It might be due to my love of beans, but I cannot think of a more satisfying bowl than these black bean burrito bowls! They’re chock full with all the goodies, my cilantro and cumin seasoned black beans, ancho roasted potatoes, lightly pan fried zucchini, plenty of avocado, short grain rice to tie it all together, and a generous drizzle of hot sauce (or your favorite salsa) to serve! My mouth is watering just thinking about it! This is a good starting point for the bowl, but if you want to make any changes or adjustments you can certainly do so. I know it’s a bit crazy or over the top seeming, but I personally love the combination of the roasted potatoes and rice and highly recommend you double dose those carbs! If you’d like to use brown rice that’s totally good as well.
The seasoned black beans:
So I use my homemade beans for these bowls and am obsessed with them! It makes up a big batch which means burrito bowls for ~days~ aka my dream life. If you need a quick fix though you can use store bought seasoned beans or refried beans. I would stay away from plain canned black beans, but if you want to use those just top them with plenty of hot sauce or salsa. My beans are so creamy and so flavorful that they take this from a nice burrito bowl to an out of this world one!
The ancho roasted potatoes:
Enter my second favorite part of these bowls, the ancho roasted potatoes. These are just roasted potatoes that are seasoned with ancho chili powder. So simple, and yet so so good! I recommend you use waxy yellow skinned potatoes like Yukon gold, red skinned potatoes, or fingerling/baby potatoes. These all cook up on the creamy side while still crisping on the outside. But if you only have or particularly love starchy potatoes like russet potatoes then go ahead and use them instead. Ancho chili powder is just ground up ancho chile peppers. They’re a mild pepper when it comes to heat–they’re actually dried ripe poblano peppers. If you don’t have ancho chili powder (I recommend you buy some to have and use it always) then go ahead and use your regular chili powder blend instead.
The zucchini:
I personally love the addition of zucchini to these bowls. Buy smaller zucchini as these are younger and are usually sweeter and more tender. A quick pan fry till they turn golden and a sprinkling of salt and pepper is all you need to make the zucchini! They act as a mild and juicy counterpart to the rest of the goings on in the bowl.
Everything else for the black bean burrito bowls:
I like to cook up a big batch* of short grain rice for these bowls. Short grain rice is often a bit stickier which works really nicely for your burrito bowls. *I cook 2 cups of dried rice, which increases in volume to about 6 cups of cooked rice. If you’d like to use another grain then go ahead and give that a go! The avocado comes next. I like to cut it into cubes and mix into the bowls before eating. Then I get these lovely big buttery cooling bites of it. Mmmm… Don’t forget to add either hot sauce or salsa to your bowls! Most recently we actually enjoyed this with some homemade spicy roasted tomato salsa. I just dolloped a couple of big spoonfuls of salsa on top of my bowls. I like to serve my black bean burrito bowls with a side of lime wedges for squeezing on to serve. A little citrus goes a long way! I mean really I like to use a lot of citrus, but I just mean it’s tasty, ok! Another favorite thing to do is to add quick pickled red cabbage or quick pickled red onion. That sharp sweet and sour vinegary bite is so good! If you make these black bean burrito bowls, leave a comment below and rate the recipe on the recipe card. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @thecuriouschickpea and #thecuriouschickpea. I love seeing your recreations! You can use store bought refried beans or seasoned black beans if you prefer. Use 2 15 oz cans of beans. For easy meal prep make the components in advance and reheat individual portions to serve. To use canned or previously cooked beans, substitute 4 15oz cans, or about 7 cups cooked beans. If using low or no salt added beans you can include the liquid in the can, otherwise drain and rinse the beans. Add 1-2 cups of water or broth, and more as needed to get the desired consistency, then continue with the recipe.
Instant Pot Duo 60 321 Electric Pressure Cooker, 6-QT, Stainless Steel/Black
