Breakfast Burrito with Sausage, Egg & Endless Variations

Vivi Abeja’s breakfast burrito recipe tastes great fresh and made in advance, making it the perfect hearty morning meal when you’re short on time and craving something delicioso. And here’s a pro tip from Vivi, a Chicago-area street vendor turned chef who shares her Mexican recipes at vivis_table and Familia Kitchen. When she is in the mood for these burritos (usually on Sundays), she makes enough to last at least the next few days. “The best feeling is waking up later in the week and being able to heat up my breakfast burrito in the air fryer,” she says.

Plus, this recipe is easily customized, so “it’s impossible to get bored of it. Instead of the expected steak, I always use breakfast sausage, with garlic and onion. Everything else depends on what I have on hand.” 

Vivi often adds a changing combination of mushrooms, bell peppers, black beans and spinach to make these burritos extra healthy and hearty. “The fillings vary depending on what I have on hand or what’s on sale at the grocery store. We love sales over here,” she says.

This is one of the dishes that especially reminds Vivi of her early adventures in meal-prepping about 10 years ago. Inspired by the traditional Mexican family recipes her grandmother made for their large family, Vivi started to get serious about the kitchen and sharing recipes online. She found it was easy to get exhausted by how much she was cooking and cleaning. Meal prep was the perfect way for her to save energy and have more time to develop recipes. Plus, on those days when she’s really tired, an easy-to-put-together, tasty and healthy meal like this one is just what she craves.

Vivi learned how to make this burrito from a variety of sources, with most of the credit going to her abuela, YouTube and the cooks at La Chiquita in Little Village, a traditionally Mexican neighborhood in Chicago, where Vivi grew up and still lives today.

“When I was little, I was always fascinated by the kitchens in open-kitchen style restaurants, and there were some in the Mexican neighborhood I grew up in. My eyes would always follow the cooks,” Vivi says.

Watching the pros at work inspired Vivi to try to figure the recipes out for herself. Recreating her favorite restaurant dishes, as well as digging into family recipes, helped Vivi realize her own passion for cooking. And of course, once Vivi figures out how to make something, she adds her own spin to it.

Vivi recommends eating these breakfast burritos with flour (not corn) tortillas and salsa poured into every bite. If you have a little extra time, making homemade salsa (like Vivi’s red salsa molcajete) is worth the effort.

Find more delicious Mexican recipes from our Familia Kitchen community here or submit your own!