These Chorizo Breakfast Burritos is made with Mexican chorizo, soft scrambled eggs, crispy cubed hash browns and melted cheddar wrapped in a thin flour tortilla. What makes this Southwestern breakfast burrito different is the generous drizzle of New Mexico red chile sauce, which adds earthy chile flavor and turns it into a saucy, knife-and-fork breakfast.
If you love a good hearty breakfast burrito, take a look at my recipe for Hatch Green Chili Breakfast Burrito with Potatoes.
Quick Look: Breakfast Chorizo Burrito
- 🧁 Serves: 2
- ⭐ Features: Hearty ✓ Crispy ✓”Slight heat” ✓
- ⌛️ Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🍪 Cook Time: 30 minutes
- 🕑 Total Time: 35 minutes
- 👩🍳 Skill Level: Beginner
- 🏆 Why make THIS version? This New Mexico Style Burrito is finished with a drizzle of New Mexico Red Chile Sauce = amazing depth of flavor.
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If you've spent any time in the Southwest, you know breakfast burritos are serious business. And if you've ever wondered why a Southwestern Breakfast Chorizo Burrito from a restaurant tastes so much better than the ones most people make at home, you're about to find out.
My Tested Method: I’ve found that cooking the potatoes and chorizo separately gives each ingredient the texture it needs instead of turning the entire filling into one soft scramble. I’ve made and tested these burritos numerous times before making the decision to share the recipe with you.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Crispy hash browns: Small-cubed frozen hash browns get wonderfully golden and crisp.
- Savory Chorizo: Mexican-style chorizo adds plenty of flavor to the eggs and filling.
- Thin Flour Tortillas: A soft, thin tortilla makes the burrito easy to fold without overwhelming the filling.
- New Mexico Red Chile: Homemade medium-spiced red chile sauce gives the burrito its Southwestern character.
What Makes This A Southwestern Style Burrito?
The combination of ingredients is familiar, but the way they’re put together gives this breakfast burrito its Southwestern personality.
- New Mexican Red Chile Sauce is the backbone of countless classic Southwestern dishes. And adding it to the Chorizo Breakfast Burrito makes this a traditional Southwestern, New Mexico style breakfast. Made from either dried chile pods, or red chile powder. The red chile adds a warm, earthy chile flavor that works especially well with the richness of the chorizo and potatoes.
This is my Southwestern take on a chorizo breakfast burrito, combining Colorado-made chorizo with the New Mexico red chile sauce.
What Makes Breakfast Burrito Different?
- Not a Hand Held Burrito: My chorizo breakfast burrito is not a hand-held grab and go burrito. It’s messy in the best way and a sit down, knife and fork version. It’s a sauced burrito rather than smothered. The star of the show that really wakes up the flavors is a healthy drizzle of my Red Chile Sauce before folding the burrito.
- Flavor wise? The chorizo flavors the entire filling. Big and savory with deep chile warmth that Southwestern breakfasts are famous for.
Key Ingredients
- Bulk Chorizo: I use a good quality Colorado-made Mexican-style chorizo rather than Spanish cured chorizo. Any good Mexican-style chorizo sausage will work.
- Red Chile Sauce: This is my favorite part. I use Homemade New Mexico red chile sauce with medium heat. Its earthy chile flavor adds something you don’t get from simply adding hot sauce or salsa. If you already have a batch of red chile sauce in the refrigerator, this is a particularly easy breakfast to put together.
- Frozen Hash Browns: Use small-cubed frozen hash browns, not shredded hash browns. Any brand will work. I’ve found that the small cubes give you the best combination of crisp edges and tender centers. They also hold their texture better once tucked inside the tortilla.
- Eggs: Large eggs work best. I scramble them gently so they remain soft and tender rather than firm and dry.
- Cheese: I use shredded cheddar cheese. It melts easily and its slightly sharp flavor stands up well to the chorizo and red chile.
- Flour Tortillas: Look for a thin, soft flour tortilla that is large enough to fold around the filling.
How To Make Chorizo Breakfast Burritos
- Step 1: Cook The Hash Browns: Use a non-stick skillet to heat oil. Once hot add the hash browns and cook. The potatoes should be golden and crisp on the outside and tender in the center. Remove to a plate and keep warm.
- Step 2: Cook The Chorizo and Onions: Use the same skillet to brown the chorizo and the onions at the same time. Cook until chorizo is cooked through.
- Step 3: Add the eggs: Once chorizo is cooked through, turn the heat to medium low and add the lightly beaten eggs. Cook stirring almost constantly. Cook until the eggs still look a little moist.
- Step 4: Add the grated cheese: Add the grated cheese and warm until melted.
- Step 5: Build the Burrito: Heat flour tortillas in the microwave until warm and pliable, about 15 seconds each. Place the burrito on a plate and add a big scoop of the chorizo, egg, cheese mixture. Add half of the hash brown potatoes.
- Step 6: Add the New Medico Red Chile Sauce: Spoon homemade New Mexico red chile sauce over the top. Add a little extra cheese if you’d like and serve immediately.
- Step 7: Fold the burrito: Fold the burrito and secure with a toothpick. Serve immediately. Top with a dollop of sour cream and serve with slices of avocado. Because of the red chile sauce, I consider this a knife-and-fork breakfast burrito rather than a portable burrito. And that’s exactly how I like it.
How To Get Crispy Potatoes In A Breakfast Burrito
- Hash Browns: I use cubed frozen hash brown in my burritos. Less chopping. Less mess. With their uniform size, they crisp up beautifully and save you a solid twenty minutes of prep time. I’ve been making breakfast burritos for decades, and one of the best tricks I’ve learned was from a small cafe in Taos about 30 years ago. Use frozen cubed hash browns. It's since been my ingredient of choice at home rather than peeling and cooking fresh potatoes.
- Cook Separately: Cook the potatoes separately until deeply golden and crisp. Keeping them out of the chorizo prevents the potatoes from absorbing excess grease and gives the finished burrito the contrast of crisp potatoes against soft eggs and savory chorizo.
- What Done Looks Like: Be patient. Cooking them over medium heat and stirring often will create a golden brown exterior and still preserve their creamy interior. You’ll appreciate that crispy texture in the burrito.
- Shredded Hash Browns: You most certainly use them, but I find the cubed version to be mush easier to handle and crisp. Too many times shredded hash browns overi-crisp too quickly, or leave patches of raw potatoes. They’re just too hard to manage.
Save fresh potatoes for recipes like my Crispy Skillet Breakfast Potatoes.
How Do You Keep Eggs Soft In A Breakfast Burrito?
Cook the eggs over medium-low heat. They’re done when they still look slightly moist. The residual heat from the skillet, chorizo and melted cheese will continue cooking them.
What Kind Of Tortilla Is Best For Burritos
I prefer a thin tortilla rather than a thick, bready burrito tortilla because it lets the filling and red chile sauce take center stage. Some may be labeled “Sonoran Style”. King Soopers sells then in their deli section, Trader Joes flour tortillas are thin. And HEB flour tortillas are a good example of a thinner flour tortilla. They also work very well for wraps. Thin tortillas roll easier than the thick flour tortillas and don't overwhelm the burrito ingredients for a better balance of flavor.
Chef Lea Ann’s Tips For Success
- Don’t Over Fill: Even though this is a knife and fork rather than hand held burrito, don’t over fill. Too much filling may cause the soft warmed tortilla to break.
- Don’t Over Cook The Eggs: Cooking the eggs with the chorizo will keep them nice and moist, but watch them closely. Don’t over cook and add the cheese while they still look moist. Remember, they’ll continue to cook once you add the cheese.
- Don’t Skip Warming The Tortillas: A small detail with a big payoff. You simply can’t fold a flour tortilla right out of the package, it will break or crack. Warm them to keep them pliable and keep the filling warm.
What To Serve Them With
These breakfast burritos are pretty much a complete meal. If you’d like side dish ideas:
- Try my Slow Cooker Cowboy Beans. The slow cooker allows you to make them in advance and you can quickly warm them to serve as a side.
- Or take a cue from a high end restaurant in Santa Fe, serve burritos with Southwest Sauteed Mixed Vegetables.
- Garnish the burritos with sliced avocado and a dollop of sour cream.
Chorizo Breakfast Burritos FAQ’s
Purchase Mexican chorizo sausage that is packaged and looks like ground hamburger. I prefer to use a local brand, Poladori Sausage over huge factory farmed brands. Look for local companies in your area. I prefer the flavor and especially when used in more delicate dishes like my Easy Cheesy Chorizo Omelette. And, the product you find in tubes contains a lot of grease, and once cooked down, leave you with little meat. And don’t confuse Spanish Chorizo with Mexican Chorizo. Spanish chorizo is a smoked and cured product that carries a completely different flavor profile and texture.
Mexican breakfast burritos will routinely include pinto or refried beans. This version does not, relying on the Mexican chorizo sausage for the bulk of the filling. But the main difference is that a Mexican breakfast burrito may include salsa inside or on top of the burrito. This version becomes totally New Mexican Southwestern with the addition of New Mexico Red Chile Sauce. If you want to add beans to your breakfast spread, my Southwestern pinto beans with chorizo would be an especially good match with these burritos.
Not really. These burritos are best served soon after cooking. Save the make ahead and freezing to tightly wrapped burritos.
Technically you can, but I’m not a fan of this idea for this recipe. You’ll lose texture in the eggs and potatoes. Wrapped handheld breakfast burritos are best suited for the freezer.
No, and that’s intentional. The homemade New Mexico red chile sauce makes this a saucy breakfast burrito that’s best eaten with a knife and fork.
If you want a portable burrito, simply leave off the red chile sauce until serving. For the full Southwestern experience, though, I highly recommend spooning the warm red chile sauce before folding.
Absolutely. The burrito is still delicious without it, but the New Mexico red chile sauce is what gives this version its distinctive Southwestern character.
Explore More New Mexico Breakfast Recipes
And don’t miss my Breakfast Category, you’ll find lots of great “eye opening” recipes including one of the most popular Southwestern Breakfast recipes for New Mexico Style Huevos Rancheros In Red Chile Sauce.
Chorizo Breakfast Burrito with Potatoes and Eggs
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Mexican Chorizo bulk, uncooked
- 18 ounces Frozen Cubed Hashbrowns Cubed style, not shredded
- 1 teaspoon Olive oil
- ⅓ Cup Onion Chopped
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 3 large Eggs lightly beaten
- 2 Flour Tortillas 8 – 10 "
- ⅓ Cup New Mexico Red Chile Sauce warmed
- ½ cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- Use a non-stick skillet to heat oil. Once hot add the hash browns and cook. The potatoes should be golden and crisp on the outside and tender in the center. Remove to a plate and keep warm.
- Add the chorizo and onions to the same skillet. Cook, stirring often until the chorizo is cooked through.
- Once chorizo is cooked through, turn the heat to medium low and add the eggs. Cook stirring almost constantly. Cook until the eggs still look a little moist.
- Add the grated cheese and warm until melted.
- Heat flour tortillas in the microwave until just warm and pliable, about 15 seconds each. Add a big scoop of the chorizo, egg, cheese mixture. Add half of the hash brown potatoes. Spoon on a generous drizzle of New Mexico Red Chile Sauce.
- Take two sides of the burrito and fold them so they meet in the middle. Secure with a toothpick. Serve immediately.
