These delectable baked burritos mojados (wet burritos) are stuffed with succulent chicken, fragrant Mexican rice with pinto beans, and cheese. They're wrapped with a big, fluffy, flour tortilla before baking until heated through. Finally they're topped with a colorful medley of sauces that replicate the colors of the Mexican flag. Not only are they beautiful to look at, but they are out-of-this-world delicious!
1 ½poundsboneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders, trimmed
6tablespoonsminced fresh cilantro
6(10-inch) flour tortillas
2avocadoshalved, pitted, and cut into ½-inch pieces
8ouncesMonterey Jack cheese, shredded(2 cups)
1 ½cupstomatillo salsa (salsa verde)(store-bought or homemade)
Wateras needed
½cupMexican crema
Instructions
Bring 1 ¼ cups broth, rice, beans, 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder, and ½ teaspoon salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until rice is tender and broth is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove rice from heat and let sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Add scallions and fluff with fork to incorporate. Cover to keep warm.
Meanwhile, cook oil, garlic, and the remaining 3 tablespoons chili powder in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce and remaining 1 cup broth and bring to simmer. Nestle chicken into the sauce. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until chicken registers 165°F, 10 to 15 minutes, flipping halfway through cooking.
Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let cool slightly. Using 2 forks, shred chicken into bite-size pieces. Toss the chicken with ¼ cup of the reserved red sauce and 2 tablespoons cilantro in a bowl. Set remaining sauce aside.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Wrap tortillas in damp dish towel or paper towel and microwave until warm and pliable, about 1 minute.
Lay warm tortillas on a work surface. Mound rice in the bottom-center of the tortillas, then top with chicken, avocado, and Monterey Jack.
Working with 1 tortilla at a time, fold the sides then the bottom of the tortilla over the filling, pulling back on it firmly to tighten it around filling, then continue to roll tightly over burrito. (Burritos can be held at room temperature for up to 1 hour before baking.) Place burritos seam side down on prepared sheet, cover tightly with foil, and bake until hot throughout, 20 to 30 minutes.
Before serving, whisk the salsa verde and 2 tablespoons cilantro together in bowl, cover, and microwave until hot, about 1 minute (if you’re using homemade tomatilla salsa with fresh cilantro in it, no need to stir in extra cilantro at this point). Reheat the red sauce in a saucepan over medium heat until hot, about 3 minutes, adding water as needed to loosen consistency.
Arrange the burritos on individual plates. Pour tomatillo sauce over half of each burrito and pour red sauce over the other half of each burrito. Drizzle with crema, sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro, and serve.
Notes
No Mexican crema? No problem. You can thin out some sour cream with a little milk until it's a nice drizzling consistency. This works just fine for the task at hand.