We all love wraps and burritos as they’re easily found anywhere in the world, are super filling, and are easy on the pockets but wait! Have you ever wondered what’s the difference between burritos and wraps?
Well, the answer is simple!
All burritos are a form of the wrap while all wraps cannot be considered burritos. However, they’re much more to the famous burrito vs wrap debate that we’ll uncover in detail in this article. And that includes the differences concerning the origin, taste, nutrition, health benefits, and fillings.
Stay tuned!
Difference Between Burrito and Wrap
The word wrap generally refers to the tortilla wraps having a chicken or vegetable filling inside that’s eaten as a sandwich. However, it can also be used to indicate plain tortilla bread on its own.
Moreover, it can also refer to any food that has been rolled into a flatbread like a tortilla, pita, lavash, chapati, or naan. According to some people, wraps are usually made with a wheat flatbread of any kind.
Burrito, on the other hand, is made with corn or wheat tortilla only. The fillings of a burrito are also very specific compared to the more generic wrap. High protein meats, beans, cheese, rice, and salsa make a classic burrito.
Another big difference between a wrap and a burrito lies in the fact that wraps are served cold while the burritos can be served hot or cold.
Burrito Vs Wrap: Taste
A standard American burrito is loaded with meat, cheese, and beans, making it rich, greasy, and cheesy in flavor.
When you bite into a burrito, you get that umami punch from the meat, luxurious creaminess from the melting cheese, crisp texture from the vegetables like lettuce, and tangy flavor from the sauces or tomato salsa.
Moreover, a popular burrito variety is the fried burrito that offers a crisp exterior and a soft, melting filling inside.
The taste of wraps, on the other hand, varies depending on whether they’re being served for breakfast or lunch. The breakfast wraps contain ham, eggs, cheese, and avocados. While the standard wraps include meat, lettuce, and condiments.
Burrito Vs Wrap: Origin
The origin of burritos dates back to 10,000 B.C in Mexico when corn tortillas were used to wrap foods for protection. Even today, Mexicans love to snack on burritos.
However, the Mexican burritos are somewhat different from the American mighty burritos we’re more accustomed to. The Mexican burritos are smart and small, containing only one or two of the filling ingredients (beans, meat, cheese, rice, and hot peppers).
The burrito version seen in the U.S. is believed to have been brought by migrant workers from Mexico somewhere between 1940 to 1960.
Wraps, on the contrary, are believed to have originated as a generalized form of a Mexican burrito. They became popular in the United States during the 1990s when some food chains like OVO Bistro and World Wrapps introduced wraps in their menu for the first time.
Moreover, the Bobby Valentine Sports Gallery Cafe claims to be the inventor of wraps. According to Bobby Valentine, their waitress invented wraps on the spot when their cafe ran out of bread for the sandwiches.
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Burrito Vs Wrap: Nutrition
A medium-sized burrito contains around 584 calories and makes up around 29% of a person’s daily calorie intake. The total fat content in burrito counts to roughly 17g of which 33% counts for saturated fats. Burrito contains around 89g of carbohydrates, 21g of protein, and 12g of dietary fiber.
A tortilla wrap without any filling contains around 234 calories that makeup 11% of a person’s daily calorie intake. The total fat content in a wrap counts to roughly 5.1g of which 1.3g% counts for saturated fats. The wrap contains around 40g of carbohydrates, 6.3g of protein, and 2.4g of dietary fiber.
Both burritos and wraps give the same calories if the same filling ingredients are used.
Burrito Vs Wrap: Health Benefits
Both burritos and wraps are considered unhealthy because of their high caloric value, more carbs, and increased saturated fat content. However, with a little alteration of the ingredients, they can be made healthy.
For instance, using a lean meat like chicken, turkey, fish, and fat-trimmed beef can reduce the saturated fat content.
Moreover, swapping sour cream, and sauces for guacamole is another great hack to make your wraps and burritos healthy. Similarly, using cottage cheese instead of cheddar or Monterey jack can also reduce the fat content.
Most importantly, try to avoid extra fillings and sauces as they’d add to the calories of your wraps.
Burrito Vs Wrap: Food Fillings
While a burrito can be formed with just meat rolled into a tortilla bread, additional ingredients give it more flavor and texture. To form a burrito, pulled meat or minced meat is used in addition to fried beans, rice, corn, and lettuce.
Some Mexican condiments like salsa and guacamole are either rolled into a burrito or served alongside burritos. Moreover, sour cream, ketchup, and hot chili sauce are some of the popular sauces that go into a burrito.
On the contrary, the wrap filling includes meat like chicken, beef, pork, or fish and vegetables like lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions, as well as condiments like mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard sauce, BBQ sauce, tahini, pesto, and the list goes on.
However, wraps may or may not include cheese.
LEARN MORE: What Is Sushi Traditionally Wrapped in?
Burrito Vs Wrap: which one tastes best?
Choosing between a burrito and a wrap is a matter of personal preference. Both taste similar, however, the burrito wins over the simple wraps because of its big-size and luxurious filling of meat, cheese, beans, rice, and salsa. Mexican burritos taste rich, cheesy, and super filling.
In the case of wraps, you get an array of possibilities to make them better suit your taste. You can add eggs, ham, and sausages to your wraps or go for a pulled pork filling instead. Perhaps use minced lamb in your wraps and complement it with your favorite dips and sauces. The possibilities are endless.
Conclusion
Now that we’ve explored the burrito vs wrap debate in detail, we conclude that both rolls are similar in most ways. We learned that wraps are a generic term to indicate any food ingredients rolled into a flatbread.
However, the word “wrap” can also be used to indicate plain tortilla bread on its own.
The only understandable difference between the two lies in the fact that wraps are served cold while burritos can be eaten hot or cold.
Burritos outshine wraps because of their typical and unique combination of filling including minced meat, beans, cheese, salsa, or guacamole.
On the contract, wraps can be made with whatever ingredients you have on hand. When it comes to wraps, there are no hard and fast rules to follow.
If you liked this article, let us know in the comments whether you’re in team burritos or team wraps.
