burritos blanco
I made these burritos last week and just finally got around to eating one today… and WOW! Love ’em! I couldn’t wait to get home and post this for you. The only bad news is that I was so enamored with how picturesque the chicken piccatta was, that I forgot to get pretty photos of the burritos (cooked them the same day)!
Poor burritos, they totally got slighted. They deserve better.
Anyway, I’m calling these burritos “burritos blanco” because there isn’t much color in them… but don’t let that fool you about the flavor! They’re super tasty. I can’t tell you enough how great it is to have burritos like this stocked in your freezer. They’re the ultimate grab-n-go lunch. I just take one out of the freezer, put it in a container (to catch condensation) and it’s mostly thawed by lunch time. Then I just heat it up real quick in the microwave and I’ve got a super satisfying and filling lunch. But bring a knife and fork, these yummy things ooooooze.
I used canned green enchilada sauce but I know from past experience that many of you can’t find enchilada sauce in your grocery stores. So, here is a recipe if you want to make some for yourself. I would suggest making a big batch and then freezing portions so that you only have to make it once!
Also, I used white beans that I cooked from scratch in my slow cooker with nothing but the beans and water (read: super cheap). I used this method to cook them. It’s super easy and very inexpensive. This recipe uses about four cups or roughly the same amount as two 15 oz. cans of beans.
Burritos Blanco
- 4 cups (or two cans) white beans $1.11
- 1 medium yellow onion $0.52
- 4-5 cloves garlic $0.30
- 3-4 lb. pork shoulder $6.93
- 1 (15 oz.) can tomatoes w/ green chiles $1.14
- 1 cup green enchilada sauce $0.66
- ½ cup sliced pickled jalapenos $0.64
- 10 large tortillas $2.85
- 2 cups shredded cheese $2.50
- 1 bunch cilantro $0.79
- The night before or in the morning before you go to work, begin to cook the pork in the slow cooker. Start by adding the onion (chopped) and garlic (peeled) to the bottom of the slow cooker. Cut the pork shoulder into chunks (2-3 inches) and add to the slow cooker. Pour the can of tomatoes with green chiles over top of the pork. Secure the lid on the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.
- After 8 hours, the pork will be very tender. Using tongs, carefully pull the chunks of pork from the liquid and place into a bowl. Remove any solid fat or gristle as you go. Also retrieve any tomatoes, onions, or garlic from the liquid. Once you have all of the pork in a bowl, shred it using two forks.
- Stir enough green enchilada sauce into the shredded pork to coat it well (this was about one cup of sauce for me). Also stir in the sliced jalapenos.
- Build the burritos by placing ⅓ cup of beans, ¼ cup of shredded meat, ¼ cup of shredded cheese, and some fresh cilantro in each tortilla. Roll them up burrito style. Wrap each burrito in plastic wrap and then place the wrapped burritos in a freezer bag. Transfer to the freezer and keep frozen until ready to eat!
Step By Step Photos
Start cooking the meat ahead of time. You can do it either the night before (and let it cook as you sleep) or in the morning before you start work for the day. The first thing to go into the slow cooker is the onion (chopped) and garlic (whole or chopped, doesn’t matter).
This is the pork shoulder that I bought. It has a funky shaped bone inside that you need to cut around, or you can buy a boneless pork shoulder if you don’t want to deal with it. Don’t be put off by the amount of fat on this cut of meat, most of it will render off during cooking and be left behind.
Cut the pork shoulder into large chunks and then add it to the slow cooker on top of the onion and garlic.
Next in is a can of tomatoes with green chiles, juice and all. You can use a can of regular chopped tomatoes if you’d like, or even just some chicken or vegetable broth. You just need some moisture in there. Most of the flavor will come from the enchilada sauce later, so you can make substitutions here if needed.
Now it’s ready to cook. You’ve got onions and garlic on the bottom, pork shoulder in the middle, and some tomatoes with chiles on top. Secure the lid and cook on low for 8 hours.
Eight hours later it looks like this. It’s not pretty, I know… but stick with me, it gets better.
Carefully pull out the chunks of pork (they’re tender so they will want to fall apart). Also grab any bits of tomato, onion, and garlic that you can. Take this opportunity to remove any pieces of fat or gristle that haven’t rendered off.
Shred the pork with a fork (or two). Try not to eat it all as you go.
This is where the real flavor is at. Green enchilada sauce is pretty amazing and jalapenos are always great. I only used about 1/3 of the enchilada sauce and froze the rest. I used about 1/2 of the can of jalapenos but kept those in the fridge because I’m sure I’ll find something to put them on. If jalapenos are too hot for you, try a can of green chiles. They’re very flavorful but not at all hot.
Stir in just enough enchilada sauce to coat the shredded pork. I used about 1 cup. Also stir in your sliced jalapenos.
Now it’s time to build the BURRITOS! Start with about 1/3 cup of beans.
Next add about 1/4 cup of the seasoned pulled pork. I always over estimate how much filling can fit in burritos, so if 1/4 seems small… these were packed, any more and I probably wouldn’t have been able to roll them.
Next top them with 1/4 cup shredded cheese and some fresh cilantro. I really wanted monterrey jack for these but my grocery store didn’t have any, so I went with a “mexican cheese blend”. Hmph. Still tasted good, though.
Tuck in the sides and roll ’em up!
You’ll get ten BIG burritos out of this…
…and maybe some left over! Since you’ll be freezing your burritos for later, you can throw the extra meat and beans in a bowl with rice and cheese for dinner tonight!
Wrap each burrito in plastic wrap before placing them in a freezer bag. This will keep them from sticking to eachother and make them easy to grab n’ go.
I accidentally bought pork loin instead of pork shoulder. Whoops! I went ahead and put it in the crock pot this morning, but from what I’m reading online it sounds like it might not turn out well. Is there any hope of redeeming it?
I think it will still turn out well. The loin is quite a bit more lean than the shoulder, but I’ve slow cooked and shredded loins before and they’re still pretty good (just a bit more dry). :)
What type of white beans do you use? Great Northern or navy beans?
You could actually use either. Great northern will hold their shape a bit more. It looks like mine were probably navy because they looked a bit soft/squishy. :P