This restaurant-worthy, Mexican-inspired, Fire & Earth Burrito recipe features black beans, barley, and red lentils. But believe me, when you taste it, “this is good for me” is the last thing you’ll think. Instead, you’ll be overwhelmed with deliciousness.
Ingredients
1¼ cup dried black beans
3 cups water
2 tsp coarse salt
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp onion powder
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1 small bay leaf
Fresh, coarsely ground black pepper
¾ cup pearled barley
1¾ cup of red lentils
Pepper-jack cheese, sliced
Large tortillas
Salsa roja
Pico de gallo
Diced tomatoes
Sour cream (optional)
Salsa picante (extra hot)
Directions
- Rinse beans under cold water to remove any debris. Place beans in an Instant Pot with 4 cups of water. Add salt, oregano, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, and black pepper. Set the Instant Pot to PRESSURE COOK, normal (15 minutes), high (pressure); natural release 5 minutes.
- Stir barley to the Instant Pot. Set the Instant Pot to PRESSURE COOK, more (17 minutes), high (pressure); natural release 5 minutes.
- Rinse lentils under cold water to remove excess starch, agitating them with your hand as you do. Stir lentils to the Instant Pot.* Set the Instant Pot to PRESSURE COOK, less (3 minutes), high (pressure); natural release 15 minutes.
- The bean mixture should have absorbed all the water, but should not have scorched – like a good pot of rice. Stir the mixture with a sturdy wooden spoon to break down the beans to the point that they just hold the mixture together. Add water if the mixture seems too dry. Correct seasoning.
- For one burrito, place two slices of cheese on a tortilla. Microwave until the cheese melts, 30 seconds. Add a portion of the bean mixture, salsa roja, pico, tomatoes, (sour cream), and salsa picante. Roll up and devour.
Notes
- I developed this recipe for a six-quart Instant Pot. If using a different size or type of pot, you may need to make modifications.
- Substitutions: za’atar for the oregano
- *So long as you don’t accidentally overshoot your natural release timings, there should be no need to add additional water to the Instant Pot. If the mixture does becomes too dry, you’ll get a “burn” notification. If you do, add a cup of water, diligently deglaze the pan, and continue cooking.
If I were served this burrito in a restaurant, I’d be quite pleased with it. It’s so vibrant with flavor that it’s nearly addictive. No single flavor predominates, and the individual flavors don’t “meld” as much as they “kaleidoscope.”
Social Learning
By “salsa roja,” I mean a “cooked” salsa. The kind you might buy in a jar and dip nacho chips into. I like Newman’s Own Mango Chunky Salsa. It’d decidedly sweet, which I don’t like in principle, but it’s actually so nice in this burrito, that I’m inclined to require it.
By “pico de gallo,” I mean any kind of uncooked, fresh salsa. For the photos in this post, I used one that featured fresh corn.
If you want to make your own fresh or cooked salsa, look through the Mexican-inspired reciepes on this blog.
How firey this Fire & Earth burrito is going to be is up to you. The amount of red pepper flakes I’ve called for barely leaves the bean mixture registering on the Lawrence scale. If you like heat, you might consider doubling it. On the other hand, the extra-hot picante really ignites things. I like to go easy with it: drips here and there, rather than drawing a solid line across the tortilla. That leaves you with a heat that dances with the ingredients rather than overpowers them.
Without the sour cream, this is a fairly lean burrito. It does have two slices of cheese, which is the only significant source of fat – and it really needs both slices to balance the bean mixture. Adding in the sour cream moves it into the luxurious strata, which is the bump it needs to become restaurant quality. The sour cream also allows you to taste the other ingredients in a fresh way.
The three salsas bring not only tastiness and texture, but they brighten the burrito into something that really sings with flavor.
Reheating leftovers is easy: the cheese and the bean mixture, atop a tortilla, will be perfect after one minute in the microwave.
The Backstory
This burrito was a pantry pull. Don’t tell me you don’t have partial bags of beans, grains, and legumes in the far reaches of your pantry! In fact, when I pulled the barley from the cupboard, I had to get Google to identify it for me through my camera, because I’d not only forgotten buying it, I wasn’t even sure what it was.
Fire & Earth Burrito
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Grazie, adoro questo mangiare, molto invitante!!!!
Thank you!
Using the Instant Pot and your easy step-by-step instructions makes preparing this so easy. Also, your tips for adjusting the heat were perfect… its’ definitely wise to be careful with that extra-hot picante!!
Thanks, Heidi!
Your recipe is really singing out to me Jeff. I love the idea of the Mango salsa too. Every Christmas I make a batch of my mango chutney if mangos are good, this mango chunky salsa sounds like a new direction for me this year. Can’t wait to try this recipe this weekend. I love that restaurant quality Mexican food is possible at home.
Thanks, Pauline!
I cannot even imagine what’s in the far reaches of my pantry! It might be too frightening to find out… Your burrito looks absolutely perfect, Jeff. At first look, I assumed it was meat. I love that it’s legumes and so healthy. But you definitely need the cheese and the sour cream. A minor nod to the gods of fat!
Couldn’t agree more, David. This burrito was beautifully “meaty” without any meat!
This would most definitely bloat me like hell…LOL..I guess that’s why I am not fancy Mexican food. Can’t stomach any legumes though I love them.
Ah! That would be terrible!
Mate, this is genius! I’ve got all these odd bits of lentils and beans lying around, and now I know exactly what to do with them. Love how hearty and wholesome it is without tasting “healthy”. Definitely restaurant-worthy!
Thank you!
Humm, toutes ces saveurs, ce doit être délicieux.
Bizzz.
Thank you!
I love Mexican food. And these burritos look delicious.
Thank you!
I would like to try it, this burrito must be very tasty
Thank you, Javier!
This looks delicious! I eat mostly vegetarian, the beans & barley would be nice and filling. I love barley’s chewiness.
🙂
What a fun recipe. We adore Mexican flavours, so this one would be a hit with us. I would add cilantro, but that might be a controversial choice.
I’m not sure why I didn’t add it myself!
Looks delicious to me ! I’ll have to give the Newman’s Mango Chunky Salsa a try. I’m a fan of mango salsa. I like that you make the black beans + in the IP , but my beans never seem to come out as good or as thick as the canned black beans.
Oh that’s interesting. Usually, I try to get them to come out slightly more al dente than the canned version. But I do like canned beans, and I often think it’s not worth doing it yourself when you can get them canned.
Oh this definitely looks like my kinda meal, Jeff! We occasionally do a fridge/pantry purge, and tacos (burritos) are always an excellent way to use things up. You caught me attention here with the use of 3 different salsas! I’d love to sit down to this burrito tonight for dinner.
Thanks, David! GMTA!
You had me at fire. This looks so good.
Thank you!
I just love that Instant Pot ! It makes cooking so much easier and doesn’t throw off a lot of heat in the summer. This looks absolutely delicious.
Thanks, Judee!