This Copy Cat Taco Bell Grilled Cheese Burrito is gooey, cheesy, and is absolutely delicious. No need to order take out when you can make yourself a grilled cheese burrito!
Taco Bell Grilled Cheese Burrito
Raise your hand if you’ve had the Taco Bell Grilled Cheese Burrito. It is one of the most delicious items to come out of Taco Bell’s kitchen. It has a creamy and cheesy inside with a crispy cheesy outside. You just can’t beat it.
Why we’re obsessed with these burritos
- You can make the famous Grilled Cheese Burrito in the comfort of your own home.
- We love the crispy and cheesy outside of the grilled cheese burrito.
- Double the recipe and you’ll have grilled cheese burritos all week long.
Ingredients You Need
All the ingredients for this grilled cheese burrito are ingredients people usually have in their home. It’s a mixture of delicious chipotle flavors and other easy ingredients.
What’s in the Taco Bell grilled cheese burrito?
Taco Bell’s grilled cheese burrito is made with spiced ground beef, a cheesy queso, and chipotle sour cream. Our version uses similar ingredients, but easier to make.
- Ground beef– we use seasoned beef as a base for this grilled cheese burrito. We used 85/15 ground beef.
- Spices (granulated garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper)- the ground beef is spiced with garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper.
- Sour cream– oh baby, don’t skip the sour cream. It makes the creaminess to the burrito center
- Chipotle hot sauce– the key flavor in this burrito is chipotle and it comes from a delicious chipotle sour cream in Taco Bell’s burrito. We make our own with chipotle hot sauce.
- Cayenne pepper- we add a little heat to the chipotle hot sauce with cayenne pepper.
- Spanish Rice- it wouldn’t be a burrito without rice!
- Cheddar jack cheese– shredded cheddar jack cheese goes both inside of the burrito and melted cheese on the outside.
- Red tortilla strips– the crunch in the middle of Taco Bell grilled cheese burrito are spicy red tortilla strips.
- Olive oil– adding a little olive oil to the skillet pan to makes sure the tortillas don’t stick to the pan.
- Large burrito tortillas- you want to have large or XL flour tortillas. There is a lot of filling that goes into these bad boys.
Ingredient Swaps
There are some easy swaps for this burrito recipe, but remember, if you make swaps it will taste less like Taco Bell’s version.
ground beef—> ground turkey, ground pork, ground chicken, or a mixture
sour cream—> plain Greek yogurt
Spanish rice—> white or brown rice
cheddar jack cheese —> cheddar, Monterey jack, white cheddar cheese
It’s All About the Seasoned Sour Cream
The chipotle sour cream in the Taco Bell Grilled Cheese burrito adds so much creaminess to the inside of the grilled cheese burrito. Taco Bell uses both chipotle sour cream and a cheese queso.
We skip the cheese queso and add shredded cheese to the chipotle sour cream to make an easier cheese sauce and to cut some steps out of the recipe.
As you cook the burrito after assembly the cheese melts in the chipotle sour cream and becomes a delicious cheese sauce.
Where do I buy chipotle sour cream?
You can find chipotle sour cream in some specialty grocery stores. We make our own chipotle sour cream using tabasco chipotle hot sauce (it’s SO good) and sour cream.
still want queso?
Still want queso in your burrito? Feel free to add 1/4 cup of our delicious queso to your burrito for an extra creamy and dirty burrito.
How to Make this Grilled Cheese Burrito
The key to making the process for this burrito easier is to make sure you measure out all of your ingredients ahead of time and then following the directions so that assembly goes smoothly.
Cook the Ground Beef
Add your ground beef to a large skillet pan first and cook the beef down and then add the chili powder, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper to the beef. Cook the beef in the spices until it is fully cooked.
Make the seasoned sour cream
Prepare the chipotle sour cream after the beef is done. Add the sour cream, chipotle hot sauce, cayenne pepper together in a bowl.
Assemble the burritos
Some people like to layer their burritos but for this recipe we suggest mixing all of the ingredients together in a small bowl and then adding it to the middle of your tortilla.
Why do we combine the filling before? It allows the cheese and the chipotle sour cream to get gooey and melty inside the tortilla.
Tightly wrap your tortilla so that all of the filling is nestled in the middle of the burrito with no way to fall out. Repeat until you have four burritos.
Melt the Cheese
It’s time to melt a little cheese that will eventually be a cheesy blanket around your burrito. Drizzle olive oil to a pan and then sprinkle 1/4 cup of shredded cheese in a line in the middle of the skillet pan. Place the burrito on top of the cheese.
Make Your grilled cheese burrito
Place a heavy cast iron skillet on top of the burrito and allow the cheese to melt into the burrito for 3-4 minutes. Slowly flip the burrito with a spatula and brown the other side of the burrito. Repeat until all the burritos have been cooked in cheese.
Tips + Questions
Can I make this recipe vegetarian?
Yes, you can replace the ground beef with minced mushrooms (be sure to cook them down) or your favorite vegetarian ground.
What ingredients can I add to a grilled cheese burrito?
Feel free to add cooked peppers, onions, or mushrooms to this burrito.
What do I dip my grilled cheese burrito in?
We love dipping our grilled cheese burritos in salsa or hot sauce.
Will Taco Bell bring back the grilled cheese burrito?
The Taco bell grilled cheese burrito is currently at Taco Bell. Go get one and compare it to this recipe!
How to Store?
Store these burritos in an airtight container after letting them cool completely. They will last for about 3 days in the fridge.
Can I Freeze?
Yes, you can freeze these burritos. Let the burritos cool completely and then individually wrap them in tin foil. Freeze them for up to 3 months.
To reheat these burritos, unwrap the burritos and place them cheese side up on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with olive oil and bake them at 350ºF for 25-30 minutes.
Taco Bell Grilled Cheese Burrito
Ingredients
Seasoned Beef
- 1 lb. 85/15 ground beef
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Chipotle Sour Cream
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoons chipotle hot sauce
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Other Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked spanish rice we used one pouch of this already cooked spanish rice
- 3 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese separated
- 1 cup red tortilla strips we used these
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 extra large burrito tortillas we used these
Instructions
- First, prepare the beef. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef skillet and break the meat up. Sprinkle the granulated garlic, chili powder, salt, and pepper to the beef.
- Let the beef cook in the spices until it is fully cooked, 5-7 minutes.
- Remove the beef from the heat and set aside.
- Prepare the chipotle sour cream. Add the sour cream, chipotle hot sauce, and cayenne pepper to a bowl and mix until well combined. Set aside.
- Assemble a burrito. Add ¼ pound of beef to a large bowl. Add ¼ cup chipotle sour cream, ¼ cup rice, ½ cup cheese, and ¼ cup tortilla strips to the bowl. Fold the ingredients together until combined. Add the mixture to the middle of a tortilla. Then, fold in 2 sides and roll it into a burrito.
- Cook the burrito. Heat the same large nonstick skillet over medium/high heat. Add 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil to the skillet. When the olive oil is fragrant add ¼ cup cheese in the shape of a line in the center of the nonstick skillet and place the burrito on top of the cheese.
- Carefully place a heavy cast iron skillet on top of the burrito. Let the burrito cook with the cheese for 3-4 minutes or until the cheese melts and begins to brown.
- Remove the cast iron skillet from the burrito and carefully flip the burrito. Cook the burrito for an additional 2-3 minutes or until browned on the opposite side. Remove the burrito from the skillet.
- Repeat steps 5-7 until all 4 burritos are assembled and cooked.
- Let the burrito rest for 1 minutes before serving.
Tips & Notes
- We found that if you mix all the ingredients together and then wrap them, the cheese melts best. If you are a layered burrito kind of a person, feel free to layer as well. It is delicious either way.
- Be sure to buy XL tortillas, you will need the room.
This recipe is delicious and super fun! I’ve never had this specific burrito from Taco Bell but loved the idea of melting cheese on the outside of a burrito. It was easier to make than it looks, and I love the shortcut of using precooked rice. We also added refried black beans into our burritos.
I don’t think I can go back to boring plain burritos ever again!
Three cheers for never eating boring burritos again! So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Devan 😀
The directions don’t tell you to add the rice so I almost forgot to add it to the burrito. I would put on the mixture so it would stay in place better.
Thanks for catching that, Gary! We’ve updated the recipe 🙂
This recipe is great! My son’s a little obsessed with these at Taco Bell, and this recipe is spot on!
Wahoo!