I have often bought breakfast burritos at a fast food restaurant or in the cafeteria downstairs in my office building.  What had always killed me was the fact that I was paying between $1 and $2 for something that I could make for a fraction of the cost.  These are simply eggs, tortillas, meat and cheese.  All of which are not particularly expensive.  I have calculated the cost of the burritos in the past and it tends to come out to be around $0.40 and $0.50 each.

The only problem I tended to encounter was the fact that I simply did not have enough time in the morning to make breakfast burritos every morning before work.  The beauty of breakfast burritos is that they freeze great so they can be readily available to grab one or two out of the freezer on my way to work.  What I will do is on a Saturday or Sunday when I have some time available is make a large batch of the burritos for the freezer. The recipe below will make about 24 burritos, which would be enough for an entire month’s worth of breakfasts.

I have found that Costco is the least expensive place to buy my egg whites, tortillas and cheese.  The breakfast sausage I will buy in bulk when it is on sale and then toss in the freezer.  They are very easy to defrost in warm water as the packages are water-tight.  I also tend to fill my pantry with salsa when I find it on sale (I prefer Herdez as my normal salsa, but for this recipe I would recommend draining it in a fine-mesh sieve as it tends to be a little watery).

Be careful about not overcooking the eggs.  When you are cooking the eggs in such a large quantity, it is very easy to over-cook them.  You will know you are starting to over-cook the eggs, as the eggs will begin to become very watery.  This is due, to the fact that as the eggs cook, the protein starts contracting and begins to squeeze the water out of the eggs like a sponge.  Cook the eggs on a lower temperature than you are used to and stop cooking them before they look done.  The residual heat in the eggs will finish cooking them.

Breakfast Burritos

INGREDIENTS

12 oz reduced fat breakfast sausage

3 cartons egg whites -OR- 24 large eggs

16 oz jar salsa

24 fajita -or- taco sized flour tortillas

12 oz Mexican cheese, shredded

24 12”x12” squares wax paper

In a large high-rimmed skillet cook the sausage over medium high heat until well browned.  Drain and move to a small bowl.

While the skillet still hot turn the heat down to medium and add the eggs.  Cook, scraping the bottom of the pan every so often with either a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon.  Cook until the eggs appear to be nearly done – they should still be a little runny – and turn off the heat.  If the eggs are watery then you may want to drain the eggs in a fine mesh strainer or colander.

Add the salsa and reserved sausage once the eggs have set and stir to combine.

Take out one tortilla and place 1/3 cup of the egg mixture in a line just below the middle of the tortilla.  Add ½ oz (about 2 Tbsp) of the cheese on top of the egg mixture and roll up the tortilla.  If you are planning on freezing the burritos, place against the edge of one of the squares of wax paper and roll, tucking in the edges once you have rolled the burrito over once in the wax paper.

To defrost the frozen burritos, place in a microwave and cook for between 1 minute and 1:45 minutes.

Calories: 246 per burrito

mymeltedpot.com