Growing up Taco Bell was one of my very favorite fast food haunts as a teenager. My best friend Charlene had a part time job working there in high school and whenever I ordered a burrito she was sure to load it with extra cheese and meat and sour cream. Those burrito supremes were truly supreme! I sure do miss her fantastic burritos! So I tinkered around with a few recipes and finally figured out how to make a copy cat Taco Bell chicken burrito at home. Sure you could hop in your car and hit the drive thru, but making it at home means you know exactly what’s in it. That means no weird preservatives or unpronounceable chemicals that you don’t want to feed your family. Just all the fabulous flavors you love from one of your favorite fast food chains. Plus you can add all the extra meat and cheese your heart desires. Gotta love that!
Make Avocado Sauce:
Place buttermilk, Ranch dressing, avocado, salt and sour cream in a jar.
Use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients together until you have a smooth creamy, lump free sauce.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Make Cilantro Lime Rice:
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Add rice and cook until lightly toasted, about 2-3 minutes.
Add chicken broth, salt, pepper, and cumin to the pan. Stir to combine everything together.
Increase heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Cover pan and immediately reduce heat to lowest setting. Cook on low for 20-25 minutes or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid in the pan.
Remove pan from heat and keep covered while you make the chicken. When ready to use, use a fork and stir in chopped cilantro, lime zest, and lime juice.
Make the chicken:
In a mixing bowl, combine tomato sauce, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat.
Once the oil is hot add chicken breasts to the pan.
Cook chicken for 5 minutes on the first side.
Flip chicken and cook for another 5 minutes on the second side.
Add the tomato sauce mixture to the skillet.
Increase heat and bring the sauce to a boil.
Once sauce comes to a boil, cover pan with a lid and reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered for about 20 minutes and chicken is cooked through.
Using tongs remove chicken from the pan and place on a cutting board.
Cut chicken into small pieces and return it to the pan.
Continue to cook over medium low heat until everything is heated through.
Assemble burritos:
Heat tortillas in the microwave or over a flame on the stove, just until tortilla is soft.
Spread about 2 tablespoons of the Avacado sauce onto a warmed flour tortilla.
Top with some shredded cheddar cheese.
Top with about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture.
Top with ¼ cup of the cilantro lime rice.
Roll tortilla into a burrito around the filling and serve immediately.
A huge shout out to Catherine at Blogchef.net for providing the inspiration for this fantastic recipe! Be sure to check out her blog, she has loads of fantastic looking recipes to inspire you. I reduced the amount of chili powder and oregano that she calls for in her chicken burrito recipe, I felt like the higher amounts would be too overpowering, I wanted a milder flavor profile. I also added more avocado to the sauce which resulted in a rich creamy sauce. Can you say delicious? With those changes these burritos are amazingly delicious!
We made chicken burrito bowls for lunch the following day and I have to confess they were even better than the burritos the first night. We layered warmed rice in a bowl, topped it with reheated shredded chicken, added loads of shredded cheddar cheese, topped it with a generous dollop of Avocado sauce and used tortilla chips to shovel up all the yumminess! Shut the front door!!! We were licking our bowls clean, it was that good!
Forget Taco Bell, just make these burritos at home. Make a burrito bowl with the leftovers the next day, and you’ll be driving right on by that drive thru so you can get home and enjoy what you made in your own kitchen. Whether it’s a burrito or deconstructed into a burrito bowl, you are going to love this recipe! Scout’s honor.
Copycat Taco Bell Chicken Burrito
Equipment
- immersion blender
Ingredients
For the Avocado Sauce:
- ⅛ cup buttermilk
- ⅛ cup ranch dressing
- 1 avocado
- ¼ tsp Kosher salt
- 2 tbsp sour cream
For the Cilantro Lime Rice:
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp cumin
- 1 fresh lime, zested and juiced
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
For the Chicken:
- 1½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 2 tsp white vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp chili powder
- ½ tsp cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 6 large flour tortillas
Instructions
Make Avocado Sauce:
- Place buttermilk, Ranch dressing, avocado, salt and sour cream in a jar.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the ingredients together until you have a smooth creamy, lump free sauce.
- Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
Make Cilantro Lime Rice:
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Add rice and cook until lightly toasted, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add chicken broth, salt, pepper, and cumin to the pan. Stir to combine everything together.
- Increase heat and bring mixture to a boil.
- Cover pan and immediately reduce heat to lowest setting.
- Cook on low for 20-25 minutes or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid in the pan.
- Remove pan from heat and keep covered while you make the chicken.
- When ready to use, use a fork and stir in chopped cilantro, lime zest, and lime juice.
Make the chicken:
- In a mixing bowl, combine tomato sauce, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is hot add chicken breasts to the pan.
- Cook chicken for 5 minutes on the first side.
- Flip chicken and cook for another 5 minutes on the second side.
- Add the tomato sauce mixture to the skillet.
- Increase heat and bring the sauce to a boil.
- Once sauce comes to a boil, cover pan with a lid and reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered for about 20 minutes and chicken is cooked through.
- Using tongs remove chicken from the pan and place on a cutting board.
- Cut chicken into small pieces and return to the pan. Continue to cook until everything is heated through.
Assemble burritos:
- Heat tortillas in the microwave or over a flame on the stove, just until tortilla is soft.
- Spread about 2 tablespoons of the Avacado sauce onto a warmed flour tortilla.
- Top with some shredded cheddar cheese.
- Top with about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture.
- Top with ¼ cup of the cilantro lime rice.
- Roll tortilla into a burrito around the filling and serve immediately.
Did You Make This?
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