Breakfast Burritos

I felt it was only proper to start my blog off with, well the same thing you would start your day with. Breakfast! But not just any breakfast, we're talking meaty, cheesy delicious breakfast burritos.

I personally think I have perfected them to my and my families liking but I do have many suggestions or alternatives to tailor them to you and your family. 

Breakfast burritos are the perfect breakfast in my opinion. Once they are made and frozen you can warm them in a couple minutes, they're handheld and most importantly delicious. This recipe makes approximately 20 burritos. You can reduce the recipe according to your needs if you like. I like to freeze them individually for a quick breakfast during the week.

Start by preheating your oven to 375° and lining a large baking sheet with foil for easy cleanup later. Top lined pan with a cooling wrack then line the pan with your bacon. I am using 2 smaller packs (375g packs). Sprinkle the uncooked bacon with freshly cracked pepper. Why because its delicious, that's why. Cook the bacon for 40-50 minutes until it's cooked to your liking. I personally like mine on the crisp side, but not too crisp that it turns to ash in your mouth...somewhere in between is where its at for me. Once your bacon is cooked to your liking remove to a plate lined with paper towel. Allow to cool.

As you can see my bacon is overlapping a little bit, but that's not an issue at all. The bacon will shrink as it cooks and everything will work out fine. 

While your bacon is cooking lets start working on the sausage. I have tried many different sausage versions from ground Italian sausage, ground pork adding my own sausage seasoning blend, other types of breakfast sausages and they were all delicious but this is by far my favourite. Maple flavoured breakfast sausages! Trust me on this one. If you can find them try it, you wont regret it. The hint of maple adds something special and a touch of sweetness to the finished burritos. I buy this brand because they're very tasty and its the brand my store carries.

I start by removing the casing. Its pretty easily done by taking a sharp knife and cutting into the casing then just peeling it off. Discard the casing and put the "naked" sausage to the

side while you finish the rest. I'm using 2 packages. Add the sausages to a large pan and cook over med-high heat breaking up while cooking. Once the sausages are cooked through I like to turn the heat up a bit and slightly caramelize the sausages. Make sure to  move the sausages constantly so they don't burn. Once caramelized remove the sausage to a large bowl. (large enough to accommodate all of our ingredients and stir at the end)

Chop one large onion (sweet or Spanish are my preference). Add about 2 tbsp of olive oil to the emptied sausage pan.  The onions will collect a lot of the left over deliciousness left behind from the sausage, and less dirty dishes. Add the chopped onion into the pan. Cook over medium-high heat until translucent. While cooking, grate 2-3 cups of cheddar cheese. Once cooked add into the large bowl with the sausage. 

In a medium bowl (I used a large 8 cup measuring cup) crack 20 eggs. The aim is one egg for every burrito you want to make.  Add 1/2 cup milk to the eggs as well as salt, pepper and dry dill weed and 6 big dashes of hot sauce. If you're not a spicy food person, don't worry this amount of hot sauce will not make your burritos spicy. At this point it just adds flavour. Use a whisk or hand mixer with whisk attachment to blend everything together. Add 2 small handfuls of the grated cheese. Blend so its well combined. 

In the same pan you cooked the sausage and onions add 2 tbsp of margarine, oil or butter. I like margarine for eggs, but whatever your heart desires. Give the egg mix one more good stir to pull the cheese off the bottom of the bowl and add half of the egg mixture to the pan.  Scramble the eggs in the pan until your desired texture and add them to the big bowl with the meats and onions. Repeat with the other half of the eggs.

Chop up your cooked, cooled bacon and add to bowl.

Give the bowl a big stir until everything is well combined. Add the remaining cheddar cheese, and about 15 dashes of hot sauce. My hot sauce of choice is Franks but you can experiment with others. I imagine Tabasco would be tasty but have yet to try it. Again adding this hot sauce is for flavour and will not make the burritos spicy at this point. The fatty meats and creamy cheese need an acid of sorts to balance the flavour. Franks is vinegary so it makes the perfect addition. Stir the bowl again to mix in cheese and hot sauce.

Assembly time! As this recipe is for approximately 20 burritos I will be individually wrapping them and freezing them. This makes reheating them easy and only takes a couple minutes. The best part is freezing them does not compromise the flavour at all.

First step of assembly is finding a large enough space and placing squares (about the size of your tortillas) down.

Place a tortilla on each piece of plastic wrap. I'm using white large tortillas.

Next add a scoop of the mixture. Try to avoid going to crazy with the mixture because when you reheat the burritos the center will always come out cold if you do. I've made that mistake. I use one serving spoon full in each and it seems to be a perfect portion. If you do like spice and want to make these spicy or have a little kick the time is now! Add your desired amount of hot sauce on top of each burrito. I add about 4 dashes of Franks on each. It doesn't make them spicy but gives them a little heat.

Now to roll. 

Keep frozen until you want to eat them. To reheat, remove the plastic wrap and wrap frozen burrito in a damp paper towel. Microwave for 2-3 minutes. Enjoy!

Substitutions & Recipe Notes

-Chorizo, or ground pork with sausage spices (pepper, parsley, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, crushed anise seed, dried minced onion and salt) are some breakfast sausage alternatives.

-You can add other vegetables such as peppers. Mushrooms would be delicious as well but feel like they wouldn't freeze well but I have not tried it.

-Hot sauce options are endless but my top alternatives would be Tabasco or Tapatio. I'm not sure how Sriracha would be.

-I have tried the spinach tortillas instead of white, but i didn't notice a flavour difference. Maybe the brand I bought?

-I really think the hint of sweetness is necessary but if you're unable to find maple breakfast sausages, another option would be candying your bacon and using a standard breakfast sausage. Here is my recipe for Candied Bacon.

Breakfast Burrito Printable Recipe

Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients: 2 packs of bacon (I used 375g packs, but you can use more or less) Salt & Pepper 2 packages maple flavoured breakfast sausage 1 large onion - chopped (Spanish or sweet) 2 tbsp olive oil 2-3 cups grated cheddar cheese 20 large eggs 1/2 cup milk 2 tsp of dry dill weed Hot sauce (I prefer Franks Red Hot) 1 tbsp Margarine (you can also use olive oil or butter) 20 large flour tortillas  Method:                                                                                                                                        (Makes approximately 20 burritos)  Preheat oven to 375°.  Line a large baking pan with foil and put a large cooling rack on top. Add bacon to rack and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the bacon is cooked though to your preferred texture. I like my bacon crispy but not to the point it turns to ash in my mouth so 40-50 minutes is perfect. Once cooked transfer to a paper towel lined plate and turn the oven off. Remove the outer casings of your breakfast sausages and add to a large frying pan. Cook over medium-high heat breaking it up while stirring. Once the sausage is cooked through turn the heat up, stirring constantly so the sausages don't burn. The aim here is to slightly caramelize the outside of the sausage. Once some of the sausage has a golden brown crust on the outside remove from the heat and add the sausage to a large bowl. (Large enough to accommodate all the ingredients at the end). Add the olive oil to the same pan the sausage was just cooked in then add the chopped onions. Cook over Medium-high heat until the onions are translucent. Add the cooked onions to the same large bowl as the sausage. Chop up your cooked bacon and add to the bowl. Add eggs to a separate large bowl (I use an 8 cup measuring cup), add the milk, add about 2 tsp salt and 30 or so grinds of pepper, add the dill and about 6 long dashes of hot sauce (Don't worry this wont make the eggs spicy, just adds flavour). Whisk everything together well. Add 2 smaller handfuls of cheese and mix again to combine. Add the margarine to the same pan the onions and sausage were cooked in. Give the egg/cheese mixture a good stir to pull the cheese off the bottom and add half of the mixture to the pan. Scramble the eggs. Once the eggs are done, add to the large bowl with sausage etc. and repeat with the other half of the eggs. Add the remaining cheese to the large bowl with cooked sausage, as well as about 15 dashes of hot sauce (again this is just for taste, not heat. If you want the heat you may add more when you're assembling the burritos). Stir everything together well and we are ready to assemble. Lay down squares of plastic wrap about the size of your tortillas, and place a tortilla on top. Add a scoop of the mixture and then add more hot sauce into the tortilla. Try to avoid over filling the burrito or when you reheat them from frozen you will run into issues with the center being cold. To fold the tortilla, fold in each side to meet in the center, then roll over the bottom until the burrito is closed. Wrap the burrito in the plastic wrap and place in a large freezer bag and put in the freezer. (Folding and wrapping pictures in the blog post) If you want to wrap a burrito and eat it now I wont tell anyone. To reheat a frozen burrito remove the plastic wrap and wrap the burrito in a damp paper towel and microwave for 2-3 minutes. (Do not microwave with plastic wrap on burrito) Enjoy.