🌯 Chimichanga
A chimichanga is a large flour tortilla wrapped around a filling of seasoned beef, rice and cheese, then deep-fried until crisp and golden. Inside it stays soft and savoury, outside it crackles. It is served with salsa on top or alongside, as a filling Tex-Mex main course.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 large flour tortillas
- 400 g beef, minced or shredded
- 150 g cooked rice
- 100 g grated cheese
- 1 onion, 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, salt
- 200 ml tomato salsa
- Vegetable oil for frying
Method
- Fry the onion and garlic, add the beef and spices and cook until browned. Stir in 3 tbsp salsa.
- Warm the tortillas so they fold easily.
- Spoon rice, beef and cheese onto each tortilla, fold in the sides and roll up tightly.
- Fry seam-side down in hot oil, turning, until golden all over. Drain on paper.
- Serve with the remaining salsa.
How to make it lighter
- Brush with a little oil and bake at 200 °C for 20 minutes instead of deep-frying.
- Use lean beef and half the cheese.
- Eat half a chimichanga with a big salad.
History
The chimichanga is a Tex-Mex dish usually credited to Arizona, where more than one restaurant claims to have invented it by accidentally dropping a burrito into hot oil. The story is popular but hard to confirm.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →