I tried the Denver omelet breakfast burrito on a recent United Airlines flight and quite enjoyed it–another win for United’s Bistro On Board menu in economy class.
Taste Test: Denver Omelet Breakfast Burrito From United Airlines Bistro On Board Menu
I was traveling from Chicago (ORD) to Los Angeles (LAX) and in my experience, upgrades simply do not clear any more on United, even if you have top-tier status. If I’m traveling alone and have some flexibility, I just book directly into first class, but here the upcharge to first class was $1080, which I would never waste on a 4-hour 757-300 flight, even if money were not a concern.
After leveling off, flight attendants began service and I looked over the menu before settling on the Denver omelet burrito (the other hearty option was a French Toast Monte Cristo (cinnamon swirl French toast bread with smoked ham, roasted turkey, and Swiss and Gruyere cheese, which just seemed a bit too sweet and heavy to me):
Denver Omelet Breakfast Burrito
Scrambled eggs, diced ham, bell peppers, onions, crispy potatoes, and melted cheese wrapped in a warm flour tortilla
The cost was $10 or 1,180 miles. However, as a Premier 1K traveling in economy class, it was comped (along with a cold brew coffee from illy…one of my favorite drinks in the United onboard line-up).
It was offered with bamboo utensils and a side of Cholula hot sauce.
As always, the ingredient list on anything United serves onboard is a mile long…but closely looking at the ingredients, I did not see any particular ingredients that raise a huge red flag (the “mono- and diglycerides” sound bad, but I think those are used to keep the ingredients together…I also wish xanthan gum, a polysaccharide that is used as a food additive and thickener, would not be used nor water added to the ham).
Opening it, I cut it in half with a knife and then went to work on it.
Solid. Very solid. The tortilla was not necessary, but it made it easy and relatively clean to eat. It was not dripping in grease or other liquid and I quickly polished it off…a nice breakfast that fueled me until late afternoon.
United’s Bistro On Board breakfast menu is available on flights over 1,190 miles between 5:00 am to 9:59 am. I would order this again.
As always, I think United could charge double if it plated this and served it with a croissant and side of fruit…it’s something I’d certainly appreciate.
Each week, my Meal of the Week feature examines an airline meal from my travels over the years. This may be a meal from earlier in the week or it may be a meal served over two decades ago.
Matt tried it, and lived to tell the tale.
There are certain things I don’t trust anymore when flying, namely, the combination of coffee, beans, and hot sauce, unless I dislike my fellow passengers and am trying to test out Boyle’s law on-board.
LOL, that really wasn’t a problem for me on this flight!
No one wants to become Mr. Von Shitsinpants, that’s for sure.
Matthew is so easy to please! It is an endearing quality and makes me wish the burrito was larger than the paltry 6. 9 ounces.
If you read all the ingredients on most food you eat, you will never eat them. Now, as someone that works with food for over 30 years, this is not a terrible item but way more than just 3 ingredients listed there are bad and show they use cheap ingredients to make this meal. A few examples?
.Enriched wheat flour: it means it is highly processed where they removed all the good natural things of the wheat (including fibers) and later added synthetic ingredients to “enrich” it;
.Palm oil: high in saturated fat but way cheaper than olive oil which is great
.Soybean and canola oil: added to many ingredients which aren’t necessary
.Corn syrup: ultra processed high caloric source of fructose
I could go on and on but you also named a few of the bad ones.