The Chipotle Mexican Grill franchise often referred to as just Chipotle is truly spreading steadily across the world. Chipotle has brought Tex-Mex cuisine to the fast-food world and popularised burritos, tacos and quesadillas in places that may not have been accustomed to Mexican cuisine as far as France and Germany. The Chipotle burrito is one of the heroes of this story and it is believed to taste better the day after. If you know how to reheat your Chipotle burrito of course. Heating a burrito is not as simple as whacking it in the microwave for a minute or two because of the complex variety of ingredients in it. Chipotle burritos will include lettuce, guacamole and sour cream which all present a bit of conundrum when it comes to reheating. Let’s look at exactly what goes into the making of a Chipotle burrito before we can discuss reheating.
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Chipotle Burrito
The name Chipotle is derived from Spanish. It is a smoke-dried jalapeno pepper that features in many Mexican recipes. The burrito is a wrap that includes meat, rice, refried beans, vegetables and toppings. Chipotle burrito varieties include chicken, pork carnitas (similar to pulled pork), barbecue, steak, carne asada (chargrilled steak), vegetarian (guacamole) and tofu-based burritos known as sofritas. To these, you can add rice, beans, salsa, sour cream, lettuce and cheese. The wrap used is a tortilla wrap which is sometimes lightly grilled for crunch or steamed to soften it. It is these toppings, plus the fact that it is wrapped that make reheating a burrito very difficult. You want to warm the meat, rice and beans without warming the lettuce, sour cream and guacamole. You want to warm the burrito without burning the tortilla. So what are the options for heating a Chipotle burrito?
Oven
A trusted way of reheating your Chipotle burrito is in the oven. On the upside, you get a tortilla that is either crispy or soft depending on how you go about it. On the downside, the cold ingredients such as lettuce, guacamole, salsa and sour cream will also get heated up if you just stick it in the oven. I’m sure nobody out there wants to eat warm lettuce so the best idea would be to open up the burrito, remove as much of these cold ingredients as possible and then reheating after the reheating is done. There are two ways of heating the burrito in the oven but in both removing the cold ingredients is advisable. Firstly you can wrap the burrito completely in aluminium foil and place in the oven. You want to preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius and leave the burrito in the oven for 30 minutes. The low heat allows the burrito elements to heat slowly and through and through. This will produce a soft tortilla. If you want a crispy burrito then the second method is the one for you. Lay the burrito flat on aluminium foil in your oven tray. Preheat the oven to 100 degrees Celsius and heat the burrito for around 20 minutes. Making sure the heat is coming from the bottom this will give you a very crispy tortilla and heated ingredients.
Microwave
The microwave can heat a burrito just as well and offers the bonus of being much quicker than the conventional oven. Just like in the oven you should remove the cold ingredients first. Re-wrap the burrito then place it in a microwave-safe plate. Sprinkle drops of water on the burrito. Microwaves are notorious for drying out food in the heating process and this will prevent you from suffering this fate. When using a microwave it’s best to use a multiple-stage process to allow the heat to spread throughout the food. With your burrito, place it in the microwave for 1 minute. After the one minute, take it out of the microwave, flip it, sprinkle some more water and return it to the microwave for another minute. When reheating food the desired temperature is 70 degrees Celsius. You can check this with a food thermometer. But what to do if you don’t have one and aren’t sure of the internal temperature? When dealing with a microwave you’re better off heating the food to well over the eating temperature then letting it cool down to eating temperature. Once the burrito has heated up you can add back the cold ingredients.
Stove
The microwave is quick but doesn’t provide the best results. The oven provides great results but 30 minutes is a very long time to wait to sink your teeth into your lovely Chipotle burrito. If you don’t mind doing a little work you can also reheat a Chipotle burrito on the stovetop. You don’t need much, just a skillet and a spatula and you’re good to go. Place your pan or skillet on the stove on medium heat. Once the pan heats up, add a little oil. Again if your burrito has cold ingredients in it you might want to remove them first then add back after heating. Back to the pan place your wrapped burrito in the pan and press down on it for about one minute. Cover the pan and leave for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes flip the burrito and apply the same treatment. One minute pressing down with a spatula and 5 minutes covered. And now you have a lovely reheated burrito with a well-textured tortilla on the outside. Add back your cold ingredients and enjoy.
Grill
You could also reheat your burrito on a grill though it’s not expected to spark up a whole grill just to heat a burrito no matter how much you love them. Reheating a burrito on a grill takes quite some time so this is only recommended if you happened to have the grill in use and wanted to reheat your Chipotle burrito. You will have to have your burrito wrapped in foil. It should be clear by now that cold ingredients are best removed before heating. To best reheat the Chipotle burrito you want it away from the flame or direct heat. It works best over some mild embers. Place on a warm part of the grill and be sure to turn it every 3 minutes or thereabouts. You will need about 30 minutes of this treatment to fully reheat your Chipotle burrito. Once done you can add back the cold ingredients and enjoy.
So there are four great ways to reheat a Chipotle burrito. They are not created equal. If you love sour cream you could just leave the sour cream in the Chipotle burrito and add extra sour cream after the reheating.
