This unexpected burrito bowl is an absolute delight. If you’re looking for a hearty meatless meal, give this recipe a try. These burrito bowls feature cooked brown rice, lime-marinated kale, seasoned black beans, and a quick and irresistible avocado salsa verde that brings it all together.
This burrito bowl is a complete and balanced meal that makes great leftovers. To make it more of an event, serve it with tortilla chips and salsa or guacamole, perhaps with a zingy cocktail on the weekend (try a margarita, paloma or ranch water).
I developed this recipe over ten years ago when I was craving a wholesome meal with greens after returning home from a weekend road trip. It’s economical and practical, but above all, delicious! This recipe is still one of my favorites, so I’m sharing it again today with updated photos and a video to show you how it comes together.
Burrito Bowl Components
Each component is simple to make, and once combined, they create a stellar meal. You’ll find the full recipe below, but here’s what makes each component special.
Cooked brown rice: Follow my brown rice cooking method for great results every time—you’ll boil the rice in an abundance of water, like you would for pasta. Prepare the remaining components while it cooks for 30 minutes.
Lime-marinated kale: First, we’ll massage the kale to make it more tender and palatable (I’ve emphasized this in my kale salad recipes). All you do is scrunch up big handfuls at a time until the leaves are darker in color and fragrant—don’t worry about hurting the kale. Then, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, chopped jalapeño (optional), cumin and salt, and stir it into the kale.
Avocado salsa verde: I’m obsessed with this ultra-flavorful sauce. It’s just ripe avocado blended with salsa verde (store-bought is fine), plus fresh cilantro and lime. You could double this component to serve with chips.
Seasoned black beans: Canned black beans become tender and delicious when you sauté them in olive oil with shallot or red onion, garlic and chili powder.
Garnishes: Choose from sliced cherry tomatoes, toasted pepitas (green pumpkin seeds), hot sauce or crumbled feta. I love the accents of salty, creamy feta on my bowls, but you can easily make this recipe vegan and dairy-free by omitting it.
Watch How to Make Burrito Bowls
Planning on leftovers?
Enjoy this recipe for up to four days. Store individual components separately in the refrigerator for best results. Reheat the beans and rice before topping them with marinated kale and salsa verde.
More Burrito Bowls to Try
If you enjoy this burrito bowl recipe, don’t miss these:
Please let me know how your bowls turn out in the comments. I hope this one becomes one of your favorite meals as well.
Kale and Black Bean Burrito Bowl
This vegetarian burrito bowl features super flavorful components—lime-marinated kale, seasoned black beans, brown rice and avocado salsa verde. This recipe is gluten free, vegetarian and vegan/dairy free if you skip the feta cheese. Recipe yields 4 burrito bowls.
Brown rice
Lime-marinated kale
Avocado salsa verde
Seasoned black beans
Optional garnishes
- Cook the rice: Bring a big pot of water to a boil, pour in the rinsed brown rice and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, drain the rice and return it to the pot. Cover and let the rice steam in the pot for 10 minutes, then fluff the rice with a fork and season with ¼ teaspoon salt, or more to taste.
- Make the kale salad: Place the chopped kale in a big mixing bowl. Massage the leaves with your hands by scrunching up big handfuls at a time until the leaves are darker in color and fragrant. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, chopped jalapeño, cumin and salt, then pour the dressing into the bowl and stir to combine.
- Make the avocado salsa verde: In a food processor or blender, combine the avocado, salsa verde, cilantro and lime juice. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Warm the beans: In a medium saucepan, warm the olive oil over medium-low heat. Sauté the shallot and garlic until fragrant and tender, about 2 to 3 minutes, then add the beans, chili powder and cayenne pepper. Cook until the beans are warmed through and softened, stirring often, about 5 to 7 minutes. If the beans seem dry at any point, stir in a small splash of water.
- To serve, spoon generous portions of rice, beans and kale salad into individual bowls. Top with a couple of spoonfuls of avocado salsa verde and garnish as desired. Each component of this recipe keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. For leftovers, reheat the beans and rice and serve alongside marinated kale and salsa verde. To ensure the salsa verde stays bright green, store it in a bowl with plastic wrap pressed against the sauce.
Notes
Recipe inspired by Not Without Salt’s jalapeño and lime marinated kale tostada. Recipe updated in 2024 to include massaging the kale for an improved texture, plus additional garnish suggestions.
Make it vegan/dairy free: Don’t add cheese.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
