Carnitas Burrito Manicotti
Beans, carnitas, and cheese inside a sheet of pasta like manicotti, but rolled up like a burrito! It’s like an enchilada/manicotti hybrid, and it’s everything I love wrapped in pasta and baked to perfection! As you are eating, it feels like an enchilada, and at times tastes like one too! But the texture of the pasta is so different that it creates a unique experience.
The idea for this recipe
How have I not thought of using pasta like a tortilla for a burrito before? I was looking through an old cookbook of mine to see some of the recipes I have forgotten about. I noticed a recipe for a manicotti with Mexican filling, and decided to make it again but add carnitas and really lean into the burrito aspect of the recipe!
Making the pasta into a tortilla shape
This is my typical pasta recipe – 3 cups of flour, and 4 eggs. I mixed it all together really well, kneaded it a bit, and then let it rest for about a half hour. Finally split it into 8 dough balls, and roll each out out as thin as you can! It should make a circle between 8 and 10 inches. You need it to be at least this big to fit all the carnitas burrito filling in a manicotti!
Boil the pasta
Instead of a big pot, I used a wide frying pan to cook the pasta. One at a time is good because you can roll up the carnitas burrito manicotti and put it in the pan while the next pasta sheet cooks.
Roll it up!
Start with some refried beans, then cheese, carnitas, salsa, and sour cream. I almost did pinto beans instead of refried, and I almost added rice! In the end I went with this combo but you could adjust and make your manicotti however you normally like your carnitas burrito – or any burrito for that matter!
Start with the edge close to you and fold it over the filling. Then fold in the sides, tuck them in, and roll the rest of the way.
Bake the carnitas burrito manicotti
For the sauce on this, I used the pork cooking liquid with some heavy cream and chipotle mixed in. When I made the carnitas, I used extra liquid so there would be plenty to sauce the pasta with. Top with cheese and get this into the oven for about 25 minutes until the cheese is melty and the edges are bubbly!
Serving the carnitas burrito manicotti
Allow it to cool for a few minutes then dig in! I served it with more salsa and sour cream, but some scallions or avocado would be great too!
These carnitas burrito manicotti were so unique! It’s weird to be eating something that on one hand is very familiar and on the other hand is different. The flavors were somewhat expected for a baked burrito or enchilada with carnitas in it, but the texture was were it was so different!
It really is two of my all time faves combined. Growing up manicotti was definitely my favorite food, and nothing beats a carnitas burrito!
Twists on this carnitas burrito manicotti
You could fill these with anything you like in a burrito! Chicken, rice, pico, peppers and onions. Co grazy! I used this carnitas recipe as a guide when I made mine, but I added more liquid so I could use it as a sauce for the pasta.
This isnt the first time I combined burritos and pasta. Check out my pasta fagioli burrito, beef stroganoff burrito, or this amazingly tasty carnitas mac and cheese burrito!
Carnitas Burrito Manicotti
Ingredients
carnitas
- 2.5 pounds pork shoulder cut into 4 or 5 chunks
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 lime (juice of)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 2 tablespoons honey
Pasta
- 3 cup flour
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
make it
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped chipotle in adobo
- 1 cup refried beans
- 12 ounces mozzarella or chihuahua cheese
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 cup sour cream
Instructions
Make the pork
- Preheat oven to 325
- Add the pork to a baking dish and add on all the remaining ingredients. Mix together until combined.
- Bake until tender and falling apart
- Remove the pork from the liquid and chop it up. Add about 1/4 cup of the liquid back into the pork. Reserve the remaining liquid.
Make the pasta
- Add the pasta ingredients to a large bowl and stir to combine. Pour onto a clean surface and knead the dough until it is uniform. Wrap with plastic and set in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
- Split dough into 8 balls. Roll each dough out by hand as thin as you possibly can, into about an 8-10 inch round.
Make it
- Preheat oven to 350
- Mix 1 cup of the pork cooking liquid with the cream and chipotle
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and one by one, boil the pasta about 5 minutes, flipping once in the middle of cooking.
- When the pasta comes out of the boiling water put it on a clean work surface
- Top with beans, cheese, pork, salsa, and sour cream. You want to use about 1/8th of the beans and pork, but less than 1/8th of the cheese so there is some for the top. Also you can adjust to personal taste.
- Roll the pasta like it is a burrito, folding it over on itself, then folding in the sides, and rolling it the rest of the way.
- Pour about 1/4 of the sauce on the bottom of a baking dish. Add in the pasta burritos as you go, seam side down. When you have added all the burritos, pour on the rest of the sauce, and top the whole dish with cheese.
- Bake for about 25 minutes until cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling around the edges.
- Serve with morre salsa and sour cream.