This freezer tempeh breakfast burrito are perfect for a healthy start to the day without having to
They are practical, genuinely filling, and actually worth making ahead. You get soft tortillas packed with roasted potatoes, jammy sautéed vegetables, savory tempeh crumbles, and a creamy spicy yogurt sauce on the side. Once frozen, they become the kind of breakfast you will be deeply grateful for on busy mornings when your brain is not ready to make decisions yet.
I love these burritos because they make life so much easier, and taste delicious. Served best with a side salad, the burrito is warm, and savory, and the salad adds crunch, freshness, and more volume to the meal.
These burritos are especially good if you want a homemade breakfast or lunch that is super delicious and satisfying, but still fits into a busy weekday.
If you have ever wanted a meal-prep friendly burrito, this is the one I would start with.
Sautéed vegetables: The peppers, zucchini, and onion add softness, sweetness, and flavor. Cooking them down until they are just a bit jammy makes the burritos taste better and helps reduce excess moisture. I do not recommend adding fresh crucnhy vegetables as these burritoes are going to be frozen.
Tempeh crumbles: This is what gives the burritos their savory, hearty bite. Grating the tempeh helps it cook quickly and gives it that crumbly texture that works really well in breakfast burritos.
Spicy yogurt sauce: This is not frozen inside the burrito. It is mixed separately and served when you eat the burritos. That keeps the burritos from getting soggy and gives you a bright, spicy finish at the end.
Roasted potatoes: If you don’t already have this prepped ahead of time, then consider preparing them as well. The potatoes make the burritos more satisfying and comforting.
A few things will make this recipe much easier if you are new to freezer burritos.
Dice the bell peppers, zucchini, and onion into small pieces.
Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the vegetables with salt and cook, stirring in between, until they soften and cook down. You want them tender and slightly jammy, but not mushy. Taste and adjust the salt, then add black pepper and set them aside.
This step is worth doing properly because undercooked vegetables make the filling watery and a little sad.
Grate the tempeh using the large side of a box grater.
Heat oil in a pan and add the grated tempeh. Let it cook long enough to get some browning before moving it around too much. Once you have a bit of color, add the mushroom or veggie seasoning or nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, cayenne, oregano, and fennel.
Toss everything together and let the spices cook for about a minute so they do not taste raw. Then add the soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, and maple syrup or agave. Toss again until the tempeh is coated and fragrant. Turn off the heat and set it aside.
The goal here is not to make it wet. You want flavorful crumbles tht gives a bite to these burritos!
In a small bowl, stir together the plant-based yogurt, hot sauce, lemon juice, and salt.
Taste it and adjust depending on how spicy or tangy you want it. Set it aside in the fridge. This is best served fresh when the burritos are reheated.
Make sure your roasted potatoes are cooked and ready to go. I always have some prepped in the fridge. If you don’t, then you have to make that as well. They can be air fried or baked or even pan fried.
If your tortillas feel stiff, warm them briefly in the microwave or in a dry pan just until flexible. You are not trying to brown them yet. You just want them soft enough to roll without tearing.
Lay out a tortilla and add some roasted potatoes, a spoonful of the sautéed vegetables, and some tempeh crumbles.
Do not pile the filling all the way to the edges. Leave some room so the burrito can be rolled properly. Fold in the sides, roll it up tightly, and wrap it in parchment paper.
Repeat with the remaining tortillas and filling.
Place the wrapped burritos in a zip-top freezer bag or other freezer-safe container and freeze.
At this point, your future self has been helped quite a lot.
There are two good ways to do it!
Take a burrito out of the freezer and place it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, toast it in a pan until warmed through and browned on both sides.
This gives the best texture.
If you forgot to thaw it, microwave the burrito for a minute or two on the lowest power setting, just enough to defrost it. Then toast it in a pan until hot in the center and browned on the outside.
That two-step method works really well because the microwave handles the frozen center and the pan brings back the texture.
Serve with the spicy yogurt sauce and, if you can, a simple side salad.
The burritos are already filling, but a side salad makes the meal feel more complete.
It adds crunch, freshness, and extra volume, which helps with satiety. That is important especially if you are someone who wants a meal to hold you over for a while. A simple salad with lettuce or greens, cucumber, tomatoes, lemon juice, salt, and pepper is great!
If you want to prep the filling in advance, you can store the cooked vegetables and tempeh separately in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. The yogurt sauce should also be kept in a sealed container in the fridge and used within about 3 days for the freshest taste.
Assembled burritos can be kept in the fridge for about 1 day before freezing, but I would not leave them much longer because the tortillas can start to soften too much from the filling.
Once wrapped in parchment paper and stored in a freezer bag or airtight freezer-safe container, the tempeh breakfast burritos keep well for up to 3 months for best texture and flavor.
They are usually still safe beyond that if stored properly, but the texture can start to slip a bit and freezer burn may creep in.
Let the filling cool completely before assembling. This is one of the most important things you can do!
Wrap each burrito individually in parchment paper first, then place them together in a freezer bag. That makes it easier to grab one at a time and helps protect the tortillas.
If you want extra protection, especially if you are storing them for a while, you can wrap them in parchment and then place them in a freezer container or double-bag them.
The yogurt sauce is best made fresh or stored separately in the fridge. Freezing it is not ideal because the texture can split when thawed.
You can use the tempeh crumbles, veggies and sauce any other way you want. I like to add them to a bed of rice and enjoy that for dinner, as you can see here in this picture:
One of the biggest mistakes is using filling that is too wet. If the vegetables are still releasing water or the tempeh is too saucy, the burritos will freeze and reheat poorly.
Another common issue is overfilling the tortillas. It makes rolling harder and increases the chance of tearing.
The last one is skipping the thaw-or-defrost step and expecting a frozen burrito to heat evenly in a pan alone. That is how you end up with a scorched outside and a cold middle, which is a very annoying experience.
Yes. That is exactly what they are good for. You can make a batch, wrap them individually, and freeze them so your meal is ready when you need it.
Yes, as long as you use plant-based yogurt!
If you do not have mushroom or veggie seasoning, nutritional yeast is a good substitute and still adds a nice savory flavor.
Yes, and they are usually easier to roll. If you use corn tortillas, warming them first is especially important because they are more likely to crack.
Grating works best for texture here, but if you do not want to grate it, you can crumble it with your hands or dice it into smaller pieces. Just try to keep the pieces small so the filling is easier to roll and eat.
I would not. It is much better served on the side after reheating. Freezing the sauce inside can make the burrito wetter and affect the texture.
A soup or a a veggie stir fry are my best alternatives. If you want something quick then some fresh fruit would work. I really prefer a simple side salad here because it balances the warm, savory filling and makes the meal more satisfying overall.
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