Chicken Burrito Bowl Recipe

Do you have any Cinco de Mayo plans? Not only is this burrito bowl recipe great for the upcoming holiday, but it’s a fantastic option for a casual dinner or even meal prep!

I have a love-affair with Mexican-style foods and Tex-Mex foods. The flavors just speak to me. The spices, the heat, the freshness, the cheese… man, I could eat those kinds of foods every day!

This isn’t necessarily a Chipotle copycat recipe, but it hits a lot of the same flavor notes, and you can completely customize it to your tastes.

Pair this burrito bowl with some chips and guacamole and an ice cold margarita and you’ll have a Cinco de Mayo feast, or dinner, that everyone everyone will love!

What do I need to make this recipe?

• Cilantro – fresh cilantro is used in the rice, as well as a garnish on the bowl.
• Rice – you can use any rice you’d like, but I typically use long grain white rice.
• Lime – lime juice and zest are needed for both the rice, and the juice is needed for the crema. Fresh juice is best.
• Chicken – I prefer to use boneless skinless chicken breasts, but you can use chicken thighs or tenders if you prefer.
• Oil – any neutral flavored oil will work here; typically I use vegetable or avocado oil.
• Spices – in this recipe these are the salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Feel free to change these to your tastes.
• Sour cream – this recipe was tested with full fat sour cream, but I think it would work just as well with light.
• Lettuce – you can use any lettuce you’d like, but I prefer the crunch of romaine.
• Tomatoes – any tomatoes will work, although if they’re larger, you’ll want to dice them. I typically use grape or cherry tomatoes.
• Beans – black beans are what I normally use, but you can switch these up to a bean that you prefer.
• Corn – in the middle of summer, you could use fresh corn, but you can also use frozen corn (that’s been thawed), or canned corn (that’s been drained).
• Onion – any onion will work, but I prefer to use a red or purple onion.

How to make a chicken burrito bowl?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Make seasoning blend. Don’t forget to set aside about a tsp of this blend, then use the rest to season the chicken.
2. Make the crema. This is just a fancy word for a seasoned and thinned out sour cream.
3. Make the rice. Once the rice is cooked, toss it with lime juice, lime zest, and cilantro.
4. Cook chicken. You can cook this in a skillet, on a grill pan, or on an outdoor grill.
5. Assemble bowls. I like to start with lettuce as the base.
6. Add toppings. Arrange the toppings on top of the lettuce (the amounts of these are up to you).
7. Add chicken. You can slice it or dice it into bite-sized pieces.
8. Top with crema. Add as much or as little as you’d like, then sprinkle with cilantro.

Variations of this recipe

• Chicken – feel free to use boneless skinless chicken thighs instead of chicken breasts. You can also use a store-bought seasoning, rather than making your own seasoning blend.
• Rice – instead of using white rice, you can use brown rice, store-bought cilantro lime rice, or make my Instant Pot version.
• Crema – if you’d prefer not to make your own crema, Cacique makes a store-bought version (just add a splash of lime juice and some of the chicken seasoning blend).
• Guacamole – instead of diced avocado, feel free to use guacamole for some extra flavor.
• Salsa – I love to use a roasted corn and poblano salsa instead of plain corn kernels for more zip and flavor.
• Beans – instead of plain black beans, you could use the seasoned black beans, or a different type of beans. Alternately, if you’re not a fan of beans, you can omit them completely.

Making burrito bowls ahead of time

While I don’t advise making these bowls completely ahead of time, you can absolutely make the different components ahead and keep them in the refrigerator (separately).

Storage

I find that these burrito bowls are best with the different components stored separately for leftovers.

They should last about 4-5 days when stored separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator.