Oven Baked Chimichangas
These oven baked chimichangas are a healthier, non-fried version of chimichanga that bakes up delightfully crisp with a hearty filling.
Among the tasty tortilla wraps I’ve posted about in the past, this chimichanga recipe ranks right up there in simplicity and deliciousness.
I love trying healthier remakes of classic fried foods (although I confess, I do love me some real fried food now and again) and these chimis bake up delightfully crisp with a hearty, flavorful filling that can be as spicy or as mild as you like.
The great thing about a meal like this is you can adapt it in so many ways – make it vegetarian, use a different type of meat or variety of beans, add your favorite herbs, extra cheese…you get the picture.
I’ll definitely be making these over and over again. Served with a light green salad and some fresh fruit and veggies (or perhaps this delicious fruit concoction) and this is a perfectly perfect meal for any night of the week!
One Year Ago: Chicken and Rice with Coconut Milk and Pistachios
Two Years Ago: Blueberry Crumb Muffins
Oven Baked Chimichangas
Ingredients
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped fine
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans,, drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups cooked brown or white rice
- 2-3 cups diced, cooked chicken
- 1-2 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, use the lesser amount for less heat, greater amount for a bigger kick
- 1 cup shredded cheddar or monterey jack cheese, or a combination of both
- ½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
- Salt and Pepper
- 6 large burrito-size flour tortillas
Instructions
- Place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven and heat the oven to 450 degrees. While the oven is heating, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over medium heat until the oil is shimmering. Cook the onion until it is just softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the beans, rice, chicken and chipotle and cook until the mixture is heated through, about 3 minutes.
- Off the heat, stir in the cheese and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/4 teaspoon each).
- Stack the tortillas on a plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave the tortillas until they are warm and pliable, about 1 minute.
- Top each warm tortilla with some of the chicken mixture, leaving about a 2-inch border at the bottom of the tortilla. Fold in the sides and roll up the tortilla tightly.
- Brush the wrapped tortillas with the remaining oil and arrange them seam side down on the hot baking sheet that has been preheating in the oven. Bake until the chimis are golden brown and crisp, about 8 to 10 minutes. Serve.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Cook’s Country Dec/Jan 2010
Need to try this! My husband’s favorite dine-out Mexican dish is chimichangas!
So delicious. Mine came out crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
Does give that heavy feeling fried food tends give me. Was so easy to put together.
Super yummy! I enjoyed them. My husband said they were a little dry. Is there a way to fix that? Or make it more saucier?
You could try adding some type of green enchilada sauce to the mixture or something like that?
I made your Italian beef sandwiches slow cooker recipe last week, and had lots of beef leftover. While it was moist and tasty, we didn’t think it had that much “Italian” flavor so it was very versatile. I already had these chimichangas on my meal plan for the week (they’ve been a success at the table in the past), but instead of cooking some chicken, I just chopped the leftover beef smaller, added some cumin, chili powder, etc, and used it in place of the chicken. It tastes delicious!
Guys! Pay attention here!! 😀 THIS IS AN AMAZING RECIPE!! Oh my goodness, we love it! I love it because:
1) The filling it pretty easy to put together
2) I can make the filling early in the day and then still have a warm dinner that night because I fill and bake the chimichangas right when we are ready to eat
and the greatest reason of all, 3) my WHOLE FAMILY EATS THEM!!! We love to dip them into sour cream, salsa, guacamole, so good!
Also, I use smaller tortillas, because some of my kids aren’t old enough yet to eat a large burrito-size chimichanga. I just watch them closely in the oven since they are smaller and I don’t want them to burn. Works perfectly!
Mel, what do you do with the leftover adobe sauce?
I usually freeze it in small baggies.
These were a huge hit with my family (including the kids-shocker!)! I had extra filling and actually had to bake more in the middle of dinner because the kids had seconds and ate my husbands share. Thank you for the basic recipe.
I added chopped squash when cooking the onions and hid it in the filling. No one even knew. I used quinoa instead of chicken for one of our veggie meals this week. I also added corn and sliced black olives.
We dipped them in sour cream (added salsa verde to the adults sour cream). SO YUMMY!!!
Had these last night…made exactly as you instructed! Delisious. Just found your site and I’m excited to try so much more!! Thank you for sharing your talent with the world (and me more specifically!)
I made these tonight and my hubby and I both loved them! I did not have chiles or cilantro on hand but made them anyway. I used spanish rice to add some flavor. Topped with half salsa, half sour cream mixture and melted cheese! Yummy! Thank you so much for sharing.
Chimichangas are my husband’s favorite and I made these tonight. He said they were better than eating out! Great post! A new family favorite for us.
Love this idea! I’ve been grilling these, I call burritos – you call chimichangas 🙂 – for a long time but love the idea of being able to bake them all at once to the crispiness I work on one at a time in a grilling pan. Great time saver!!
We were downright shocked at how delicious these were. I made mine without meat at all. I used a brown rice mix with lots of seasonings. Didn’t have the adobo, but I fried jalapeno, serrano and poblano peppers along with mushrooms, before adding beans to make my version of refrieds. I’m so glad to have found this technique, and one of the great things is you can totally make it with anything you like.
It was all about finding something to go with the pico de gallo i was making from the homegrown tomatoes! Now i’m off to explore the rest of your site! Thanks!!