Homemade Crunchwrap Supremes

Taco Tuesday is here again!  I am always trying to mix things up, making fusion South of the Border Food, Tex Mex, unique expressions of the theme and some traditional.  I used to love the Taco Bell's Crunchwrap Supreme for an occasional treat, but the last one I purchased had almost no filling in it.  I made them once a few years ago and they were pretty good.  Last night I decided to try again. The recipe below is a little fiddly, but I prepped all the ingredients and cooked the meat earlier in the day, so only had to reheat the meat, assemble the crunchwraps and then brown them quickly in a frying pan.

A few weeks ago, my friend sent me a recipe that was a little different than the last I tried - Healthier Homemade Crunchwrap Supreme from Half Baked Harvest! I thought I would make it exactly their way, but changed my mind. I had a way I liked making taco meat and her family liked things spicier than my husband would tolerate.  Actually I love them spicy, but my partner doesn't. I think her spice mix might make the meat flavor pop more, but wanted to create something my husband would enjoy as well. So I decided to mix things up a bit and make it my own. And note - while they call this healthier, it's still pretty high in calories. 

I highly suggest you look at the original recipe though. They offer a great spice mix for the meat in particular and sprinkle fresh jalapeno inside  (I cooked it in the meat mixture so my husband didn't get bites of the raw pepper).  It's a great chance to see what they did and how I changed it. Who knows, you might like theirs more or come up with a version uniquely yours as well. 

A couple notes. These are really filling just the way they are, but next time I might use a little more meat in each - 3/4 C instead of the 1/2 C.  I also might sprinkle some sliced black olives inside as I love them.  If you want milder, use mild salsa and skip the jalapeno altogether. Want a mouth burner, use hot salsa, 1-2 jalapenos, and/or some crushed red chili pepper. And the original recipe sprinkled seasoning on the crispy tortilla that would def amp up the flavor. 

Taco bell has huge large tortillas that fold all the way in to the centre. Mine just fold about 2 inches or maybe a little more in. They still held together well.  These can be eaten with a knife and fork, or with your hands like a sandwich. I like mine cut in 2 like in the picture above.  Enjoy!

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Homemade Crunchwrap Supremes (slightly lighter version)

6 servings (note if you want them a little meatier I would put 3/4C meat in each and then you'd probably only get 4 wraps. 

Ingredients - 

2 tT                 Extra virgin olive oil
1 lb.                Extra Lean Ground Beef
1                     Yellow onion, diced
2 tsp                Chili Powder

3/4 C               Medium Chunky Salsa (or mild or spicy

3/4 C               Water

1/2 - 1              Jalapeno minced

Salt and Pepper

6                     Crisp flat tostado shells

6                     Large (burrito size) flour tortillas

6                     Small flour tortillas

2 C                  Shredded Tex Mex Cheese

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1                      Can Refried Beans

Extra Salsa - your favorite
1 C                  Tomatoes, finely choppe

Chopped Romain Lettuce

Chopped Fresh Cilantro

2                      Avocados thinly sliced
Hot sauce, for serving

Instructions - 

Preheat the oven to the temperature recommended on the crispy tostado shell box. 

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. When hot, add the ground meat and onion. Cook, breaking up the meat as it cooked and all pink is gone. Drain off any excess fat. Add the chili powder, salsa, water, salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. You want the meat just a little moist, so try not to dry it out completely.  Remove from the heat.

Place the crispy tostado shells on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven according to package directions until crisped. While warm, sprinkle with sea salt. Gently heat a non-stick frying pan sprayed with a small amount of cooking spray or coated with a tiny it of olive oil. Be care not to overheat it while you assemble your first crunchwrap. 

To assemble - warm a large tortilla for 20 seconds in the microwave, then lay on a plate. In the center, mound 1/2C (or more) of the hamburger mixture, leaving 1-1/2 to 2" around the edges free as this will be folded in at the end. Sprinkle 1/3 C of cheese on the meat, then top with some thins slices of avocado, and sprinkle on about 1 T salsa. Next comes the crispy tostada shell hot from the oven (sprinkled with extra seasoning if you like - see original recipe).  On top of this add 1/3 to 1/2 C chopped romaine lettuce, then sprinkle on 1-2 T of diced tomatoes. If you want to add black olives I would add them here. Next comes 1 T of Greek yogurt dropped in small dollops so there is a little everywhere on the lettuce. The final layer is a sprinkle of cilantro. If you want to add some black olives you can 

Spread 1-2 T of refried beans on a small four tortilla - go all the way to the edges. Warm for 15 seconds in the microwave. Place it on top of the filling in the larger tortilla with the bean side DOWN. Use a basting brush to brush a little water around the outside empty on the large tortilla and on the top side of the small tortilla.  Push down slightly on the small tortilla to compact the fillings, then work around the large tortilla folding the edge in with regular overlapped folds. Be sure the wet edges on the large tortilla make firm contact with the damp top of the small tortilla to help them hold together.

Place the completed crunch wrap in the pre-heated frying pan with the folded edges facing DOWN. Place a spatula on top of it and press down gently to flatten.  When light brown, flip the Crunchwrap over and brown the other side. Repeat with the remaining wraps. Serve warm with any toppings you like.  

Note - you could prep all 6 at the same time up in terms by building all the layers to speed things up in terms of serving. I would wait to brush the water on them and do the folding until each is ready to go into the pan. They actually brown fairly quickly.