The Bacon Mistake To Avoid When Making Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast burritos are a fan favorite for a hearty, convenient, and customizable meal. You're essentially wrapping a plate of your favorite ingredients in a piping hot tortilla, giving you a well-rounded sampling with each delicious bite. Bacon is arguably the king of breakfast meats and an undisputed favorite for burrito fillings. While its flavor will elevate your breakfast burrito, avoid this common bacon mistake and its tragic repercussions for your meal.

The most important step to take when adding bacon to a breakfast burrito is cooking it until it's extra crispy. Crunchy brittle bacon is both a vital textural component and an important part of a burrito's structural integrity. Popular breakfast burrito fillings include scrambled eggs, cheese, potatoes, sauteed onions, beans, chorizo, and breakfast sausage. All of these ingredients are soft, tender, or chewy. Therefore, crisp bacon supplies that irresistible crunchy contrast to complement the other elements.

Furthermore, it will easily break apart, which is a major asset for a burrito. If you add a floppy piece of bacon, you're less likely to get a clean bite and risk pulling the entire strip out along with many of the neighboring fillings. For good measure, you should cut crispy strips of bacon into bite-sized pieces before layering them onto your burrito.

Skillet frying bacon often results in floppy edges or uneven cooking, and it's only good for small batches. Therefore, the best way to make the crispiest bacon is in the oven. It's also a quick, hands-free method that gives you time to multitask. Simply arrange the strips in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper and bake it in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 400 F. Place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven to ensure even crisping.

While the bacon cooks, you'll have time to scramble eggs over the stove, shred cheese, or prep onions and potatoes for a simple saute. Bacon, egg, and cheese is an unbeatable savory trifecta for a breakfast burrito, but there are plenty of other ingredients to elevate it to even tastier heights. Potatoes add a comforting heft and earthiness to pair with salty cheese and umami-rich bacon. You can use diced potatoes for quick cooking, sauteing them with onions or even steaming them before seasoning with salt, pepper, and cumin.

Mushrooms are another tasty option for yet another layer of umami. You can saute them with the egg scramble to save time and dishes. For that matter, you can saute diced onions and bell peppers with your eggs for a more flavorful, aromatic filling to accompany cheese and bacon.