Southwestern Rice and Bean Burritos

I’m a huge fan of burritos, and these Southwestern Rice and Bean Burritos are no exception. While they aren’t strictly keto because of the rice and beans, you can easily lighten the carb load by using starch-resistant rice. I recently learned that cooked beans and legumes are naturally starch-resistant. Talk about a game changer! I put that discovery to the test with this recipe, and the results definitely lived up to the hype.

Ingredients

Instructions

Prepare the rice 24 hours in advance. Store in the refrigerator overnight to make the rice starch-resistant. Alternatively, you could use cauliflower rice. This works just as well.

When ready to prepare the burritos, heat the oil in a skillet. Also, wrap the tortillas in foil and heat them in the oven.

Sauté the onion, garlic, red bell pepper and jalapeno until softened.

Add the black beans and tomatoes. If you are not Keto, you can add the corn at this time. Corn is not a suitable ingredient on a Keto diet. I know; this is so sad. I have not found a substitution for corn, except for yellow squash diced into corn-sized dice. It works in some recipes, but not others. This is not one in which it works. Stir.

Stir in the chipotle chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Then stir in the cream cheese and let it melt, stirring occasionally to incorporate.

Fold in the starch-resistant rice and cook for 5 minutes to heat through.

Remove the tortillas from the oven. Place a tortilla on a plate. Spread the tortilla with a couple of tablespoons of refried beans. Spoon a few tablespoons of the rice mixture down the middle of the tortilla. Sprinkle with the Monterey Jack cheese and cilantro.

Fold the sides of the tortilla about an inch or two, then roll it up to seal. Wrap the burrito in the foil square and keep warm in the oven.

Repeat this process with all the burritos. Keep warm until serving. You can freeze the burritos instead of keeping them warm because they are good for lunch and dinner.