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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.

Vegan burrito

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.
How to make a vegan burrito

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:

  1. Spicy Chipotle Sauce This one is quick and has huge flavor! It’s made with tahini, adobo sauce, and Cholula.
  2. Spicy Mayo The fastest! Make spicy mayo Mexican-style with Cholula. To make it easy to drizzle, thin it with splash of water.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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:

Spanish rice

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.

Vegan burrito

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.

Print
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Vegan burrito

Ultimate Vegan Burrito


  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 4 burritos 1x

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

Scale

Instructions

  1. Start the Spanish Rice (aka Mexican Rice).
  2. Meanwhile, remove the stems from the mushroom caps and thinly slice them. Thinly slice the red onion. Thinly slice the bell pepper.
  3. 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.
  4. Pit the avocado. Mash it and sprinkle it with kosher salt.
  5. When the rice is done, finish it with the seasonings per that recipe. Then get ready to roll!
  6. Place the tortillas on individual plates. Spread ½ 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
  • Diet: Vegan

Keywords: Vegan burrito

More vegan favorites!

Here are some more of our top vegan recipes:

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Meet Sonja and Alex Overhiser: Husband and wife. Expert home cooks. Authors of recipes you’ll want to make again and again.

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15 Comments

  1. These were absolutely amazing!! I served them with the cashew cream (added a squeeze of lemon juice to make it more tangy). DELISH!

  2. Just wanted to tell you that this is one of my favorite recipes. I have made it at least 5 times already. I make the instant pot Spanish Rice and sometimes use fire roasted tomatoes instead of salsa. My store was out of portobello mushrooms and it was still very tasty. Thank you!!

  3. It was the first time that I was trying one of your recipes and we all thought that it was delicious. I will certainly try other recipes. Thank you for sharing !

    1. Hi there! We don’t know the weight of the cooked Spanish rice — so sorry! For tablespoons, are you looking for how many tablespoons of cooked rice is 2 cups (not dry rice, correct)? Let me know more and I can answer your question better.

  4. These were excellent! Thanks for such an easy and delicious recipe. This recipe is going into frequent rotation on the menu at our house:-)

  5. Delicious recipe! Made it just as written, and enjoyed every bite. Even used leftovers will eggs instead of rice for a breakfast burrito. Can’t wait to make again.

  6. Just tried this recipe tonight and it was soooo good and easy to prepare! And the Spanish Rice was amazing! Thanks for creating this – trying the Vegan Shepherd’s Pie next :)

  7. These are amazing. The cumin and smoked paprika really make the filling special, as opposed to the beans-and-salsa combo of most burritos. I tried it with the recipe for spicy mayo, which is now officially my favorite condiment.