My gluten free burritos with black beans and vegetables are SO amazingly good!
I was “forced” to embark on a journey to a gluten-free diet recently and I have to admit I have found it quite the challenge. My new diet also requires me to temporarily eat dairy-free, nut and seed free, egg free, plus no corn, tuna, sugar or chocolate. “So what’s left?” I often asked myself. I have to admit that I was really overwhelmed for a while.
Well that’s when your creative juices have to kick in. I wasn’t about to go looking for ready-made dinners that happened to fit all my dietary needs, so on goes the thinking cap. What can I make that I love AND will fit my dietary requirements?
Well this absolutely fabulous recipe for gluten free burritos with refried beans and vegetables was one of the results of my efforts.
It’s a recipe that I created recently and I’ll definitely be making this one regularly. I just love it.
The recipe was born, not just out of my new need to eat gluten free, but also my interest in a eating healthy diet with lots of vegetables and less meat.
I am not a full vegetarian and may not ever be, but I do eat more and more meat free meals these days and I have to say I love it.
I love Mexican food, so developing some gluten free Mexican recipes was really important to me when I had to adopt a gluten free diet. This is one of my favorites.
So let’s turn our attention to how to make these amazing vegetarian burritos. I want you to see how easy they are.
How to Make My Gluten Free Burritos
When you are eating meat free, you have to be aware of where your protein is coming from and in this recipe it’s black beans. Black beans are a great source of protein and really healthy for you if you don’t smother them in fat and cheese.
I turned my black beans into refried beans because I love refried beans in Mexican burritos.
I used to buy canned refried beans until I realized how simple it is to turn a can of beans into homemade refried beans.
All you have to do to make amazing refried beans, is to rinse a can of black beans (or pinto beans) and add it to a sauté pan with hot oil in it. Mash the beans with a potato masher until you get the consistency you want. I always leave a few whole or partially mashed beans for texture.
Once the beans are mashed I added spices and seasonings. Because I was also going to sauté vegetables with onion and garlic, I didn’t add fresh ones to the beans. I added cumin and ground coriander, onion powder, garlic powder and salt and pepper. I also added a bit of cayenne pepper to add some heat. You can leave that out or add more than I did to adjust the heat level to suit your own taste.
Cook the beans until they heat through. You can cook them a little bit longer if you want a bit of a crust on your refried beans. If you like them soft, cover the pan and heat it all through.
Gluten-free Vegetarian Burritos
As I said above, I’m eating a lot more plant based meals these days and loving it. I wanted these vegetarian burritos to not only be gluten free, but also filled with healthy vegetables.
So while my refried beans were refrying themselves, here is what I did with the vegetables.
In another sauté pan I heated a teaspoon or so of oil. I used olive oil, but I also like avocado oil or grapeseed oil. Whatever kind of oil you use, buy the best quality you can afford. Don’t worry about fancy oils, but low grade oils are often not healthy.
I chopped up a big pile of veggies – onions, peppers, garlic, celery and mushrooms. I used a large red onion, sliced, as well as 2 whole celery sticks, which I sliced.
Add an entire pint (8 ounces) of mushrooms. I used the brown cremini mushrooms and sliced them into thick slices.
I love the color that red pepper adds, so I chopped a large red pepper as well. Add your seasonings. I used salt and pepper, cumin, coriander and cayenne pepper for some heat.
Sauté it all together in a pan. When it’s about ready to go, I added a couple of tablespoons of my favorite jarred salsa. It was the ingredient that brought everything together. It was fabulous!
Putting Together the Vegetable and Black Bean Burritos
Once you have these two pans cooked, one with the refried beans and one with the vegetable and salsa mixture, putting together the burritos is easy.
I heated the gluten free tortillas. I find that gluten free bread type products are often not that great tasting overall when you compare them with regular products. In this case the tortillas really benefitted from heating them. I heated each tortilla in a pan until they were just starting to bubble, then turned it over and cooked it on the other side.
Once the tortilla was heated through, I placed it on the serving plate and added a few tablespoons of the refried bean mixture. Top the beans with a few scoops of vegetables and roll it up or simply fold it over.
You can add shredded cheese to the burritos if you want, but I didn’t because I am not eating dairy right now. They are amazing without the cheese but feel free to add it if you prefer. You can also add extra salsa on top if you want.
There you have it. Easy vegetarian and gluten free burritos with refried beans and lots of healthy vegetables.
Of course you don’t have to make these delicious burritos with gluten-free tortillas. Just because they happen to be gluten free doesn’t mean that gluten lovers won’t like them. Just use a regular tortilla and enjoy.
Enjoy your gluten-free journey with great meals like this.
Black Bean Burritos with Vegetables
Ingredients
For the Refried Black Beans
- 1 can black beans, 19 ounce
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper to taste
For the Vegetables:
- 2 teaspoons oil, (I use olive oil, avocado oil or grapeseed oil)
- 1 onions, 1 large or 2 small, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 pint mushrooms, (8 ounces), sliced
- 1 red pepper, chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup salsa
- 6 tortillas, gluten free or regular
Instructions
- In a frying pan, heat the oil. When the oil is hot, add the black beans that have been drained and rinsed. Take a potato masher and mash the beans, enough so that 3/4 of the beans are mashed and the rest left whole. Add the cumin, coriander, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.
- Cook for 5 minutes, until the refried beans are hot.
- In a separate pan, heat the oil. Add the chopped onions and celery and cook for 3 or 4 minutes. Add the garlic, mushrooms and peppers. Season with cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. Continue to cook for about 10 minutes, until the mushrooms and peppers are cooked. Just before using the mixture, add in the salsa. Heat for 1 more minute.
- Heat the tortillas until they begin to bubble.
- To serve, place a tortilla on a plate and add some of the refried bean mixture in a strip down the middle of the tortilla. Add the vegetable mixture on top. Add shredded cheese if you are using it. Fold the tortilla in half or wrap like a burrito.
- Makes 4 large or 6 smaller burritos.
Nutrition
This Mexican flavored cole slaw works really well with these gluten free burritos.
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