Is Bean & cheese buritto Keto?

The Ingredient Breakdown

As a food scientist, I look past the marketing and straight into the formulation. A traditional Bean & cheese buritto relies on a standard flour tortilla, which is the primary reason it fails the Keto test. However, the issues go deeper than just the wrap.

The tortilla is made from enriched wheat flour. Wheat is a grain that is almost pure starch. When digested, this breaks down into glucose, spiking insulin levels and halting ketone production. To make matters worse, the tortilla contains soybean oil and xanthan gum, common binders in processed wheat products that offer zero nutritional value to a Keto dieter.

Inside the filling, we encounter the first red flag: seasoning. The ingredient list explicitly includes sugar. On a Keto diet, added sugar is strictly limited because it is a direct source of carbohydrates. Additionally, the cheese sauce contains bleached wheat flour. This is often used as a thickener to give the sauce a creamy consistency without using expensive cheese solids. It adds unnecessary carbs to the filling itself.

Perhaps the most deceptive ingredient is the cheese blend. While the cheeses themselves (Monterey Jack, Cheddar) are Keto-friendly, the manufacturer adds potato starch and powdered cellulose to prevent caking. Potato starch is a high-glycemic additive derived from potatoes, a tuber strictly prohibited on Keto. Even in small amounts, these additives contribute to the total carb count.

Finally, the refried beans are a staple, but they are naturally higher in carbohydrates. While beans can sometimes fit into a low-carb diet in tiny portions, the volume used in a buritto, combined with the corn meal found in the seasoning, pushes the carb count too high to be considered Keto-friendly.

Nutritional Value

From a nutritional standpoint, the Bean & cheese buritto is a calorie-dense, high-carb processed food. A single buritto typically contains between 300 to 500 calories, with a significant portion coming from carbohydrates—often exceeding 40 to 50 grams of net carbs per serving.

For a Keto diet, the daily limit is usually around 20 to 30 grams of net carbs. Consuming one of these burritos would immediately exceed that limit, making it impossible to remain in a state of ketosis. Furthermore, the fat profile is concerning. It contains interesterified soybean oil and soybean oil, which are highly processed industrial seed oils. While high fat is a requirement for Keto, the quality of fat matters for long-term health. The protein content is moderate, but it is overshadowed by the high sodium content (often over 700mg) due to the processed cheese and seasoning blends.

Regarding general health, this product contains artificial colors like FD&C Yellow #5 and preservatives like sodium benzoate. While these are FDA-approved, they are additives that many health-conscious consumers prefer to avoid. The presence of hydrolyzed soy protein (a source of MSG) and disodium inosinate indicates a heavy reliance on flavor enhancers rather than whole-food ingredients.