Chicken Burrito Recipe - Thriving Home (2024)

Why We Love This Recipe

Like our Beef Burritos and Breakfast Burritos, our family is kind of obsessed with this make-ahead chicken burrito recipe. I regularly pull the frozen burritos straight from the freezer to either warm in the oven, microwave, or air fryer for a quick and healthy lunch or dinner.

You’ll want to keep some in the freezer at work or for grab-and-go dinner on busy nights. Stash your freezer with some of our other popular chicken freezer meals while you’re at it.

With the help of a few store-bought items like canned beans and frozen corn, these burritos are filled with simple yet good-for-you ingredients.

Here are a few important notes about some of the ingredients:

• Taco seasoning – Either grab a packet from the store (I like McCormick’s or Siete brands because of the cleaner ingredients) or make our simple homemade taco seasoning.
• Cooked brown rice or Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice – I highly recommend the cilantro lime rice, if you have time! A shortcut is buying Uncle Ben’s pre-cooked rice packets.
• Whole wheat tortillas – I prefer using whole wheat for more nutrition, but look for a brand like Stacy’s Organic Tortillas which has clean ingredients. Regular flour tortillas and even many gluten-free tortillas will work fine, too, but corn tortillas usually just fall apart.
• Optional toppings: Guacamole, Cilantro Lime Aioli (this was AWESOME on ours!), Southwest Ranch Dressing, sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, pico de gallo

How to Make Chicken Burritos

Find our full printable recipe at the bottom of this post, but here is an overview of the cooking process.

1. Saute Chicken

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When the oil is shimmery, add the chicken and sauté until cooked through (no longer pink), about 4 minutes.

2. Cook Filling

Add water/broth, taco seasoning, black beans, corn, brown rice, and salsa. Bring the mixture to a boil and then turn the heat down to simmer. Let mixture simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened.

3. Assemble Burritos

To each tortilla, add a generous 1/3 cup chicken and bean mixture and 3 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese. Pull in each end of tortilla and roll up tightly into a burrito.

4. Heat Up Burritos

At this point, you can either freeze the burritos or later or warm them up to eat. You have 4 options for warming the burritos:

• Stovetop: Pan fry (no oil needed) in a skillet over medium-high heat on both sides until toasted and warmed through, about 2 minutes per side.
• Oven: Wrap tortilla in foil and heat through in a 350°F oven for about 15 minutes (or from frozen, 20-30 minutes).
• Microwave: Wrap tortilla in a moist paper towel and warm in the microwave in 30-second increments until heated through. Open up the burrito halfway through reheating, to allow the inside ingredients to get warmed.
• Air Fryer: Arrange the burritos, seam-side down, in air fryer basket, making sure they have space around them. Place basket into air fryer. Set temperature to 400°F and cook until crispy and warmed through, 5 to 8 minutes.

5. Serve with Optional Toppings

The toppings are where you can really take these burritos to the max.

Whip up some of our easy Cilantro Lime Aioli (pictured) and drizzle or dip to your heart’s delight. This condiment not only appeals to the eye with its bright green color, but it also adds a cool, citrusy component that pairs perfectly with the warm spice of the burrito. Trust us and try this!

Two more killer options are to make our fresh Guacamole or Southwest Ranch Sauce and slather that on each bite. Can’t go wrong with either of those!

Other topping options include: pico de gallo, salsa, plain Greek yogurt or sour cream.

On-the-Go Chicken Burritos are perfect for those crazy evenings when you’re in and out all night or for a slower sit-down meal around the table. Either way, they are great!