We have been loving Mexican food lately and vegetarian burrito bowls are getting all the love!! Instead of making a copycat chipotle bowl I have been using this quick version to fix our burrito bowl cravings. What I love is that these bowls are easy to make, excellent for meal prep and highly customizable which comes in so handy especially with kids!! It makes excellent lunch box option too and taste good both warm as well as cold!! Kids love such meals where they can assemble their own bowls and I love how the bowls get licked clean!!
What is a Burrito Bowl
Burrito is a Mexican dish from Tex-Mex cuisine consisting of flour tortilla that is filled with variety of topping and rolled into a cylinder shaped wrap. Burrito bowl is deconstructed version of burrito where instead of flour tortilla the various toppings are layered over a bowl or rice or quinoa or lettuce. Usually the layers consists of White or brown rice topped with black beans or pinto beans followed by options for vegan, veggie or meat based topping to choose from. Finally all the sides go in like various salsas including pico de gallo and corn salsa, guacamole, sour cream, cheese and lettuce. It is super delicious and healthy with so much texture and flavors!! For today’s post I’m sharing quick and easy way to make these chipotle style vegetarian bowls at home.
What you’ll need to make these Veggie Burrito Bowls
Rice - You can use plain steamed white or brown rice or cilantro lime rice or Mexican rice even. Substitute rice with quinoa or even lettuce for that healthier twist. Beans - We prefer no soak homemade Mexican black beans made in Instant Pot but you can also use canned beans and flavor them for quick fix. Substitute with Pinto beans or if you cannot find either use red kidney beans. Fajita Veggies - These are basically roasted peppers and onions flavored with Mexican seasoning. Trick here is instead of fire roasting or grilling the peppers and onion, directly cook these veggies in the pan on high and char them for that smoky flavor. Salsa - To keep it simple, just sticking to one salsa which is pico de gallo (our favorite) which is nothing but onion tomato salad. Substitute with store bought salsa for the quick option. Corn - I’ve used frozen boiled corn. You can use fresh or frozen roasted corn too which will add more flavor. Guacamole - We love our bowl with guacamole but you can also use crema or if in rush just add some diced avocado. My favorite hack is to make extra pico and add that to mashed avocados to make quick guacamole. Dairy - Cheese and sour-cream. Skip cheese and sour-cream to keep it vegan or use vegan alternative. Others - Shredded lettuce, some tortilla chips, cilantro and some lime wedges to serve if you prefer something crunchy along.
Meal prep option
Rice, Black beans and fajita veggies can be made couple of days ahead and refrigerated in airtight container. You can also shred the lettuce and cheese ahead of time and store in airtight container in fridge. The only thing to make is salsa and guac which can be made just before serving. Now isn’t that easy!! Meal prep on weekend and enjoy delicious homemade chipotle veggie bowl at home!!
How to Make Vegetarian Burrito Bowls
Making these burrito bowls is really simple, meal prep most of the ingredients and then assemble your bowl. Here is how
Make the rice
I love using long grain basmati rice for this recipe. But any rice or even quinoa would work. This is how I make my rice. I use 1:1 ratio of water and rice for making it in Instant pot or pressure cooker. Cooking on Stove top in a cooking pot will need more water. Time will vary depending on the brand and quality of rice. Please see details for all methods in recipe card. Cilantro Lime rice (optional) - Allow the rice to cool & then mix all the ingredients together, toss well. If you mix with warm rice chances of rice grains braking are more.
Make black beans
I usually make my beans at home using my no-soak recipe for homemade Mexican black beans which are made from scratch using stove top and Instant Pot. For a quick fix, use canned black beans in the homemade Mexican black beans recipe.
Make the fajita veggies
Add oil to a skillet on high heat. Stir in the bell peppers and onions and cook for 3-5 minutes before stirring. The idea is to get that char (without burning) which you would get by grilling them. Once the veggies are half cooked, add in the spices and stir. Cook for 2 more mins. Remove from the heat and serve or store. To store let them cool completely before storing them in airtight container in fridge for couple of days.
Make Pico de gallo
Chop onion, tomatoes, jalapeños (optional, skip if you don’t like it hot/spicy), cilantro. Add salt and generous lime juice. Mix and pico is ready!!
Make guacamole
This easy avocado dip is not only healthy, vegan, gluten-free but also extremely delicious! It doubles up as a sauce and makes the dish creamy and more flavorful. I’ve a detailed detailed guacamole recipe with all tips and tricks here!!
Assemble the bowl
Place a generous serving of the rice in the serving bowl. Top with black beans, fajita veggies, corn, pico, chopped romaine lettuce, Mexican shredded cheese, guacamole, sour cream, tortilla chips (optional) and some extra cilantro and lime wedges as desired. Enjoy!
More Mexican recipes to try
TACO PASTA VEGETABLE QUESADILLA TORTILLA ENCHILADA PIZZA VEGETARIAN CRUNCHWRAP SUPREME Hope you enjoy this Easy Vegetarian Burrito Bowl!! If you give this recipe a try, please rate by clicking stars ⭐️ in the recipe card. Thank you ❤️ ! You can also follow me on Facebook Instagram to see what’s cooking in my kitchen!!
Recipe Card
Happy Cooking!! Shweta
