Breakfast Burrito with Grilled Brisket and Jalapeno Cheese Blanket

Consider breakfast as an option if you have leftover brisket and are looking for ways to consume it. I enjoy seeing different ideas on breakfast burritos, and adding BBQ to the mix just improves them.

Breakfast burritos are nothing new, but add some slow-smoked brisket and cover it in a melty cheese blanket to elevate it.

I’ll teach you how to prepare a grilled breakfast burrito using leftover brisket in this recipe. This produces enough for one giant burrito, but cut it in half for two people. If you wish to make more than one, double the component amounts.

This dish obviously requires for leftover brisket, so if you don’t have any, try our smoked brisket recipe or our hot and quick brisket recipe.

A brief history of the breakfast burrito

Traditional burritos are widely thought to have originated in Sonora, Mexico. Wheat production in the region resulted in an excess of flour tortillas, which employees would wrap leftover rice and beans in and bring with them as easy lunches during the workday.

However, breakfast burritos are most famously descended from the New Mexican cuisine that sprang out of the American Southwest and surrounding Tex-Mex area.

Tia Sophias, a New Mexican cafe in Santa Fe, claims to have been the first to use the word “breakfast burrito” on a menu in 1975. According to some other restaurants, a wrapped tortilla with some mix of eggs, bacon, potatoes, and cheese appeared in New Mexican cuisine much earlier.

It’s only natural that we combine the spicy and fragrant aromas of the Southwest with the smokey and decadent BBQ of Tex-Mex and the South.

What makes a burrito a breakfast burrito?

The cheese mixture.meatpotatoIf you eat it for breakfast, any burrito may be considered a breakfast burrito, but I don’t consider it a breakfast burrito unless it has some form of egg.

Much to huevos rancheros, if it has eggs as the primary protein, it falls into the breakfast category.

Following that, we’re here to experiment with the taste profile. Hash browns or home fries, grilled peppers and onions, scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese are all folded up in a tortilla in traditional breakfast burritos.

Our BBQ brisket breakfast burrito strengthens the basis for every item that follows.

What youll need:

• A griddle or big skillet with a heat rating of 16 or higher is suggested.
• A sturdy spatula
• Ingredients as listed below

You need large tortillas that won’t rip

These burritos are enormous. You’ll need a big, sturdy tortilla that won’t tear when rolled up. You know those extra-large tortillas you see at burrito restaurants? You need them. A flour tortilla with a minimum diameter of 12 inches will suffice. You may go as large as 14 inches in diameter.

Grilled brisket breakfast burrito step by step

1. Prepare the vegetables

For this burrito, we used sweet onions and bell peppers as a flavor-based mirepoix. Slow simmering the vegetables sweats off moisture and concentrates taste.

This taste pervades the burrito filling, establishing a strong flavor foundation and complimenting the remainder of the meal.

If you don’t like onions or peppers, you may substitute other veggies. Celery, carrots, shallots, and parsley are all good additions to this recipe.

Toss with the butter mixture to coat. Mix in one garlic clove, finely minced. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Warm a griddle or skillet over medium heat. Cook the surface with two teaspoons of oil and one spoonful of butter. Heat the oil and add the chopped onions and bell peppers.

When the onions begin to become translucent, reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook until the onions are caramelized to a golden brown. Remove all of the veggies and place them in a bowl.

2. Prepare the leftover brisket

I adore brisket leftovers. It stores nicely in the fridge, and the smoke taste appears to intensify.

Chop roughly 1 cup of leftover brisket for this morning tortilla. Slice the cold brisket as you would while it’s cooking, then cut it into 1 inch pieces.

You may add more if you like, but I recommend keeping it at 1 cup to keep the tastes balanced.

Warm a griddle or skillet over medium heat. To the pan, add the chopped brisket. Once the fat has begun to render, shake the pan to dislodge any trapped particles. Using a teaspoon of your preferred BBQ rub, season the brisket. I added Spiceology’s Southwest Chile BBQ Rub and stirred it in until it was uniformly covered.

With a spatula, break up any large pieces of beef and toss in 1 cup of BBQ sauce. I produced our own barbecue sauce. Cook until the sauce has reduced to a thick, sticky glaze. If any of the sauce starts to burn, reduce the heat and keep stirring.

Set the brisket aside in a basin after removing it from the pan.

Note If you’re using a griddle, you may cook the veggies and beef on separate sides of the griddle top.

3. You say potato, I say pot-tah-to

Hash browns are often included in the average breakfast burrito, and they tend to get soggy and mushy as they steam in the wrap.

That is not the case with our version. We’ll be using crispy seasoned french fries. These hold up better inside a burrito than hash browns, plus who doesn’t love french fries?

If you prepare ahead, you can make our famous seasoned fries, or you can acquire frozen fries from your local supermarket. Simply cook them according to the package directions, but keep in mind that deep frying will provide the crunchiest results.

Note As an alternative, tater tots may be used with this recipe. Tots absorb up some of the sauce and fluids on the interior while remaining crunchier than hash browns. You have an option.

4. Scrambling your eggs

It’s now time for our morning celebrity: Large white eggs of grade A. In a mixing dish, scramble three eggs. Take care not to overstir the eggs. You only want the whites and yolks to be completely combined.

Melt one tablespoon of butter in a big circle on your griddle or pan over medium low heat. Season the scrambled egg mixture with salt and pepper and pour it over the melted butter.

Fold the cooked pieces over the runny bits of the eggs until no runny egg remains. To add texture and make it easier to put in the tortilla, chop the cooked egg into tiny bits rather than bigger ones.

Remove the eggs into a bowl and set aside.

5. Construct the burrito

After you’ve prepared all of the ingredients, it’s time to mix them all together.

Preheat your griddle or pan to medium after wiping it down with a paper towel to remove any extra oil or food.

Warm one tortilla on the surface by rotating it until it is warm and malleable but not crunchy. Approximately five seconds per side. Transfer the tortilla to a nearby work surface on a layer of foil.

In that sequence, place the vegetables, brisket, french fries, and eggs on the frying surface. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of the brisket spice and top with a cup of pickled jalapenos. Toss it about to ensure that everything is spread evenly.

Form the ingredients into a long and narrow pile with your spatula that will fit inside the length of the tortilla shell. Allow a cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese to melt on top.

To help melt the cheese, pour water over the edges of the dish and cover with a metal bowl.If you don’t have a large enough basin, tent with foil or just wave the spatula back and forth over the cheese.

6. Fill the tortilla

Remove the meal from the cook surface and arrange it in the center of the tortilla shell, but slightly below the center.

It’s useful to have two longer spatulas on hand to slip beneath the meal and transfer it to the tortilla without leaking. The Broil King 18 Stainless Steel Spatula comes highly recommended. Use whatever you have if you don’t have long griddle spatulas. If the worst comes to the worst, you can spoon it on.

7. Rolling the burrito

Once the meal is on the tortilla, sprinkle it with our creamy hot sauce before rolling it up. It will seem that you have too much food for the shell, but that is why we reheat the tortilla so that it can be wrapped around the meal without breaking.

It might be difficult to get everything tucked in without spilling.

• First, tighten the sides around the filling.
• Then fold up the bottom edge.
• Begin rolling from the bottom up and over the meal, keeping your hands taught so the filling doesn’t fall out.

If the edges begin to flare out as you roll, just fold them into the center and continue to roll firmly until you have a burrito the size of your head.

Here’s a brief tutorial on burrito rolling:

8. Grill the burrito

When you’re done rolling, it’s time to cook the tortilla. For two reasons, we grill it:

1. So it doesnt burst open when youre holding it
2. To enhance flavor and texture, crisp up and brown the tortilla shell.

Place the filled burrito, seam side down, on a griddle or pan that is still on medium heat. The seam should cook into the tortilla and seal it. Don’t go near it. Allow it to brown naturally. Usually 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how hot your cooking surface is.

After the seam side has properly browned, turn it over and continue the procedure.

If the edges aren’t quite tight enough and begin to open, turn the tortilla over down and grill it close. It will be hot to the touch, so use a spatula to keep it upright or wear heat-resistant gloves.

Optional: The jalapeno cheese blanket

At this stage, this breakfast burrito is already excellent. The tastes complement each other beautifully, and the crispy outside gives way to the decadent BBQ filling within. You can eat or serve this right now if you wish. It’s fantastic just the way it is.

That being said, since we’re building a monster, why not go all out and wrap it in a jalapeño cheese blanket?

The method here requires some work, but it is simple to master and well worth the flavor.

Spread out one cup of finely shredded cheddar cheese to twice the length of the tortilla on the frying surface. Spread it thin and evenly and wait for it to melt.

Place sliced, pickled jalapenos (or fresh sliced jalapenos if you want) an inch or so apart down the length of the melty cheese.

When the fat begins to separate from the cheese, lay the tortilla seam side down on one of the far sides of the melted cheese and jalapeño.

Lift the cheese up at the edges with a spatula and softly push on the exterior of the tortilla. It should be browned on the bottom but not crumbling. If it is too melty, it is undercooked and will not attach to the tortilla. Allow it to simmer until the cheese has browned and can be lifted.

When the cheese is cooked, use your spatula to turn the cheese-covered tortilla over to the other side with cheese and jalapenos. Repeat until the burrito is wrapped in a cheesy blanket and cuddled.

Eat and enjoy

It’s time to enjoy yourself after all of your hard work! This burrito is rather large. It will surely feed two people if you are the sharing kind, so simply cut it in half.

Ideal for a filling breakfast or brunch that will keep you going till night.

Serve warm with salsa and sour cream.