Crescent Rolled Beef Burritos with Mexican Rice & Beans

This is another recipe inspired by the Pillsbury site. It seems that there are million recipes for "rolled" crescent roll dough and I was in the mood for Mexican (but I realize that this is barely Mexican, forgive me traditionalists) so I went with this one.

It's really easy to throw together and took me about an hour to get everything prepped for the oven (with many interruptions from my daughter).

You can change the filling in any way you want, so be creative and use what you have on hand. Just try to stay within the actual physical amount of filling so you don't have too much leftover.

Crescent Rolled Beef Burritos with Mexican Rice & Beans

(from here and here)

Rolled Burritos:

1/2 cup diced onions

1/2 lb ground beef

1/2 cup black beans, rinsed, drained (from 15-oz can)

2 tablespoons taco seasoning mix (packaged or homemade)

1 can refrigerated crescent dinner rolls or refrigerated seamless dough sheet

1/4 cup shredded Cheddar or Mexican cheese (give or take)

Mexican Rice:

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup uncooked long-grain rice

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 can chicken broth

Delicious Beans:

1 can refried beans

2 teaspoons bacon grease

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

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Drizzle some oil in a pan over medium heat and toss in your onions. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Brown the onions for about 5 minutes then toss in the beef. 

Brown the beef until there is no pink left. 3-5 minutes.

Drain the beef (if it's overtly greasy) and return to the pan. Season with your taco seasoning. 

Give it a stir and add the black beans. 

Add 1/4 cup of water and cook over high heat until the mixture tightens up a bit, another 5 minutes.

When the liquid is gone, kill the heat and allow the mixture to cool enough to handle.

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After your filling has cooled, bust your crescent rolls out of their tube.

Unroll four of the eight rolls and refrigerate the others for now. 

Pinch the hypotenuse seam well. Flip it over and do the other side as well. Make sure it is nice and sealed or it'll bust open. 

I weighed my filling and divided it by 4 to ensure that I had the same amount in each one. It ended up being 1/3 of a cup in each one. It may vary for you, but I'd aim at the 1/3 cup mark.

It may look like a lot of filling, but when you push it down, it'll fit. 

Carefully roll the burrito up.

Place on an un-greased sheet pan, seam side down.

Repeat for the other three burritos and sprinkle some cheese over the tops.

You can stash these in the fridge until dinner if you want. I did.

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To make the rice, add the oil and cup of rice to a sauce pan over medium/high heat.

Add the cumin and garlic salt and fry the rice until it browns. About 5 minutes. Stir often to avoid uneven browning. 

Add the onions and stir for about 2 minutes just to get the raw taste of the onions out.

Add the 1/2 cup of tomato sauce. 

Add the 2 cups of chicken broth.

Bring to a boil and then cover and drop the heat to low. 

Cook for 20 minutes or until the rice has absorbed the liquid. 

It'll be moist when finished so don't over cook it.

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I like to spruce up regular canned refried beans by adding a few spices and of course, bacon grease. 

If you make bacon a lot (like I do) be sure to save the drippings and store the grease in the freezer. You can spoon out a teaspoon or so whenever you need it - and believe me, sometimes, you need it.

I used about 2 teaspoons and melted it over medium/high heat.

Add the beans straight from the can.

Smash the beans down and add the 1/4 teaspoons each of cumin, chili powder and garlic salt.

Stir to combine and heat the beans through. 5 minutes or so.

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When you're ready to eat, cook the burritos at 375F for 15-20 minutes. Mine were done right at 18 minutes. 

Serve the burritos with the rice and beans, sour cream and whatever other fixings you feel like.

This was a great hit with my daughter. She absolutely destroyed the rice and beans.

I found the burritos pretty good. The dough was a little starchy, but I still enjoyed the filling. It kind of reminded me of a thick chimichanga. It was great with a shake of hot sauce and sour cream. It could probably have benefited from a spoonful of salsa too.

This dish isn't extremely complicated in preparation or content, but it really hit the spot for a quick Mexican weeknight meal, on the cheap.

Enjoy!