Meta Description: The ultimate guide to pizza burrito frozen – America’s favorite food hybrid. Learn the history, popularity, cooking tips, top frozen brands, and creative recipes for pizza burritos.
Everyone loves pizza and burritos. So it was only a matter of time before someone combined them into one frozen meal. Combining the convenience of a frozen meal with the taste (and mess) of pizza and burritos in one easy handheld package, pizza burritos might just be the ultimate American food. In this complete guide, you’ll learn everything there is to know about pizza burrito frozen meals: their history, how popular they are, cooking tips and recommendations for the best ones to buy.
A Short History on Pizza Burritos
Italian pizza is thin and flatbread-like. But when it made its way over to America we tripled the size, quadrupled the cheese and created our own rendition of it. We later took stuffing ingredients into tortillas from Mexico and did the same thing — that’s where we got burritos from. Pizza burrito? Frankenstein was onto something here.
We have no idea who first thought of combining two iconic foods together but it was most likely an accident when someone had leftovers. The first known pizza burrito was sold at school cafeterias in the 1970s & 80s but fast food chains didn’t start selling them until around 2002 with new items like Taco Bell’s Pizza Burger. Hot Pockets also started making them which means there’s like a 50/50 chance they were trying to eliminate us because if we didn’t die from choking on them we would’ve died by eating too many.
Why Pizza Burrito Frozen Have Gotten So Popular
Reasons for Popularity of Frozen Pizza Burritos
Reason | Description |
|---|---|
Convenience | Minimal prep work needed, mostly just microwave heating. |
There must be something in these things for everyone to love them as much as they do:
- Convenience – Like most frozen food there isn’t much prep work involved (all you need is a microwave)
- Portability – Eating take-out pizza anywhere other than sitting down is difficult with a knife and fork. But you can just hold a pizza burrito in your hand
- Innovative flavor – Most of us don’t think of buffalo chicken when we think of pizza, but brands are indeed allowed to get creative in this handheld format.
- Comfort food appeal – See the first sentence of this guide
- Kid-friendly taste – It’s hard to find children who don’t like pizza, so it’ll be harder for them to say “no” to a pizza burrito than it is for them to say “yes I’ll do the dishes”
- Cost-effectiveness – Take-out pizza costs an arm and leg. If they’re cheap enough sometimes we can get 10 of these things and only give up an arm.
These reasons explain why they’ve become so popular recently. So if you’re ever feeling down and want something good to eat that’s already made — try a pizza burrito!
Cooking Tips
It’s already pretty easy making frozen burritos or frozen pizzas. You know what cooking instructions mean, so it shouldn’t be different here either. Read the instructions on the package and follow them carefully though! But most products will have one or both these ways:
- Put the burrito on a microwave safe plate or paper towel. Then heat it on high for two minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F then bake it on a cookie sheet with foil around it for 25–30 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Heat pizza burritos until piping hot, at least 165°F internal temperature. Check for hot spots after heating.
- For crispy tortilla shells, heat in the oven at 350°F for 18-25 minutes on a baking sheet. Microwaves will make the tortilla soft.
- Let rest 1-2 minutes after cooking before biting in. This helps the fillings heat evenly.
- Wrap in a paper towel and reheat leftover pizza burritos for 45-60 seconds to crispen tortillas.
- Customize with extra pizza toppings! Add pepperoni, extra cheese, or pizza sauce before heating.
- Pizza burritos with more filling may need longer cooking times to heat through completely.
Following package instructions and allowing the pizza burritos to fully cook is key in unlocking optimal texture and flavor, now that they’re cooked it’s time to dig in!
Ranking the Best Frozen Pizza Burritos
Top-Rated Frozen Pizza Burritos
Rank | Brand | Features |
|---|---|---|
1 | El Monterey Signature Pizza Wraps | Loaded with real mozzarella, tomato sauce, and pepperoni. |
There is no shortage of frozen food options when it comes to pizza burritos. Here is our countdown of the top-rated frozen pizza burritos:
- El Monterey Signature Pizza Wraps – These microwaveable wraps are loaded with real mozzarella, tomato sauce, and pepperoni for an authentic taste.
- Amy’s Pizza Burritos – Filled with dairy-free cheese and veggie pepperoni, this organic option is great for vegetarians and vegans too!
- Trader Joe’s Pizza Al Pastor Burrito – A fusion of taco seasoned pork mixed with pineapple and your usual mix of spices make this unique option hard to pass up.
- Newman’s Own Pizza Burritos – Real ingredients like wood-fired seasoned steak help deliver restaurant-quality flavors.
- Hot Pockets Pizza Minis – The classic bite-sized pocket delivers melty cheese, zesty pepperoni or supreme flavors rolled into one convenient snack.
Hot Pockets take our top spot as their mini pizzas taste similar like eating fresh-baked pizza. All the top recommended frozen pizza burritos provide a quick way to enjoy a tasty pizza meal.
Get Creative with DIY Pizza Burritos
Although pre-made options are easy and convenient, you can also make your own fresh pizza burrito at home. Just wrap fillings like pepperoni, mozzarella, pizza sauce, and Italian seasoning into a tortilla and bake or pan-fry until the cheese melts.
Some fun DIY pizza burrito ideas include:
- Supreme – Pepperoni, Italian sausage, green bell peppers, onions, black olives
- Hawaiian – Shredded pork, bacon, pineapple, jalapeños
- Chicken alfredo – Grilled chicken, alfredo sauce, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes
- Breakfast – Scrambled eggs, bacon, Cheddar, hash browns
- Dessert – Nutella spread on the tortilla topped with strawberries and powdered sugar
DIY pizza burritos are perfect for meal prepping as well. On your day off prepare a batch of burritos to reheat during your busy work week. Have the whole family help assemble their own personalized burrito too.
The possibilities are endless with these delicious meals!
Wrapping Up
No matter what you do, these pizza burrito frozen meals will definitely be a quick and comforting treat. Make sure to keep at least one in your freezer at all times so you can dig in whenever you want a finger food fix that combines both pizzas and burritos. These things were made to be good on-the-go eating snacks when there’s no time to sit down!
