Crispy Meat Burritos - Taquitos

Back in the days of my career as a fast food making teenager, I made about a million crisp meat burritos. They aren't anything fancy, taco meat, some cheese, roll it up in a tortilla and the deep fry them. I have a lot of people in my family that would go there and eat them every single day - for 1.99$ a burrito! (say What?!) 

There is an online cooking blog that I follow that has a pretty popular chicken taquito recipe. It is essentially just a chicken enchilada filling with cream cheese and green chilis. Super simple, you roll it up and then put it on a baking sheet that you have sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and then spray the tops / sides of the burritos with more non-stick cooking spray (or brush with some canola oil) and bake in the oven. 

To make the meat ones, I did essentially the same thing. I made the filling by browning 2 pounds of extra lean ground beef. (I actually made so many because these freeze awesome for dinner another night - and my kids go crazy for them as leftovers - they aren't as "crispy" but they don't seem to care one bit. 

So I browned 2 pounds of ground beef - and added my taco seasoning to make taco meat, just like usual then I pulled it off the heat and put it into a bowl and added 2 cups of cheese - just grated cheddar. And I stirred in the cheese to melt it. 

Then I put about 1/4 cup filling in each tortilla and rolled them up and put them on the baking sheet.  I didn't spray the bottom because I used my silicone sheets, but if I didn't I would have put down some foil and sprayed it with non-stick cooking spray.

If you are going to freeze some, you'll want to do it at this point. "Pre-Cooked" Then when you want to have them for dinner, get them out about an hour before and let them defrost, then cook them in your oven.

Spray the tops / side with cooking spray - this is what is going to make them nice and crispy.

Put them into your oven and bake them at 400 for 10-15 minutes, (depending on where your racks are and how many you have on your tray and how dark you want them to be.

 I don't fill mine too full, because I think it maintains that authenticity of what I am trying to re-create. You can experiment with what your family likes.  - I have really been thinking about mixing some brown rice or quinoa with the ground beef and seeing how that goes over. I did a refried bean and ground beef mixture and I lost half of my fans.

These are so simple, you are going to love making them and having them around for quick dinners, hearty snacks, and on the go lunches.