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This is the battle-tested vegan breakfast burrito recipe I served countless thousands of from my popular food truck and at my restaurant locations. It's not just a flavorful protein bomb; it's subversively tricking you and your picky, stinkin' kids into eating a nice serving of dark leafy greens, too.
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Here's what a perfect breakfast burrito sounds like to me: smoked chili grilled seitan that packs heat and char, easily customizable scrambled tofu, straight-up-drinkable chipotle mayo, jalapeños, and umeboshi marinated kale.
Along with my vegan apple cider donuts, blue corn pancakes, and the maple mustard tempeh I teach in my vegan sandwich class, these chipotle seitan burritos were one of the few menu items I never removed through over a decade of seasonal changes. I kept them on the menu out of pure terror, because people loved them so much, I was pretty sure they might show up at my house with pitchforks and torches if I switched them out.
🤫 Here's the secret kicker though: These freeze well, reheat like champs, and travel (to work, playdates, outlaw warehouse raves, etc.) like the burrito of your dreams should.
Jump to:
🥰Why you'll adore this chipotle seitan breakfast burrito recipe
🚌 Built for the Long Haul: These freeze and reheat beautifully. Make a batch on Sunday, crush it all week.
🔥 Layers of Flavor: Yawn. I was so sick of basic brekky burritos with boring ol' beans and cobwebs. What is this, a mid-90s health food store sold bar? No, 'm'precious pony… spicy seitan, tender & actually yummy kale, bits of jalapeño and chipotle mayo make this something that even my totally-not-open-minded-to-vegan-food parents LOVE and ask for again and again.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all of my vegan recipes, this one was tested by a massive team of recipe testers to make sure it works. Beyond that, I have served many thousands of these over the years from my food trucks and restaurants.
👊 Vegan AF: Like all my vegan breakfast recipes, this burrito doesn't need eggs, dairy, or anything from anyone who has a face or mom.
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🌯Vegan breakfast burrito ingredients
Seitan
Seitan is one part of the hearty, protein-packed base of this burrito. It soaks up the chipotle-tomato grill sauce beautifully and can crisp up on the edges if you cook it long enough.
You can use store-bought, or better yet, follow my seitan recipe for maximum flavor and the meatiest texture. If you're gluten-free, swap it out with pan-fried bits of jackfruit tossed in the same smoky glaze.
Chipotle
Chipotle powder is the spice messiah of this messy tortilla situation. It gives the seitan a smoky kick that holds its own without overpowering the other flavors. Alternatively, you can use 2x the amount of minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce in place of the powder.
Gochugaru
Gochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes, bring a fruity mild heat without overwhelming fire that turns you into a smoldering puddle of melted humanoid goo. It's the same chili flake used to make vegan kimchi, and I use it in my vegan Korean fried chicken too.
Umeboshi Plum Vinegar
Umeboshi plum vinegar is what brought that bright umami lift I used to rely on in a rather embarrassing number of recipes for my food truck and my cookbook. You'll notice there's hardly any added salt in this recipe because most of the salinity comes from this pretty little liquid powerhouse. If needed, you can sub with apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar with salt added to taste.
Asafetida
Asafetida adds that subtle eggy funk to the scramble-just a little does the trick. I recommend using the powdered hing, rather than the annoying to measure resin form.
I also use asafetida to add pungency to my vegan shakshuka and seitan bacon. Traditionally, asafetida is used in place of onions and garlic in a lot of sattvic recipes, like my beerakaya sabji. That being said, garlic powder is a decent substitution in this recipe if you can't get your hands on any.
Kala Namak
Kala namak is essential for eggy flavor in the tofu scramble. It's naturally sulfuric aroma transforms tofu into a pretty convincing breakfast imposter. I use it in nearly all my egg-style recipes, like my vegan omelette, vegan eggs Benedict, and tofu frittata.
The Greens
I always made this on our food truck using either curly kale or lacinato kale (aka dinosaur kale) because they're sturdy and can last a few days in the fridge once washed, sliced before being marinated. Collards, Swiss chard, or mature spinach are solid alternatives, too, if you don't have kale on hand.
Vegan Mayo
Vegan mayo forms the creamy base of your chipotle sauce. I recommend using Vegenaise for store-bought, or you can follow my easy vegan Kewpie mayo recipe to make your own.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Vegan Breakfast Burrito with Soft Scrambled Eggs
Instead of the good, albeit basic, scrambled tofu in this recipe, you can swap it out for my kinda insanely textured vegan scrambled eggs recipe. If you are the laziest bum in the galaxy, you can replace them with scrambled Just Egg, and if you actually aren't that lazy at all, you can follow my Just Egg recipe to make the darned stuff yourself from scratch!
Southwestern Breakfast Burrito
Swap the chipotle mayo out for some vegan sour cream and add a few tablespoons of New Mexico-style red chili sauce to your burritos. Serve 'em up with salsa roja, or salsa verde, and a big ol' plate of chilaquiles verdes on the side.
Bacon Benny Breakfast Burrito
Use my vegan hollandaise sauce in place of this chipotle mayo in your burritos and add a half cup of chopped veggie bacon to each burrito. You can use my tempeh bacon, tofu bacon, or carrot bacon. Don't use my rice paper bacon recipe for this, because it will get soggy inside the burrito.
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📖 How to make a vegan breakfast burrito
You wanna skip the pics and just head straight to the easy-to-print recipe card? Keep scrolling. But if you're down for a step-by-step with pretty pictures, here we go:
Step One
Not today, Seitan:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped seitan and sauté for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until browned.
Step Two
Princess Chipotleia:
In a bowl, mix tomato paste, chipotle powder, gochugaru, umeboshi vinegar, and water until smooth. Add to the pan and stir for a few minutes until thickened and seitan is glazed.
Step Three
Sautébe Ruth:
Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add diced onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds until soft and lightly golden.
Step Four
Tofu Legit to Quit:
Crumble tofu into the pan. Add turmeric, red pepper, asafetida, and black salt. Cook 4 min, stirring occasionally, until heated and yellow.
Step Five
Kale Me Maybe:
Rinse and drain kale. Remove thick stems and slice into 1-centimeter ribbons.
✅Really shake off as much water as you can from the kale. Especially if you are multiplying the recipe, I would recommend using a salad spinner to get it dry before marinating, to avoid it from being swampy.
Step Six
Pack the Bowl:
Place kale in a bowl with olive oil, plum vinegar, thyme, and pepper.
Step Seven
Massage in a Bottle:
Massage and squeeze the kale for a couple of minutes until tender.
Step Eight
Mayo-na Lisa:
Mix vegan mayo, chipotle powder, tomato paste, rice vinegar, and tamari in a bowl until smooth.
Step Nine
Tortilla Recall:
Heat a dry skillet over high heat. Warm tortillas 30 seconds per side until soft. Set aside.
✅ If you have an oven on for something else you are making for breakfast (like a vegan French toast casserole, or a batch of vegan blueberry muffins, for instance), you can just toss a stack of tortillas into the oven for a couple of minutes on a baking pan. Just make sure not the heat them long enough to dry them out.
Step Ten
Spready Krueger:
For each burrito, spread ¼ cup chipotle mayo across the lower half of each tortilla.
Step Eleven
Kale of Two Cities:
Top the mayo with ½ cup marinated kale.
Step Twelve
Proteinage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
Add ¾ cup tofu scramble and ½ cup of the chipotle grilled seitan.
Step Thirteen
Jalapeñ In the You Know What!
Sprinkle on minced jalapeño to taste.
Step Fourteen
Grangster Wrap:
Wrap tightly, folding in the sides, so that nothing can escape or unravel on you.
Step Fifteen
Grill Interrupted:
Oil a skillet lightly and heat over medium-high. Grill burritos seam-side down for 90 seconds per side.
Step Sixteen
Halflife:
Cut burritos in half if desired.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
💡Serving Ideas
Rock these burritos out with some vegan blueberry pancakes if you are looking for a super filling brekky. Or throw it back to your Lisa Frank years with ube pancakes. Yes, they're purple, and yes, they're glorious.
Slide in one of my vegan cinnamon rolls or go with vegan matcha donuts if you're trying to relive your days of ordering from my food truck.
If you're riding the GF train, these gluten-free vegan pancakes or my gluten-free vegan blintzes will treat you right.
👉Top tips
- Warm Your Wraps: Warming your tortillas just before assembling makes them stretchier and more pliable for easy wrapping. You don't want to warm them enough to dry them out, though. Just a quick softening so that they are steamy and soft when it comes time to fill them.
- Squeeze That Tofu: Drain tofu well before crumbling to keep the scramble from getting soggy and sucky.
- Wrap It While It's Hot: As soon as all the fillings are on the tortilla, wrap it up right away so the hot ingredients don't have time to cool off and go sad on you.
- Seal the Deal: Grill the burrito seam-side down first so it seals as it grills. That way, they are less likely to unravel on you as you grill the other sides. Still, flip them around carefully to prevent ruptures and leaks.
- Portion It Well: I know it's tempting, but don't overfill the burrito, or it will very likely explode. Especially if you can't get 12-inch flour tortillas, use less of the various fillings that I suggest in my instructions. Resist the urge to stuff it like a suitcase that you have to ask your chunky dad to sit on so you can get it zipped.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Yes. Once filled, very lightly oil the outsides of the burritos. Bake on a parchment paper-lined baking pan at 400°F (200°C) for 10-12 minutes, flipping halfway through. To air-fry, place the burritos in the air fryer basket in a single layer and cook at 400°F (200°C) for 8-10 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Cook it a few minutes longer uncovered to evaporate excess moisture, or drain off some of the excess liquid through a wire mesh strainer.
🔥 Stovetop Reheating:
Toast on a dry skillet over medium heat for 2-3 minutes per side.
🥵 Oven Reheating (Fresh):
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Wrap the burrito in foil to retain moisture and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes to crisp the outside.
❤️🔥 Oven Reheating (For Thawed Frozen Burritos):
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Keep the burrito wrapped in foil and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove the foil during the last 5 minutes to crisp the exterior without drying out the filling.
✌️You'll love these vegan breakfast recipes too:
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Vegan Breakfast Burrito
Equipment
- Griddle optional
Ingredients
Smoked Chili Grilled Seitan:
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 3 cups seitan chopped
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons chipotle powder
- ½ teaspoon gochugaru
- 4 teaspoons umeboshi plum vinegar
- ⅓ cup water
Basic Scrambled Tofu:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup onion diced
- 14 oz. extra firm tofu drained
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida
- 1 teaspoon black salt or to taste
Umeboshi Plum Marinated Kale:
- 1 bunch kale any variety
- 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons umeboshi plum vinegar
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Chipotle Mayo:
- 1 cup vegan mayo
- 1 ¼ teaspoons chipotle powder
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon tamari
To Assemble:
- Thinly Sliced Fresh Jalapeño
- 12 inch Flour Tortillas
Instructions
To Make the Smoked Chili Grilled Seitan:
- Over a medium-high flame, heat olive oil in a skillet or dutch oven. After about 60 seconds, once the oil is hot, add the seitan and sauté for 7-8 minutes, stirring periodically until the seitan is lightly browned.
- In a small bowl using the tines of a fork, mix together the tomato paste, chipotle powder, gochugaru, plum vinegar and water until smooth. Pour this sauce into the pan of seitan and continue to cook stirring until most of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has lightly caramelized around the pieces of seitan.
To Make The Scrambled Tofu (if not using my vegan soft scrambled eggs recipe):
- Over a medium-high flame, heat the olive oil a frying pan or cast iron skillet. After about 60 seconds, once the oil is hot, sauté the diced onions, stirring every 30 seconds for 3-4 minutes, until the onions have started to sweat.
- Crumble the block of tofu into the pan, and add the turmeric, red pepper flakes, asafetida and black salt. Sauté, stirring periodically for 4 more minutes until the tofu is yellow and heated throughout.
To Marinate the Kale:
- Thoroughly submerge the kale in water, then rinse and drain the leaves. Remove and discard just the thick stems at the very bottom of the bunch, and slice the greens into 1-cm- wide ribbons.
- Place the kale ribbons into a mixing bowl with the olive oil, vinegar, thyme, and pepper.
- Using your hands, squeeze and massage the greens until they are tender and you no longer see any dry-looking kale.
For The Chipotle Mayo:
- In a small bowl, using the tines of a fork, mix together the vegan mayonnaise, chipotle powder, tomato paste, rice vinegar, and tamari until smooth and evenly combined.
To Assemble the Burritos:
- Place a frying pan or cast iron skillet over a high flame. Once the pan is hot, heat the tortilla on each side for 30 seconds to make it soft and pliable. Remove the tortilla from the pan and set it aside on a clean work surface while you warm the remaining tortillas.
- Spread ¼ cup of chipotle mayo in a line across the bottom half of each tortilla.
- Place ½ cup of marinated kale over the chipotle mayo.
- Place ¾ cup of hot scrambled tofu and ½ cup of hot chipotle grilled seitan over the mayo.
- Sprinkle on as much fresh jalapeño on the burrito as you like (none if you hate spice).
- Wrap the burrito, tucking the sides in tightly.
- Over medium-high heat, preheat a large skillet or griddle pan, wiped down with ½ teaspoon of neutral cooking oil. Once hot, place the burritos into the pan and grill them for about 90 seconds on each side until lightly golden all around, being careful not to let them unravel as you turn them.
- If desired, cut the burritos in half to serve.
Notes
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Lisa says
One of my favorite dishes ever
Beth says
A-freaking-mazing. I marinated the seitan, and then popped into the airfryer. Crisp, delicious - spot on. Instead of an exploding tortilla, I made a bowl with brown rice as the base. Still amazing, very filling and applicable to any meal. I can't wait to explore more recipes.
Dietmar says
Omg- this is so good. I had to adapt the recipe slightly (I had no seitan and used cauliflower), but otherwise made it as is. The cauliflower works perfectly with the sauce for the seitan btw. Anyhow, aside from that, this is super easy to make and super yummy. And it’s not just tasty for breakfast:-)