​​We Tried a Whole Bunch of Healthyish Breakfast Burritos — and Found Our Favorites

Protein-packed and portable, frozen breakfast burritos are ideal for busy mornings. Pop one in the microwave, and just a couple minutes later, you’re nibbling a fairly balanced breakfast (with one hand free, no less). 

The freezer aisle is stocked with a wide range of breakfast burritos made by a number of brands, and they all look essentially the same on the outside — but in burritos, as in love, it’s what’s inside that counts. 

Some of the standard supermarket options are extremely high in sodium and saturated fat, with a long ingredient list of additives, preservatives, and artificial flavors, while others are made up of pretty natural, healthful ingredients. However, a product’s healthiness is often inversely proportional to its flavor. So, which of the decent-for-you burrito varieties actually taste ok? We loaded up our shopping cart with every healthy and healthyish burrito we could find, and put them all to a taste test.

How We Determined Healthiness

When it came to meat-filled burritos, we looked for options made with cage-free eggs, as well as antibiotic-free and uncured meats. We also tried a range of vegetarian and vegan burritos made with plant-based meats and proteins. Burritos that offered some vegetables in addition to the traditional trio of eggs, potatoes, and cheese got bonus points, as did those with whole grain tortillas. We tried multiple brands on the market, including Evol, Red’s, Sweet Earth, Higher Taste, and Good Food Made Simple.

How We Tasted

Each burrito was microwaved according to its instructions on the wrapper and tasted hot and on its own, with no accompaniments like hot sauce. We evaluated the burritos on flavor, texture, quantity, and the quality of the ingredients. 

Best Vegan Choice: Higher Taste Vegan Breakfast Burrito

Some vegan burritos had a strong faux-meat flavor, but this one thankfully didn’t go that route. Instead, it relied on a well-seasoned mix of scrambled tofu, roasted potatoes, and vegan cheddar cheese. Although we wished it had a more varied texture, the flavor was spot on, hitting all the right breakfast burrito notes — and it offers a whopping 21g of protein, too.

Per 8-ounce burrito: 450 calories, 18g fat, 3g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 846mg sodium, 55g carbohydrates, 10g fiber, 2g sugar, 21g protein

Best for Spicy Food Lovers: Evol Spicy Uncured Bacon and Egg

This brand seems to have figured out the secret to tortillas that don’t turn into sheetrock when microwaved. Maybe it’s the addition of corn protein, since that’s the only difference we could find in the ingredients list between this brand’s tortillas and the others. The soft-but-not-mushy tortilla envelops a truly spicy scramble of cage-free eggs, roasted potatoes, diced tomatoes, and enough jalapeños to pack a hefty dose of heat. With this burrito, you don’t even need the hot sauce.

Per 5-ounce burrito: 310 calories, 11g fat, 3.5g saturated fat, 90mg cholesterol, 460mg sodium, 39g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 2g sugars, 1g added sugar, 12g protein

Best Meat Version: Red’s Turkey Sausage and Three Cheese Breakfast Burrito

When you’re craving breakfast meats but are trying to keep saturated fats and nitrates to a minimum, turkey sausage is the way to go, and this burrito really delivers on that front. We loved the big, juicy, flavorful bites of turkey sausage made with antibiotic-free meat, and we especially loved that there was a lot of it. The cage-free scrambled eggs were smothered in three cheeses — pepper jack, mozzarella, and aged white cheddar — for a triple hit of spicy, creamy, tangy-bold flavor. Though there’s not much in the way of vegetables aside from green chiles, the ingredients list is comprised of recognizable ingredients. 

Per 5-ounce burrito: 340 calories, 14g fat, 5g saturated, 95mg cholesterol, 580mg sodium, 36g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 1g sugars, 1g added sugar, 17g protein.

Best Overall: Evol Egg and Green Chile

This generously-sized burrito honestly tasted like it had been freshly made. The tortilla remained soft and tender, never getting hard, and the eggs were fluffy, with just enough cheese melted throughout. Plump pinto beans added extra protein and fiber, and the roasted potatoes held their shape instead of turning to mush. The best part was the Hatch green chile sauce, which gave the whole thing a warm glow of heat. There’s no meat, but this burrito offered so much flavor we didn’t miss it one bit. 

Per 6-ounce burrito: 320 calories, 10g fat, 3g saturated fat, 80 mg cholesterol, 540mg sodium, 45 g carbohydrates, 5g fiber, 2g sugars, less than 1g added sugar, 12g protein