The Best Vegan Breakfast Burritos

So, I set out to create an epic vegan breakfast burrito that was just as mouthwatering, indulgent, and loaded as your classic breakfast burrito. A vegan queso sauce, eggy tofu scramble, pico de gallo, crispy roasted potatoes, and creamy avocado. All rolled up into a flour tortilla and skillet griddled to perfection. And if you’re looking for more delicious vegan breakfast ideas, check out my round-up of 40 fantastic vegan breakfast recipes! This list has everything from easy weekday breakfasts to indulgent weekend brunches, so you’re sure to find something you’ll love.

Why you’ll love these vegan breakfast burritos

Deluxe breakfast burritos. These burritos have it all. That crispy potato situation, a liquid gold cheese sauce that tastes like queso, a very eggy tofu scramble, a spicy and fresh salsa, and creamy avocado. Every component is gourmet and incredibly tasty on its own. When you roll up five tasty components into a flour tortilla, and griddle it until it’s slightly crispy on the outside but still chewy on the inside…well, you get burrito perfection. You can also make several of the components simultaneously. For instance, while the potatoes are soaking you can get started on the pico de gallo. And while the potatoes are cooking, you can make the tofu scramble and queso sauce. Totally Customizable. While I love each component in this burrito, this recipe is also easy to customize. For instance, you can swap the Yukon gold potatoes for sweet potatoes. Or use your favorite store-bought salsa instead of my pico de gallo recipe. Instead of the avocado, you can add guacamole! Texture and flavor heaven. You get crispiness from (a) the crispy roasted potatoes and (b) the griddled tortilla exterior; (b) chewiness from the interior of the flour tortilla; (c) creaminess from the avocado, queso and eggy tofu scramble. Flavorwise, you get a mixture of cheesy, eggy, spicy, and salty…all so good!

Components in vegan breakfast burritos

Cheese Sauce / Queso

I chose to include this cheese sauce for a few reasons. One, the flavors are reminiscent of queso, which is always delicious in a burrito. Two, I use it in my Buffalo Chickpea Quesadillas and Vegan Crunchwrap Supreme, and it’s a fan favorite (many readers describe it as “life-changing”). And three, many store-bought vegan cheeses don’t melt well, so I opted for this creamy cheese sauce instead. Oh, also it’s so easy to make (the blender does all the work) and requires very few ingredients. The hardest part is to remember to soak your cashews! How to soften raw cashews If you have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix, you can soak the cashews in boiling water for as little as 30 minutes. If you don’t, you can soak your cashews in cool water overnight. And regardless of what blender you have, you can also add your cashews to a saucepan, cover with water, and boil for 15 minutes. Boiling is the quickest option and works great.

Tofu Scramble

Tofu scramble gets a bad rap. And I can see why (sometimes). Texturewise, it can be dry and flavorwise, it can be, well, bland. Not so with this tofu scramble recipe! It’s eggy and tastes remarkably like eggs. There are three main “secrets” to my eggy and creamy tofu scramble:

Use firm tofu. Extra firm tofu isn’t bad for tofu scramble, but if you want to mimic the soft eggy texture of scrambled eggs, firm tofu is fantastic. It gets a nice golden coating when you fry it, but stays soft on the inside.
Add a sauce. Since scrambled eggs are quite high-fat and quite soft, adding a sauce makes the tofu scramble more egg-like. My sauce has lots of flavor (garlic and onion powder, turmeric, paprika, chipotle chilies, nutritional yeast) as well as some fat (tahini and oat milk). The sauce coats the tofu scramble and gives it a more eggy consistency and texture.
Kala namak. Aka Indian black salt. If you’re familiar with vegan cooking, you may be acquainted with this unique ingredient. According to Wikipedia, it’s a “kiln-fired rock salt used in South Asia with a sulphurous, pungent smell.” Be warned, the smell is really intense, but it does lend that je ne sais quoi taste of eggs to tofu scramble. It also loses its potency as it cooks, so I add some to the sauce, as well as sprinkle a bit on the tofu scramble after it’s done cooking.

Pico de Gallo

While store-bought salsa is totally fine, these burritos get taken over the top with a super flavorful salsa fresca, AKA pico de gallo. It’s really simple to make (tomatoes, onions, cilantro, serrano peppers, lime, salt) but packs a serious flavor punch. I opted for cherry tomatoes since it’s not tomato season and smaller tomatoes are sweeter and juicier (and less watery). But, I’ve also made this with regular tomatoes and works well too.
Note: The salsa on its own is really quite spicy, but once you wrap it up in the burrito with all those other fillings, it’s less noticeable. That said, if you have what I call “baby mouth,” you can use a jalapeño instead or de-seed the serrano pepper.

Crispy Roasted Potatoes

For me, a breakfast burrito must have potatoes. And I like my potatoes crispy. This recipe is simple but delivers maximal crispiness. It’s adapted from Gimme Some Oven’s Crispy Roasted Potatoes recipe. Here are my tips for crispy roasted potatoes:

Use Yukon gold potatoes. They’re not too starchy or too waxy and make for great roasted potatoes. Don’t believe me? Bon Appétit also thinks Yukon Gold potatoes are the best for roasting.
Soak and agitate the potatoes. Potatoes are super starchy, and excess starch can inhibit them from crisping up. To get rid of excess starch, I soak the potatoes in cold water for 5 minutes, then agitate them with my hands. Drain off the water (it’ll be cloudy = full of starch!) and rinse again.
Dry the potatoes well. Once you wash those potatoes, be sure to give them a good pat dry with a towel. Wet potatoes ≠ crispy potatoes.
Coat potatoes in cornstarch. This might sound like an odd ingredient, but coating the potatoes in cornstarch before roasting them makes a crispy difference.
Wait to salt. Salting beforehand draws out the potatoes’ moisture, which is the opposite of what you want for crispy potatoes. So avoid the urge to salt them before popping them in the oven. Once they’re crispy, sprinkle on sea salt or kosher salt – it gives them this delicate crunch that is amazing. PS: if you want a crispy factor in your breakfast burritos but don’t want to use potatoes, you can try adding Mushroom Bacon (you can find a recipe for mushroom bacon in my Vegan Breakfast Quesadillas recipe).

Avocado

Last but not least, the avocado! It adds a creamy, fatty factor that I adore. To amp up the flavor with minimal work, I squeeze lime juice and sea salt on the avocado before adding it.

How to make vegan breakfast burritos

Make the vegan queso sauce.

Add all of the ingredients–soaked & raw cashews, plain vegan yogurt, salsa, nutritional yeast, water, pickled jalapeños, cumin, chili powder, and smoked paprika–to a blender. Blend until the sauce is completely smooth and creamy.

Make the tofu scramble.

Drain a block of firm tofu. Press the tofu for 15 minutes, then crumble into chunks with your hands. Combine the seasonings for the eggy sauce in a bowl. Pour in the oat milk and whisk to combine. Add the crumbled tofu to a large nonstick frying pan that’s been heated with a bit of oil over medium-high heat. Fry the tofu until lightly golden on the outside. Add the eggy sauce, and stir to coat the tofu. Cook until the sauce evaporates a bit and you reach your desired texture. Cook briefly for a soft, wetter scramble, or for a few minutes for a drier scramble.

Make the pico de gallo.

Combine the onion, serrano pepper, lime juice, and salt. Marinate for 10 minutes. Combine the onion mixture with the chopped tomatoes, garlic, and cilantro. Toss everything together, adding salt and pepper to taste. Rest for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to marry.

Make the crispy roasted potatoes.

Cut the potatoes into 1/2-inch cubes. Add to a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak 5 minutes, then agitate the potatoes. Drain and rinse again. Dry well. Transfer the potatoes to a parchment paper lined baking sheet and toss with cornstarch and black pepper. Roast the potatoes in the oven at 425ºF/218ºC until golden brown on the bottom, then flip, and roast until nicely golden brown all over. Sprinkle with sea salt or kosher salt.

Assemble the breakfast burritos

Grab a large burrito-sized tortilla (I used 10-inch flour tortillas). Add a generous dollop of the queso sauce to one half of the tortilla. Top with the tofu scramble, followed by the roasted potatoes, pico de gallo, and avocado. Roll up the burrito. Add the rolled burrito to a hot frying pan, seam side down. Cook until the burrito is golden brown and sealed on the bottom. Flip and cook until the second side is golden brown.

If you love these epic vegan breakfast burritos, please leave a rating and review with your feedback and tag me on Instagram with your remakes :)