The Best Frozen Burritos, According to Our Taste Test

On days when everything goes wrong—or even just one thing goes wrong—frozen burritos are there for you. A couple of minutes in the microwave and, boom, there’s lunch.

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A great frozen bean and cheese burrito needs plenty of well-seasoned beans, enough gooey cheese to provide richness, and a soft, pliable tortilla. That’s a high bar even for a fresh burrito. But a frozen one? Tougher still. We tested eight widely available frozen bean-and-cheese burritos—including both black-bean and pinto-bean varieties—to sort the bland, the boring, and the bleh from the best. Amy’s Organic Bean & Cheddar Cheese Burrito was our favorite overall, Red’s Organic Black Bean & Cheese Burrito was the cheesiest, and Great Value Bean & Cheese Burritos delivered the most satisfying bean-forward bite.

The best frozen bean and cheese burrito: Amy’s

Stuffed with a savory pinto bean filling flavored with tomato purée, onions, and bell peppers, Amy’s organic bean and cheddar cheese burrito is made with a hearty whole-wheat tortilla. The combination satisfied even our most persnickety editors.

Why it won us over: Our panel was impressed by the savory aromatics, but Amy’s whole-wheat tortilla pushed this burrito ahead of the pack. Its nutty, whole-grain flavor paired nicely with the well-seasoned beans inside. Those beans tread deftly between refried-style softness and tender whole beans, a texture senior commerce editor Olivia Tarantino called her ideal: cravable, toothsome, and dynamic. The rice was also well cooked—a notable achievement in a field where several contenders suffered from mushy, waterlogged grains. A few tasters detected only a whisper of cheese, but the filling was flavorful enough that no one seemed to miss it.

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Amy’s Frozen Cheddar Cheese Burrito

The cheesiest frozen burrito: Red’s

With both mozzarella and pepper Jack cheeses—and plenty of them—Red’s Organic Black Bean and Cheese Burrito was deemed the most satisfyingly cheesy of all the burritos we tasted.

Why it won us over: Not every frozen burrito we tried offered a big ole cheese pull. Red’s delivered. Food director Chris Morocco called this entrant “compelling on a primordial level,” thanks to a combination of mozzarella and pepper Jack that provided a particularly luscious bite.