Freezer-Friendly Breakfast Burritos
Between getting four humans dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:45am, these freezer burritos are the only reason everyone arrives at school fed. The morning chaos in our house is legendary — shoes are missing, someone can’t find their homework, the youngest is inexplicably crying about socks — and the last thing I can do is stand at the stove making breakfast. Freezer burritos solve this: pull from freezer, microwave 2 minutes, wrap in foil, hand to child while walking to the car. Done. Breakfast delivered.
Make 10-12 burritos on Sunday. Wrap individually in foil and freeze. They keep for 2 months. Each morning, unwrap one, wrap in a damp paper towel, microwave 90 seconds to 2 minutes. The tortilla stays soft, the filling heats through, and everyone eats a real breakfast instead of grabbing a granola bar (which is also fine, but this is better).
Ingredients (Makes 10-12)
10-12 large flour tortillas
10 eggs, scrambled
1 pound breakfast sausage or kielbasa, cooked and crumbled/diced
2 cups shredded cheese
1 can black beans, drained (optional)
1 cup frozen hash browns, cooked (optional)
Hot sauce, salsa
The Polish Version
Replace breakfast sausage with diced kielbasa. Add sautéed onion and a sprinkle of dill. Use Gouda or smoked cheese. The kielbasa breakfast burrito is my contribution to the freezer burrito canon — smoky, garlicky, and distinctly Polish despite the Mexican delivery system. My kids call them “Polish burritos” and don’t question the cultural mash-up because they’re seven and hungry.
Cook the Components
Scramble all 10 eggs at once in a large skillet — slightly underdone (they’ll cook a bit more during reheating). Cook the sausage/kielbasa and crumble or dice. Cook hash browns if using. Warm the beans if using. Let everything cool for 10 minutes — hot filling in a tortilla creates steam that makes it soggy.
Assemble
Lay out tortillas. Divide eggs, meat, cheese, beans, and hash browns evenly. Don’t overfill — you need room to fold. Fold: bottom up over filling, sides in, then roll tightly from bottom to top. The fold should be snug without tearing the tortilla.
Freeze
Wrap each burrito tightly in foil. Place in a freezer bag, squeeze out air. Label with date. Freeze flat for faster thawing. They keep 2 months at peak quality, 3 months still good.
Tips
✓ Cool filling before assembling. Hot filling = soggy tortilla = burrito that falls apart in the microwave.
✓ Undercook the eggs slightly. They’ll finish cooking during microwave reheating. Overcooked eggs become rubbery.
✓ Wrap in foil, not plastic. Foil protects against freezer burn better and you can microwave after removing it (use paper towel for microwave).
✓ Don’t overfill. A tight, compact burrito holds together during freezing and reheating. A loose, overfilled burrito falls apart.
Variations
Southwest: Black beans, corn, pepper jack cheese, salsa verde.
Mediterranean: Feta, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, eggs.
Polish kielbasa: Diced kielbasa, sautéed onion, dill, smoked Gouda. My favourite. Babcia meets breakfast burrito.
How to Reheat
Remove foil. Wrap in damp paper towel. Microwave 90 seconds, flip, 60 more seconds. Let sit 30 seconds (the filling is lava-hot in spots). Eat. Total time from freezer: under 3 minutes. On the worst mornings, when everything is chaos and nothing is going right, these 3 minutes are the difference between children eating and children not eating. That’s worth every minute of Sunday’s assembly.
The School Morning Reality
For anyone without school-age children, let me paint the picture: 7:00am alarm. 7:05: first child is up, wants cereal, discovers we’re out of milk. 7:10: second child is crying because the “wrong socks” are in the drawer. 7:15: third child can’t find the permission slip that was definitely on the counter last night. 7:20: fourth child is still asleep and will need to be physically extracted from bed. 7:30: everyone needs to eat, nobody is dressed, and the bus comes in 15 minutes. Into this chaos, the freezer burrito enters like a tiny hero wrapped in foil. Two minutes in the microwave while shoes are found and hair is brushed. Handed to each child as they walk out the door. Eaten in the car or on the bus. Everyone arrives at school fed, and I haven’t cooked a single thing this morning. The Sunday investment pays for itself every single weekday morning.
How many should I make per week?
For our family of six (4 kids, 2 adults): 10 per week minimum. Each person eats 1-2 per morning depending on hunger. I make 12 and the extras become after-school snacks. The batch of 12 takes about 30 minutes to assemble on Sunday, which averages out to 6 minutes per weekday morning saved. Over a school year (180 days), that’s 18 hours of morning stress eliminated. The math alone justifies the effort.
Variations
Veggie: Scrambled eggs + black beans + sweet potato + cheese + salsa. No meat, still 20g+ protein.
Protein-packed: Double eggs, add Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, extra cheese. For teenage athletes who need fuel.
Mini burritos: Use 6-inch tortillas instead of 10-inch. Smaller, faster to eat, perfect for younger kids who can’t handle a full-size burrito at 7:30am.
The School Morning Timeline
Our school morning looks like this: 6:30 — alarm. 6:35 — stumble to kitchen, start coffee. 6:40 — pull burritos from freezer, microwave 2 minutes each while packing lunch boxes. 6:45 — wrap burritos in foil for eating in the car (yes, we eat in the car, no, I’m not proud, yes, everyone arrives fed). 7:00 — shoes, coats, backpacks, arguments about whose turn it is to sit in the front. 7:10 — out the door. Without the freezer burritos, the 6:40-6:45 slot would be me frantically making toast while children orbit me demanding things. The burritos don’t just save time — they save my patience, which is a non-renewable resource before 7am.