These flavorful chicken burrito bowls feature the best parts of a burrito like juicy, seasoned chicken, cilantro rice, your favorite vegetables, and avocado ranch dressing. Next time you want easy and delicious dinner, don’t bother with take out at Chipotle and instead, make some at home!
Burrito Bowl
Need a quick and easy dinner idea this week that the whole family will love? Burrito bowls are just the thing! When you make these bowls at home, you can completely customize the toppings you want, and no… the guacamole isn’t extra.
I have plenty of topping ideas that I think you’re going to love. They’re all family favorites that go perfectly with the seasoned chicken and cilantro rice! With that being said, feel free to completely customize your bowl just as you would at your local burrito joint.
One thing that you simply must try, though, is my favorite homemade avocado ranch dressing. It’s freshly flavored, creamy, and I always end up drizzling a ton of it on my bowl. Feel free to make a batch or salsa and salsa verde as a side, additional topping, or an appetizer!
How to Make a Burrito Bowl
Ingredients You Need:
For the rice:
- Rice – use your favorite long grain or medium grain rice.
- Chicken Broth – Use this in place of water for more flavorful results.
- Salt – Just a pinch.
For the chicken:
- Chicken – Boneless, skinless chicken breast will work best but you can also use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. If using frozen, make sure it’s completely thawed prior to cooking.
- Taco Seasoning – One package of original taco seasoning mix works just fine for this easy recipe.
- Olive Oil – Avocado oil also works if preferred.
For the avocado ranch dressing:
- Avocado – ripe avocado with pin and skin removed.
- Sour Cream – Use a full fat sour cream for the thickest consistency.
- Mayonnaise
- Buttermilk – use 1% low fat buttermilk.
- Garlic – for best results, always use fresh garlic.
- Worcestershire Sauce – This adds a subtle umami flavor to the dressing.
- Herbs – Freshly minced parsley, dill weed, and cilantro create a great herbaceous flavor and aroma.
- Black Pepper
- Salt
Topping Options:
- Black Beans – Make sure they’re drained and rinsed prior to putting in your bowl.
- Sweet Corn – use canned, frozen, or off the cob.
- Red Onion
- Bell Pepper
- Tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Avocados
- Butter Lettuce
- Cilantro
Cooking Directions:
Cook the rice.
Cook the rice of your choice according to package instructions. Add if some cilantro and lime juice, fluff, and set aside.
Cook the chicken.
Split the chicken breast in half, width wise. Once split, season with the taco seasoning mix.
In a pan preheated with oil, cook the seasoned chicken cutlets for approximately 3-5 minutes per side.
Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and let cool for a few moments. Chop the meat into small cubes.
Whip up the dressing.
Combine all of the ingredients for the dressing in a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth.
Assemble the bowls!
Divide the rice evenly amongst your bowls, then top it off with the cubed cooked chicken, beans, corn, veggies, cilantro, and a generous amount of avocado ranch dressing. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I prepare burrito bowls ahead of time?
You can easily meal-prep, but be careful with storing some of the toppings together. Here are some helpful tips!
Make the chicken and rice ahead of time. Cook the chicken and let it cool to room temperature. You can chop it and store it or leave the cooked chicken breasts whole and store it. Make sure to store it in the airtight container, in the refrigerator. Cooking rice ahead of time is another time saving step. Just make sure to reheat the rice with a splash of chicken broth to re-hydrate it.
Prepare the toppings. You can prep almost all the burrito bowl and divide the toppings among several food storage containers as individual portions. There are some toppings that I highly recommend cutting fresh, and that includes fresh vegetables.
When you cut vegetables, they will only last a day or two before wilting and going bad. So, you can prep ingredients like cooked chicken, cooked rice, corn, and beans about 3-4 days ahead of time. Fresh ingredients like diced tomatoes, bell peppers, avocados, onion, lettuce, and herbs, are really best cut fresh.
Store the dressing. When it comes to avocado ranch dressing, you can definitely make it 3-4 days ahead of time. Store it in an airtight glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator. To help prevent the darkening of the dressings on the top, you can add a drizzle of fresh lime juice over the top of the dressing.
Chicken Burrito Bowl Recipe
Burrito Bowl
Ingredients
Rice:
- 1 1/2 cups dry long grain or medium grain rice
- chicken broth amount per rice package instructions
- 2 tsp fresh lime juice
- 1/2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
- pinch salt
Chicken:
- 1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast meat
- 1 oz package taco seasoning mix
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Burrito Bowl:
- 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 15 oz can sweet corn drained
- 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
- 1 bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1-2 tomatoes on a vine diced
- 1-2 ripe avocadoes peeled, pit removed, diced
- 2-3 oz butter lettuce
- 2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
Avocado Ranch Dressing:
- 1 ripe avocado peeled and pit removed
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup mayonaisse
- 1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp fresh minced parsley
- 1 tbsp fresh minced dill weed
- 1 tbsp fresh minced cilantro
- 1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
- salt to taste
Instructions
Rice:
- Check the package instructions for the recommended liquid to rice cooking ratio.
- Cook rice according to the package instcructions. Once cooked, add lime juice and cilantro, fluff and set aside.
Chicken:
- Split chicken breast in half, widthwise, and generously season each cutlet with taco seasoning on both sides.
- Preheat a large cooking pan over medium heat and add oil. Cook seasoned chicken cutlets for 3 to 5 minutes per size, until done.
- Take them out and let them cool enough to be able to cut them. Chop each chicken cutlet into small cubes.
Avocado Ranch Dressing:
- Combine all of the ingredients for the dressing in a blender or a food processor and pulse until smooth. Trasfer into a dressing jar or a glass jar with a lid.
Burrito Bowls:
- To build the burrito bowls, divide rice amond the serving bowl and top it off with chicken, beans, corn, vegetables, cilantro, and drizzle some dressing on top.
Nutrition
Joan Metz says
do you put cold corn on top of cooked rice and chicken…..
LyubaB says
I put it on at room temperature but you could heat it up if you prefer too.
Nora says
This made a great lunch!