Who’s ready for this glorious Mexican Buddha Bowl? Don’t you just want to dig right in! I feel like Mexican food gets a bad rep for being unhealthy, and I think this is because a lot of popular Mexican recipes are made from cheese, meat, and highly processed oils. However, if you focus on creating a colorful bowl such as this one, you’ll end up with a delicious and nutritious meal.
What is a Buddha Bowl?
If you’re a new vegan, or just here trying out some vegan recipes, then you may be like WTF is a Buddha Bowl. Honestly, for the longest time I had no idea either! I did some serious digging awhile back and unfortunately there’s not really a clear definition. The definition I go by is any bowl that is loaded with vegetables, grains, and flavor (and is vegan of course). This Mexican Buddha Bowl checks all those boxes! If you’re interested in other buddha bowl recipes, I have a couple on my blog:
Is this a good meal prep recipe?
It absolutely is! This recipe is one of my favorite recipes to meal prep throughout the week, because it stores so well. And it tastes just as (if not more) delicious the next day! Since this bowl is made of cooked ingredients, you don’t have to worry about anything spoiling. Well, except the avocado. I would just suggest using a fresh avocado whenever you’re eating this Mexican Buddha Bowl, because nobody wants a brown avocado!
What vegetables go into a buddha bowl:
This my friends is where you can add your own creative twist! Although I love this recipe as is, this recipe is not for me, it’s for you! That means you get to make this Mexican Buddha Bowl however you like. Do you hate zucchini? Add broccoli to it instead! Whatever you need to add to this bowl, do it. With that said, here are some of my favorite vegetables to add to my buddha bowls:
- Plantains
- Bell peppers
- Onions
- Greens
- Sweet potatoes
- Squash
- Parsnips
The list goes on! Honestly you can’t go wrong with adding vegetables! Add as many as you like, because the more vegetables you eat, the less unhealthy food you eat!
Ingredients for this Mexican Buddha Bowl:
- Brown rice
- Cilantro
- Limes
- Bell peppers
- Onions
- Zucchini
- Garlic
- Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce
- Black beans
- Tomato
- Corn
- Romaine
- Avocado
How to speed up this recipe:
There’s a couple things you can do to speed up this recipe. First, you can use a pressure cooker to cook your rice and beans. I am obsessed with my Ninja Foodi, it honestly cuts my cooking time in half. Second if you don’t have time to wait for the beans to cook, you could buy canned beans. Lastly, you could use pre-made guacamole instead of fresh avocado. If you are meal prepping this recipe, this would probably be a better choice.
Chipotle Lime Mexican Buddha Bowl
Equipment
- 1 Pressure Cooker optional
Ingredients
Cilantro Lime Rice:
- 1 cup dried brown rice
- 1 lime
- 1/2 cup cilantro
Chipotle Vegetables:
- 2 bell peppers
- 1 onion
- 1 zucchini
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 2 tbsp adobo sauce
- 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
Black Bean Pico De Gallo:
- 1 cup black beans
- 1 tomato
- 1 cob corn
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 limes
Toppings:
- 1 avocado
- 2 heads romaine
Instructions
- Begin by cooking your rice as you would normally. I cooked mine in the Ninja Foodi. Once done add the lime juice and cilantro and mix. You can cook the rest of the food while the rice is cooking.
- To make the black bean pico de gallo simply dice the tomato and chop the corn. Add all ingredients together in a bowl and mix. Set aside.
- To make the chipotle vegetables: Slice the onion and pepper into strips. Add to a sauté pan with the water/vegetable broth. Next add the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce. Once peppers and onions are cooked add the zucchini and cook for 5 minutes.
- To serve chop the lettuce and place that as the base. Next add the rice, vegetables and black bean pico. Top with avocado and extra lime juice (if you like), and enjoy!
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