Bachan’s Holiday Leftovers Breakfast Burrito

Breakfast burritos may be one of humanity’s greatest inventions: a complete breakfast wrapped up in a flour tortilla that can be eaten with one hand, on the go. They can be meal prepped and filled with infinitely customizable ingredients. In the food world, breakfast burritos are unquestionably elite.

What is a breakfast burrito

If you haven’t had one before, maybe you’re wondering just what a breakfast burrito is. After all, you can eat burritos at any time of the day, so any kind of burrito can be a breakfast burrito. While true, in this particular case we’re talking about the classic Southwest New Mexico style breakfast burritos, which consist of scrambled eggs, potatoes, cheese, peppers, and a protein. Southwest breakfast burritos come smothered or handheld, and in this case, we’re making handheld ones that are perfect for meal prep.

What goes in breakfast burritos?

Classic breakfast burritos contain any combination of scrambled eggs, potatoes, and cheese. There are usually peppers like green chiles or bell peppers. Sometimes there’s salsa, onions, or sour cream. Optionally, there’s a protein like bacon, ham, chorizo, or beans. Really, anything can go in a breakfast burrito as long as it has eggs and potatoes. In this case, we will be using our holiday leftovers for this burrito. Leftovers, especially leftover ham and potatoes, are pretty much perfect for breakfast and breakfast burritos in particular. 

If you love spice, this breakfast burrito is for you. The smoking hot umami flavors of Bachan’s Hella Hot Japanese Barbecue Sauce combined with leftover holiday ham, crispy hash brown potatoes, creamy eggs, and festive green and red peppers make this a burrito you’ll want to make over and over again. The heat of Bachan’s Hella Hot Japanese Barbecue Sauce really makes this burrito shine. 

Bachan’s breakfast burrito ingredients

• potatoes - the easiest thing to do here is use frozen hash browns. They’re already prepped and ready to go straight to the pan. You can also cube your own potatoes, if you prefer.

• eggs - scrambled eggs are the quintessential breakfast burrito ingredient. Make sure you whisk them up with salt and pepper before adding them to the pan.

• ham - leftover ham cut into cubes makes leftovers into bestovers. If you don’t have ham, any sort of protein will do; breakfast sausage or bacon are stellar choices.

• peppers - fresh and crisp red and green bell peppers add festive color and crunch.

• cheddar - shredded cheese blankets everything in melty, cheesy warmth. 

• Bachan’s Hella Hot Japanese Barbecue Sauce - our blend of red jalapeño and red habanero combined with punchy soy, ginger, and green onion will make your mouth weep with joy. It’s the hero of this breakfast burrito.

• flour tortillas - choose soft and pliable flour tortillas to wrap everything up in.

How to make a Bachan’s breakfast burrito

1. Fry - start off by crisping up the hash browns in a frying pan until cooked to your desired crunch. Give them a season and remove from the pan so you can lightly sear the ham cubes. When the ham cubes are warmed through, add the peppers and sauté briefly. Remove the ham and peppers from the pan.

2. Scramble - season and whisk the eggs then add them to the pan. Push the eggs from the edges of the pan using a silicone spatula, making a soft scramble omelette. When the eggs are cooked to your liking, remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

3. Assemble - lay out a tortilla and add some hash browns, ham and peppers, eggs, and a generous drizzle of Bachan’s Hella Hot Japanese Barbecue Sauce.

4. Roll - tuck the sides of the tortilla over the filling and then roll up from the bottom, ending with the seam of the tortilla facing down.

5. Crisp - add a bit of oil to the frying pan and place the burrito into the pan, seam side down. Cook until brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and crisp the other side.

6. Enjoy - remove the burrito from the pan, cut in half, and enjoy with more Bachan’s Hella Hot Japanese Barbecue Sauce drizzled on top.

What kind of tortillas are best

Burritos are best made with flour tortillas. Flour tortillas are softer and more flexible than corn, which makes folding them around burrito fillings much easier. Look for large soft-style flour tortillas sized specifically for burritos.

What size tortilla is best?

It might sound obvious, but the bigger the tortilla, the bigger the burrito. Don’t go smaller than 10” or so. Anything under that makes it hard to wrap and stay wrapped.

Those who love the flavor and texture of flour tortillas may prefer smaller burritos, and those who like the filling more may prefer larger ones which have a smaller tortilla-to-filling ratio. No matter what size tortilla you go for, try not to overfill your burrito so it stays intact as you eat it. 

How to wrap a burrito

First, lay out your tortilla on a cutting board or clean, flat surface. Layer on the ingredients near the lower bottom half of the tortilla, leaving space below and at the sides of the filling. Add enough filling to be substantial, but not so much that your tortilla will burst open. Fold in both of the sides of the tortilla and roll up from the bottom of the tortilla. Roll everything up tight but not too tight, ending with the burrito seam side down.

How to meal prep breakfast burritos

Meal prep burritos are amazing. Make a bunch on a lazy Sunday and have microwaveable burritos for the week. Follow our burrito recipe up until the step before you crisp it in the pan. When your burritos are completely assembled, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap/cling film, place them in freezer bags and freeze. When you’re ready to enjoy, simply pull a burrito from the fridge and put it seam side down in the microwave for 2-3 minutes until heated through, and optionally, but highly recommended, crisp in a pan to finish.