Vegan burritos with beans, chorizo & tots

When you crave a “meat and potatoes” style burrito that you can really sink your teeth into, call in this vegan burrito.

These protein-packed wraps are filled with both seitan and beans. Each burrito has 18 grams of protein.

Plus, they have a wonderfully addictive crunch inside from tater tots.

If you love potato tacos or breakfast burritos with potatoes, you’ll love the deliciousness & ease of tater tots in this dish.

They make this burrito feel all the more indulgent.

In this post:

Oil: Use whatever neutral flavored cooking oil you like to sauté garlic & onions. Avocado oil is my go-to.

Onion: Yellow is my preferred choice here for its mild flavor. But feel free to use any color you like. Or replace with an equal amount of shallots.

Garlic: Freshly minced garlic has the most robust flavor. But if you’d prefer, you can replace it with ⅛ teaspoon of garlic powder. If using powdered garlic, add it at the same time as the spices.

Seitan chorizo: Seitan is a vegan meat made of wheat. It has a great chewy texture. Chorizo-style seitan is the plant-based version of a popular Mexican and Spanish pork sausage.

Since seitan chorizo is already seasoned, it does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of taste.

You can find vegan chorizo in the refrigerated section of natural grocery stores or big box stores like Target. It’s usually near other vegan meats & specialty products.

I usually buy Upton’s Naturals. I also really like Herbivorous Butcher’s seitan chorizo.

Black beans: Use a 15-ounce can of black beans that have been drained and rinsed. Or you can use 1 ½ cups of homemade black beans that have been fully cooked from dried.

If you prefer, black beans can easily be replaced with almost any bean like pinto, Great Northern, cannellini, or kidney beans.

Seasonings: Ancho chili powder, cumin, paprika, and salt.

Ancho chili powder is made from one ingredient – dried poblano peppers. It has a full-bodied flavor that is really delicious.

However, it can be replaced with standard chili powder. Keep in mind that chili powder blends vary from one to the next. Some are heavier in cayenne than others.

Tortillas: I use 8-inch whole wheat tortillas. Feel free to use white if you prefer.

If your tortillas are larger or smaller, it may change the amount of filling needed.

Tater tots: Look for tater tots in the freezer section of most grocery stores. They’re also known as potato gems or potato tots, depending on where you live.

They make this burrito feel all the more indulgent. Plus, they’re easy to keep on hand in the freezer and cook as needed.

I use the air fryer to prepare tater tots. But feel free to bake, if you prefer.

Vegan cheese: Any kind of cheddar-style non-dairy cheese you like will work here. You can buy it pre-shredded. Or shred your own from a block.

If you prefer, you can omit it. Or replace it with guacamole.

After each tortilla is warm & pliable, fill it with seitan & black beans, 4 or 5 tater tots, and a sprinkling of vegan cheese.

Roll the burrito by folding the sides in on the tortilla.

Then fold down the side nearest you, and tuck it underneath the fillings.

Keep rolling until you have the shape of a burrito.

Continue until all of the burritos have been rolled.

Vary the protein

Use 8 ounces of soyrizo or vegan ground beef crumbles instead of seitan chorizo. Soy chorizo is one of my favorite Trader Joe’s vegan products.

Keep in mind that soyrizo tubes are usually 12 ounces. While seitan chorizo comes in 8 ounce packages. So plan on using a little more than half of the package of soyrizo for this recipe.

Or you could replace the seitan with an equal amount of vegan ground beef crumbles. If you go with that option, you may want to increase the spices since it’s not as highly seasoned as vegan chorizo.

Vary the beans

Replace black beans with pinto, Great Northern, cannellini, or kidney beans.

Vary the fillings

• Add ½ cup chopped bell peppers with the onions & garlic.
• To the finished burrito, add hot sauce, pickled jalapeños and/or pickled red onions.
• Add brown rice.
• Replace tater tots with air fryer breakfast potatoes or air fryer baby potatoes.
• Add shredded lettuce or cabbage, salsa, vegan sour cream, and/or tomatoes.
• Drizzle with cilantro chimichurri sauce or vegan sriracha mayonnaise.

Make them crispy

For crispy burritos, put the rolled burritos into the air fryer.

Air fry at 400 degrees for 5 minutes, until the tortilla is browned and toasted.

Ditch the tortilla

Instead of having the chorizo black bean mixture in a burrito, serve them up in a different way.

Add the fillings to:

• Taco salad
• Burrito bowl
• Fried tacos
• Nachos
• Taco pizza