Burrito Bowl! With black beans, rice, avocados, salsa, red cabbage and lime.
What is a burrito bowl? A burrito without a tortilla wrapper. A bowl of steaming, hot rice topped with hearty beans and any taco topping you want—salsa, avocados, cilantro, guacamole, jicama, lettuce, or kale.
Here’s the thing about a burrito bowl that can be made in 15 minutes using grocery items and toppings straight from the fridge. Canned beans, reheated frozen cooked rice, prepared salsa. It’s fast, it’s easy, it works.
Or you can take your burrito bowl to another level and cook your beans from scratch (on the stovetop or in a pressure cooker) or even make Spanish rice or cilantro rice.
For this burrito bowl pictured here, I cooked a bag of beautiful Rancho Gordo black beans in a broth infused with cumin, garlic, and bay leaves. We’ve also experimented with canned beans, which when you use them you’ll want to reheat with a few extras.
Who makes the best canned black beans?
If you decide to go for the canned beans, I highly recommend going with a quality canned bean.
We tested 5 different brands of canned black beans. The Whole Foods 365 brand was completely lacking in flavor; We don’t recommend it. The other four are shown here. Of these, we like S&W Premium Black Beans as well as Bush’s Black Beans. The Rosarita and La Costeña were both like soupy pinto beans, nothing special and not nearly as good as the S&W and Bush’s.
Black Bean Burrito Bowl
Cooking time and prep time depend on whether you’re using canned beans and already-prepared rice, or making dry beans and rice from scratch.
This recipe makes a lot, but leftovers keep well. You can easily halve the recipe.
ingredients
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4 15 ounce cans whole black beans (preferably S&W Premium Black Beans or Bush’s Best Black Beans)
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1 teaspoon ground cumin
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1 teaspoon garlic powder
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3 cups uncooked rice, white or brown
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1/2 teaspoon Salt
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4 1/2 to 6 cups waterdepending on the type of rice (see package)
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Sliced red cabbage
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Ripe avocadopeeled and cut into pieces
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Fresh tomato salsa
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Chopped fresh coriander
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Quark or Cotija cheese (skip if cooking vegan)
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sour cream or Crema Fresca (skip for vegan cuisine)
method
For canned beans
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Put the beans and the liquid from the can in a saucepan:
(First taste the liquid; if it tastes good, use it, if not, drain the beans first and add as much liquid to the pot of beans as you strained.)
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Add the cumin and garlic powder to the beans. Bring to a boil:
Simmer for a minute or two to heat the beans. Stir in the coriander and remove from the heat.
For dry beans
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Soaking beans:
Place 1 pound of dried black beans in a large bowl or saucepan. Cover with 2 cm of water, leave to soak overnight, then drain. You can skip the overnight soaking, place black beans in a bowl and cover with 2 inches of boiling water. Leave to soak for an hour. Then drain.
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Bring beans to a simmer:
Place soaked and drained beans in a large saucepan. Cover with 2 cm of water. Boil, reduce over low heat.
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Sweat the spices and garlic, add to the beans:
While the beans are cooking in Step 2, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon ground cumin and cook until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Add 3 minced garlic cloves and cook 1 minute longer.
Once the beans are cooking, add the cumin and garlic mixture to the pot with the beans. Add 2 bay leaves and 2 teaspoons kosher salt to the saucepan as well.
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Boil the beans until soft:
Cook the beans, uncovered, until tender but not mushy, 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on the size and age of the beans.
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Strain beans:
When the beans are done, set a colander over a separate saucepan. Pour the beans into the colander to catch the cooking water in the pot. Set the beans aside and reduce the cooking liquid until thickened and slightly syrupy. Return the cooking liquid to the beans and stir.
Preparing the burrito bowl
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Cook rice:
Place 3 cups of rice in a large saucepan. Depending on the type of rice you are using (short-grain, long-grain, white, brown) add anywhere from 4 1/2 cups to 6 cups of water to the saucepan. Check the rice package directions.
Add 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low to maintain a very low simmer.
Cover and cook for 15 to 45 minutes depending on the type of rice (again, refer to the package directions for the rice you are using).
Remove from heat, cover and let rest 10 minutes before fluffing with a fork to serve.
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Construct the burrito bowl:
Place a serving of cooked rice in the bottom of a serving bowl. Top with black beans. Garnish with assorted toppings – thinly sliced cabbage, chopped avocados, chopped cilantro, queso fresco, and sour cream.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 529 | calories |
| 18g | Fat |
| 81g | carbohydrates |
| 14g | protein |
