As I’ve mentioned a few times before, my mom is an excellent cook. Even since she moved to Chicago, she’s always texting me videos of what she’s creating and crafting in the kitchen. I remember a few years ago she sent me a video of her homemade healthy chicken burritos. They were filled with green chile, bell peppers, potatoes, recaito, salsa and cheese; as soon as I took one look I knew I was going to have to recreate them for both myself and the blog.
Tony and I made a big batch one afternoon and couldn’t stop devouring them the rest of the week because they were FABULOUS. They keep perfectly in the fridge, and we even froze a few so that we could pull them out for an easy lunch or dinner. Guaranteed family favorite weeknight dinner. I hope you get a chance to make them, and if you do, don’t forget to leave a comment and rate the recipe!
Ingredients in these healthy chicken burritos
For these green chile chicken burritos you’ll find a recaito sauce, chicken, deliciously spiced potatoes and plenty of yummy add-ins. Here’s what you’ll need:
- For the recaito: garlic, yellow onion, red and green bell peppers, cilantro, jalapeño, and diced green chiles. More notes on what recaito is below!
- For the chicken: you’ll need ground chicken (or ground turkey) for plenty of lean protein.
- Spices: we’re seasoning the chicken with cumin, salt, and pepper. Easy!
- For the potatoes: we’re using gold potatoes and garlic powder. Some people like to add rice to their burritos, but I choose potatoes every time!
- Delicious add-ins: your favorite salsa (salsa verde would be delish) or enchilada sauce (my homemade enchilada sauce recipe would be perfect in here!) plus your favorite shredded cheese.
- Burrito-sized tortillas: feel free to use corn tortillas, flour tortillas, whole wheat, or gluten-free tortillas.
What is recaito?
Recaito, also known as sofrito, is a traditional Puerto Rican cooking base used in tons of different recipes like soups, stews and rice dishes. It’s typically a combination of herbs like culantro, garlic, green pepper and occasionally fresh tomatoes, but in this healthy chicken burrito recipe, my mom and I make it with garlic, onion, green and red bell pepper, cilantro, jalapeño and green chiles. SO SO GOOD.
Customize these freezer-friendly chicken burritos
Because these healthy chicken burritos are so easy to make, they’re also great for customizing! Here’s what I can recommend:
- Try them vegetarian: instead of using ground chicken or turkey, feel free to add a can of black beans or pinto beans! Just add a drained can of black beans after cooking down the recaito.
- Make a breakfast option: feel free to scramble some eggs with the recaito for a delicious breakfast burrito.
- Go dairy free: feel free to omit the cheese or use your favorite dairy free cheese.
Tips for making burritos
- Use slightly warm tortillas. This makes them much easier to roll so that they don’t split or break. You can warm them up for 10-20 seconds in the microwave before assembling.
- Don’t overfill. Be sure to evenly distribute the chicken burrito filling, potatoes, and just about 3 tablespoons of shredded cheese onto each tortilla.
- Do the “tuck & roll.” The ultimate trick for rolling up burritos! Just remember to tuck the ends in, then roll up your burrito.
Delicious ways to serve them
The cheese and salsa truly “complete” each burrito, but have fun dipping or topping them with:
- Homemade guacamole
- Extra salsa
- Sour cream
- Fresh avocado
- Hot sauce for a spicy kick
How to freeze homemade chicken burritos
- To freeze: simply wrap each burrito individually in plastic wrap, then in tin foil, and place in the freezer. Burritos will stay good in the freezer for up to 3 months. The perfect meal prep dinner or lunch!
- To reheat: remove your chicken burrito from the foil and plastic wrap and microwave until warmed, about 2-3 minutes. That’s it!
More tacos, enchiladas & burritos
- Amazing Easy Turkey Tacos (with a slow cooker option!)
- Dreamy Refried Bean Chicken Enchiladas with Homemade Enchilada Sauce
- Sheet Pan Roasted Veggie Tacos (with yummy sauce options!)
- Sweet Potato Black Bean Enchiladas with Avocado Lime Crema
- Healthy Sweet Potato, Black Bean & Avocado Breakfast Burritos
Get all of my taco, enchilada & burrito recipes here!
I hope you love these healthy, freezer-friendly green chile chicken burritos as much as we did! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe. xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Healthy Chicken Burritos (freezer-friendly!)
Ingredients
- For the recaito mixture:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup very finely diced yellow onion
- ½ cup very finely diced green bell pepper
- ½ cup very finely diced red bell pepper
- ½ cup very finely diced cilantro
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
- 1 (4.5 ounce) can diced green chiles
- For the chicken:
- 1 pound lean ground chicken (or turkey) 93%
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the potatoes:
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 ½ cups diced gold potatoes (½ inch diced)
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Add-ins:
- ½ cup your favorite salsa or enchilada sauce
- 1 ½ cup shredded Mexican blend cheese (or any kind of shredded cheese you’d like)
- For the burritos:
- 8 burrito size tortillas (regular, whole wheat or gluten free)
Instructions
- First make the recaito mixture: add olive oil to a large skillet or pot and place over medium heat. Add in garlic, diced onion, diced green and red bell pepper, cilantro, jalapeno and diced green chiles. Saute for 5 minutes or until onions and peppers become tender.
- Cook the ground chicken: Next add in ground chicken to the same skillet and break apart the meat. The recaito mixture will naturally mix in with the chicken and that’s what we want! Sprinkle with cumin and salt and pepper and cook until chicken is fully cooked and no longer pink. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and set aside.
- Cook the potatoes: In the same skillet or pot, add in another tablespoon of olive oil, diced potatoes, garlic powder and salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until potatoes are browned and tender. You may need to cover the potatoes with a lid and/or add a tablespoon of water to prevent them from burning. Once potatoes are done you can remove from heat and set aside.
- Assemble the burritos: make sure you have slightly warm tortillas; it makes them easier to roll. You can warm them up for 10-20 seconds in the microwave before assembling. Lay out warm tortillas and evenly distribute chicken mixture and potatoes and about 3 tablespoons shredded cheese onto each tortilla. Next drizzle about a tablespoon of enchilada sauce or salsa in each. Tuck ends in, then roll up burritos.
- To warm up: Place on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees F for 5-10 minutes or simply microwave them for a minute or two. If you like to get them a little crispy on the outside, drizzle olive oil in a skillet and place over medium heat. Place burritos seam side down for a few minutes until they are golden brown, then flip and brown on final side. Serve with greek yogurt, salsa, avocado or hot sauce. Makes 8 burritos. Freezer instructions are in the notes.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on September 21st, 2020, republished on March 28th, 2022, republished on January 16th, 2024, and republished on September 10th, 2025.
Do you have an alternative for the diced green chiles? They are impossible to find where I live ☹️
Feel free to omit them or just add extra jalapeño or green bell pepper!
Do you have a cleaner tortilla brand you like??
I like the Whole Foods branded tortillas as well! But feel free to look at the ingredient lists to find what works best for you.
I couldn’t find burrito tortillas at the grocery store so I served them over rice & turned them into burrito bowls instead–delicious!! I also used red onion & a mixture of orange & yellow peppers since that was what I had on hand.
Love that idea! Perfect dinner!
Could I make this into a soup instead of a burrito by adding chicken broth?
I haven’t tested that so I’m not sure what all I would add and change in the recipe!
This recipe was a huge hit and was easy to put together for a weekday dinner. All the ingredients are items I usually have on hand and have since made it with ground pork because that’s what I had available.
Perfect! Glad everyone enjoyed!
I make this recipe all the time and my husband and I love it! Sometimes I omit the potatoes and just use the rest of the ingredients to make tacos!
Very tasty and delicious!
Love that! So glad they’re a hit!
I made these with ground pork a few times and they are delicious! They freeze well for make-ahead burritos too.
Delish! I am so glad you’re loving this recipe, makes me so happy to hear!
I made this recipe to prepare for when my baby was born and it helped a ton when we had it stored in the freezer! Definitely recommend!
Ahh that’s amazing to hear! Such a great idea. Thanks for the review ❤️
Thoughts on subbing in sweet potatoes instead of golden?
Love that idea!
OMG! Sounds incredibly yummy 🙂 Going to pin this recipe. Have to try it immediately, Thanks for such an amazing recipe.
An absolute staple for me!! These burritos are unreal and the base recaito mixture can be used in so many other yummy dishes!
Yay!! Glad that these are in your rotation 🙂
My husband and I love these quick burritos for an easy weeknight dinner. They are filling and pack some great flavor. Also make greatttt leftovers!
Such a good easy din, right?! Happy you guys enjoyed them!
First time I made this and it was delicious! Easy and quick to put together…would even use this as a breakfast wrap by adding in egg! Fantastic!
Yay!! Glad that you loved them, Lindsey! And yes great idea to add egg in here 🙂
Would you be able to use shredded chicken instead of ground chicken?
That’s a great idea, absolutely!
These are amazing! I made them for my meal prep this week, and I had one for lunch today. So good. I made them vegetarian by using a full green and red pepper, and I added a couple tomatoes. I didn’t miss the meat.
Nice!! So glad that they were delish without the chicken 🙂
These were delicious! Took me a little more than an hour to prepare, but considering the recipe makes 8 servings I have no complaints. Recipe makes the perfect amount of filling for 8. These are pretty much as healthy as you can get for a burrito, and they weren’t too heavy. Freezing the extras and will make again!
So glad you enjoyed! They can be a bit labor intensive making all of them but are perfect for meal prepping 🙂
Delicious! New favorite burrito recipe. Only thing I changed was I roasted the potatoes in the oven for ease and to finish cooking quicker.
Perfect! Glad you loved them!
This is probably my all time favourite freezer meal! The flavours are so delicious and it reheats perfectly. So nice to have an alternative freezer meal from the typical soup or pasta. Thank you Monique!
So happy to hear that! And yes, a great change up from soups 🙂
I love this burrito recipe. It’s so easy to make, a little time consuming to get everything cut up nice and small but once it’s all prepped it is very easy to put together. It’s a nice change from the traditional taco/burrito flavors and I love the green chilies. A must try!
Absolutely! Perfect for meal prep 🙂
Meal prepped these thinking it would be an easy lunch… SHOCKED by how good they are. This is not your average burrito.
So happy to hear that!!
The recaito mixture, YUM! I just wanted to eat it straight out of the bowl with some tortilla chips haha. Followed the recipe as instructed, used turkey meat vs chicken. I made two of the burritos fresh for dinner, then froze the other six. The burrito were great fresh, I added avocado and salsa. I reheated these in the microwave, they got slightly soggy, but edible and good the taste. I’d like to try microwave, then crisping in the oven possibly? I do not have a history of loving freezer burritos in general, but I am trying too because having a meal ready to go is great. I will definitely make these burritos again! Thank you!
So delicious! Yes, try reheating in the oven next time and let me know how it goes 🙂
I made these burritos specifically so that I could freeze them and have easy lunches in the future. However, my husband didn’t let me put them in freezer because he claimed they would all be eaten in the next few days. He was right!
Perfect! Such a great dinner for meal prep 🙂
These are a perfect meal prep lunch!! They freeze really well and taste delicious! Definitely will make again 🙂
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
These were bomb.
So glad you loved them!
These burritos been a game changer for me. My husband and I work opposite schedules and having these in the freeze is a life saver when we are eating at totally different times. The green chili gives them such a great flavor and they heat up quickly and easily in the microwave.
Such a great meal prep dinner! glad you both like them 🙂
Made these today…SO GOOD! Biggest shocker was that my latin-flavors-hating-husband ate two in under 5 minutes. These were supposed to be my grab-n-go lunches!! Luckily they were a breeze to make so the ingredients will be back on my shopping list for next week. Thanks for another great recipe 🙂
Amazing! So happy they were a hit!
We LOVED this recipe and have leftovers for days in the freezer. I had doubled the recipe and made it in my wok because there were so many ingredients. I’m not sure if this is why, but there was so much liquid in the meat/veggie mix. I let this sit in the mix for a little while I finished the potatoes, but then drained it all away. Not sure if this was normal but I think it would’ve been to watery otherwise.
Delicious! And hmmm it could just be the specific veggies themselves having some extra water. Absolutely feel free to drain if you like! Glad you enjoyed.
One of the best burritos I’ve ever had (even better that I made it!!)
So happy to hear that!
Thanks for the great idea for a delicious meal
Absolutey!
OKAY. Like everything else of Monique’s I make, these are bomb. Added scrambled eggs to make them breakfast burritos. 🙌🏼
Love it! So delicious 🙂
I made these yesterday and they were SO good! The Green Chile Chicken Burritos was so flavorful and the was perfect. My kids voted this their favorite quarantine meal so far!
Love that! So glad they were a hit!