When Brittney Valles, the owner of Los Angeles’s acclaimed Guerrilla Tacos, was a kid, pretty much every morning started with chorizo con papas. Her mom would scramble a bunch of eggs, pile them into a bowl, and serve them alongside the spicy chorizo con papas and freshly warmed tortillas. “I’m Mexican, and I’m American. I was born here, so I have the influence of both cultures,” Valles says. “When you were hungry, you would grab some tortillas, fill them up with chorizo and egg, and that was breakfast.”
When she opened Gogo’s Tacos in 2021, Valles knew she wanted her brightly colored taqueria to have some version of her most nostalgic breakfast memory on the menu. The restaurant’s take on her mom’s breakfast burrito follows a similar formula: a flaky flour tortilla, chorizo, potato, and soft scrambled eggs. For the eggs, Valles scrambles a dozen with an entire cup of heavy cream for a perfectly pillowy scramble. “It gives the eggs some moisture and makes it taste so buttery, like oh my God,” she says. “The cream really pulls out that yolky flavor and makes the eggs super fluffy. It adds a texture to the eggs that you just can’t get without it.”
Valles also makes her own chorizo, with beef instead of pork, an extra step that she says is worth the time because you can fully customize the flavor of your chorizo. Don’t like cinnamon? Leave it out. Want to make it spicy? Bring on the chile flakes. (If you don’t want to make your own chorizo, Valles says that store-bought is totally fine, though most are made with pork instead of beef.) She also suggests substituting Tater Tots, either fried or cooked until crisp in an air fryer, for cubed potatoes just to make your morning routine a little easier.
Once the eggs and chorizo are cooked, all that’s left is assembly. Valles tops her burrito with queso fresco, sour cream, and salsa verde, the latter of which is a perfect foil to all the richness from the chorizo and cream-spiked eggs. “I like a very bright salsa verde — with tomatillos, serrano,” she says. “One of my chefs prefers our red salsa because it adds a little bit of a smoky flavor, but I am going to stand by green as the best choice. It adds a brightness and a freshness and, like, maybe you need a vegetable to go with all that rich flavor.”
Gogo’s Breakfast Burrito Recipe
Makes 4 large or 6 regular-sized burritos
Ingredients:
For the chorizo:
1 pound ground beef
4 tablespoons manteca or lard, chilled
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
2½ tablespoons garlic powder
2½ tablespoons onion powder
5 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons canola oil
For the eggs:
12 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground pepper
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
For the burritos:
6 burrito-sized flour tortillas
3 cups (about 30 pieces) Tater Tots, fried or baked
1 cup crumbled queso fresco
1 cup sour cream
Salsa of your choice
Instructions:
Step 1: In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the ground beef with the manteca on low speed until well incorporated. Alternatively, mix in a large bowl with your hands or a wooden spoon. Add the remaining ingredients except for the oil and mix until well combined. Cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator from 25 minutes to 1 hour to allow the flavors to develop.
Step 2: In a large bowl, beat 12 eggs. Whisk in heavy cream, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
Step 3: Cook the chorizo: Heat the canola oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the chorizo mix and cook, stirring with a spatula, until browned. Set aside.
Step 4: Cook the eggs: In a separate nonstick pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the egg mixture and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula until soft curds form. Set aside.
Step 5: To assemble the burrito: Heat up 4 to 6 flour tortillas directly on the stovetop or a griddle. Transfer the tortillas to a work surface. Divide the scrambled eggs among the tortillas, and then top with the chorizo, Tater Tots, and queso fresco. Roll up the burritos. Serve with a side of sour cream and your favorite salsa.
Dina Ávila is a photographer in Portland, Oregon.
Recipe tested by Ivy Manning
