Ancho Chicken And Avocado Burrito Recipe

Mission-style burritos, the ones made popular by Chipotle, are typically stuffed with rice. This inexpensive addition can stretch your basic burrito into a whopper of a meal, but such burritos are even better if you make them with fancied-up rice. Here, recipe developer T. Murray is opting to flavor theirs with garlic and butter.

The rice isn't the only flavorful thing in this recipe, though. As Murray tells us, "This recipe features a spicy ancho chili chicken that gets a generous coating of lime juice." The addition of black beans, melted cheese, pico de gallo, and sliced avocado makes for what they call "a tasty burrito that's full of flavor." While it may seem like a lot of work for a single sandwich, when you take into account just how big your burrito will be, you'll surely find it's worth the effort. Plus, as a bonus, you'll also get a heaping helping of leftover rice that you can reheat as a side dish for tomorrow's dinner, so you could look at it as getting 1 ½ meals with this recipe.

You'll need just 3 ingredients to make the garlic butter rice — unsurprisingly, these are garlic, butter, and rice. For the chicken, you'll be using a boneless, skinless breast, plus some ancho chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin to season, oil to cook it in, and lime juice to add additional flavor. The other burrito fillings include cilantro, black beans, cheese (Chihuahua or Monterey Jack), avocado, and pico de gallo, and it wouldn't be a burrito without a big flour tortilla to wrap everything up.

Rinse the rice in a strainer or colander until the water runs clear, then let it sit and drain for a moment. As the rice drains, melt the butter over medium heat, then briefly sautée the minced garlic until it's soft but not too brown, about 30 seconds. Stir the rice into the garlic butter until it's coated, then add 2 cups of water, and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pot, and let the rice steam for about 20 minutes until it's tender.

Mix the ancho chili powder, garlic powder, and cumin, and sprinkle it over the chicken, being sure to coat both sides. Heat a pan on the stovetop over medium-high, then add the oil and the chicken. Cook the chicken for about 8 minutes on each side, until it's cooked through, and appears golden-brown on the outside.

Once the chicken is done, remove it from the pan, let it cool, then cut it into cubes, and toss the chicken in the lime juice.

Heat the tortilla, either in a microwave, a pan, or by holding it directly over a gas burner, until it becomes pliable. At this point, scoop ½ cup of the cooked rice onto the tortilla, then refrigerate the rest of the rice for a later use. Put the chopped cilantro on top of the rice, and follow it with ½ cup of chicken (refrigerate any leftover chicken you might have). Next, add the beans, cheese, sliced avocado, and finally the pico de gallo.

To roll the burrito, Murray says to start with the side of the tortilla that's facing you, and pull that side up so that it covers the filling. You should then fold it under the filling, and fold both sides of the tortilla in. Roll the burrito, about ½ turn, then tuck the sides in again. Keep rolling until the burrito is rolled all the way up, making it as tight as you can.

Once the burrito is rolled, heat a pan over medium, then cook the burrito, seam-side down, for 30 seconds to 1 minute. This will, as Murray says, "seal the burrito" as well as melt the cheese and warm the filling. Turn the burrito over, then cook it for another 30 seconds or 1 minute.

Your burrito is now ready to eat, although you should cut it in half before you dive in. While Murray suggests accompanying it with chips and salsa, you could also go with rice and beans — remember, you should have plenty of leftover garlic rice. As this burrito is pretty much a meal in itself, though, you may not need any sides at all.