I’m guilty of buying burrito bowls consistently from Chipotle, Qdoba, Illegal Pete’s etc. I know there is always the cheaper alternative to buying these by making your own. While it takes a bit of time to prepare fresh salsa and soak the beans, the prepared portions last up to two weeks so you could potentially have meals for quite a while.
The rice can be made every couple days to maintain freshness check out Meal Prep Basics for the first couple steps cooking rice. If you’d like, mix in 2 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil before cooking.
After you’ve made the rice mix in 3-4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 oz of finely chopped cilantro and 1 oz of lime juice from a freshly squeezed lime. This will make your rice similar to that flavorful store bought burrito bowl.
I usually get black beans and that takes time to soak overnight. You can soak a usual 15 oz bag in 6 cups boiled water for 2-3 hours. Then you’ll have to cook for 3-4 hours on high. Mix in 1 tbsp of cumin, 1 tsp of cayenne pepper and salt for some extra boldness to your beans.
Usually I just get fajita veggies which are quite simple to make. The ones from Chipotle are a little too salty for my liking. I actually prefer mine to their burnt and salty mix of green pepper and onion. I take 2 red bell peppers, 2 green bell peppers and 1 white onion chopped into thin slices. I prepare a bit of minced garlic, 1 tbsp of smoked paprika, 1 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1 tbsp of black pepper, a bit of cumin and celery seeds in a bowl. I then heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large saute pan for 1 minute on high. Reduce heat to medium-high and add the chopped veggies. Toss for a minute. Now add the mixture of spices and aromatics. Continue to toss until veggies are desired texture (5-7 minutes), I usually use the onion color as an indicator.
The salsas are next and are my favorite part. For the Pico de Gallo grab 2 lb of vine ripened tomatoes and dice. Dice 1/2 of a red onion. Seed, core and finely chop 3-6 jalepeno peppers (depends how spicy you like it, sometimes I use serranos). Mix ingredients and then add 1 tbsp of lime juice. Add some salt to taste.
I’m not a huge fan of roasting tomatillos for medium salsa since I get hot pepper hands, so I suggest wearing gloves when preparing medium and hot salsas. I also advocate using the oven with a broil setting to char the outside of the tomatillos, serrano and jalepeno peppers. The medium salsa at most chains requires tomatillos and which you can remove the husk, cut in half and place in the oven. Make sure the skin is touching the surface of the oven tray. Leave in at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes or so depending on the size of your tomatillos. Once done place in a blender with the peppers, garlic, cilantro, oregano and cumin (pretty much the main ingredients to everything). Pulse until desired consistency.
The blender I use is the Vitamix (click here for the link)
Hand chop onions very finely and add to your salsa. (Don’t pulse the onions with the rest of your salsa, it will make the mixture bitter!) Mix the salsa and add lime juice and salt to taste.
I make my own hot salsa with some habeneros, feel free to leave it out if you’d like. I will make a later post on the hot salsa and corn salsa recipe since this is a long one. For now these are sufficient for flavor.
Add some boiled corn into bowl for your fix and you may get some store bought guacamole (I love Wholly Guacamole brand). Let me know if you’d like to see a guacamole recipe too!
I store all of these pieces to a burrito bowl in separate containers and mason jars to store for a week or so. The salsa lasts up to 2 weeks depending on the freshness of your original ingredients. I hope you enjoy making this and eating your satisfying meals!
I love my vitamix and the link above is an affiliate link that I might earn a commission from.