Easy Freezer Quinoa Burritos

March 24, 2016 , In: Mains , With: 2 Comments
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Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

Lunch is my complete nemesis.  I always just end up grabbing whatever from the fridge or cupboard, even if it’s a bowl of cereal (and wish I was eating here everyday).  I always keep a few frozen burritos on hand for emergency.  Then one day I thought, hey, I could just make these myself.  With quinoa.  And whatever else I want.  And these easy frozen quinoa burritos were born.

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

One of the reasons I decided to tackle this big-batch project was because the people over at Circulon provided me with their covered jumbo cooker which I use pretty much everyday.  Even though my kids are small, wow they eat a lot.  I’m happy to have something this size to cook big batches of everything from spaghetti bolognese to huge stir fries.

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

I don’t have a ton of kitchen stuff (yes, for me an ice cream maker is an essential lol) but I need to have at least one large pan like this.  And, since I’m using it everyday I want it to be high quality so I can make great food at home like these burritos which started with…

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

Carmelized red onions.  OK, this is a bit of a long step (I find the only way so they don’t burn is to cook them slow and low a long time) but I think it just adds so much to the final dish.  Or any dish, really.  And they pack a lot of wow for being so affordable.

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

Throw in some veggies (I chose red pepper and zucchini)…

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

Some spices…

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

Let it hang out a while…

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

Add the quinoa and get out your tortillas to wrap.  Mine kind of crumbled when I wrapped them, but I heard later that a trick was to heat them up a little before wrapping them.  I added some cheese on top too.

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

They smelled and looked amazing!

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

Easy Frozen Quinoa Burritos

I was so grateful to have these on hand!

A few tips:

This recipe makes 6 large burritos with leftovers.  My package only had 6 tortillas, but the recipe will actually fill 8.

It took me exactly one hour from start to finish.  A little longer than my usual recipe, for sure, but if you think about the time saved on 6 lunches…

It took me much longer to reheat this burrito than the usual freezer burritos – about five minutes in my microwave.

I used a mandolin to slice my red onions.  It’s just WAY quicker.

I do think smoked paprika just adds something so special.  If you don’t have some try it.  It’s great on anything roasted too – try it on roasted potatoes!

4.0 from 1 reviews
Easy Freezer Quinoa Burritos
Author: 
Serves: 8
 
This recipe makes 6 vegetarian or vegan (if you omit the cheese) burritos you can freeze for later using quinoa.
Ingredients
  • 1 large red onion
  • 1 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 2 small zucchini
  • 1 red pepper
  • 540ml/19oz kidney beans
  • 398ml diced tomatoes
  • 199ml/17oz canned corn
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • handful chopped cilantro
  • handful shredded cheese
  • 8 large tortillas or 6 large tortillas with leftover filling
Instructions
  1. Slice and start to cook and caramelize the red onions over low heat.
  2. Cook the quinoa according to package instructions. Do not overcook. Because overcooked quinoa is gross.
  3. When the red onions look pretty much there add the zucchini and red pepper, increase the heat and cook until soft.
  4. Rinse the kidney beans and add along with the tomatoes and corn.
  5. Add the spices and taste. Spices all very in strength and everyone has different tastes!
  6. Let all the flavours meld together for a while (say 5 minutes) over med-high heat.
  7. Add the cilantro and stir.
  8. Add the quinoa and turn off the heat.
  9. Make sure everything is well combined with a few good stirs.
  10. Divide the burrito filling between the tortillas (8 or 6 with leftovers), sprinkle with cheese and roll.
  11. If you are freezing, wrap each tortilla in plastic wrap and then tin foil.
  12. To re-heat just pop on a plate and microwave.

Circulon supplied me with this cooker but all opinions are my own.  Thank-you for supporting the brands that make Roasted happen!

 

    • Coupon Ista
    • March 31, 2016
    Reply

    Do you microwave it from frozen, do they hold together if they are partially defrosted and reheated at work. ? I am thinking my son might love these for lunches!

      • Michelle
      • March 31, 2016
      Reply

      I do microwave from frozen but they take quite a while – 5 minutes in my microwave. I don’t know about partially defrosting.

      As for holding together – I think it really depends on how well you wrap it. I made my kind of big and wrapped using a cold tortilla which sort of cracked. I heard that if you warm the tortillas a bit (like at Chipotle or any burrito place) they wrap much better. I think if you made it smaller and the tortilla didn’t crack it may work… but in my experience burritos are always pretty messy!

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Michelle Little

Writer & Photographer

Originally from the prairies and now in Montreal, I love exploring new places, eating great food and modern design. I'm mom of two wild things and paper and cake make me happy. Photographing your cutie family would make me very happy.

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