A few weeks back, J and I had one of those nights where we hadn't planned anything for dinner and weren't sure what to do. I secretly love these nights. Because things like this occur, where we end up making an amazing, completely unexpected meal.
I can't say we thought of this 100% on our own. I mean, who doesn't love the burrito bowls at Chipotle?! We had eaten there at some point the week before this meal came together. And obviously it was so dang good that it was still on our minds.
So, here's what we used to put together an easy, quick, go-to meal:
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or coconut oil - I've been working more coconut oil into our lives
- 5 ounces sliced chicken breast, or steak, or shrimp - protein of your choice
- This taco seasoning - do it, it's worth it and you'll have plenty to spare for future meals
- Trader Joe's Organic [frozen] Brown Rice - also worth grabbing if you can, otherwise 2 servings of cooked brown rice works too (just limits the quick part of this meal)
- 1 can black beans
- 1 can whole kernel corn
- Shredded cheese - we prefer cheddar
- 1 diced avocado
- 1 diced med. tomato
- 1 cup diced lettuce
- Salsa of your choice
- Nonfat plain greek yogurt
- Hot sauce, if you prefer
In a small bowl, mix the cut up meat of choice with a tablespoon of taco seasoning. Add more if you'd like a stronger seasoning, or go with less if that's how you roll. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add in seasoned meat and cook through - stirring occasionally, should cook in 7 minutes or so.
While the meat is cooking, drain the canned black beans and corn in a colander. Give a quick rinse with cold water. Once the meat is almost done cooking, toss in the beans and corn, add a little more taco seasoning if you'd like (I do), stir, cover and let cook on low heat.
While the flavors are blending together on the stove, dice up your tomato, avocado, and lettuce. If you're lucky enough to live by a Trader Joes and have purchased the 3 minute brown rice, now is the time to pop it in the microwave. They're not kidding, it's perfectly cooked in 3 minutes.
Once the rice is cooked, set yourself up a little buffet of toppings. Add a large scoop of rice to the bottom of your bowl. Then add the meat, bean, and corn mixture. Next, add on the toppings. I prefer shredded cheese next so that it has a chance to melt from the heat of the rice and meat. Then veggies, salsa, sour cream yogurt. I'm not kidding when I say that you won't be able to tell the difference between sour cream and yogurt in this dish. Even J was shocked.
How to make this meal even quicker - use left over grilled chicken, steak, etc from the weekend's cookout (this was done in these pictures). Slice up the cooked meat, season with taco seasoning, place in heated skillet for 2 minutes on med-high heat to warm through, follow remaining directions
And making a little extra so that burritos are the meal of choice on day two doesn't hurt either! :)
There are so many options with burrito bowls. Add what you like, leave out what you don't. Next time we make these, I think I'd like to use shrimp. I'm also loving the idea of incorporating the ingredients used in fish tacos into a burrito bowl.
Enjoy! And let me know if you give this a try. I absolutely love hearing from you!
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