“People criticize burritos, saying, ‘Oh, burritos are an American invention. Flour tortillas are not eaten by Mexicans,’” says Pati Jinich, Mexican food writer and host of the James Beard Award-winning series Pati’s Mexican Table. “But that couldn’t be further from the truth.” So allow me to begin by making an important clarification: burritos originated in Mexico.

Burritos aren’t just Mexican in origin; they’re probably tacos as well. That’s according to Texas Monthly taco editor (and author of the Serious Eats guide to American taco styles) José Ralat, who famously declared burritos a type of taco in 2019, drawing on the work of Mexican food historians Martha Chapa and Alejandro Escalante. Ralat stirred up a fierce Twitter battle; but, more importantly, by contextualizing burritos in this way, he also clarified the way they fit within the canon of Mexican cuisine.

“Whether people argue that the Mexican states of Sonora or Chihuahua are the birthplace of the burrito, the fact is, the food named after a small donkey is from northern Mexico,” says Ralat. “The burritos of both Mexican states share one thing: an affinity for a single guiso, a filling, with an optional schmear of refried beans. But the common denominator is the tortilla: a flour tortilla.”

A Brief History of the Burrito

The origins of the burrito date back to the creation of flour tortillas, possibly as early as the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadores attempted to convert the maíz-based Indigenous cuisine to one based on wheat. Most of Mexico’s climate resisted wheat cultivation, especially in the south, but it adapted well to the northernmost areas colonized by Spaniards (i.e. present-day Guanajuato, Sonora, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas).

The earliest written account of burritos appears in the 19th century in the Diccionario de Mejicanismos. According to the legend (and the Encyclopedia of Latino Culture), some time during the Mexican revolution a lone food vendor named Juan Mendez transported the food across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, into what is now the corner where Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico meet. He carried the burritos on the back of his donkey, hence the name.

But the messy reality of history doesn’t always fit into simple narratives involving lone heroes. The truth is burritos have long existed in the borderlands north and south of the Rio Grande. Countless home cooks, vaqueros (cowboys), and braceros (workers) spread the burritos throughout the US and we will never know their names.

If you still insist on a linear story explaining the popularity of burritos in the US, I suppose I could point you to El Cholo Spanish Cafe in 1934 Los Angeles. The restaurant is cited as having the first US menu featuring burritos on its printed menu. In 1952, meat wholesaler Duane Roberts created frozen beef and bean burritos (an idea he’s rumored to have swiped from a Mexican butcher), which found their way to fast food restaurants, school cafeterias, and, eventually, home freezers everywhere. In the 1960s, fast food entrepreneur Glen Bell Columbused the hard-shelled taco from a taqueria across the street from his burger stand, eventually founding the Taco Bell chain. He added burritos to the menu, further popularizing them across the United States. With two Anglo men’s names so prominently attached to the history of burritos, it isn’t any wonder that burritos are considered a gringo invention.

What Isn’t a Burrito

Before we get to the various burrito styles, let’s talk about what’s not included on this list. People love the sushi burrito, but to me it’s more of a maki roll with Mexican-ish ingredients (please see Sushi Y Mariscos Que Rollo in Northridge, CA for example)—no hay tortilla.

Likewise, a burrito bowl is not a “deconstructed” burrito, and please stop using that word around my food. Ceci n’est pas un burrito; the name references the absence of the very thing which would make it so.

Can we classify Bengali kathi rolls and Maharashtrian frankie rolls as burritos? That seems a disservice to Indian cuisine. But then again, I’ve been known to roll up refried beans inside chapati, so who am I to say?

As for those wrap sandwiches we reach for in desperation at airport shops, when I mentioned them to Jinich she diplomatically demurred, “I think a main difference between a wrap and a burrito is that burritos are always hot. The tortilla needs to be pliable and resilient. If they made the wraps with heated flour tortillas…?” But of course, wraps are made from tortillas durable enough to withstand wilting lettuce and watery chicken salad for hours on a refrigerated shelf. So, no: they aren’t burritos.

That isn’t to say this list is complete. You can put just about anything inside a burrito. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination and that flour tortilla. But let’s go back to the beginning, in Sonora and Chihuahua.

Common Burrito Styles

Mexican Burritos

Origin: Northern Mexico.
How it’s made: Guisado wrapped in a tortilla.

Name a guisado (a kind of very thick stew), and it’s been wrapped up in a burrito. There’s Jalisco-style vinegary goat birria, Sinaloan pork chilorio, El Paso-style carne con chile, or Sonoran shredded dried beef machaca with potatoes; any of these enclosed within a flour tortilla—and nothing else—makes a diminutive, five-inch-long, two-inch-wide burrito that’s mighty in flavor.

Because there are only two components, quality is crucial. The filling must stand on its own as something you could eat as a main dish, and the tortilla must be freshly made. “The filling has to be so good that when you put it together with a phenomenal flour tortilla you really don’t need much else,” says Jinich.

Mexicans are proud of their flour tortillas. “It has to be freshly made or just bought from a place that specializes in flour tortillas, and it has to have good wheat, good fat, whether that’s pork or beef lard, freshly rendered, or good shortening,” says Jinich. And it should be cooked on a comal (stovetop-sized steel or cast iron pan) or plancha (a larger steel cooking surface). “Filling and tortilla should complement each other, making something greater out of that union.”

But if you want to spoon over a little salsa or crunchy garnish before each bite, or have some beans and rice on the side as a chaser, no one is going to stop you. One important note: These aren’t the only type of burrito served in Mexico, but they’re a dominant player.

Get the recipe for Mexican-style burritos with machaca guisada »

Bean and Cheese Burrito

Origin: Northern Mexico.
How it’s made: Cheese and refried beans wrapped in a tortilla.

Like the burrito itself, pinto frijoles refritos originated in northern Mexico and became popular throughout the American Southwest with the arrival of waves of immigrants in the mid-20th century. Growing up in suburban Denver, we scattered grated cheddar cheese over a thick stripe of molten beans in a tortilla hot out of the comal. If you wrapped it quickly, the cheese would melt by the time you got t