Beef Burrito Skillet

I absolutely love tacos, enchiladas, burritos--pretty much any type of Mexican food! Especially at home, because it's so easy to make! This is a simple recipe you could make in less than 30 minutes any day of the week! Just throw in what you have laying around.


Beef Burrito Skillet

• 1/2 cup dried kidney beans
• 3/4 pound ground beef
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• Salt and pepper
• 4 corn tortillas, cut in 1 1/2 inch squares
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onion, black olive-for garnish, if desired

Soak the dried kidney beans overnight, or bring to a boil in a generous amount of water, remove from the heat and let soak for at least 2 hours in the hot water. Drain and rinse the beans. Add the soaked beans to ma medium saucepan with at least 2 inches of water covering them. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and cook 1 1/2 hours or until the beans are soft.

While the beans finish cooking, brown the ground meat in a skillet and drain the excess fat. Return the meat to the skillet and add the cooked beans, salsa, cumin, salt and pepper,  and 1/2 cup water. Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Stir in the corn tortilla strips, and top with the cheese. Remove the skillet from the heat. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes, to allow the cheese to melt.

Garnish with sour cream, guacamole, lettuce, onion, tomato, and black olives, if desired.

The Changes
Once again, I used ground turkey instead of beef but I can barely tell the difference. I did not boil the beans the full hour and a half before hand and that worked out fine. I added onions and black olives to the skillet as well, because I always have those in my tacos. You could add whatever you like to this dish!

The Lessons
I soaked the beans overnight, and therefor did not need to boil them nearly as long as the recipe calls for. This definitely needs seasoning, even just a packet of taco seasoning would add so much to this dish. The corn tortillas got a little soggy. You could crush some tortilla chips instead to make it much better!

The Verdict
3/5 stars. There is still work to do on the dish to make it excellent. I think the next time I make it I will use a can of refried beans, just 'cause I like them better. One of the favorite things I enjoy about this dish is that I cooked the beef the night before, so it was all ready to go for dinner, I just needed to heat it up. Seriously a delicious meal that can be done in way less than 30 minutes.