Better late than never! For the third installment of Mexican May, I made a vegan burrito bowl with roasted cauliflower. After eating quesadillas and tacos for the last couple weeks, we decided we needed something a little lighter (read: that doesn't include a tortilla...).
I know it may not be popular, but I'm going to say it: I love Chipotle. When I was in college, I traveled nearly every weekend with my co-ed sailing team up and down the east coast for regattas. If you travel a lot, you know how difficult it is to make healthy choices on the road. Chipotle always had something to please everyone: the vegetarians, the carnivorous dudes, and health-conscious ladies like myself.
Burrito bowls are crowd pleasers, plain and simple. And get this - I live in the buzzing metropolis of Miami, and there's not a Chipotle within a 15 mile radius of my place. Madness. Come to think of it, I can't think of any place where I can get nice hearty salad or bowl under $12. First world problems...
Anyway, my vegan burrito bowl is packed with veggies, but isn't super expensive if you get a deal on staples like black beans, rice, Rotel etc.
I think a great vegan burrito bowl needs to be:
- Filling (rice, black beans)
- Packed with veggies and color (onions, peppers, sauce, corn, cauliflower)
- Slathered in an awesome sauce (in this case, my Cilantro Lime Sauce from a few weeks ago)
If you're teaching somebody how to cook, or have a couple of extra hands, this is because it covers a lot of simple techniques (roasting, sautéing, veggie chopping, sauce making). It's also super easy to hand off one of the components to somebody else!
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Vegan Burrito Bowl with Roasted Cauliflower
Ingredients
Basics:
- Kale, or whatever green you like
- 1 cauliflower head
- 4 ears of corn, kernels off the cob or 2-3 cups frozen corn defrosted
- ½ onion sliced
- 2-3 bell peppers
- 1-2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1-2 avocados for topping
- Salt and Pepper (to taste)
- Olive oil - for roasting and sautéing
Mexican Rice
- 2 cups uncooked brown rice, rinsed thoroughly (DON'T SKIP THIS STEP)
- ½ onion chopped finely
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 2 cans Rotel
- 2-2.5 cups vegetable broth
- Optional: taco seasoning, cumin, chili powder, fresh cilantro for topping
Cilantro Lime Sauce:
- 1 cup cilantro leaves
- ½ small avocado
- Juice of ½ lime
- ¼ cup light olive oil
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
Roasted Cauliflower
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Chop cauliflower into pieces a little smaller than a golf ball. Toss with olive oil, and a couple pinches of salt and pepper.
- Roast at 400 degrees F for 20 mins. Flip, and then roast for another 20 mins or until they start to brown and are fork tender.
Mexican Rice: Inspired by the Pioneer Woman - I changed it slightly to work better with brown rice, and vegan-ized.
- Chop ½ onion - smaller pieces are better. Peel and mince 3 cloves of garlic (or if you’re lazy like me, peel and use a garlic press to mince).
- In a large sauce pan, sauté onion until soft (~3 mins)
- Then add 3-4 cloves minced garlic. Let cook until you can smell the garlic (1-2 mins).
- Add brown rice (which you should’ve rinsed thoroughly, DON’T SKIP THIS STEP) and sauté for 3-5 mins, stirring constantly.
- Add 2 cans Rotel (drain if you don’t like as spicy) and vegetable broth. For a little more ~spice~ add a couple T of taco seasoning, plus 1-2 tsp of salt. If you don’t have taco seasoning, add a tsp of cumin with the salt, and maybe a little chili powder. If you’re don’t like spicy, avoid chili powder.
- Bring liquid to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Generally, brown rice needs to cook much longer than white, so I started with 40 mins. After 40 mins, I taste test. If still al-dente, then give it 5-10 more minutes. Repeat if not ready. If not enough liquid, add some.
Sautéd Veggies
- Slice onion and pepper(s).
- Heat 1-2 T olive oil in a sauté pan, and add peppers first. Sauté for 3 mins, then add onions, and cook until onions start to brown slightly. They’ll be pretty soft when finished. Remove from pan and set aside
Corn
- Defrost frozen corn, or remove kernels from cob if using fresh.
- Heat 1-2 T olive oil in a nonstick pan, and add corn to pan when hot plus 1-2 pinches of salt. Stir every 1-2 mins until they begin to brown (usually 5-7 mins). Remove from pan and set aside.
Cilantro Lime Sauce
- Blend all ingredients until smooth!
Assemble:
- In a bowl, add some kale and rice. Then fill in with veggies, corn, black beans, cauliflower etc.
- Smash avocado with a pinch of salt, and maybe a splash of juice from a lime wedge. Add dollop to bowl.
- Top with Cilantro Lime sauce. I like to mix mine up and then dig in!
Want more Tex-Mex? Check out the rest of my recipes from this month:
Week 1 – Vegan Butternut Squash Quesadillas
Week 2 - Vegan Brussel Sprout Tacos
Week 4 – Martini Strength Margaritas
Susan Dillard
I have enjoyed the lightness of the recipes. I feel satisfied without blimped
★★★★★
The Hangry Chickpea
So glad you liked it! That's usually my goal with bowls 🙂