Have you heard of a California burrito? If you haven't been to California you are seriously missing out. This vegan California burrito is stuffed with oven baked french fries, pico de gallo, portobello asada, spicy salsa, vegan cheese, and guacamole. It is the perfect meal after a long day surfing on a sunny beach. I must confess that when I first moved to California a couple of years ago, I was puzzled by this behemoth of a burrito, but somehow this strange combination works!
I am still in Mexico, and finding a flour tortilla large enough to make this burrito was a huge challenge. None of the grocery stores seemed to have them. I had to go to a tortilleria and ask them to make them for me. Even then they were very confused. They kept telling me that the tortillas they already sold were perfect for burritos, and I'm sure they were, but they were pretty small. I had to demonstrate with my hands a tortilla the size of my head. They kind of looked at me like I was crazy, but they made a couple of tortillas for me. The burritos in my part of Mexico are more like slightly large flour tortilla tacos, nothing like the giant burritos you buy in the US, that's why the ladies at the tortilleria were so surprised at my request.
I hope you enjoyed the Easter holiday with your loved ones as much as I did. We had lots of family come in from out of town and had lots of fun and activities. I'm still exhausted! I had forgotten how wonderful and stressful it is to have a really big family. I had the opportunity to see some of my cousins that I hadn't seen for years, and it was so nice to talk and have our children play together. I look forward to doing it again soon.
The Recipe: Vegan California Burrito
I used portobello mushrooms, in place of steak, but you can use the recipe for the marinade on tempeh or seitan if you prefer. I also omitted the vegan cheese, because of my dislike for all vegan cheeses, but if you have a favorite brand you are more than welcome to add it to your burrito. (I would love to hear what your favorite brand of vegan cheese is.) Make your burrito as big or small as you like and enjoy!
Here are some recipes for salsa that you can use in your burrito:
The Best Vegan California Burrito
Ingredients
Portobello Asada
- 6 Portobello mushrooms, rinsed, sliced ¼ in. thick
- ¼ cup Soy Sauce
- ⅓ cup Water
- 1 tbsp. Lime juice, fresh
- 3 Garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp. Chopped cilantro
- 1 tsp. Chopped jalapeño or serrani
Oven Baked Fries
- 4 Medium potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼ in. matchsticks
- 1 tbsp. All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. Salt
Burrito
- 2 Large flour tortillas or 4 medium ones
- ¾ cup Pico de Gallo
- ¾ cup Salsa of your choice
- 2 Avocadoes, pitted, flesh removed
- 1 Lime
- ¾ cup Vegan Shredded Cheddar Cheese (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450F
- Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a Ziploc bac and add the sliced mushrooms to it. Let marinate for 1 hr. up to 24 hours.
- In a large bowl toss the potatoes with the flour and salt. Arrange fries in a single layer on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 min. then flip the fries and bake for 15 more minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Mash the avocadoes and season with salt and pepper and a splash of lime juice.
- Heat a large sauté pan to medium-high heat, remove excess marinade from mushroom and add to the pan. Sauté mushrooms for 6-8 minutes or until almost all the liquid has evaporated and the mushroom are golden brown. Set aside.
Assemble Burritos
- Heat tortillas on a comal or griddle. Add baked French fries, mushroom asada, pico de gallo, guacamole, salsa, and vegan cheese. Roll into a burrito. If your burrito is really big you will have to secure it with aluminum foil.
- If you prefer, you can place your rolled burrito on the griddle or plancha and brown a couple of minutes on each side.
How long does It take to do this recipe?
It takes about 40 minutes
Hello! This burrito looks wonderful...I don't like store bought vegan cheezes either but have learned how to make my own with lots of help from FB pages & books. My two favorite are The Non-Dairy Evolution & by Skye Michael Conroy & The Art of Vegan Cheese by Miyoko Schinner. You are so amazing and I am thrilled to find you. I put in a request to join your FB Vegan Mexican Group. I love love love Mexican food after living in Los Angeles for 20 years! So looking forward to new recipes.
I'll have to give some of those cheese recipes a try! We love Califonia, we lived there for a couple of years and miss is it so much. I'll add you to the group.
These look good! Hope your pregnancy is going along well.
HI Sally, my pregnancy is going well. I will be posting a pregnancy update soon on the blog.