Pro Chefs Blind Taste Test Every Frozen Burrito

[Announcer] We've gathered three professional chefs

to blind taste test every frozen burrito

we could get our hands on

to see which ones meet their standards.

[dramatic music] [wrapping ripping]

[burrito thumping]

Amy's Cheddar Cheese, Bean and Rice Burrito.

It's not the most attractive burrito

and it looks a little dry.

It doesn't look like it's gonna

have a nice tear or chew to it.

The tortilla doesn't have any brown spots.

One side of the burrito has already started

to kind of seep out from the side,

but it smells really good.

With a frozen burrito, I don't believe

that you're ever gonna get the full experience

of a fresh burrito.

I do think that it's possible to get close.

You gotta start off with a really good tortilla, something

that has a little bit of a tear and a little bit of chew.

[Yara] Not too dry, not too moist.

And when you go to reheat your burrito,

you want it to stay together.

The structure of the tortilla itself

has to go with the story of how it was first invented.

You put it in a basket

and you carry it around to the neighborhoods

and selling these to people who had to rush off to work.

So the integrity and the structure

has to be strong enough for that.

The inside of it should also be pretty moist.

[Yara] We're looking for a nice balanced,

favorable filling.

With enough acidity, some things a little bit spicy.

And overall a good burrito should be tasty.

This definitely is not, in my opinion,

a good tortilla, it's really dry.

It's chalky, parts of the top are hard.

It's not a fat-based tortilla.

Fat acts as a gluten inhibitor.

So if you want a soft, tender tortilla,

you need to have enough fat in there.

[Yara] Taste beans, rice, Monterey, something like that.

Filling is flavorful, there is some acidity in it.

I'm biting into the pinto beans,

they're whole, which is wonderful.

Mostly stayed inside of its vehicle,

so I guess we hit the mark on that.

I like those burrito.

[wrapper crunching] Oh, it's Amy's.

I've always thought that they were fine,

but this doesn't feel like what I remember.

Monterey Jack cheese,

but then on the front it says cheddar cheese, deceiving.

I feel like the Monterey Jack is a little more texture,

whereas cheddar is more for flavor.

In this particular recipe,

I don't think that those two cheeses

make much of a statement.

Tortilla is not my favorite.

As soon as you turn on the microwave,

it starts to heat the water in the tortilla,

begins to gelatinize,

but then you keep heating it and then it becomes rubbery.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Trader Joe's Bean, Rice and Cheese Burrito.

So this one, the tortilla looks a little nicer.

I see golden brown spots on the tortilla.

That's a very good sign.

It seems to be holding up fairly well.

Lots of cumin.

[Yara] There's some strong cumin flavor

that kind of overpowers everything else.

This tortilla's getting better,

but it's still not a good tortilla.

Texturally, I can appreciate it a little bit more,

but there's no flavor in this tortilla.

[wrapper crunching] Okay.

Oh. Trader Joe's.

I usually like this burrito.

Normally at home, I like to reheat this in a pan.

This burrito is microwaved.

Don't microwave these with a wet paper towel

'cause you're gonna end up with this.

[finger thumping]

When the microwave hits the molecules

of water in the tortilla,

the gluten becomes very, very soft and tender.

But then if you cool it down or heat it,

then it retrogrades.

That's when you get, look. [tortilla crunching]

See, it's like super hard.

This is more ingredients in a tortilla

than I've think I'm used to or seen before.

And they use lecithin.

Lecithin is a wonderful way to hold those oil

and water products that would normally repel one another.

I will say that the tomatoes

and the chili peppers were definitely cooked.

If you put a fresh or like undercooked pepper

or tomato in here, something that holds a lot of water,

when it freezes,

it'll break down the cell structure of the water in there,

and then when you go thaw it or cook it,

then it releases all that water

and makes your tortilla really soft and soggy.

And so I'm glad

that Trader Joe's at least cooked their peppers

and tomatoes before they put 'em in there.

Everything in here is organic,

and maybe that's why it's my go-to burrito.

Fresh, organic, natural ingredients is the way to go.

Organic doesn't necessarily mean anything to me.

It costs so much to put organic labeling on stuff

that a lot of the really great farms

that are doing biodynamic farming

and taking care of the land and the produce,

they can't afford to do that.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Vista Hermosa Bean and Oaxaca Cheese.

It looks like a real tortilla.

Tortillas can be very subjective,

and this is a very polarizing topic.

Where I come from, we have a more cakey, thick tortilla.

The Sonoran style

and kind of what I've evolved to enjoy more

is a thin kind of window pane tortilla.

You can see the inside of it,

but it's also cooked all the way through.

All this is raw dough.

Some people like eating raw dough, I'm not one of them.

The structure of the tortilla just didn't hold.

It has a moist and melty interior.

It can differentiate the ingredients by color.

And there's black beans, they're my favorite.

I could easily see four different chili peppers in here.

It's a little spicy.

It's filling, the tortilla's good.

This hits the mark for a balanced burrito.

I'm curious if this is the Vista Hermosa one.

Their tortillas are really good.

They're made with avocado oil.

[wrapper crunching]

Oh, I was right, Vista Hermosa.

I don't know this brand.

Bean and Oaxaca Cheese.

Oaxaca cheese is a very mild,

more of like mozzarella flavor.

It usually comes in this big ball

and you have to tear it apart and then pull it.

It's also called Castillo

and it is from the region of Oaxaca, Mexico.

It helps in the texture

because it's a easily melting cheese.

This is my new favorite burrito.

We can save that one for later if I'm so hungry, yeah.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] El Monterey Bean and Cheese Burrito.

This thing is tiny [laughs].

It's like a mini, mini burrito.

This is a very small burrito.

The original burritos when they were first invented,

were big.

The tortillas in El Paso

and the New Mexico get really, really big.

And if you go down into Sonora, they're this big.

So there's all sizes, I've never seen one this small.

This is the type of burrito filling

that kind of scares me, where it's just all one color

and you don't know what you're eating.

Hmm, sorry, the tortilla is raw.

The rawness of the tortilla is at least making it chewy,

but it's stuck in my teeth.

It's like baby food.

I am not a fan of baby puree texture,

but this one works.

I think the flavor's extremely mild.

It tastes like American cheese or like Velveeta.

But it does taste like the flavors

of the Texas Mexican region.

It's not bad, but I just dunno what I'm eating [laughs].

[wrapper crunching] El Monterey.

Oh my god, I love El Monterey brands.

America's number one frozen burrito, it says.

There's cheese product in here.

And then the next ingredient down is cornstarch.

Cornstarch is definitely included to hold

and bind everything together.

So I think that's where we're getting that graininess.

Guar gum, and that's also a binder.

I know that it's a stabilizer.

To make the tortilla hold its shape.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Great Value Bean and Cheese Burrito.

This tortilla at least looks like it's cooked

'cause I see a straight line of brown marks across it.

Stripes that are roasted brown.

Unfortunately, I'd like to see more of it.

Three exact straight lines.

So it's probably some kind of conveyor belt.

Kind of rolled it down and cooked it, flipped it.

And so the conveyor belt will develop hotspots

and all the tortillas will be uniformly roasted

with golden brown on those hotspots.

All right, so this burrito is almost double wrapped.

There's too much tortilla.

Too much tortilla, not a good tortilla.

[Adan] The ends are folded,

so you've got a lot of dough there that has to cook.

It doesn't look like a good refried bean

because the beans will be broken up

and it'll be real starchy.

As a matter of fact, refried beans is a misnomer.

It should be well fried beans

because in Spanish [speaks in Spanish],

the R-E prefix in in Spanish is very well.

So refried beans really is well fried beans

because you roast them in the oven

and as they cook at 300 or above,

they develop a rich flavor, sometimes it's very umami.

Structurally sound, yes, because it's a dry tortilla.

It's just not a well balanced flavor.

Bad burrito. [wrapper crunching]

Ah. Great Value.

Where's this from? Is this Walmart?

This does not look like the picture.

That is not what you see when you eat this burrito. I

I feel like more ingredients that you have,

the bigger the brand is.

I think they may have added some of the emulsifiers

so that it doesn't fall apart, doesn't get watery.

The filling has potential,

but there's so much tortilla you can't get to it.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Red's Organic Chicken,

Cilantro and Lime Burrito.

These are getting smaller and smaller.

It's a burrito nugget.

It looks crispy.

It was not prepared in a microwave.

I think it was an oven.

It smells like Popeye.

Oh, there's chicken.

This is the first burrito

that's incorporated any kind of meat in there.

It looks a little bit like that frozen grilled chicken

that you can get at Costco or Trader Joe's.

This one's not dried out,

but anytime you have like a roasted chicken or something,

it has the potential to dry out.

The chicken is surrounded by a gravy.

I mean, it's very interesting,

but I don't find it very pleasant.

But again, there's not enough in here.

It's all tortilla again.

I like the tortilla, it's like stretchy.

The tortilla has a little bit of chew,

surprisingly for how dry it is.

I'm going to say Red Baron

or that red person, whoever that is, Red.

What is it called, Red, what is it?

[laughs] It is Red's Cilantro and Lime.

I mean, this is the one

of the shortest list of ingredients we've seen.

When you see sugar in a tortilla,

that's another like more natural dough conditioner,

sugar breaks glutens down, some of the proteins,

makes it more tender.

[Adan] This particular chicken is minced.

Small pieces like that that are blended

into a casserole type of filling

aren't going to suffer too much

from freezing and then thawing.

I honestly would probably not buy this burrito only

because it's not my flavor of choice.

Buy this if you like

the herbal forward treatment of chicken.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Trader Joe's Chicken Chile Verde Burrito.

I have an actual burrito this time.

Like speckled.

You see the little brown marks on here,

which tells me that it was actually cooked,

unlike some of the other ones.

The filling is oozing out.

It's like a tomatillo chicken situation.

It's wet goo. Mm, oh, it's hot.

Oh my goodness, this is bad.

There's a funny lactic flavor to it.

[Adan] It is got to be some sort of artificial chemical

that is making that happen.

There's a weird undertone to it.

[boxes thumping] Oh, these boxes.

Oh, Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's. Chile Verde.

Authentic product of Mexico, huh?

Let's see how they went wrong.

The tortilla has cultured wheat flour and fumaric acid,

probably to make it shelf stable.

I wouldn't think that those additives

would have such a pronounced taste,

but they've interacted with tomatillos

and with the chilies in such a strong way.

It says, Dark chicken and chicken breast.

I like that it uses two different parts of the chicken.

This chicken is shredding when I press it apart,

so it's telling me that it was probably braised.

You get more flavor cooked into the chicken

when it's braised like this.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Vista Hermosa Super Spicy Chicken.

The size is like a burrito.

This texture's like not appetizing, it's almost slimy.

It looks thin.

It's got that kind of window pane texture here.

It's not properly cooked, it's raw, it's sticky.

It is moist with the filling,

but the chicken itself is very dry.

Chicken wasn't seasoned or cured or brined or anything.

[Yara] There's no real sauce

like holding anything together.

It tastes healthy.

I think it's the spiciest burrito we've had so far,

but you don't get a specific chile

or a specific spice mixed flavor.

It just kind of tastes spicy.

This one feels more like a meal,

like the Vista Hermosa one.

Maybe it's like a Vista Hermosa.

Oh. It is.

It is. Super Spicy Chicken.

You hit the nail on the head with that one.

They got that right.

This burrito has white rice, which I guess makes sense,

it soaks up a lot of the flavors

of the different chiles in here.

I like the brown rice over the white rice

simply because it's healthier.

I prefer white rice over brown rice.

It just takes in seasoning a lot better.

Brown rice is a little harder to break down

and it has more of a chew and a bite.

I would prefer a white rice in my burrito

so that it doesn't have the hole on it and make it drier.

Chicken thigh meat, which is also crazy.

Because chicken thigh,

it's really hard to overcook and make dry

and they did do that here.

Wow, disappointing.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Tina's Red Hot Beef Burrito.

Back to the little guys again.

All right, this burrito definitely seems dry.

Not very moist.

I need more adjectives for dry.

Oh wait, oh gosh, it's got meat in it.

There's some kind of braised beef product.

It smells like Hungry-Man.

I think it's supposed to be beef.

Okay, this is a strange taste for me.

The filling is moist, there is some acidity to it.

It's a terrible tortilla, but it is holding its shape so.

It's slightly gummy, but a whole world different

from the gumminess of the others.

Is this on its way to a good burrito?

No. I don't hate it.

This does remind me more of like a Tina's burrito, ooh.

What is it? [wrapper crunching]

Tina Red Hot Beef [laughs].

I haven't had one of these in like over 20 years.

I love this label, but nothing else.

It's held up the test of time.

I think the nostalgic part is just kind of looking back

at a time when you were younger,

not really paying too much attention

as to like what I was eating and why.

It's got dicalcium phosphate

and sodium metab, micro crystalline cellulose.

Oh my gosh.

And sometimes I feel like you have to do that

to enjoy certain foods.

If you still like these for nostalgic reasons,

you need to talk to your therapist.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] El Monterey Beef and Bean Burrito.

This might be the smallest one.

Oh, it looks kind of scary.

It's coming out its seams.

This tortilla doesn't look like it was meant

to hold such a wet filling.

It's not a structurally sound tortilla.

It smells like Taco Bell.

[Adan] Hmm. This one's not terrible.

I'm not gonna lie. It's lovely.

It's simple, it's very straightforward.

I don't mind the greasiness,

but the mix itself is not very good.

Terrible tortilla,

but I can tell that it's beef and beans.

This does remind me of the Texas Mexican flavor.

It tastes very homey.

It's not like a super complex flavor profile in here,

but I would eat this.

It's pretty gross. It's so good,

I'm gonna go with Monterey again.

Oh. Oh my God [laughs].

It's our good old trusty El Monterey.

[Interviewer] Did I say Monterey? You did.

Okay, I'm glad, I'm glad.

These are not great.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Red's Steak and Cheddar Burrito.

Burrito's nice and plump.

Tiny grill again, very pale.

It's taking me a while to chew.

It's meaty, but it's really spongy.

[napkin crunching]

It's not disgusting, it's just like really weird.

I think this is a vegan meat product, I think.

There's definitely a lot of cheese in this one.

[Adan] The moisture level is very pleasant.

Not the worst tortilla, it needs more salt again.

Just the filling flavors are not for me.

[wrapper crunching] Another Red's.

Red's Steak and Cheddar Burrito.

It says steak, so I imagine this was something cubed

and cooked over like a high short heat,

but I think this could be really good

if this beef was braised.

If this beef was braised,

it wouldn't be so spongy and chewy.

There's mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese.

Oh, and sour cream.

I just don't like the flavor of sour cream.

It's just one of those flavors that I stay away from

and I would never put it in a burrito.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Trader Joe's Carne Asada Burrito.

It's a nice size, it looks very well put together.

It doesn't look dry.

This looks like there was some care taken in making this.

This smells like Carne Asada Burrito.

[Eric] There's a lot of beef in here.

It looks really good.

There's that taste again.

It was Trader Joe's, I think.

This one has a meat

that is already cooked into all of its sauces,

that already has all of its flavors.

But this feels like it's been over fire or charcoal.

Carne Asada is a barbecued beef.

Very popular in all the borderlands.

It's not bad, I feel like it's just all beef.

[package thumping] Oh, it's Trader Joe's.

Carne Asada burritos.

It's one of these chemicals

that normally you're not supposed to taste,

but otherwise everything is nice about the filling.

I could feel comfortable enough recommending this one.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Amy's Gluten-Free Cheddar Cheese,

Bean and Rice Burrito.

This is a flour tortilla, this can't be.

There's a lot of like little tiny bubbles

and little tiny cracks in it.

If you're using gluten-free flours,

those tend to absorb a lot more moisture.

Feels like it's gonna be a little bit gummy.

It looks like a crepe.

Crepe. Crepe.

I don't love this tortilla, whatever it is.

It doesn't taste like a flour tortilla.

But it also altogether it tastes okay.

[Yara] It's nice that you can see the beans.

It's nice that you can see the rice.

Super moist, balance is okay.

I think this is Amy's. [wrapper crunching]

Oh, really? It's Amy's

Gluten-Free Burrito. Gluten-Free.

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

Even though this looks like a crepe,

the texture and the flavor approximates flour tortilla.

I kind of enjoy the way

that they presented a gluten-free tortilla,

it's much softer.

Oh, it's rice flour.

Rice flour is very gummy.

It's like what you get from Mochi.

So you mix it with all these other flour

that try to emulate some of what wheat does.

Whatever Amy did with this gluten-free tortilla concept

works for me.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Feel Good Foods Roasted Vegetable

and Bean Burrito.

This one's nice and toasty.

Oh, and it's soft.

Was this a different cooking method than the other ones?

Some yellow from the corn,

some beans, smells like poblano cilantro.

There's the skin on this red pepper

that these look like they were really wet when they went in.

I like the white limey rice cilantro

in combination with the corn.

It reminds me of Chipotle.

It has a lot of defined flavors, everything sticks out.

It's nice to be able to see the cilantro,

a little fresher than most.

But the flavor to me doesn't come together.

The tortilla is just not very good.

It's kind of dry. [wrapper crunching]

Woo. Feel Good Foods, yummy.

Wow, it's also gluten-free.

That would explain why the tortilla was so tough.

There we go, someone made a good gluten-free tortilla.

Water, rice flour, tapioca starch.

The tapioca syrup and the rice flour

probably making this tortilla a little sweeter

than I would like.

I like that it's vegan.

I don't think it needs cheese to be moisty or juicy.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Vista Hermosa Sweet Potato and Cactus.

Oh my, here we go again.

It seems like we've moved back

into the flour tortilla zone, but it's wet, wet, wet, wet.

This one looks like it's gonna be a mushy mix.

[Eric] I've never seen a burrito

with so much carrot in it. It's so orange.

It's fine, I think this is a plant-based vegan filling,

but it has that very generic combination

of like cumin, tomato, oregano.

I think it's closer to minestrone soup.

It's not dry, but I wouldn't call it juicy.

Now that I'm investigating further,

it's not carrot, it's sweet potato.

I think it's the Vista Hermosa vegan version.

Ah. [wrapper crunching]

Vista Hermosa. Sweet potato and cactus.

This is a very overcooked piece of cactus.

There's definitely a lot of sweet potatoes in here,

but it was almost like they were boiled.

Roasting the potatoes I think would add

just like more texture, nicer flavors.

I think if you were to taste this in a blind test,

you would think minestrone.

[wrapper ripping] [burrito thumping]

[Announcer] Whole Foods Bean and Rice Burrito.

It sounds spongy.

This is the first one that has a sound effect.

[burrito squelching]

It already kind of failed the tortilla test

'cause it's already kind of opening up

and wanting to explode.

Although it is moisty

and it does look like it's cheesy and juicy,

it doesn't have a lot of flavor.

There's not a lot of flavor in here.

It has a beginning flavor that to me is artificial.

It might be the flavor of the beans

cooked to the point of almost burning.

The tortilla doesn't have any flavor.

It's holding its shape. [wrapper crunching]

365 Whole Foods. Bean and Rice Burrito.

And it's vegan.

It's new and improved.

Bad tortilla, under seasoned filling.

I am curious what the old and unimproved recipe was like.

[Announcer] Now let's see which burritos

our chefs liked the most and the least.

My favorite today was the Vista Hermosa

Bean and Oaxacan Cheese.

Bean and Oaxacan Cheese Burrito.

[Eric] They were cooked properly,

they were seasoned properly.

The Oaxacan cheese in there was good.

When you took a bite,

you kind of got a bite of each little thing.

And the tortilla is perfect.

I loved the burritos of El Monterey,

the filling and the flavor was right on.

The El Monterey Beef and Bean Burrito I would eat again.

Tina's I think would have to be my number one.

Reminds me of like my mom's cooking, oddly.

I dunno if she would like that I said that.

I also enjoyed the Red's Organic Chicken,

Lime and Cilantro Burrito.

It reminded me of the enchiladas

that my mom used to make when I was a kid.

Amy's Gluten-Free Burrito

had to have been my least favorite.

There was no flavor there that made you think

that you were eating a burrito.

My least favorite burrito is Tina's.

Sorry, Tina and the all the children that grew up with Tina.

So the Carne Asada and the green chile burritos

from Trader Joe's I couldn't eat.

Artificial, very strong flavor.

If you're out shopping in the freezer section,

take two seconds to read the ingredients.

If the ingredients have a lot of chemicals,

that might give them enough flavor.

Most of the burritos that you'll find in a frozen section

suggest that you microwave to reheat.

I would suggest taking a cast iron or a pan.

Or bake it, that will go a long way,

it'll make your tortilla really good.

Take the time, it's worth it, I promise.

[Interviewer] Any final thoughts?

No, I think my final thought was make your own burrito.

[bright music]