These burrito bowls are loaded with marinated grilled chicken, cilantro lime rice, black beans and a variety of fun toppings. This recipe will become a dinnertime staple at your house!
Burrito bowls are so versatile, I could make them every day and never get bored! Serve your burrito bowls with a topping of homemade pico de gallo and a Mexican caesar salad on the side.
It’s a new year, and like many other people, I’ve been busy working on ways for my family to lead a healthier lifestyle. We’ve been going for long walks on the weekends, eating more fresh fruits and veggies, and have been eating out less. When we eat at Mexican restaurants, my husband and I often order chicken burritos, but they’re often loaded with tons of cheese, hidden oils and those giant tortillas are chock full of calories. My homemade burrito bowls are a lighter version of the restaurant favorite. I’ve made some swap outs to make this recipe more wholesome and my family loves it just as much as the original!
What is a burrito bowl?
A burrito bowl is all of your favorite burrito fillings minus the tortilla. Burrito bowls are typically served over rice, or if you’re looking to cut down on your carbs, you can serve your toppings on a bed of shredded romaine lettuce.
How do you make burrito bowls?
The star of these burrito bowls is the grilled marinated chicken. I marinate my chicken in a simple mixture of olive oil, lime juice and spices, then toss it on the grill. If it’s too cold to fire up the grill outside, you can use a grill pan or skillet on the stovetop, or broil the chicken.
While my chicken is cooking, I put together the rest of the ingredients for these burrito bowls. I make a simple cilantro lime rice as the base – you can use white rice, brown rice, or even quinoa if you prefer! I place the rice in a bowl and top it with the cooked and cubed chicken, fresh salsa, black beans, avocado, lettuce and a bit of light sour cream.
I buy my fresh salsa at the store if I’m in a hurry, and simply open up a can of black beans to save some time. You can customize your burrito bowl by using pinto beans instead of black, adding roasted veggies, or using some light shredded cheese instead of sour cream. I often set out all the ingredients at the table and let each family member assemble their own bowl, my kids think that’s so fun!
Recreating healthier versions of restaurant favorites at home has been a great start to my goal of eating out less in 2017. With less visits to restaurants, more exercise and extra fruits and veggies at every meal, my family is making strides towards living a healthier lifestyle.
More Mexican food favorites
Burrito Bowl Video
Burrito Bowls with Chicken
Ingredients
- For the chicken:
- 1 1/4 pounds NatureRaised Farms Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup lime juice
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1-2 tablespoons chili powder depending on the heat level of your chili powder. I use a mild chili powder so I do the full 2 tablespoons.
- 3 cups cooked white or brown rice or quinoa
- 1/3 cup chopped cilantro leaves
- the juice of 1 lime
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 15- ounce can of black beans drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup salsa or pico de gallo
- 1 avocado thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup light sour cream
- 1/2 cup shredded romaine lettuce
Instructions
- To prepare the marinade, pour the lime juice, olive oil and water into a large resealable bag. Add the garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, smoked paprika, onion powder and chili powder.
- Seal bag and shake to combine. Add the chicken to the bag of marinade, seal and place in fridge - marinate at least 30 minutes or up to 8 hours.
- Preheat a grill, grill pan or skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side or until cooked through.
- Chop the cooked chicken into bite sized pieces.
- Place the rice or quinoa in a large bowl; add the cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper to taste; toss to coat the rice evenly.
- Divide the rice between 4 bowls. Arrange the chicken, beans, salsa, avocado, sour cream and lettuce on top of the rice. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of NatureRaised Farms Fresh Chicken. The opinions and text are all mine.
My favorite chicken recipe is very easy. Saute garlic, add olive oil and heat. Dip chicken in the oil mixture and dredge lightly in bread crumbs. The chicken can be fried or baked.
Chicken Marsalis, a Williams and Sonoma version in the crockpot
Mexican food is comfort food for me and I’m always looking for healthy ideas. This looks like something I can easily make
I like chicken enchilada casserole. It is essentially the ingredients of enchiladas, except they are just thrown together instrad of individually rolled.
My fave chicken recipe is homemade chicken and noodles!
My favorite chicken recipe is my Creamy Chicken Enchiladas ! I could eat a whole pan by myself , it’s my favorite thing to make 🙂
Spanish arroz con pollo is my favorite chicken recipe.
We love chicken and rice casserole or any grilled chicken.
These look like something my whole family would enjoy! I also try to buy natural chicken when I can! Wish me luck I entered the contest!
I love making garlic lemon chicken, or chicken fajitas!
I love a good chicken salad! It must have sweet pickles in it! I also lov my Memas chicken pastry
These chicken burrito bowls look amazing! My favorite chicken recipe is a three cheese stuffed chicken.
This looks soooo good!
I do wonder about the calorie count though. 684 cals per serving, is that right? That seems really high based on the ingredients list. Is that assuming you use white rice?
Hi Christina, the tricky part about the calorie count on this one is that it’s hard to figure out exactly how much of the marinade is absorbed by the meat. There is olive oil in the marinade, and while the meat doesn’t absorb a ton of it, the calorie count looks higher because the nutrition calculator assumes that most of the marinade is used. The calories are likely lower, but I didn’t want to mislead anyone by trying to calculate exactly how much marinade is consumed, although my guess is about 25-30%.
Also wondering what causes the cholesterol to be so high?
I’m not well versed on which foods are high in cholesterol so unfortunately I’m not able to answer that!
So, is the calorie count with or without rice.
With rice!
I love coating chicken in pesto, topping it with some freshly grated Parmesan and baking it. Served with some steamed veggies or quinoa makes it the perfect weeknight dinner!
I love chicken souvlaki, grilled with Tzatziki
My Mom’s Chicken Cabbage Salad recipe is always a winner.
I make my famous salsa chicken, my kiddos love it! It’s very simple, place in the crockpot 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breast, add taco seasoning, 1 cup of your favorite salsa, 1 cup of condensed mushroom soup, set it to 6 hrs high, then viola!
My favorite chicken recipe is black lemon peppered chicken.
Sounds Great! Please share
My favorite Chicken recipe is the Healthy Chicken Taco Salad!
I make a version of chicken flautas that are pretty easy and good! My kids don’t like spicy so I use cooked shredded chicken breast, mix it with tomato sauce then roll it in a flour tortilla to deep fry. We dip it in sour cream then shredded cheese! The sour cream acts like a dip to pick up lots of cheese for the perfect bite!