Sidewinder's Homemade Chicken Burrito Recipe!!!

I received a decent cash offer for my home within two days of its listing, so this weekend I decided to celebrate by cooking a batch of my homemade chicken burritos! While I was having a cold beer and prepping the food, I thought to myself, "Why not record the process for some of those good folks at The Cat Site?" I grabbed my camera and took a number of pics so site members who enjoy spicy food can easily whip up a batch. I won't bother listing exact amounts of ingredients, as all amounts can be increased or decreased according to the chef's taste. I'll simply tell y'all what I did, step by step, and you can figure out the rest by looking at the photos. I might add that I run a tight ship in the kitchen, as I'm not big on salmonella or botulism, LOL. Here we go...

I placed a few small pats of butter in a skillet, then added a pack of skinless, boneless chicken thighs, spreading them evenly in the pan. Poured some beer in to help "steam" the fillets, covered the skillet with foil and turned the gas range burner to medium. I occasionally removed the foil and turned the fillets with a metal spatula (a large fork can also be used). Eventually, the chicken was done just enough for me to set it aside momentarily, and it looked like this:



While the chicken was cooking at a moderate rate, I washed the requisite veggies and cut them up in chunks, adding them in layers to a deep pot after placing a few butter pats at the bottom, same as the skillet. Not huge pats, mind you, just enough to melt and spread out below the veggie layers. The veggies should be cut and added in this order: first the hot peppers, then the onions, then the vine-ripened tomatoes. Here's the order as seen in pics, be sure to leave the layers as they are, do NOT stir them yet:



Here's my work area, I used a simple kitchen knife and plate to cut the veggies... you can see it under that colander of tomatoes which I just rinsed. I briefly set those tomatoes aside and dealt with the onions first, since the layering sequence is important.



After my veggies were properly layered, I dumped a little more beer in the pot so the veggies wouldn't burn at the outset, then I added some fresh cilantro salsa atop the lot like this:



Here's the cilantro salsa label:



The beauty of this recipe is that I can enjoy a cold beverage (or two) while steadily knocking out the steps... the steps aren't complicated either, I routinely use only one burner to do all the cooking, timing my prep work accordingly. Thus, shortly after the skillet of chicken was removed from the burner and set aside, the deep pot full of veggies took its place and I turned the gas up to medium-high, the pot covered with another piece of foil to expedite the heating and cooking process. Now, while the veggies were on and the chicken was standing by to be cut into pieces, I went ahead and prepped my guacamole as seen in these pics, adding a bit of cilantro salsa for flavor:



So much for the guac, I went ahead and slapped a piece of plastic wrap on it, right down on the surface of the guac itself, then placed the bowl in the fridge for a bit... oxidation is NOT your friend when it comes to culinary matters, LOL. A quick check of my veggie pot revealed a nice simmering batch, so I grabbed my trusty long-handled wooden spoon and stirred the mix until it looked like this:



Replacing the foil over the veggie pot, I grabbed the separate skillet and started cutting up the chicken till it looked like this:



I did NOT eat any chicken at this point, since it still needed to be cooked further once I added it to the veggies. In due time, I checked the veggie pot again, and the veggies looked about right:



So I stirred in the chicken chunks, let the whole pot simmer for a bit and stirred the mix again. Within ten minutes or so, the flavors had commingled nicely... the aroma told me when the mix was ready to taste.



I did NOT leave the wooden spoon in while the mix was simmering, that just rested momentarily for each pic, LOL. Turning off the gas, I began to assemble the final ingredients on the kitchen counter:



Shredded or grated cheese went onto a flour tortilla, and the plate went into the microwave for 45 seconds. Using the strainer spoon pictured below, I dumped burrito mix atop the tortilla and rolled it up, adding final toppings once the fat burrito was ready:



Wolfing down half the delicious burrito in about two minutes, I decided to take a picture of my plate for educational purposes: NEVER attempt to eat one of my burritos by hand, ALWAYS use fork, knife and spoon!!! Otherwise, you'll make a mess of your clothes, LOL.



BTW, somewhere between cutting the chicken and adding them to the veggies, I took the time to wash the skillet, colander, utensils, etc. Once you eat one of my signature burritos, you will NOT want to do dishes, better to knock a few out as you have a beer, that way you'll have less to do later.



Oh, yeah, I would include some tips about adding jumbo shrimp to the mix, or separately cooking Chilean Sea Bass with butter & herbs and flaking it into the burrito mix atop the tortilla prior to rolling everything up, but the library is about to close and I only have a few more minutes. Enjoy the recipe, I have I large pot full o' leftovers to mack tonight, and like all soups, stews, etc., this burrito mix only gets BETTER after a day or two in the fridge, LOL. Time to go, I hear an ice-cold beer and a spicy-hot burrito calling my name!!! CHEERS!!!

P.S. Those bananas you saw in the pics did NOT go into the burrito mix, those are for my breakfast cereal, along with some fresh raspberries in my fridge, LOL.

Congrats! And thank you for sharing this!!

Oh wow! You can come to my house anytime to make those burritos (sans the sour cream, that is)! Excellent! And thanks much for sharing your procedure.

Congrats on selling your house and so quickly!

I'm an omnivore, I can eat just about anything, LOL. Since I got the bum's rush out of the library at closing time yesterday, I wasn't able to add more tips. For instance, I sometimes grill the chicken on my BBQ, using lime or lemon juice to baste the fillets, then I cut up the chicken and add it to the veggie mix at the appropriate time. I do the same for carne asada now and then, using a "flash grilling" technique so as not to overcook the meat... and I use less peppers, onion & tomato for the carne asada mix. I still use cheese, sour cream & a little extra salsa in that recipe, and I eat with fork, knife & spoon instead of my hands.

When I make carne asada burritos, I like the dominant flavors to come from the meat and the guacamole, so I use less of the other stuff, 10-4? Those are absolutely delicious too, but I normally use a large skillet for the carne asada mix, not a deep pot as seen in the photos above. Like my chicken burritos, the carne asada burritos are filling, and the peppers are used more for spice & texture, rather than flaming heat, LOL. A good burrito mix will bring out all flavors, not just overwhelming pepper heat... no point in wasting other ingredients and ruining the mix by adding too many hot peppers.

As for my home, I'm glad I received a decent cash offer, all I have to do now is let the home inspection guy roam through tomorrow morning, no worries. This gal who wants to buy the home is very nice, and she evidently has enough money to finish the renovation. I just ran low on funds toward the end, and I don't mind flipping the home, even though I've had good times there. I don't mind trying my luck down around Sierra Vista, which is at an even higher elevation and offers more opportunities for steady year-round work. Elevation is the key to comfortable living in the high desert, less heat & humidity that way in summer.

Some folks might ask, "Why don't you just commute from Benson to Sierra Vista?" And here's why... I HATE commuting, I want to live minutes from wherever I work, not spend 45 minutes to an hour driving each way to and from work. I don't like unpaid driving, unless I'm on vacation or going to the store. That's just the way I am after decades of driving in coastal Kalifornia... ugh. I don't miss the rush hour traffic or the dangerous drivers in that overcrowded seaside ghetto, LOL. No road rage here in southeastern Arizona, don'tcha know? Folks are more laid-back here, not in such a hurry all the time...

Anyway, I'm going to pull this relocation and bring all the cats with me, parking them temporarily with a caretaker or boarding kennel. I found one gal who is willing to watch them for me, keeping them inside her home for the duration. The kittehs probably won't like being kept indoors, but she DID say that she has a large "sun room" in her home, and the kittehs will only be staying for so long before I yank 'em outta there and bring 'em to our next home. That'll be a happy day, I'm sure. Oh, yeah, forgot to mention that the buyer of my home doesn't want the 8' pool table, so it goes with me as well!!! WOOHOO!!!

Forgot to mention that this burrito mix is one of my "comfort foods"--- I also make some mean lasagna, delicious casseroles, beef roast with mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffed holiday turkeys with ALL the trimmings, etc. Another favorite is "Chicken & Rice" baked together the way me dear beloved mum used to do it... that is actually the very first "comfort food" I remember from my early childhood, I love simple Chicken & Rice with butter added before baking!!! That was also an economical way for my parents to feed nine children... couldn't go wrong with Chicken & Rice, LOL.

Sidewinder
Would you share the chicken and rice recipe please

Oh, it's pretty simple... me dear departed mum sometimes left the skins on, but I prefer to remove them before I get started. Bone-in is usually tastier than boneless chicken in this recipe. What I'll do is sautee the chicken in margarine or oil just long enough brown the pieces and make it easy to remove the skins. Once I've done that, I spread a few pats of butter across the bottom of a baking pan, pour in uncooked rice and spread it evenly in the pan, then lay the chicken pieces on top of the rice, pressing each piece down a bit so it's embedded in the uncooked rice, so to speak. How much rice you use depends upon what variety you like and the size of the pan... more on that in a moment.

Once the chicken is arranged in the pan, evenly distributed so the rice will be able to rise in the pan between the chicken pieces, I sprinkle a little bit of salt across the contents of the pan. Not much, just a little... sometimes, I will simply add dry gravy mix instead, using light-colored chicken gravy mix or some such product. Most of the time, I go with plain rice, chicken, butter & a smidgen of salt. One can also pour the original margarine or oil from the sauteed chicken into the baking pan, in lieu of butter... I often use both. I add enough water to the pan to cover the chicken pieces, then bake the lot at 325 to 350 degrees for at least an hour, allowing the rice to fully cook, rise and fill in the gaps between chicken pieces.

Sometimes it's easier to place the baking pan in the oven, then add water using a pitcher or glass... that way, the water won't slop onto the floor as one carries the pan to the oven. I usually cover my baking pan with foil too, just so the contents stay moist while cooking, and I remove the foil toward the end to brown the rice on top a bit, which turns out delicious. Once in awhile, if I think it's necessary, I'll add water to the contents during the cooking process... and sometimes, the lot takes longer to cook than I thought, particularly with larger pans and larger chicken pieces. As long as the dish is not allowed to thoroughly dry out, it will come out fine, and of course one can experiment with seasonings if they are desired. All depends upon personal tastes & preferences...

I remember macking plates of this Chicken & Rice dish when I was young... when done right, the rice is neither too dry nor too moist, and the browning on top adds wonderful flavor. The chicken should fall right off the bone with a fork, as it has been both "steamed" and baked along with the rice. Any decent brand of white rice works for me, that's what my mom used back in the day to keep costs down... I'm sure fancy rice or wild rice would also be delicious, but it might take a little longer. How much butter or seasoning you use is also a matter of personal preference... I'm the kind of cook who "wings it" in the kitchen, adding however much of any ingredient as I see fit, or adjusting the amount during the cooking process.

This is an easy dish to make, and you can make it even easier on yourself if you use one of those foil roasting pans instead of a regular baking pan. You know, the kind used for turkeys during the holidays... those are only a buck or two in some stores, and they'll save you from scrubbing the pan, LOL. I always make a large pan of this dish, as I love leftovers! And it never fails to satisfy me, probably because it was such a staple of my youth... it brings back good memories of the years when my family was still together. Again, if it seems too bland to you, you can always add ingredients... the gravy mix option is also pretty tasty, though my fondest memories involve simple chicken & rice with butter and a little salt, slightly browned on top.

REMEMBER THE OLD ADAGE: "HUNGER IS THE BEST SAUCE!!!"

Yumm-o!!

Sidewinder
Thank you! I think that’s close if not my grandma recipe. My mom adapted it too much I remember it was delicious and very simple to make.

I was reading a Western last night, and I suddenly remembered this: me beloved mum would sometimes throw a little diced onion into the pan with the rice & chicken, that tasted pretty good too. I occasionally do that nowadays, but I can easily omit the onion and still enjoy the dish. As long as one doesn't go overboard with the onion, either method turns out delicious!!!