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Short-Order Kitchen

Crunchwrap Burger

A grill-marked folded tortilla wrap cut in half, stuffed with beans, corn and cheese, with a green sauce.
Recipe card
Servings
1
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
10 to 14 minutes
Method
Skillet
Heat
Medium-high, then medium heat
Difficulty
Medium
Jump to ingredients & directions ↓

Part 9 of the thread Drive-thru copycats, lightened up

THE SHORT VERSION4 points
  • Cook a thin cheeseburger patty first.
  • Toppings in the middle of the lavash, patty on top, then fold the edges in all the way around.
  • Sear seam-side down for 2 to 3 minutes a side.
  • Don't overfill it, or it won't close.
THE RECIPE · CRUNCHWRAP BURGER

Ingredients

You'll need

  • Skillet
  • Spatula
  • Cutting board

Directions

Burger

  1. Shape the meat into a thin patty, roughly square, small enough to fit inside the folded lavash. Season both sides.
  2. Cook it in a skillet over medium-high heat, flipping once, until done the way you like.
  3. Lay the cheese on for the last minute to melt, then take it out of the pan.

Wrap and sear

  1. Lay the lavash flat. Pile the lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup and mustard in the center, then set the patty on top.
  2. Fold the edges in toward the middle one at a time, overlapping each fold, until the filling is closed in.
  3. Wipe the skillet, spray it and heat over medium. Set the wrap in seam-side down.
  4. Cook 2 to 3 minutes until golden and crisp, flip carefully and give the other side 2 to 3 minutes.
  5. Let it rest a minute, cut in half if you want, and eat.
Notes Best fresh; it loses its crunch as it sits. To reheat, use a dry skillet, the oven, a toaster oven or the air fryer. Roughly 325 calories and 38 g protein per serving, give or take.

wesellis.com/blog/crunchwrap-burger/

Somebody looked at a cheeseburger and a Crunchwrap and decided they should be one thing. They weren't wrong. A big lavashA big, thin, soft flatbread, usually sold in rectangular sheets. It's thinner than a tortilla and crisps up more like a cracker in the air fryer.More: Air Fryer Lavash Pizza Pockets gets wrapped around the whole burger, toppings and all, and seared until the outside crackles.

The fold

This is the only tricky part. Pile everything in the center of the lavash, leave a wide border, then pull one edge up and over the middle. Go around the circle, overlapping each fold on the last one, until the whole thing is closed in. It ends up looking like a lumpy hexagon, which is right.

Tip

If it won't close, you've got too much inside. Take out some lettuce. The burger's the point.

Seam side first

Putting it into the pan seam-side down is what keeps it shut. The heat toasts the folds together into one crisp layer, and by the time you flip it, it holds its shape. Medium heat, not high, so the lavash browns before it burns.

The same crisp-the-shell trick shows up in the lighter chalupas, where a pita goes in the air fryer. Cheeseburger Quesadillas are the easier fold if you're not in the mood for origami. And the Flying Dutchman goes the other way entirely and drops the bread.

Heads up

Cold toppings inside a hot wrap are part of the appeal. Just don't let it sit before searing, or the lettuce goes limp.