Chipotle Taco Bowls (easy vegan meal prep)

Dec 27

Are you looking for an easy vegan and healthier meal prep? I am here to help. This is not only an easy meal prep idea but this is the perfect meal for anyone joining the Veganuary challenge because its simple, yummy and feels like you went to chipotle.

I work a busy 9-5 job and although I am currently remote I know how it feels to commute in traffic, get to work and dread lunch because your meal prep sucks. Not to mention, I was constantly running out of ideas or was too tired to prep food each week. This is such a simple recipe, packed with protein and you can find all the ingredients at your local Trader Joe’s. You can add whatever additional toppings you want to this meal i.e. vegan cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, etc., but I kept it simple. Although this is a very straight forward meal, I am still going to break down the steps for you.

What you’ll need:

1 can of black beans
1 cup of white rice
1 large bell pepper (red or green)
1 half of red onion
1 bag of leafy greens (I use romaine)
Jalapeños
Hot sauce or salsa of choice
Taco seasoning (I use Trader Joe’s- it has a little spice)
Salt to taste
Garlic powder to taste
Cooking oil

This makes about 3 meal preps for me. However, this will depend on your portion sizes. I cannot and will not recommend your personal serving sizes; but ill explain mine below. Lets get started!

Step 1: First lets cook the rice. I’m not going to go into detail on how to cook rice since each package comes with specific instructions and varies dependent on white, brown, etc. For this reason just read your rice package for the direct instructi… — **Step 1:** First lets cook the rice. I’m not going to go into detail on how to cook rice since each package comes with specific instructions and varies dependent on white, brown, etc. For this reason just read your rice package for the direct instructions. Tip: add a a teaspoon of salt and a drizzle of oil so that the rice has flavor and does not stick together.
**Step 2**: Slice the red onion and bell pepper as shown above. Add a drizzle of cooking oil to a pan and cook the onion/bell pepper on a medium heat. Add salt and garlic powder to taste. I personally like them a little charred so I let them grill for a good five minutes and until translucent; once complete put them in a bowl and place them to the side.
**Step 3:** Add the full bag of *Trader Joe’s* beef-less beef to a skillet on medium high heat (if you are using an alternative beef use 2 cups). Let the “beef” cook for 4-5 minutes stirring it occasionally to avoid burning.
**Step 4:** Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoon of the taco seasoning (if you don’t have this you can use garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, paprika and salt). Let the “beef” cook for an additional 4-5 minutes.
**Step 6:** Open the can of black beans with a can opener and pour the excess liquid out of the can. Heat up the full can of beans in a pot on the stove, for a couple minutes until warm.
Since I use the Cuban Black Beans from *Trader Joe’*s I choose not rinse them as it takes the flavor and chili chunks out. However, if you are using regular black beans you can go ahead and rinse them.

Step 7: Now its time to assemble your bowl! If you are simply eating this at home grab a plate and add your lettuce, rice, beans, “meat,” grilled onion/bell peppers and then top it with Jalapeño and salsa!

I am not going to tell you how many servings to use of each food item because It is not my place to recommend how much you should eat. For me personally I use 1 1/2 cup of lettuce (sometimes a bit more) and 1/3 cup each of beans, rice, beef. This makes me about 3 meal preps; but again, create your own serving size to fit your need

— If you are meal prepping add your lettuce to a separate container so that you do not have to microwave it all at once and ruin your lettuce. These are what I use: