Sweet Potato Burrito Bowl- These easy homemade burrito bowls are like Chipotle's burrito bowls but so much better! All your favorite burrito fixings like black beans, rice, corn, bell pepper, lettuce and avocado served in a big bowl and smothered with homemade avocado cilantro lime dressing. Perfect for a quick weeknight meal or meal prep your lunches/dinners for the week.
I'm a big fan of healthy one bowl meals like this one. They're so quick and easy! The best thing about this burrito bowl recipe is that it's so versatile. Change up any of the vegetables or protein to include your family favorites or use up what you have on hand. Serve in individual bowls or set out the fresh components, burrito bar style, and let your family assemble their own bowl.
What’s a Burrito Bowl?
A burrito bowl is a deconstructed version of a burrito. All your favorite burrito fillings like black beans, rice, corn, bell pepper, and avocado served in a large bowl over a bed of lettuce. For this recipe we’re also adding Mexican spiced crispy roasted sweet potatoes to up the veggie game.
Served without the tortilla, a burrito bowl has lower calories and lower carbs than a regular burrito.
How to make this Burrito Bowl
- Prep the Sweet Potatoes: Place cut sweet potatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with spices. Cook for 25-30 minutes (adding bell pepper to the baking sheet halfway through the cooking process).
- Make the Dressing: In a blender or food processor add all dressing ingredients and pulse until smooth.
- Heat Beans, Rice and Corn (optional)- Burrito bowls can be served with warmed ingredients or served at room temperature; both are equally as delicious.
- Assemble: Divide all elements of the burrito bowl into 4 bowls and drizzle with creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing.
Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing
This quick and easy oil-free dressing uses avocado for extra creaminess. Simply add the following ingredients to a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. Adding additional water if needed to achieve desired consistency.
- ½ avocado, peeled and pitted
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt (for Vegan option use plant based yogurt or vegan mayo)
- 1 cup cilantro, loosely packed leaves and stems
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
- 2 teaspoons honey (for Vegan option use maple syrup or agave)
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/4 cup water (more as needed)
Customize it! Easy Swaps or Add In’s
This recipe is so versatile. Add any of your favorite veggies or add some additional protein like chicken or steak. Here are a few ideas for swaps/additions:
Rice- swap the brown rice for white rice, basmati, jasmine, cilantro lime rice or black rice. Quinoa would also be great in place of the rice. Want to keep things lower carb? Try cauliflower rice or broccoli rice.
Veggies- add/swap any veggies of your choice. A few fresh ingredients that would be especially good- red onion, zucchini, fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, or spinach.
Protein- swap black beans for chickpeas or pinto beans. Add grilled chicken (like this easy grilled cilantro lime chicken), steak, or baked tofu. Or try adding Pulled BBQ Chicken ( like this Crockpot pulled BBQ chicken) or Carnitas.
Toppings/Garnishes- lime slices, fresh cilantro, avocado slices or guacamole, jalapenos, hot sauce, cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips.
Dressing- if you like some spice, you can give this dressing a little kick of heat by adding ½ - 1 jalapeño pepper (seeded) or a pinch of red pepper flakes prior to pulsing dressing ingredients together.
As an alternative to the Cilantro Lime Dressing, you could sub prepared fresh salsa, fresh Pico de Gallo or guacamole.
Make it a Vegan Burrito Bowl- With just a few easy swaps to the Cilantro Lime Dressing you can easily make this Burrito bowl vegan. Swap out the Greek yogurt for a plant based Greek style yogurt. Or, swap the yogurt for plant based mayonnaise (like Veganaise). Swap the honey for maple syrup, agave or sugar.
Make it an actual Burrito- wrap the ingredients (drizzled with cilantro lime dressing) in a flour tortilla wrap. A great choice for an easy on- the -go meal.
Store/Meal Prep/Reheat
Store- Store in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You'll want to use separate containers : one for the lettuce, one for the dressing and one (or more) for the leftover rice and remaining veggies. This will allow you to reheat the veggies and rice before serving and assemble with the crisp lettuce and dressing.
Meal Prep- These Sweet Potato Burrito Bowls are perfect for meal prepping. Use your favorite meal prep containers or glass storage bowls (I use these meal prep containers) (affiliate link). Store the sweet potatoes, rice, beans, corn, bell peppers together and keep the lettuce separate as well as the dressing separate. Reheat according to directions below and add lettuce and dressing just prior to serving.
Reheat- You can reheat the sweet potatoes, rice, beans, corn, peppers in the microwave in a microwave-safe container in 30 second intervals, or warm components in a pan on the stovetop over medium heat.
For crispier sweet potatoes opt to reheat them in the oven vs. microwave. Heat oven to 400F. Spread sweet potato pieces on a sheet pan. Reheat until they are warm all the way through, about 10-15 minutes.
Time Saving Tips
This recipe is already very easy but if you’d like to save a few extra minutes in prep time here are a few hacks to shave off a few minutes:
1) Use frozen brown rice- microwave while sweet potatoes are cooking
2) Make the Cilantro Lime Dressing ahead of time . Dressing will stay fresh for 4-5 days stored in and airtight container. Alternatively you can substitute prepared Pico de Gallo, Salsa or guacamole in place of the dressing.
Sweet Potato Burrito Bowl
Ingredients
Burrito Bowls
- 2 large sweet potatoes peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 red bell peppers sliced
- 1 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 ½ cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup cooked corn fresh, canned, or frozen (thawed)*
- 2 cups romaine lettuce chopped
- Optional Toppings/Garnish: Fresh Cilantro avocado slices, fresh lime, sour cream, jalapenos
Spices for Roasting Sweet Potatoes **
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon chili powder optional
- Salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
Cilantro Lime Dressing
- ½ avocado peeled and pitted
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt for Vegan option use plant based Greek style yogurt or Vegan mayo
- 1 cup cilantro loosely packed leaves and stems
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice
- 2 teaspoons honey for Vegan option use maple syrup or agave
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup water more as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F.
- Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes. Slice bell pepper into ½ inch strips. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine spices for roasting sweet potatoes (cumin, garlic powder, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper). Set aside.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Place sweet potatoes on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with roasting spices and toss well to coat.
- Place sweet potatoes in the oven and cook for 15 mins. Remove from oven and flip potatoes over, add bell pepper slices to roasting pan with sweet potatoes and drizzle with olive oil.
- Return to oven and cook for another 10-15 minutes until potatoes begin to caramelize on the edges and bell peppers are crisp tender.
- While vegetables are cooking prepare the dressing by adding all dressing ingredients to a food processor or blender and pulsing until smooth. Add additional water as needed to achieve desired consistency.
- Remove vegetables from oven and remove from baking sheet.
- Optional step: Heat black beans, rice, and corn. Beans, rice, and corn be served warm or at room temperature.
- Assemble by dividing sweet potatoes, bell peppers, rice, beans, corn and lettuce into 4 bowls and drizzling with Cilantro Lime Dressing and favorite burrito bowl toppings or garnishes (like fresh cilantro, limes, avocado slices, jalapenos, sour cream, shredded cheese).
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