We love getting a burrito bowl as takeaway from a popular casual dining Mexican chain called “Guzman Y Gomez” in Australia. To get rid of some of the guilt of eating takeaway, I do try to switch over to a healthier option. So I order the vegetarian burrito bowl with brown rice instead of white rice and ask for “no cheese”. While I am not really fussy about avoiding cheese, this actually also turns out to become a vegan burrito bowl.
As Australia is easing its COVID-19 restrictions, many cafes and restaurants have started opening up for dining in. Even during the lockdown most places provided options for food takeaway or delivery. However most of the times the food turns cold by the time you receive it. Further it’s boring to eat from those takeaway containers. So we did a lot of home cooking. We baked bread and made soups. We started learning about sourdough baking. And we made these simple healthy-ish burrito bowls to mimic our “Guzman Takeaways“. We made them a lot.
Vegan Burrito Bowl Ingredients
I think bowl-style food is one of the simplest and healthiest ways of eating. Bowls are a one-dish meal that use not more than a handful of readily accessible pantry ingredients. They make for a nutritious and well balanced dish hitting all the macros (carbs-fats-protiens). So below I have listed the key ingredients and the process for putting together an easy Mexican style vegan burrito bowl at home.
Jump to Recipe- Rice, Sweet Potatoes and other Carbs – Here I use sweet potatoes cubed, and then roasted in olive and smoked paprika. However any rice or quinoa also works well. I prefer brown rice just because of its nutty and chewy texture.
- Black Beans, Pinto beans and other Proteins – Mexican food uses a lot of beans. I feel Black turtle beans or pinto beans are the best options. My personal preference is to soak the dry beans at least overnight and then boil them in a pressure cooker. When pressed for time, I use a can of black beans with no added salt.
- The good fat from avocados “guacamole” – Avocados are the healthiest and the creamiest fats to get into this bowl. So I always like to smash avocados with salt, lemon and herbs to make a good creamy guacamole. I am not a big fan of sour cream. But if you are looking for healthier option, then soaking cashews in water and making a cream with nutritional yeast is a great add on.
- Salsa and other sauces – Chopped tomatoes, coriander, a small onion with salt and lemon juice make the easiest salsa on Earth. I love trying out hot sauces made with jalapeños or smoked chilies. These are a great DIY to the store bought sauces, but do require some prep work. I will write about my experiences with fermenting chilies and making hot sauces in a future post 🙂
- All the Vegetables – I love sweet bell peppers, zucchini, onions and mushrooms just sautéed in a little olive oil, chilli flakes and dried oregano herbs. I like to keep them crunchy and it takes just few minutes in a pan
How to make a Burrito Bowl
To make this burrito bowl, roast sweet potatoes with smoked paprika or cayenne powder of choice. Separately saute cooked black beans with little olive oil, cumin seeds and oregano powder. Then prepare the dips and sauces of your choice. I always make a basic guacamole with smashed avocados, coriander, lemon juice and salt. I also like to throw in chopped tomatoes, onions and lemon juice for a simple tomato salsa.
Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions or if you have any easy Mexican bowl style recipes to share. If you like this recipe, please do leave a rating below. Don’t forget to tag #urbanfoodlover and follow along on Instagram for lots of foodie inspiration 🙂
Vegan Burrito Bowl Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato diced and cubed
- 400 grams black beans cooked 1 can of no salt added black beans
- 2 small avocados
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 1 bunch coriander or cilantro finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp oregano powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 1 medium jalapeno
- 1 medium zucchini chopped
- 1 medium capsicum / bell pepper chopped
- 200 grams button mushrooms sliced
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 medium lemon juiced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Salt as per taste
Instructions
For the Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg centigrade
- Roast the cubed and cut sweet potatoes in the oven using 1 tbsp olive oil, salt and sweet paprika
For the Black Turtle Beans
- Saute in a wide pan the black beans with olive oil, cumin seeds and salt (Use a can of black beans or use pre-boiled black turtle beans
For the Veggies
- In a large stainless steel pan, stir fry the cut onions, mushrooms, zucchini, and bell peppers (capsicum) in olive oil , salt, chili flakes and dried oregano herbs
For the Guacamole / Avo smash
- In a large bowl smash the avocados with salt (as per taste), lemon juice and chopped cilantro / coriander . You can also add in a small chopped onion or a clove of garlic (optional)
For the Tomato Salsa
- Chop and mix the tomatoes with jalapeños, lemon juice and salt
To Serve
- To serve add in one portion of each of the above in a bowl. Serve with corn chips
