Sunday, September 16, 2012

Smothered Beef Burritos

I found this recipe on Pinterest and it's quickly becoming a favorite in my house!

Ingredients:


  • 1 1/2 to 2 pounds stew meat or other beef cubed (top sirloin is great)
  • 1 large can mild enchilada sauce* (at least 19 oz.)
  • 2 beef bouillon cubes
  • 1/2 can refried beans (optional)
  • 5-7 burrito size flour tortillas
  • 1 cup or so of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Put beef, bouillon, and enchilada sauce into a crock pot and cook on low for 7-8 hours, or until meat is very tender. (Can also cook on high for maybe 3-4 hours.) 

When beef is done (very tender and flakes off when stirred), taste and add more salt, if desired. Heat up refried beans in the microwave (covered and in a microwave-proof dish, of course)and put your oven on broil. On an oven-proof plate, or cookie sheet even, lay out a tortilla.  Place on tortilla about 1/2 cup of the meat, drained by using a slotted spoon, and a spoonful or two of beans. Roll into a burrito (hopefully you know how to roll these). Pour some of the remaining enchilada sauce from the crock pot over the burrito to cover it. Sprinkle with some cheddar cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly, about 2-4 minutes.

Serve.
Makes 5-7 burritos, depending on how full you make them.

Notes from Kitchen of Reality:
-We hate beans so I omit this part.
-I use a slotted spoon and remove all of my beef from the crock pot and put it in a large bowl where I shred it with two forks.  Then we found the broth to be too thin to get a nice coating on your rolled burritos, so this time, I did a corn starch/water mixture to thicken it.  I did maybe a Tbsp of corn starch in a little bowl with cold water.  Mix well and then I added it to the cooking liquid left in the crock pot.  I turned the crock pot to high while I shredded the beef.  It made it more gravyish in consistency and really did a great job of staying on the burritos after I rolled them. 
-block cheese melts WAY better than preshredded stuff.  Buy the block and shred yourself, you will be happy you did.

We eat this with Spanish rice and the Chili's copy cat salsa recipe right below this one.  DELICIOUS!  And beyond easy with basically ingredients I always have!