'Better Than Taco Bell' Flamin' Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito Recipe

All good things come to an end, they say, and such was the fate of the Taco Bell's Flamin' Hot Grilled Cheese Burrito. This limited-time item, which dropped in October 2025 but was apparently gone by November of that same year, consisted of a cheesy burrito filled with rice flavored with Flamin' Hot Fritos. It also had a melted cheese exterior, something that lifted it realms above the ordinary burrito. As recipe developer and Taco Bell fan Patterson Watkins says, "Coating your burritos in a layer of crispy cheese is a gangster move." Her copycat Flamin' Hot grilled cheese burrito recipe is almost, but not quite, an exact dupe of the much-missed menu item, since she made a few tweaks that make it even better.

For one thing, she tells us, "Our homemade seasoning blend is just as fiery and cheesy, but with layers of flavor-enhancing elements like garlic, onion, bouillon, paprika, and white pepper." This provides the rice with what she calls "a more finessed, fresher tasting finish," and she says she prefers it over Taco Bell's version. She also allowed for a more generous dose of chipotle sauce, since you can never have too much of that spicy-cool, creamy condiment.

The seasoning mix is made with cayenne, garlic powder, onion powder, chicken bouillon powder, salt, paprika, white pepper, dry milk powder, annatto or achiote powder, and cheddar cheese powder. You'll also need lime juice, long-grain white rice, Flamin' Hot Fritos, ground beef, olive oil, and taco seasoning for the filling, along with mayonnaise, sour cream, canned chipotles in adobo, and ground cumin for the sauce. Finally, to put everything together, you'll need flour tortillas, nacho cheese sauce, and Colby cheese.

If you're not sure where to source the cheese powder, it can be purchased online, or you can use the packet from a box of macaroni and cheese mix. Annatto or achiote powder can also be found online or purchased from a grocery store that has a decent supply of Mexican ingredients. Annatto is primarily used for coloring, though, and doesn't really add much to the flavor. This means you can skip it if you're not all that concerned with the visual appearance of your burritos.

To make the seasoning, place the cheese powder, cayenne, annatto, milk powder, garlic powder, onion powder, bouillon powder, salt, paprika, and white pepper in a small bowl. Stir to combine.

Transfer the mixture to a coffee grinder, working in batches if necessary, and pulse until powdery. Set aside.

To make the rice, fill a large saucepan with 2 ¾ cups of water. Add 2 tablespoons of the Flamin' Hot seasoning, lime juice, and bouillon. Stir to combine and bring to a boil over high heat.

Once boiling, add the rice and Fritos, and stir to combine. Return to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.

Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until the rice is cooked through and fluffy. Remove from the heat and set aside.

To make the chipotle sauce, place mayonnaise, sour cream, chipotle peppers, lime juice, garlic powder, and cumin in a bowl. Stir to combine, season to taste with salt, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To make the taco beef, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Once hot, add the ground beef, and cook until brown, about 5 minutes.

Add the taco seasoning and stir to combine.

Add 2 tablespoons of water to the skillet, stir to combine, and continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and set aside.

To assemble the burritos, place the tortillas on a clean work surface.

Spoon about 2 tablespoons of nacho cheese into the center of each tortilla. Top the nacho cheese with ⅓ cup of the cooked rice.

Dollop the rice with 1 to 2 tablespoons of the creamy chipotle sauce, then top that with ¼ cup of the taco beef.

Sprinkle the taco beef with ¼ cup of crushed Fritos, then sprinkle 2 tablespoons of shredded cheese on top.

Tightly roll the tortillas into a cylinder, making sure the ends are securely tucked.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Sprinkle the skillet with ¼ cup of cheese, spreading out in a long rectangle to cover the area of the burrito.

Place the burrito, seam-side down, on top of the cheese. Cook for about 2 minutes, undisturbed.

Once the cheese has melted and begun to crisp, flip the burrito over, coating in the crispy cheese, and remove from the skillet.

Place another ¼ cup of cheese in the skillet, spreading out again in that rectangle pattern.

Return the burrito to the skillet, placing it on top of the cheese, crispy-cheese side up, and cook for another 2 minutes or until this cheese has become melty and crisp.

Remove the cheese-coated burrito from the skillet and repeat the process with the remaining burritos.

Serve the burritos with your choice of sides and condiments.

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As this is a multi-step recipe, you may want to break up the prep into parts. The seasoning blend is something that can be mixed up days, weeks, or even months in advance, and it can be stored in the pantry at room temperature. As the recipe doesn't call for the entire amount, you can sprinkle the surplus on popcorn or fries. The chipotle sauce, too, can be made ahead of time, and actually should be, if at all possible. An overnight stay in the refrigerator will give the flavors time to blend. You may have leftovers of this, too, and can use it as a dip for tortilla chips or raw vegetables. It also makes a great sandwich spread.

Even the rice can also be made a day or so before you assemble the burritos. If you go this route, spread it out on a baking sheet to cool at room temperature once it's done cooking. As soon as it's cooled, though, it needs to be refrigerated. Leaving it unrefrigerated for over an hour is a dangerous mistake that could lead to food poisoning. When you assemble the burrito, you can simply take the rice straight out of the fridge, since it will reheat when the burrito is being warmed in the pan.

This burrito is definitely on the incendiary end of the heat scale — a regular five-alarm fire in a cheesy tortilla shell. This recipe can, however, be dialed down to make a version that's far less spicy. When it comes to the filling, instead of preparing the rice as written, you can substitute a box of yellow rice or Spanish-style rice. Even Mexican-style rice usually isn't all that spicy. (This step will save you some prep time, as well.) For the Fritos, use the regular ones or the chili cheese variety instead of the Flamin' Hot. The Honey BBQ Twists will also work if you don't mind a sweeter burrito.

As for the creamy chipotle sauce, it's only medium-spicy on its own. Even so, you can make it milder by reducing the amount of chipotle peppers, or even omitting them altogether and flavoring the sauce with smoked paprika. You could also work in some cilantro, with or without the peppers, to change up the flavor a bit. If you do use it to supplement the chipotles, you may find that its slightly citrusy tang mitigates some of the heat impact.

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