So, Taco Bell has a menu item called the Crunchwrap Supreme, though I’m not sure what a non-supreme version is supposed to be. I’ve never had one myself, but friends have said that they’re pretty good. Given that, it seems like a good idea to try making these at home.
I’m happy to say that these are really good and worth the effort. Granted, this version doesn’t include the nacho cheese sauce, but it’s easy enough to add to the list of ingredients if you want to include it.
This recipe makes four crunchwraps.
What you’ll need
- 1 small onion, minced
- 1 lb. ground beef, or better yet, use chorizo sausage and omit the spices
- 1t ground paprika
- 1t ground cumin
- 1t chili powder
- 0.5t crushed red pepper
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of ground black pepper
- 8 large flour tortillas
- 4 tostada shells (crispy ones)
- About 0.5 cups sour cream
- About 1 cup shredded lettuce
- 1 large, chopped tomato
- About 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 4t vegetable oil, divided
What to do
Add a little butter or cooking oil to a frypan and sauté the onion over medium heat, until softened. Without removing the onion, add the ground beef. As the ground beef cooks, add the chili powder, paprika, cumin and crushed red pepper. Break up the meat with a spoon as you stir in the spices. While the meat is browning, add salt and ground pepper, to taste. Cook until the meat is just done. If you overcook it, it will be dry. Set aside for later, or if you need that pan for the next step, put the meat in a container and clean out the pan.
For each crunchwrap that you’re going to make you’ll need two flour tortillas. This next step is kind of weird: for each crunchwrap, put the smaller tostada shell in the center of a larger tortilla shell, and, using a paring knife, cut around the edges of the tostada, thus making a small tortilla round. Keep the smaller round and the tostada, and either use the tortilla “rim” for a different purpose or discard.
To build a crunchwrap, spoon some cooked ground beef into the center a large tortilla shell. Flatten it out to about the size of the tostadas you’re using. If you’re using cheese sauce, drizzle it over the ground beef. Next, spread a generous portion of sour cream over the tostada shell put the tostada shell over the ground beef. Top the tostada with lettuce, tomatoes and shredded cheese. That’s the base of the crunchwrap.
To complete the build, center the smaller flour tortilla cutout over the crunchwrap base and gently push on it. Now fold the edges of the base over the top of the small tortilla round, going in a circle, creating pleats. See the photo for reference. Press down on the pleats to secure everything in place.
To cook, put a teaspoon of oil in a frypan over medium heat and if you have an infrared thermometer, heat it to about 350 degrees. To add the crunchwrap to the frypan, you could secure the pleats with your fingers and quickly turn it over and add it to the pan—careful that you don’t burn your fingers. Alternatively, place the flat of a large spatula upside down over the crunchwrap and carefully turn it over. The flat of the spatula will keep everything in place. At this point, the crunchwrap is pleated-side down on the up-side of the spatula. Now simply place the spatula in the frypan and slide the spatula out from under the crunchwrap.
Cook for three to four minutes on the pleated side, before turning it over and cooking it for the same amount of time on the other side.
When done, remove to a cutting board, cut it in half and serve hot.
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