Easy Shredded Chicken Burritos

These easy shredded chicken burritos are super flavorful with smothered chicken and fajita veggies, refried beans and Spanish rice. Make a batch and enjoy immediately, or follow our freezer instructions for the ultimate meal prep recipe!

Meal Prep Made Simple!

These easy shredded chicken burritos are seriously one of our favorite go-to recipes for meal prep! Because you can either enjoy them right away, or freeze for later, these super flavorful burritos are such a great lunch or dinner solution for you and the fam.

We’ll walk you through how to make a batch of these burritos, and then how to either wrap and freeze them for later or enjoy immediately ?

Shredded Chicken Burritos — What You Need

These shredded chicken burritos are exactly what the title suggests — EASY! With simple yet flavorful ingredients (and a few substitutions and ingredient swaps you can consider to truly make this recipe your own!), you’ll be off and enjoying a delicious chicken burrito in no time. You need:

• Sliced veggies: white onion, yellow pepper, green bell pepper 
• Canned goods: tomato sauce, green chiles, refried beans
• Chicken broth
• Taco seasoning
• Shredded chicken
• Spanish rice
• Mexican shredded cheddar cheese
• 12-inch flour tortillas
• Olive oil

Add-Ins and Swaps for Chicken Burritos

• Roasted sweet potato: add a little more “meat” to your burritos with some roasted sweet potato!
• Switch up your beans: any kind of bean works for this recipe! Try chili beans, kidney beans, black beans, or northern white.
• Cilantro lime rice: swap your Spanish rice for a homemade cilantro lime rice!
• Taco seasoning: add more flavor with a sprinkle of taco seasoning on top of each burrito once it’s rolled up!
• Make it breakfast-y: add scrambled eggs to these shredded chicken burritos for a fun breakfast twist.

how to make shredded chicken

Looking for an easy shredded chicken recipe? Check out our shredded chicken tutorials in a variety of different methods:

• Oven
• Slow Cooker
• Instant Pot

How to Make Shredded Chicken Burritos

For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card for a list of ingredients and instructions.

Make Smothered Chicken & Veggies

Heat a large skillet pan or dutch oven over medium/high heat, and add olive oil. 

When olive oil is fragrant, add the onion to the pan and sauté the onion for 2-3 minutes. 

Turn heat to medium and add the sliced bell peppers to the pan and sauté the peppers and onions for an additional 4-5 minutes. 

Add tomato sauce, green chiles, water, and taco seasoning to the pan and stir until a thick tomato sauce is created. 

Next, add the shredded chicken to the pan and toss the chicken with the vegetables and tomato sauce until the chicken is coated in sauce. 

Bring the tomato sauce to a boil and then turn heat to low and simmer the chicken until the sauce has reduced by 1/4. Remove chicken from heat and set aside. It’s almost time to assemble your burritos! 

Assemble Shredded Chicken Burritos

To assemble the burritos, lay a large tortilla on a flat surface and spread 3 tablespoons refried beans out on the tortilla and then add 1/4 cup Spanish rice, 2 tablespoons shredded cheese and an 1/8 of the chicken mixture to the burrito. 

Tightly wrap each burrito by folding the sides in and rolling. Repeat these steps until all the burritos are made. 

Enjoy, Heat Up or Freeze for Later

 If you are going to eat the chicken burritos right away, feel free to eat the burrito as is, freeze the burritos or heat the burritos up in the oven or on the stop top. 

Heating Shredded Chicken Burritos

Now that you have your shredded chicken burritos all assembled, it’s time to heat them up to melt-y delicious perfection. You can do this in either the the oven or on the stovetop. We’ll walk you through both!

Stovetop Instructions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
2. When the olive oil is fragrant, place the burrito in a pan and let the burrito brown for 2-3 minutes on each side over medium heat. 
3. Remove from the stove top and enjoy with your favorite toppings. We love to cut our burritos in half to allow them to cool a bit before biting into. 

Oven Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF and spray a casserole dish or baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. 
2. Place the burritos on the baking sheet or casserole dish and sprinkle with cheese and drizzle with olive oil. Feel free to make a whole pan if you’re serving a group, or just one or two!
3. Bake the burritos for 10-15 minutes or until the burritos begin to brown and the cheese is melted. 
4. Remove from the oven and enjoy with your favorite toppings. We love to cut our burritos in half to allow them to cool a bit before biting into.

Freeze for Later

These burritos can be frozen for later, making them super great for meal prep. Here’s how:

1. Wrap each individual burrito in a piece of tin foil and remove as much air as possible. Pro tip: write “chicken burritos” and today’s date on the tin foil, so you know exactly what’s wrapped up in the foil as well as how long it has been frozen.
2. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How to Reheat

These shredded chicken burritos can be reheated from frozen OR thawed, so choose your own adventure here!

If heating from frozen, unwrap and place the chicken burrito on a plate and then into the microwave. Use the defrost setting on your microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, flipping every minute. Then microwave on high for 60-90 seconds or until hot.

If heating from thawed, microwave on high for 60 to 90 seconds.