Smothered Sweet Pork Burritos
There are countless smothered burrito recipes out there but this version is so simple and delicious- it is worth trying one more version!
I just love a good smothered burrito. And even though there are about a million versions of sweet pork burritos floating around the internet, I had to lend my voice to the one we like best.
It’s simple. It’s uncomplicated. It’s delicious.
I’m not even going to compare it to the sweet pork at the Cafe Rio’s of the world (do you know Cafe Rio?) because I’ve learned in a long, sordid history of trying every variation of sweet pork under the sun that nothing can live up to the legend of Cafe Rio’s sweet pork (trust me, I’ve tried that recipe, I promise!).
So consider this variation different. But still very, very amazing.
Making use of a slow cooker puts the easy-peasy stamp on this meal especially since the cilantro lime rice (don’t even think about not making it) can be made ahead and used when you are ready to assemble the burritos.
Basically what you’ll get when dinner rolls around is a hearty tortilla smothered in green sauce and cheese wrapped around succulent, sweet and savory pork, tender cilantro lime rice, black beans and a few tasty, simple spices.
As my old roommate Kate (who gave me this recipe) was wont to say: “Yum, yum, give me some.” She also liked likes to say: “Love your buns tons” but I suppose that doesn’t really apply to these burritos.
Now if dinner was hamburger night? Totally appropriate usage, I’d say.
FAQs for Smothered Sweet Pork Burritos
These freeze great! I usually cover the pan (that’s been frozen) with foil and cook them on 350 degrees for an hour until they are heated through and then uncover and cook until they are hot all the way through. You can also freeze the leftover filling.
You can leave it out or add a smoky flavor/spice like smoked paprika (about 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon).
What to Serve With This
- Summer Corn Salad or Guacamole Salad
- Tortilla Chips or Toasted Pita Chips
- Salsa (for homemade I suggest this Divine One-Minute Salsa)
One Year Ago: Peaches and Cream Sensation
Two Years Ago: Red Chile Sauce Chicken Enchiladas
Three Years Ago: Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze
Smothered Sweet Pork Burritos
Ingredients
For Burritos:
- 2 ½ pounds pork roast like pork shoulder or butt roast
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1-2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 cans (15-ounces each) green enchilada sauce
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- Dash of hot sauce, optional
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- 8 ounces Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese, or a combination, grated
- 6-8 whole wheat or white flour tortillas, burrito-sized
For Cilantro Lime Rice:
- ½ tablespoon butter
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Juice and zest of 1 lime
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
Instructions
- Trim any excess fat pockets from the pork roast (it’s ok to leave a bit here and there just trim the large pieces off). Cut the pork into 2-3 large pieces. Season each piece on all sides with salt and pepper.
- In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil until rippling and hot. Add all the pieces of pork and brown on each side, 2-3 minutes total. Transfer the pork to the insert of a 5-6 quart slow cooker.
- Add the liquid smoke and 1/2 cup water. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or on low for 8 hours.
- While the pork is cooking, prepare the rice. In a skillet or medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the rice. Stir, letting the rice and butter cook for 1-2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients (broth, salt, pepper, lime juice and zest, cilantro and cumin) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 15-16 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 10 minutes. This can be made ahead and refrigerated until ready to assemble the burritos.
- Remove the pork from the slow cooker and shred into bite-sized pieces (discarding the bone, if needed, or any large pieces of fat). In a large bowl, toss the shredded pork with the brown sugar, 1/2 cup of the green sauce, chili powder, salt and pepper (add more salt and pepper to taste if needed). Add the hot sauce, if using.
- Stir in the beans, rice and cilantro to the pork mixture.
- Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish with cooking spray and spread about 1/2 – 3/4 cup of the green sauce on the bottom.
- Warm the tortillas lightly in a skillet or in the microwave. Scoop about 1/2 cup of the meat mixture into each tortilla and sprinkle with a bit of cheese (you’ll want to leave some cheese for the top of all the burritos before they bake). Roll up burrito style (folding the ends in and rolling).
- Place the burritos seam-side down in the prepared baking dish. Pour the remaining sauce over the burritos and sprinkle with remaining cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes until heated through and the top is bubbly and slightly golden. Serve immediately.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from my bestest friend and old roommate, Kate (added a few more spices, salt and pepper, subbed in cilantro lime rice for regular white rice and a few other changes).
We love LOVE these! It usually makes so much that we freeze some and/or I’ll use the extra filling for lettuce wraps or throw together a salad. This is a popular choice for take in meals or when we have company.
I made a double batch of this yesterday! It’s so good! I cooked the pork using my sous vide for 18 hours at 165. For my personal taste I think I could cut back on the brown sugar a bit. I added some frozen corn to the burrito filling because I love corn. I ended up with one pan of smothered burritos and a whole bunch of in smothered burritos for my freezer. This recipe is hubs approved too!
This recipe looks delicious and I’m really wanting to try them. I did have one question…. Is the liquid smoke necessary? My husband is allergic (weird I know)
Will they still be as flavorful? Thanks in advance.
You could try smoked paprika instead!
Could these be made with a soft corn tortilla instead? We don’t really care for the flour ones (too gummy unless they are fried or eaten separately for us). Looks wonderful. Trying to find ways to use up pork butt.
Yes!
These look ridiculously good. I’m going to follow your recipe EXCEPT, i’m going to smoke the pork shoulder for about 8 hours first. Can’t wait.
I love this recipe so much, it is the best! You used to have a link to make a homemade green sauce and I cannot find it. Can you post it? 🙂
Here you go! https://www.melskitchencafe.com/homemade-green-enchilada-sauce/
Where does the coriander fit into this recipe? It’s on the first ingredient list but not the second and not listed as part of the recipe.
This recipe is ridiculously delicious. I made it because someone asked for an easy recipe in my moms group and several women raved about this recipe. Love it and can’t wait to make it again. I’m glad that the smallest piece of pork at the store was a couple pounds bigger than what the recipe called for because I barely needed to increase the ingredients and had tons of leftovers. I also doubled the rice but still only used one lime since I microwaved it for 15 seconds to loosen up the juices and get lots of juice out of it. It’s the most my picky preschooler has eaten in the last couple of weeks.
Mel, I can’t remember which green enchilada sauce you guys prefer. I thought that there was a note on here, but cannot find it. We have made it with a couple of varieties and I remember NOT liking one that we tried. Can you remind me? Thanks! This is one of our all time favorites and my kids jumped and squealed when they heard that I was making it for our company tonight!
Hey Jenny – I like the Herdez brand or the Trader Joe’s brand.
The O. G. MKC recipe. I don’t know if it was google, Pinterest, or divine intervention, but this recipe was the reason that you and your delicious food came into my life. I’ve made it approximately a bazillion times since that fateful day and I love it just as much today as the first time I tasted its perfectly sweet/savory goodness. My family (me, hubs, and 17, 14, and 10 year old man children) requests it regularly, but I often make the pork on its own to use in tacos, nachos, quesadillas, your bbq chicken salad, and just about anywhere else I can think of. It’s simple to make and easy to double, quadruple, or even multiply it by twenty-fold (yes, I’ve done it, although my home did smell like a Costa Vida for a week afterwards…). This recipe will definitely make anyone look like a rockstar in the kitchen, baby!
I’m so glad this recipe brought you here, Emily! And seriously? 20X’d the recipe?? Yikes!
So glad I tried this! Used the Hernandez Salsa Verde and even my daughter who is sensitive to spicy things loved it. (Although, she smothered it with sour cream to tone it down.) Will definitely be making again.
I wonder if adding a little pineapple and juice would make this similar to El Pastor
I finally got around to making these after years of looking at the recipe. And I’m kicking myself for not trying them sooner. So easy to make and tastes so good! I’ve tried a lot of new recipes lately (not from your site) and have been very disappointed in the results. When my husband and teenage son described these smothered sweet pork burritos as “awesome”, I knew I’d hit another Mel’s Kitchen Café homerun! Seriously, I’m not sure why I even try recipes from other sites. All of our favorite recipes come right from here. FYI: I had a bit of extra filling and it is delicious all by itself. Would probably be good topped with the green chile sauce, some avocado and sour cream.
You are so cute, Stacy. Thank you! Glad you loved these. 🙂
This looks so yummy! If I tried cooking the meat in the instant pot, would I need to increase the water to 1 cup?
Yep.
This recipe looks amazing! What are your thoughts on substituting “cauliflower rice”, in place of the white rice?
Should work great as long as the cauliflower rice is cooked and doesn’t have excess moisture.
A friend made these for us when we had our son and we loved loved them!! Have been dying to have this yummiess again, so made these with leftover pork loin and cilantro lime quinoa instead of rice tonight. Still so so good! Love the savory and sweet mix of flavors! Really appreciate your blog and tips also:) Thanks a bunch!
I just made the meat for this in the Instant Pot and it was awesome! I cut the shoulder into three large chunks, then browned it on the sauté setting. Put in the liquid smoke and water, then I pressured it for 55 minutes with a natural release. It was perfect!
Suggestions for making this in the pressure cooker???
If the roast is cubed into large chunks, I bet you could get away with high pressure for 15-20 minutes?? just a guess.
MEL!!!!! So my husband sent me this pin 2 days ago. A Pinterest pin sent from the Gods I tell you! I asked if he wanted me to make it for his birthday (He turns 33 today) dinner and he tried to play coy. I was terrified as I have NEVER made burritos before. NEVER made smothered ones either. NEVER had lime rice come out right when I cooked it on the stove top…I bit the bullet and made it. O.M.GGGGGGGGGGGDDDDS. They are AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS! All of us (Blended family here..7 kids, 2 adults) ate until we could not eat anymore. But we wanted to keep eating anyway. LOL!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH for an amazing recipe!
Yay!!!
I’m making these again tonight! I think I’ve tried ALL of the sweet pork recipes too, and this one is definitely my favorite. Now move to Texas so that we can be neighbors/best friends/cooking buddies. And I mean that in the least creepy way possible.
Haha, not creepy at all!
Well… I was super excited about these. The rice was delicious. The pork mixture was delicious. But, I wish I hadn’t dumped so much Herdez Salsa Verde on top. (I couldn’t find green enchilada sauce). It was too overpowering and sour-ish. Bummer. Next time I’ll try a different sauce or just leave them un-smothered. Or make your honey-lime pork enchiladas, which I LOVED LOVED LOVED!
Have you ever substituted quinoa in the cilantro lime rice?
I haven’t but I bet it would be delicious!
Made this for dinner tonight with some left over pork. It was delicious. Family loved it.
making this right now! i decided to do it on low for 8 hours, and i’m at hour 6 (supposed to be done at 5PST), and it seems pretty tender. do i still keep cooking it or am i at risk of overcooking? pls and thanks!!
never mind, i took it out shortly after i posted, and it was/is SOOOOO good! thank you so much!! i just tasted the meat, and it’s amazing. the burritos are now all smothered and in the oven to bake. can’t wait to try the whole…burrito. haha
Oh, and i only just randomly made your cilantro lime rice for the first time last week (used it to make burrito bowls), and my husband declared that it was in his top 5 of all meals i’ve made (mainly bc of the rice). Yay! Thanks again!!
p.s. i even felt like a rockstar in the kitchen, just so you know.
So happy to hear that, Briana!
If the pork is tender, you should be good to go!
I made this for dinner tonight and it had my husband and I drooling for more! I didn’t have liquid smoke so I just used cherry coke in the pork as it cooked. I also used a rice cooker to make the cilantro lime rice. I like as simple as possible. I also left the fat on til it was done in the slow cooker, and the fat just fell right off. That made it more juicy and my job easy. My husband said this was better than cafe rio! Thank you so much for the great recipe.
I have definitely been to Cafe Rio. Yum. Tip for the rice: I happened to see one of the workers add a healthy ladle full of their green medium salsa to the rice and mix it in before putting it out to be served. Now I add a little green salsa when I make cilantro lime rice. It makes a big difference. Delish! Try it. I also think they add obscene amounts of oil, which makes it more delicious, too. I just can’t bring myself to add that much oil at home. 🙂 I’ll save those calories for a night out.
Is the liquid smoke necessary? I have never heard of that and I am wondering if I can omit it or does it make a large impact on the flavor?
You could probably leave it out or add a smoky flavor/spice like smoked paprika (about 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon).
These were such a hit. Perfect amount of sweetness and savory. We are definitely adding these to the regular rotation. Thanks so much.
We make this all the time! It’s about time I come back and thank you for this delicious recipe. We love Cafe Rio, but my husband and I both decided this week that we prefer your recipe to the pork at Cafe Rio…that’s saying a lot!
Hi Mel! I have a pork roast already cooked that I need to use. Think this would work with meat already cooked?
I’d say it’s for sure worth a try!
I’ve made these a few times and there are absolutely amazing. I want to assemble ahead of time and simply put the remaining sauce and cheese on top and pop in the oven for a party. Do you think this will work, and how long should I increase the baking time to account for the assembled burritos being refrigerated? Thanks so much, great recipe!
I think that would work great, Lauren! I’d maybe just tack on 10 minutes or better yet, pop the burritos in the oven while it preheats.
Hey Mel, I’ve been wondering for the longest time, 2 things: 1. Do you know if cilantro is one of those herbs that you just grab a handful and chop it all up, or strip the leaves away from the stalks (or which one do you do)? and 2. Do you have a good place you buy Monterey Jack cheese? I just buy it at the grocery store but I wish I could find it in bulk (like Costco). Lots of these recipes use it and I love it but I can’t seem to find it very cheap ever.
Hi Mia – I usually try to strip the leaves away from the larger stems (the smaller stems I don’t worry about – I just chop it all up). I’ve found the large bricks of Monterey Jack at Costco actually. They don’t carry them all the time, but when they do, I load up!
THANK YOU! You’re the best
That is exactly what I do! After trying numerous copycat cafe rio recipes and not liking any of them, I finally just dumped some green enchilada sauce and brown sugar on our shredded roast. Best thing ever!!
This is one of the few meals that I have made multiple times (I usually like to change things up too much to make repeats) but I have made these at least 5 times and am making it again right now. I don’t change anything except sometimes I add corn into the rice mixture. Soooooooo delicious!! Thank you for the great recipe!
Also, in case this helps anyone, I am VERY rice challenged. I have to use a rice cooker or else things will end in tears! I made my rice in the rice cooker and then stirred in the ingredients (minus the chicken broth), and I thought it turned out great. Just an FYI for all those that struggle with rice like me.
Hi, I am not the best at commenting on blogs, but I just had to tell you how much I loved these!!!! I tried another Cafe Rio mock recipe a while ago and it totally failed (I am sure it was user error, but still disappointing). These were so yummy and I was so thrilled to have leftovers! Thanks for the great recipe and the awesome instructions! I will be sure to check out your blog for other recipes!
These look so very good. Making them for company Sunday. What sides would you serve with them?
Joan – Right above the recipe I have a “what to serve with this” icon that gives side suggestions. Good luck!
Heavens, these are so good! Just made them tonight for dinner and what a hit they are 🙂 I halved the brown sugar because I’m not a fan of really sweet pork, and to me it gave it the perfect hint of sweet without being overpowering. Thank you, Mel! You’ve shared so many awesome recipes that my family loves!
I made these for my family the other night. They were so delicious! My mother, who does not like spice, liked these. My picky 3-year old liked the filling (she was too scared to try the burrito). I woke up the next morning expecting to have left overs for breakfast and my sneaky husband had taken them all with him for lunch at work! I was mad and pleased at the same time! I’m just wondering when is too soon to make these again?
You sound like me, Jen! I make things back to back when they are just too good to resist. Glad the burritos were a hit with your family (darn those sneaky husbands stealing all the leftovers!).
This is one of my most very favorite meals. I make three or four pans and bake them all, let them cool and then freeze all but one pan. That turns out very well. Mel might have better advice.
Hey Mel! I made an extra pan of these. I’m going to freeze them. Will they turn out ok still? How long do I cook them for after I pull them out of the freezer? Thanks!!! Love your recipes!
Ashlee T – These freeze great! I usually cover the pan (that’s been frozen) with foil and cook them on 350 degrees for an hour until they are heated through and then uncover and cook until they are hot all the way through.
I made these yesterday for dinner and they were amazing! I used some boneless, country style pork ribs that I had on hand and cooked it in the oven with the water and liquid smoke. I didn’t have low sodium chicken broth, so I halved the salt in every component and was glad I did; the seasoning was spot on. I used your recipe for homemade green enchilada sauce and will never look back. Phenomenal. My husband and I were raving over every bite. They seem to fancy to be in a regular dinner rotation, but they’re so easy they can be! So happy to have this recipe!
My family and I love these! Always followed the recipe exactly and have been pleased. However, we now have beef in our freezer. Could I sub a beef roast in place of the pork? I really love the original version but need to use our meat. 🙂
Kayla – I’ve never used beef but I imagine it would work really well. Good luck!
These were extra tasty. Thanks!
Hi Mel! Made these last night, so delicious. Thank you, your recipes never let me down!
First of all, awesome recipe! I was just eating the filling straight up while assembling them! I have a suggestion for your video tips- I would love to see you demonstrate rolling up burritos. I have not mastered that skill at all!!
We had these for dinner tonight and couldn’t get enough. My new favorite!! Thanks for the best recipe ever!
Making this tonight and can’t stop eating spoonfuls of the pork/beans/rice mixture by itself. So delicious.
I just made these tonight and I have a ton of the filling leftover… do you think it would be okay to freeze?
Kristen – yes, the meat filling freezes great; I’ve done that lots of times.
Perhaps this is the wrong place to post this . . . you may never see it. Aw well, it must be said. These were amazing. First I love and adore you for not saying it was like Café Rio, and acknowledging that, to this day, no recipe on the internets is capable of producing the Café Rio pork deliciousness. Secondly, this pork was absolutely fantastic, the best I have had, and while it was not the same taste as Café Rio, it definitely matched both Café Rio’s taste and quality. You are a food goddess, my favorite and go-to food blog. I will always count you as one of my best online and food friends whom I have never, and most likely will never, meet. Thank you Mel, truly.
Made these tonight….so freakin’ good! Thanks, Mel!!!