Jill Can Cook: Chicken Apple Sausage Breakfast Burritos

A few years ago I fell in love with these pre-made Chicken Apple Sausage breakfast burritos. They were a great quick breakfast or snack on days that I was in too much of a rush to put more effort into cooking than running the microwave for a couple minutes.

When I first started buying them, they cost me $1.25 a piece. It was a little more than I like spending, but they tasted so good that they were worth the price. And it was just my luck that soon after I fell in love with them, the price on them kept going up and up until they got to be $1.89 a piece. I refuse to buy them at that price. They're good, but not that good, ya know?!

That's when I got the bright idea that I could possibly recreate their goodness on my own. And that's what I did over the weekend, with no recipe. I remembered what was in them and hoped I could recreate it with a little ingenuity. Here goes nothing!!

 

Chicken Apple Sausage Breakfast Burritos

Ingredients:

• 1 package (5 links) chicken apple sausage
• 4-5 egg whites
• half a bag of frozen hash browns
• 1/4 of a red pepper
• 1/2-3/4 cup grated cheese
• 7 tortillas
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Prepare hash browns as directed on package.
2. In a medium frying pan, fry sausage until thoroughly cooked. Cut into small pieces. Put into a large mixing bowl.
3. Cut up red pepper, fry in frying pan. Put into the same large mixing bowl.
4. Separate egg whites. Discard yolks. Fry egg whites in frying pan. Season with salt and pepper. Place in the same large mixing bowl.
5. Once the has browns are cooked through, add to mixing bowl along with cheese.
6. Mix everything together thoroughly.
7. Place desired amount of mixture in tortillas and wrap like a burrito.
8. Put burritos on cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for a few minutes just to get ingredients warm and cheese melted.
9. Serve and enjoy!

I have no idea what measurements I used because I just kind of guessed and added what I thought looked good and had a few tastes just to make sure everything was seasoned nicely. Sorry for not being more exact, but I think this is one of those recipes that can only come out terribly if you burn something, not if the measurements are a little off!

Frying up the chicken apple sausage.

The cut up red pepper.

Frying the red pepper.

The separated eggs.

The cooked hash browns

The filling all mixed together

So, this is another one of those recipes that you can substitute ingredients as you like. You could use any kind of sausage, add any kind of vegetable, any flavor of cheese, and you don't even have to separate the egg whites. I love that the recipe is so versatile. It is just a great starting off point, especially if you're picky like me!

The finished burritos!

This ended up taking a long time to make, even though it seems so easy. This is mainly because I cooked everything piecemeal. It was more worth it to me to waste time cooking everything in the same pan, one after the other, than to cook everything at the same time in different pans. I hate doing dishes! But you don't have to do it that way, unless you want to.

Joe was really impressed, not only because these came out so deliciously, but because I didn't even have a recipe! I finally have a little bit of imagination! Woo hoo!  Haha, anyway, these didn't taste anything like the prepackaged ones (I blame the Mexican cheese and the fact that I used red pepper instead of green pepper), but neither Joe nor I cared. They tasted a whole lot better. I ended up making 7 super filled burritos (twice the size of the store bought ones) and I worked it out that they cost about $1.00 per burrito (that's almost half the cost!). Joe and I ate 3 of them that first day and I put the 4 remaining ones in the freezer, to be heated up when we need a simple meal in the future.

Definitely worth all the trouble!!!

The best part of this whole meal was when Joe said, "I can't wait to make these for the guys at work! I only hope I can do a good a job as you!" Aww, that's the best compliment EVER!

This recipe definitely gets an A+ in my book. I don't think the 4 in the freezer are going to last too long so I'm sure I'll be making these again soon!