a pot using cold water, discarding the water every minute or so and refilling with fresh water.
  • When the water runs clear, you are done rinsing the rice.
  • Drain rice and set aside.
  • In your rice cooking pot, saute ¼ of a small-diced white onion in 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil on medium heat.
  • Cook until onions become translucent, or roughly 3-5 minutes.
  • Add the drained rice from earlier and add 2 cups of water, 1 tsp of salt, and ¼ tsp dried oregano.
  • Bring liquid to a strong simmer, to the point where you can see the water starting to evaporate.
  • Once you can see steam rising from the simmering liquid, gently stir the rice once, and reduce heat to low.
  • Cover pot tightly with a lid or aluminum foil, and set your timer for 15 minutes.
  • *Note, do not check on the rice while it is cooking.
  • While the rice is cooking, slice your cilantro very finely, including both stems and leaves.
  • After the rice has steamed for 15 minutes, remove rice from the heat.
  • Carefully remove the lid or aluminum foil cover and add the fresh cilantro and lime zest and lime juice.
  • Try not to stir the rice aggressively—instead, gently fluff the rice from the bottom of the pot using a long fork, incorporating the cilantro and lime zest while creating some space between the rice grains.
  • Put the lid back on the rice and set your timer for 5 minutes.
  • When you have waited five minutes, your rice will be ready.
  • You can leave your rice covered and not worry about it as you prepare the rest of your burrito components.

For the Vegetables:

  • Cut the remaining ¾ of the white onion you had leftover from the Cilantro Lime Rice into 1/8” thick slices.
  • Prepare your sliced green bell pepper.
  • Prepare your diced jalapeno pepper.
  • Heat 1 Tbsp vegetable oil in a large saute pan and wait until the oil is nearly smoking.
  • Add your sliced white onion, stirring occasionally.
  • Lightly salt the onions.
  • When the onions have taken on color, remove them from the pan and wipe out the inside of the pan.
  • Add more vegetable oil to pan and saute the green bell pepper slices on high heat until they have taken on some color.
  • Lightly salt the green peppers and add the diced jalapenos during the final minute of cooking.
  • Remove peppers from the saute pan and set aside for burrito assembly later.

For the Additional Burrito Components:

  • Preheat oven to 325F
  • Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil and place in oven for 5 minutes to warm up.
  • Add two slices of Monterey Jack cheese on top of each burrito, placing them slightly below the center of the tortilla.
  • Add the pickled jalapenos, sour cream, sliced avocado, hot sauce, refried beans, salsa verde, cilantro lime rice, and sauteed vegetables.
  • Try to avoid overstuffing the burritos.
  • Watch a quick burrito-wrapping tutorial online and wrap your burritos.
  • Once the burritos are wrapped, tightly wrap the bottom 75% of each wrapped burrito in a layer of heavy-duty aluminum foil.
  • This will help your burrito stay together—you unwrap the foil in sections while you eat it.

Notes

The recipes above have been included for people who want to make most of the meal from scratch. You can easily substitute any of these burrito components such as salsa verde or refried beans with store-bought versions to save yourself some time.
If you prefer more texture to your refried beans, save a few of the delicious and tender cooked chickpeas and stir them into the refried chickpea mixture at the end before you assemble the burritos.