These fabulous Tex Mex Instant Pot burritos feature tasty, spiced rice, beef and corn filling, grated cheese and fresh cilantro wrapped in a soft tortilla. Grill for a crispy finish, serve right away, or make-ahead for later as they store and freeze well.
When it comes to Tex Mex cuisine, a chunky burrito with hearty fillings is always a crowd-pleaser. We’ve come up with a ridiculously easy and fast way to prepare Instant Pot burrito that you and your family will love. It’s a one-pot kind pf recipe, in which the filling ingredients of rice, beef and sweet corn are pressure-cooked together in one go, creating a delicious mixture that is perfect for a burrito.
This burrito is bean-free, making these burritos a little easier to digest and faster to prepare. The rest of the fillings are super simple: grated cheese, scallions and cilantro. We’re keeping them minimal so that the burritos can be made ahead of time to store in the refrigerator or frozen for later. You can, of course, add shredded lettuce or guacamole if you like.
HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT BURRITO
You will find the full list of ingredients, instructions and nutritional breakdown in the recipe card below. Here is a quick video to guide you along and a few step-by-step photos.
WRAPPING A BURRITO
We are using large, soft wheat tortillas, which we preheated in a hot oven for 1 minute. You can also warm them up in a microwave or use cold. For burritos, you need large-style tortillas or burrito-style tortillas. You can, of course, also make smaller size tacos or fajitas with this beef and rice filling.
You can use lower-carb brands, and for a gluten-free version, use 100% corn tortillas. The filling can be served as a naked burrito bowl with guacamole and salad.
MAKING AHEAD & FREEZING BURRITOS
The recipe makes enough rice and beef filling for 8 large tortilla burritos. If you add other fillings besides cheese, you can stretch it out to 10-12 burritos and even more as tacos.
The filling can be made ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days or in the freezer for 1 month. Alternatively, you can pre-make the whole burritos and wrap them individually in some parchment paper or foil. Store them in the fridge for 2 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
REHEATING
If stored in the fridge, reheat the burritos in the oven at 200 C / 400 F for 10-15 minutes. If frozen, defrost overnight in the fridge and then reheat in the oven as above; or, microwave for 2 minutes.
If still frozen, reheat in the oven at 200 C / 400 F for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned.
PAN-FRYING BURRITOS
Burritos can be served as they are or pan-fried for that crispy finish and melted cheese. Heat a pan over medium heat, add a little oil and pan-fry for 1-2 minutes each side. If you reheat them in the oven, don’t worry about pan-frying as they will get slightly browned and crispy.
MORE INSTANT POT TEX MEX RECIPES
Instant Pot Mexican Bean Salad
Mexican Quinoa With Cilantro Lime Dressing
Instant Pot Shredded Beef Tacos
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Tacos With Pineapple Salsa
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Instant Pot Burritos
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 burritos 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Instant Pot
- Cuisine: Tex Mex
Description
These fabulous Instant Pot burritos feature tasty spiced rice, beef and corn filling, grated cheese and fresh cilantro wrapped in a soft tortilla. Grill for a crispy finish, serve right away, or make-ahead for later as they store and freeze well.
Ingredients
For rice and beef filling
1 cup uncooked Basmati rice or other long-grain rice
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced (about 1 cup )
1 cup diced red pepper
0.9 lb / 400 g ground beef mince (5% fat)
1.5 teaspoon paprika powder
1 teaspoon chipotle chili flakes or powder (can be reduced or omitted)
1.5 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander seed powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/5 teaspoon salt
1 cup sweet corn (tinned or frozen)
1 cup tomato passata or crushed tinned tomatoes
1/2 cup water (add 2/3 cup if using a little more beef or vegetables or if using an 8-quart Instant Pot to prevent the Burn notice)
For burritos
8 large soft tortillas (about 10″)
4 tablespoons barbecue sauce
7 oz / 200 g cheese, grated (or more if you like, we used Cheddar)
1/2 cup chopped scallions/spring onions
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro/coriander
Instructions
- Soak the rice in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes, then rinse under running water 3-4 times until the water runs clear. Set aside in a sieve.
- Turn the Instant Pot on and press the Saute button. Once the pot is hot, add the olive oil, onions and peppers and cook for 2 minutes, stirring a few times.
- Add the beef and break it apart with a spatula. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until desaturated in colour, stirring a few times. Add the spices and salt and stir through. Make sure not to burn the beef. Press Cancel to stop the Saute function.
- Finally, add the rice, tomato passata or crushed tomatoes, sweet corn and water. Stir well, making sure you scrape any stuck on bits from the bottom to prevent a Burn notice. Pop the lid on top and lock. Set to Manual/Pressure Cook for 5 minutes. The pressure will take about 5 minutes to build up and the timer will start. Once it’s done, quick-release the pressure manually as soon as possible.
- While burrito filling is cooking, prepare other ingredients: grated cheese, scallions and cilantro. We like to make simple lettuce, tomato and avocado salad as a side dish.
- Warm large tortillas in the oven or the microwave. Place on a cutting board and fill each tortilla with a teaspoon of barbecue sauce, about a cup of burrito filling, a few tablespoons of grated cheese and a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and onions. Make sure to place these in the middle. Fold the sides of the tortilla and then wrap it upwards tightly.
- Serve as they are or pan-fry for 1-2 minutes on each side over medium-high heat for that crispy finish and melted cheese.
Notes
Beef can be replaced with ground pork, chicken or turkey.
Burn notice alert: One of our readers got a burn notice when making this recipe. This seems to happen with newer models of IP as they are for some reason more sensitive. If you have a newer model, make sure to add a little more liquid just in case. Also, people that have 8-quart models sometimes experience the burn notice because the bottom surface is wider so the food tends to dry /absorb liquid faster and we’ve heard of people having issues with some recipes that are normally fine in 6-quart IPs (not our recipes per se, but in general). We would recommend that you add extra 1/3 cup water or so if you have a larger Instant Pot.
Another key to avoiding the Burn notice is that nothing is stuck to the bottom before you close the lid. You first have to brown the beef and once you add the rice and liquids, make sure to stir eveyrthing well, scraping the bottom with a spatula. This should prevent any burning during pressure cooking.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 burrito
- Calories: 382
- Sugar: 4.5 g
- Sodium: 1177.7 mg
- Fat: 15.6 g
- Saturated Fat: 7.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 32.7 g
- Fiber: 5.8 g
- Protein: 27.6 g
- Cholesterol: 51.8 mg
SAVE THIS BURRITO RECIPE TO PINTEREST
Cups = the most inaccurate measuring system. 1 cup = anything based on the mass of the substance or fluid. One day people will measure stuff with scales and weights and there will be flying machines and vehicles that move without horses!
Greetings from South Africa
Love your recipes, only came across them recently.
I have the 8L IP. Can I double the recipe, give the additional space..?
Have a great weekend.
Clive
★★★★★
Yes, absolutely. There should be plenty of space in the 8L pot.
Hello great recipe. Is there a way to use brown rice instead? Maybe by soaking it for a few hours to reduce cooking time? Thanks!
★★★★
Made these and they came out great. They freeze really well too.
★★★★★
Thanks, Jane. We had a batch of ours frozen and enjoyed them a week or two later. Glad you liked them!
Sorry, you are getting a burn notice. Newer models seem to be more sensitive. Once you get the burn notice you need to wait for it to cool down a bit. It’s unfortunate but otherwise, you may get it again. Sometimes it’s the thickness that causes the burn notice. We didn’t have any issues but some readers might add a little too much of something and then the ratio of liquid to food needs to change. We will make a note in the recipe.
Love this recipe. It is SO good, and the BBQ sauce adds a wonderful dimension to the burrito that we don’t normally experience. Highly recommend! The first time we made this, we didn’t have the type of tomatoes called for in the recipe and used seasoned Italian stewed tomatoes instead, which worked out fine. Thanks to the creators of the recipe!
★★★★★
Thanks, Carole. Glad to know it worked for you with stewed tomatoes as well.
How do you have enough water to avoid the burn in this recipe! I’ve tripled the water and still getting a burn warning.
So newer Instant Pots are more sensitive to the burn notice. That may be what is happening with yours. Adding more water should have fixed the problem if you turned off and let the pot cool down before continuing with pressurization.
My only question is where is the bbq sauce used?
On the tortilla wrap, before you add the beef rice.