Chicken Burrito Bowl
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Chicken Burrito Bowls are a healthy and filling dinner idea for everyone! Delicious marinated grilled chicken is served over brown rice and with your favorite southwest toppings. They can easily be meal prepped for the week or turned into an easy freezer meal.
Why You’ll Love These Burrito Bowls
- It’s a family-pleaser. All ages enjoy it.
- Chicken Burrito Bowls are versatile. You can pick-and-choose what goes in your bowl.
- This recipe is freezer friendly. Double the batch and freeze one for later.
Ingredients
This easy dinner packs a high-protein punch. Veggies like shredded lettuce, tomatoes, and avocados make it a one-bowl wonder.
- Brown Rice – Adds lots of nutrition. You can sub white rice or quinoa. Try using our Instant Pot Brown Rice recipe or Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice!
- Southwest-flavored chicken – Use our Southwest Chicken marinade.
- Black Beans – Fiber and protein!
- Cheese – Shredded sharp cheddar is our pick but use your favorite cheese or leave it out altogether. (Here’s how to shred your own cheese.)
- Veggies – Shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, diced avocados, or minced red onion are delicious toppings.
- Condiments – Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, salsa, pickled red onions, a squeeze of lime, or Cilantro Lime Aioli for a Tex-Mex taste experience.
Make It A Freezer Meal
One of the beauties of this recipe is that it can be made in advance and eaten for lunches all week. In addition to that, like so many of our freezer-friendly recipes, this one can be turned into a delicious freezer meal.
Freeze for Later: To create a meal kit, place each of the following ingredients in separate quart-sized freezer bags and seal tightly:
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- 2-3 cups cooked Instant Pot Brown Rice
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- Grilled Southwest Chicken Tenders (1 1/2 pounds chicken)
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- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
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- 1-2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
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- 1 cup salsa
Put all the smaller bags into a plastic grocery sack or a large freezer container. Seal, label, and place in the refrigerator or freezer together as a meal kit.
Prepare from Frozen: Thaw the meal pack in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. Warm the chicken, beans, and rice in the microwave, if you want. Set out all the ingredients, including the fresh optional toppings, like lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, sour cream, and lime wedges. Build your bowl and enjoy!
FAQs
Yes! You can use leftover rotisserie chicken or any other cooked chicken you have. It will alter the flavor if you are not using a Mexican chicken, but you can add some seasonings.
Absolutely. Leftover taco meat or our shredded Mexican beef would be great in this!
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Southwest Chicken Burrito Bowls
A healthy and filling dinner idea for everyone! It’s packed with flavorful grilled chicken, black beans, brown rice, and all your favorite taco toppings.
Ingredients
Bowl Base:
- 2–3 cups cooked brown rice
- Grilled Southwest Chicken Tenders (1 1/2 pounds chicken), chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 (15-ounce) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
Optional Toppings:
- 1–2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
- 2 cups shredded lettuce (I like Romaine)
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1 cup salsa
- 1–2 limes, cut in quarters (squeeze over the top of the bowl)
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Instructions
Make It Now:
Add a scoop of rice, grilled chicken, and beans to a bowl. Top with your favorite toppings. Toss to combine. Enjoy with tortilla chips on the side.
Freeze for Later: To create a meal kit, place each of the following ingredients in separate quart-sized freezer bags and seal tightly:
- 2-3 cups cooked brown rice
- 1 batch of marinating Southwest Chicken Tenders (1.5 pounds chicken)*
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1-2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
- 1 cup salsa
Put all the smaller bags into a plastic grocery sack or a large freezer container. Seal, label and place in the freezer together.
Prepare from Frozen: Thaw the meal pack in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours. Grill the chicken and chop into bite-sized pieces. Warm the beans and rice in the microwave (add a little water or broth to the rice, if it’s too dry). Set out all the ingredients, including the salsa and fresh optional toppings, like lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, sour cream, and lime wedges. Build your bowl and enjoy!
*You can go ahead and grill the chicken, chop, and freeze it, if you want.
Notes/Tips
Our Southwest Chicken Marinade post gives you 4 ways to cook the chicken.
This is also a great recipe to use up rotisserie chicken if you just add some Mexican spices to it.
Leftover taco meat or our shredded Mexican beef would be great in this!
Photos and video by Whitney Reist of Sweet Cayenne.
Delicious! The whole family enjoyed it.
Wonderful! Glad you found a family winner Rhonda.
Amazing!
Yay! Glad to hear it Sandy!
This is a great summer recipe! Cooking the chicken ahead makes for an easy meal to pull together quickly.
I liked the idea of this. On a rainy day I thawed and baked the tenders in the oven to use in the recipe. I found that the southwest marinade tasted like chili powder and needed more flavor. I will make this again, but I will use my instant pot cilantro lime chicken taco recipe.
Thanks for the feedback.
Looks delish, thank you! What kind of vinegar do you recommend for the chicken marinade?
Thanks, Tracy! I just use white vinegar, but I think apple cider vinegar would be yummy, too.