How To Reheat a Burrito

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I love burritos; they are hearty, filling, and delicious and they can be easily customized to suit personal tastes. You can have burritos for breakfast, lunch, or dinner and they are satisfying every time. My only problem with burritos has been getting to reheat them properly. I often end up with a soggy, mushy mess. But, with a few tweaks, you can enjoy leftover burritos that taste fresh and stay warm, while retaining taste and texture.

Some of the ingredients in the burrito don’t heat well, like lettuce, guacamole, and sour cream. While it is recommended to take them out before heating the burrito and adding them back after, this isn’t always possible or practical. Firstly, it is near impossible to scrape off all the sour cream or guacamole or get all the lettuce out. Secondly, trying to rewrap a burrito you have unfurled is a lot harder than you’d imagine, especially when it is hot. So, here are a couple of tricks to help with reheating burritos with cold ingredients.

  • Remove the cold ingredients before heating the burrito and add them back after.
  • Add fresh cold ingredients to a heated burrito. This way you won’t have wilted lettuce, blackened guacamole, or split sour cream. But you will still have to contend with rewrapping the burrito.
  • When getting your burrito in a restaurant, and if you know you’re going to be reheating them, get the cold ingredients separately, which you can then add separately.
  • Heat the burrito as is without removing the cold ingredients.

How To Reheat Burritos in the Oven

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Place the burrito in a baking tray and cover it with aluminum foil.
  3. Heat the burrito for 15-20 minutes.
  4. If you want the burrito extra crispy, remove the foil for the last few minutes.
  5. Take it out of the oven and enjoy.

If you are removing the cold ingredients first or want to add fresh ingredients, do so as soon as you’ve taken the burrito out of the oven. The oven method gives the most consistent and satisfying result. The burrito gets warmed evenly and the tortilla remains soft, without compromising on taste or texture. As the oven method requires slow heating, the burrito warms up very well without getting mushy or dry.

You can use a baking tray or a wire rack to reheat the burritos. If you feel your burrito is heating up too fast, then flip it and continue heating.

How To Reheat Burritos in the Microwave

While this is the simplest and fastest way to get your burrito warmed up, your tortilla undergoes a few changes, it either gets soggy or too dry. But the microwave method works in a pinch.

  1. Remove the foil from the burrito and place it in a microwave-safe dish, seam-side down.
  2. Place a damp paper towel on top of the burrito or sprinkle some water on the burrito.
  3. Heat it for 1 minute.
  4. If not heated through, heat it in 20-second intervals till you get the desired temperature.
  5. Remove from the microwave and let the burrito sit for about a minute before consuming.

The microwave method is clearly the quickest and easiest way to reheat burritos. The added bonus is that there is no extra prep or work. But you do lose a bit of quality in terms of texture. The wet paper towel on top of the burrito is to keep it from drying out, else your tortilla gets crunchy. And very often you are left with a crisp tortilla on the outside and a sloppy, mushy inside.

How To Reheat Burritos in the Skillet

This is one of the best ways to reheat leftover burritos as they get warmed evenly and get a delicious browning on the outside with the merest hint of crispness.

  1. Heat a skillet on medium heat.
  2. Add some butter or oil to it.
  3. Once heated, add the burrito to the skillet, seam-side down.
  4. Sprinkle a bit of water around the skillet and cover it.
  5. Let the burrito heat for about 2-3 minutes.
  6. Uncover, flip it, and heat it on the other side for another 2-3 minutes.
  7. Continue flipping until the burrito is completely heated.
  8. Take it off the heat.

Adding water to the skillet and covering creates steam, which keeps the burrito moist.

Heat the skillet on low or medium heat, as slow heat tends to heat food up more evenly and thoroughly. High heat chars the outside while the insides remain cold or lukewarm. Keep an eye on the burrito and ensure it doesn’t burn.

How To Reheat Burritos in a Panini Press or Sandwich Maker

  1. Preheat your sandwich press and remove the foil around your burrito.
  2. Once heated, place your burrito in the sandwich press and press down gently. You don’t want to press down very hard as your filling might fall out.
  3. Heat the burrito for about 3-4 minutes and then remove it from the sandwich press.

This is a very viable way to reheat burritos if you are able to keep a few things in check so that you can have a perfectly warmed burrito.

  • Don’t overstuff your burrito or press the sandwich maker down too hard. The filling will explode out.
  • You can wrap your burrito in parchment paper before placing it in the sandwich press, this will make sure the burrito doesn’t stick to the press and that your burrito doesn’t char.
  • If you like your burrito with a slight char, then leave the parchment paper off.

How To Reheat Burritos in the Air Fryer

  1. Preheat the air fryer to 300 degrees F.
  2. Place the burrito in the fryer basket.
  3. Heat the burrito for 5-10 minutes.

The air fryer does a great job in reheating burritos, the tortilla gets a nice crispness while the filling gets hot. If you want your tortilla soft, then wrap it in foil or parchment paper before cooking in the air fryer. The foil helps retain moisture.

But if you like your tortilla a little bit crunchy, then leave the foil off and slather on some butter or oil to the burrito before heating it.

Tips and Tricks

  • You can also heat the burrito in a toaster oven, the process is similar to reheating it in a regular oven.
  • Grilling the burrito is an option but only if you already have things on the grill. Gassing up your grill just to reheat a burrito is way too much work and effort.
  • You can add fresh cold ingredients to your Chipotle bowl or burrito after heating it up.

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