After dining at Chipotle Grill, we discovered bean bowls and found that we could make them at home. Not only could we make them at home, we could make them even fresher than what Chipotle Grill offers. These bean bowls are all you need for a meal and are healthy. There are 3 main things that go into one of our homemade bean bowls:

Ingredients

1. Meat

Grill your meat if you can; otherwise, broil in the oven. Spice with garlic powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Once the meat is cooked, cube into small pieces. We’ve used chicken (preferred), lean pork, or steak. All are good. Once large chicken breat, one lean pork chop (butterfly cuts work well, or a small steak is all that you really need.

2. Fresh Salsa

• Cubed, fresh tomatoes (2-3 medium sized)
• Cilantro, minced to taste
• Fresh, Hot peppers (jalapeno, serrano, chili, cayenne, tabasco) any of these work and use to your heat level
• Lime Juice (a good squeeze of one half)
• Tablespoon of Olive Oil
• Minced, fresh celery (1/4 stalk)
• Finely chopped, fresh onions
• Shredded Lettuce (on the side)

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl
3. Beans

• One can of pinto or black beans (we prefer pintos)

BOWL PREPARATION

1. Place a single layer of beans in the bottom of the bowl
2. Add a layer of meat over the layer of beans
3. Add a layer of the fresh salsa on top of that
4. Optionally, you can add small dollops of yogurt or sour cream on top of the fresh salsa
5. Add a layer of lettuce on top (alternately, you may place a layer of lettuce on the bottom as Chipotle does)

NOTES: Vegetarians can obviously omit the meat. Adding some hot, commercial salsa or additional fresh hot peppers will kick it up an extra notch. We found that 2 serrano peppers will make it nice and heated; on the other hand, one will definitely suffice for those who have a low heat tolerance.