Chimichanga
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With this fried chimichanga recipe, making a delicious Tex-Mex meal from scratch is wonderfully easy. Featuring a spiced bean filling, these pan-fried chimichangas have a tender texture on the inside and a delightfully crispy exterior. Serving the golden-brown tortilla packages with sour cream, jalapenos, lime wedges, and a colourful salad with purple cabbage, red tomatoes, orange carrots, and yellow corn is sure to bring a smile to the face of everyone you share them with.
Ingredients
Colourful cabbage salad
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Purple pointed cabbages
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300 g |
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Lime fruit, cut into wedges
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1 |
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Carrots, coarsely shredded
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100 g |
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Cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
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150 g |
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Corn
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100 g |
Chimichanga with beans
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Rapeseed oil
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1 tsp |
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Onion finely chopped
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1 |
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Garlic cloves crushed
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2 |
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Pickled jalapeños
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2 tbsp |
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Ground cumin
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1 tsp |
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Black beans, soaked and boiled
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240 g |
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Water
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50 ml |
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Coarse salt
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½ tsp |
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Red cheddar cheese
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175 g |
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Flour tortilla bread
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8 |
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Rapeseed oil
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100 ml |
Serve with
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Sour cream, 18%
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|
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Pickled jalapeños
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Instructions
Colourful cabbage salad
Chimichanga with beans
How to serve it
Tip
Traditionally, a chimichanga is not just pan-fried; it is deep-fried. So if you enjoy extra crispy treats, a deep-fried chimichanga might be the thing for you. In a thick-bottomed saucepan, heat about 2.5-5 cm of cooking oil to 182-185°C. Use a cooking thermometer to measure the oil's temperature. You may want to use toothpicks to secure the chimichangas, so they do not open as you fry them. Fry 1-2 at a time for about 2 minutes on each side until they are golden brown and have a perfectly crisp texture. Remove the deep-fried chimichangas from the oil and let them drain off excess oil on a plate lined with paper towels or on a wire rack. Serve warm!
Questions about chimichangas
Making homemade chimichangas is delightfully simple with our easy chimichanga recipe. To learn more about them, continue reading below.
What is a chimichanga?
How to make a chimichanga?
How to reheat chimichanga?
What is the difference between a burrito and a chimichanga?
Do chimichangas have beans?
What is inside a chimichanga?
Other recipes
Classic Tex-Mex fried chimichangas with cabbage salad
A bean and cheese chimichanga makes for an incredibly tasty dinner or lunch that you can easily serve at dinner parties. The golden, crispy exterior of the chimichangas is sure to entice any guest and once they taste the savoury, spiced bean filling, they will not be able to resist.
Served with a colourful cabbage salad with plenty of bite, the Tex-Mex meal of your dreams is complete. This salad has a complex flavour profile with sweet, tangy, and slightly bitter undertones. The lime juice used to tenderise the purple pointed cabbage gives it a zesty freshness that makes it a vibrant dish in taste as well as appearance.
Cheesy wraps dipped in cold sour cream
Our pan-fried chimichanga is filled with delicious, melted cheese. The gooey cheddar gives it a wonderful richness. For a bit of freshness, it is a great idea to serve it with sour cream. It is velvety soft and introduces a bit of tang into the dish that lightens it while it serves as a textural contrast to the chimichanga's crispy outside.
Sour cream also has a cooling effect that will mellow the spiciness of the bean filling. Serve your homemade chimichangas with as much or as little sour cream as you desire. Some other great chimichanga toppings include salsa, garlicky chimichurri, and creamy guacamole.
Spicy authentic chimichanga with bean filling
A traditional pinto, kidney, or black bean chimichanga is packed with flavour. It is a traditional filling with beans adding a rich, hearty flavour as well as a satisfying texture. A base of sautéed onion and garlic forms the foundation for the filling, and they help build layers of flavour upon the mild-tasting, slightly nutty and earthy beans.
Warming cumin, which is a perfect flavour pairing for pinto, kidney, and black beans, gives additional depth as well as a bit of citrussy brightness that lets the pickled jalapenos shine. Their vinegary spiciness is what turns up the heat and tickles your tastebuds when you bite into a crunchy tortilla package.
How to fold a chimichanga the right way
The best chimichanga recipe, of course, must include a bit of instruction on how to roll a chimichanga properly. A good tip is to heat the tortillas slightly to make them softer and more pliable. Sprinkle them with a bit of water or cover them with a damp towel before popping them in the microwave for a few seconds.
After placing the filling in the middle, roll it across sideways. Now fold in the sides. Then fold the bottom flap tightly over the filling. Keep the tortilla tight against the filling to prevent air pockets. Then finish it by folding the top flap down and giving a few presses so it keeps its shape. If you want to, you can use a toothpick to secure the fold.
If you are on the lookout for more folded delicacies with Tex-Mex influences, we suggest you check out our shredded beef tacos, chicken wraps with Mexican corn salad, and beef enchiladas too.
Experiment with different fillings
Crunchy chimichangas taste great no matter what kind of filling you decide to stuff them with. Try making some with pulled beef or shredded chicken in addition to the jalapeno-spiced beans. We promise you will not be disappointed by such an umami-rich addition.
A vegetable chimichanga with peppers, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, and fresh chilli also tastes delicious if you are looking for an easy way to eat more vegetables. Slightly bitter ones like green peppers and green chilli pair nicely with the nutty beans.
Since an authentic chimichanga recipe will usually have rice in the filling, this is perhaps an option you might like to explore further. You can use regular white rice, brown rice, yellow rice with saffron or turmeric, or Tex-Mex or Spanish-style red rice with tomato, garlic, and onion. All are good options for these bean chimichangas.
