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Where I grew up in Michigan, it was always a treat to go to one of the local Mexican restaurants and order wet burritos. What is a wet burrito? It is a burrito, filled with ground beef, refried beans, lettuce, tomato, and onions. It is then smothered with enchilada sauce and cheese, which is melted! Can I just say…YUM!! By the way, that is an actual wet burrito from our hometown’s favorite restaurant, The Beltline Bar in Grand Rapids MI to the left!
When I moved to SC more than twenty years ago, I discovered that wet burritos were more of a local and regional favorite up in Michigan and couldn’t be found down here, and I missed them! In fact, it is a tradition in our family that when someone else from the family goes up to Grand Rapids that they MUST visit our favorite Mexican restaurant while they are there. And they have to take pictures and text them to the rest of the family to taunt us!
Getting the recipe
Many years after moving to South Carolina, my parents were given a recipe for the wet burritos from another transplanted Michigander. The original recipe calls for lots of canned and packaged items and wasn’t exactly clean OR gluten-free. I’ve updated it so that it is now clean and can be done gluten-free as well!
This recipe does have some flexibility. You can add veggies that you like. Or you can make it hot and spicy or keep it mild. It is really all about making it to your liking!
Update
The whole family got to come to the Beltline Bar in the summer of 2013 when we took a huge family vacation to Michigan together. So here is a photo of a lot of the family enjoying some great Mexican food! That was the first time my family had been there together in more than two decades! Tons of fun and lots of laughs were had….not to mention some fantastic food!
Use this with my enchilada sauce recipe, or use a good organic enchilada sauce!
Wet Burritos
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef pasture raised
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp unrefined sea salt
- gluten free or corn tortillas
- cheddar cheese shredded yourself
- lettuce tomatoes, green pepper, onions all chopped
- Enchilada sauce
- 2 cups of salsa
Instructions
- In a skillet, add the ground beef and onions and brown beef fully.
- Fix the enchilada sauce recipe and when heated through, add the salsa. Heat fully
- On a plate, lay two 6 inch tortillas so that they are overlapping slightly.
- Line the center of the overlapping tortillas with beef.
- Top with lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, onions.
- Fold tortilla over top.
- Spoon the enchilada sauce mixture over top to that the tortilla is covered.
- Sprinkle some cheese on top.
- If you want to melt the cheese you can place the burrito (on an oven safe plate, of course) in a preheated oven for a few minutes. The plate will be hot when removed from oven!
Holy Crap when I saw this recipe I was as happy as kid at chucky cheeses’. I too am from GR and you can’t say you’re a Rapidian unless you had one of those burritos! All you need to do is find the recipe for a TACO BOY or a OLE TACO all meat burrito and will die a happy man! I wish these Wet Burritos were a state thing but alas it’s only a West Michigan GR thing, kinda like yesterdogs(which beat any coney island dog in the Detroit area)
Wet burritos are even more difficult to find down in SC…although there is one restaurant that makes them…but they are NOTHING like those at Beltline Bar or the Dungeon! Enjoy!!!
I will and thank you. Oh by the way if you’re ever in Norfolk this is Recipe Restaurant that’s in the Military Circle Mall that serves as white salsa today for you gotta try it. Unfortunately I do not remember the name of the restaurant.
I will check it out if I’m every up that way! Thanks! 🙂
Buddies in Okemos, Michigan has awesome wet burritos. I think they must use this recipe because they are absolutely delicious. However nobody makes them gluten free, so thank you for the recipe.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! My mother-in-law lived in Grand Rapids and she also worked at that very restaurant. They are the Best. It has been 15 years since my mother-in-law passed away and since we live in Tennessee we just can’t jump in the car to dine out for the night. But I have been tempted. She worked there and she and I made them at home which were awesome but mine seem to be missing something. I never wrote any of what she taught me down because she didn’t have recipes she just knew how much of each ingredients to add. I have searched everywhere for the recipe. And the funniest thing about asking people there wasn’t NOT 1 Mexican Restaurant that had ever heard of a “WET” Burrito. They would tell me they had never heard of it and it couldn’t been Mexican. I ate at that restaurant and have met and ate with the owner’s and their families and I guarantee they were from Mexico. But any ways I so appreciate you for posting this as does my family and I’m going to the store to get everything to cook this for dinner. My husband says “he’s hungry”. THANK YOU
Well, I hope you enjoy! They aren’t exactly like Beltline’s but pretty close!
I too am from Michigan (Holland) . Ny husband and I went to the Beltline at least 2 times a month! Love their food! We moved to Florida and can’t find anything that compares to Beltline!! Thanks for posting this!
Oh, you are so welcome! I’m from Grandville and used to spend a LOT of time in Holland at the State Park during the summer! And I have family that still lives there. I definitely miss Beltline too!!!
Thanks for posting. I’m also a native Grand Rapidian (Wyoming) born and raised and lived there until I was 43. For the past 12 years we’ve been living in Southern Kentucky…Although, we have plans to move back home in the near future since we’re now semi-empty nesters. I get way too homesick and I really miss Wet Burritos, Good Pizza and Lake Michigan…and my family (not necessarily in that order). Anyway, I went to Kelloggsville HS and S Division & 28th St are part of my old stomping grounds and the Beltline Bar was a big part of my life growing up. I’ve had a few Wet Burritos from the Dungeon too which are equally good. Gotta love the Wet Burrito! …Oh, I miss good fried fish too…Fat Man’s Fish Fry, Yum! PS I’m just getting into the Food Blogging World. I’m still working on setting up my website and will launch it as soon as I feel it’s ready for the world to see. It’s called, Our Cracker Box Cottage 🙂 PSS I really enjoyed seeing your Beltline Bar photos.
First time I ate a Wet Burrito it was at a restaurant in Zeeland MI!
Thanks for posting. I’m also a native Grand Rapidian (Wyoming) born and raised and lived there until I was 43. For the past 12 years we’ve been living in Southern Kentucky…Although, we have plans to move back home in the near future since we’re now semi-empty nesters. I get way too homesick and I really miss Wet Burritos, Good Pizza and Lake Michigan…and my family (not necessarily in that order). Anyway, I went to Kelloggsville HS and S Division & 28th St are part of my old stomping grounds and the Beltline Bar was a big part of my life growing up. I’ve had a few Wet Burritos from the Dungeon too which are equally good. Gotta love the Wet Burrito! …Oh, I miss good fried fish too…Fat Man’s Fish Fry, Yum! PS I’m just getting into the Food Blogging World. I’m still working on setting up my website and will launch it as soon as I feel it’s ready for the world to see. It’s called, Our Cracker Box Cottage 🙂 PSS I really enjoyed seeing your Beltline Bar photos.
Sorry it posted twice for some reason, idk.
You are so welcome! It’s funny how some foods just remind us of home! Beltline and Dungeon were definitely favorites in our family…but when we moved to SC in the 90’s no restaurants here made them. So it was nice to be able to make these at home! I’ll have to check out your blog once it’s up! Good luck with it!
I too was from GR Michigan! Anyone know of the restaurant Alma Latina? I am trying to find the recipe for the wet burrito from there. Unfortunately they closed and I can’t find that recipe. I hope someone knows it! Thanks for sharing!
No, I’m not familiar with Alma Latina. Good luck trying to find the recipe! Sorry I couldn’t help with that!
I remember the Alma Latina on South Division very well. They had a very unique sauce that had cinnamon and I think nutmeg. Dan Navarro’s was the owner of Alma Latina and when he left, so did his amazing sauce.
Interesting! It’s not often that you taste cinnamon and nutmeg in a Mexican sauce. I’ll be it was really tasty though.
Thanks Tom. I was searching for Dan Navarro’s name. After all these years, I’d forgotten it. Dan and Jullian were goods friends and hung out together occasionally. Jullian’s just opened a new place and those two shared a somewhat similar Wet Burrito recipe back in the days. Sometimes one doesn’t miss it until it’s gone.
I too have searched for that recipe ever since Alma Latina closed their door. The week before the close, I tried to bribe the cook there but he wouldn’t help me. Several months ago, Jullian’s opened a new place at 32nd and Madison which has a similar Wet burro so that’s a good thing.
Thank you so much for posting I Am from Grand Rapids, Mi and love my wet burritos. I live in Indianapolis In now so I get home sick a lot. I can’t find wet burritos here and good pizza either. My favorite burrito go to place El sombrero or Adobes is a must whenever I visit my family up there.
You’re very welcome! I missed having good GR wet burritos too! That was one reason why I posted the recipe. I knew there are others who grew up eating at Beltline or other places who were missing them! Enjoy!
I agree. We loved that unique recipe that they made. I think they used cinnamon a/o nutmeg. I believe Martinez family owned it. Never had an enchilada sauce as good as theirs since they closed.
It says to make the enchilada sauce recipe. Is this the spices listed added to canned sauce? Unclear directions. I don’t see a separate enchilada sauce recipe.
The link to the enchilada sauce recipe got messed up. It’s up in the post now. Yes, add the spices to either the prepared enchilada sauce or your jarred sauce. Hope that helps!
Thank you for your quick response. I plan on trying them tomorrow for company!
You’re very welcome! Enjoy!!!
Hello, I live in Grand Rapids, MI and am saddened that the rest of the country does not get to enjoy this wonderful meal. I love wet burritos and also make them at home. I love Jose’s Restaurant on division ave. or Cantina on east paris. Thanks so much for sharing.
You’re so welcome! I hate that more people don’t get to enjoy them too! They are definitely wonderful!
I love both Beltline Bar and Cantina!!! My husband thinks I do a pretty good job on mine, that’s all the encouragement I need, ha
Hi, We live in Nebraska, but my husband is from Charlotte, Michigan. He has been wanting a “wet burrito”. Here, we call them smothered, but he says it’s not the same.He wanted me to look them up on Pinterest. Was tickled to find your recipe, but have a couple of questions. You listed green pepper, which I’ve not seen in any of the wet burrito recipes. Also, I’m a bit confused about the sauce recipe. It says you used to use tomato paste but found it overpowering, yet you say the tomato sauce mellows it. It is not listed in the ingredients, but directions say to stir til the paste is mixed in.? Could you please clarify. Thank you. My husband is excited as I plan to make them tonight. Oops, couple morequestions. You use corn tortillas as opposed to flour? What size and how many? Thanks again. Maureen
Hi! Thanks for your questions! For the enchilada sauce recipe, I initially thinned out tomato paste but it wasn’t good. So I changed it to tomato sauce which doesn’t have as overpowering a taste. The paste is more concentrated and most tomato sauce already has some other herbs mixed into it. The paste in the directions was an error. It’s been fixed so thanks for letting me know! I do use green pepper in mine because I like it. It’s not a requirement and can easily be left out! And you can use regular flour tortilla shells for these as well. I use gluten free because it’s better on my tummy! I hope you enjoy them!
I am from New Mexico, transplanted to Ohio. Back home we call these Smothered Burritos. And we get a choice of either red (mild) or green (hot) sauce over top.
This recipe made me hungry.. it will be Sunday dinner.
We only have ever done the wet burritos with red sauce, although I bet the green sauce is yummy! I hope you enjoy these when you fix them!
How many burritos does this make?
It makes about 4 burritos…depending on how much meat you use per burrito. It can make more or less as well. Sorry to be more vague about it, but it can vary significantly!
Thank you, thank you thank you!! I lived in Grand Rapids in 1986-1989 and loved the Wet Burritos at the Beltline. Just yesterday went to a Mexican restaurant and once again tried to describe a wet burrito and got something not even close. I promised my family that I was going to make these amazing burritos and now I can use the Beltline recipe!
Yay! I missed wet burritos so much when I moved to South Carolina! Having this recipe helped a lot! I hope your family enjoys them!
Wet burritos are also called smothered burritos. Being Mexican a
American and from San Antonio, Tx who cooks and have family in Mexico and California. Enchilada sauce does not have tomato sauce nor tomato paste or dare use a can. I’m sure it would taste ok, but nothing like true enchilada sauce that is the main component that finishes off this dish.
Hi Marcus, do you have a recipe for enchilada sauce you would share?
Hi there!
There is a link to an enchilada sauce right on this post!
Enjoy!
Kathy