Copycat Taco Bell Beefy 5-Layer Burrito: Recipe & Calories

The Beefy 5-Layer Burrito is five layers in a double wrap: nacho cheese sauce spread on a large tortilla, a smaller tortilla pressed on top, then refried beans, seasoned beef, sour cream and shredded cheddar. The second tortilla is the structural trick — it keeps the cheese from soaking through and gives the burrito its heft. This is our own home version — an inspired copycat, not Taco Bell's recipe. The original's numbers are the benchmark below.

Ingredients

• 500g ground beef
• 1 packet taco seasoning (or 3 tablespoons homemade taco seasoning) + 160ml water
• 6 large burrito-size flour tortillas
• 6 small fajita-size flour tortillas
• 390g refried beans, warmed
• 300g warm nacho cheese sauce
• 180g sour cream
• 115g finely shredded cheddar cheese

Method

1. Cook the beef. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat for 6–8 minutes, breaking it into small crumbles. Drain the fat, stir in the taco seasoning and water, and simmer for 3–5 minutes until saucy.
2. Warm the tortillas. Wrap the large and small tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for 20–30 seconds, until soft and flexible.
3. Make the cheese layer. Lay out a large tortilla, spread about 3 tablespoons of warm nacho cheese sauce over the centre, then place a small tortilla on top and press gently.
4. Add the fillings. Spread warm refried beans down the centre of the small tortilla, then add seasoned beef, sour cream and shredded cheddar in even layers.
5. Roll. Fold in the short sides, then roll tightly from the bottom up. Serve soft, or toast seam-side down in a dry skillet for 1–2 minutes.

Serving size & prep time

Makes 6 burritos (serves 6 as a main). Prep about 10 minutes; cooking about 15 minutes.

Nutrition — the honest version

The restaurant's Beefy 5-Layer Burrito is 490 calories with 18g fat, 1,290mg sodium, 65g carbohydrates and 17g protein. We do not publish a summed homemade total. The ingredients vary by brand and portion — the cheese sauce and the beef's fat content all move the total — so any figure we printed would be an estimate. Cook against the original's panel above: the build to match is the double tortilla, the five layers and the tight roll. The copycat recipes hub has the seasoned-beef spice mix in full.

About this guide's data

Every figure in this guide comes from one dataset: sampled Taco Bell prices and published nutrition, compiled and verified in October 2026 (prices are re-checked monthly, and every data page carries its verification stamp). Rankings state their rule in the open and are computed from those rows — never voted on, never estimated. Where a value is missing it is shown as missing, and each named item links to its own page, where the full label, allergen record and sampled price range can be checked. Prices vary by location; nutrition values are the published figures for the standard build.