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A side-angle landscape-style photo of a plant based burrito bowl on a brown granite countertop with a light purple and white striped cloth napkin in the background.

Plant Based Burrito Bowl

Liz
So satisfying and flavorful, this Plant Based Burrito Bowl makes for a fun Tex-Mex twist on Taco Tuesday (or enjoy any night of the week)! Set up a build-your-own bar for the whole fam, or prep most of the components in advance for meal prep and enjoy easy meals all week long. This vegan burrito bowl is loaded with all the goodies like rice, beans, fajitas, the best corn-pico ever, nacho cheese sauce, sour cream, low fat guac, and tons of lettuce for an incredible and unforgettable meal.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Mexican
Servings 4 entrees

Equipment

Ingredients
  

For the Burrito Bowl

  • 2-4 Romaine Hearts, finely chopped (more or less to taste, or use any other green)
  • 4 Cups Cooked Brown Rice, or more for serving (depending on how much each person will eat, etc.) or use any other grain
  • 1 Batch Spiced Black Beans, see below
  • 1 Batch Fajita Veggies, see below
  • 1 Batch Corn Pico de Gallo, feel free to buy pre-made to save time, and/or use jarred salsas
  • 1 Cup Edamame Guacamole, or more to taste (feel free to use regular guac or diced avocado)
  • 1 Cup Plant Based Nacho Cheese Sauce, or more to taste (feel free to use vegan cheese shreds or omit)
  • 1 Cup Tofu Sour Cream, or more to taste (see below)
  • Garnishes, optional, such as cilantro, Cholula or another hot sauce, chopped green onion, etc.

For the Spiced Black Beans

For the Fajita Veggies

  • 4 Bell Peppers sliced into thin strips, any color, I used one of each
  • 1 Small or Medium Red Onion, thinly sliced, or use another color onion if preferred
  • 16 Ounces Baby Bella Mushrooms, or use any mushrooms, Portobello would be great cut into strips, or omit if you don't like mushrooms
  • ½ Teaspoon Ground Cumin
  • ½ Teaspoon Chili Powder
  • ½ Teaspoon Granulated Garlic
  • ¼ Teaspoon Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

For the Corn Pico de Gallo

  • 4 Cups Diced Tomatoes, I used Roma, but any firm tomato will work
  • ½ Medium White Onion, finely diced
  • 1½ Cups Fire Roasted Corn, I used frozen. Any frozen corn will work (fresh will also work but you might want to cook it).
  • 1 Large Jalapeño, finely minced (remove seeds and veins for less heat), more or less to taste
  • ½ Cup Cilantro, chopped, optional (I did not add this since my partner does not like it)
  • 3-4 Tablespoons Lime Juice, fresh is best but bottled will also work

For the Tofu Sour Cream

Instructions
 

  • Prep: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and line a large baking tray (half sheet size which is 18 x 13 inches) with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
  • Make the Fajita Veggies: Add the sliced peppers, red onions, and mushrooms to the lined baking tray. If you'd like, season with a half teaspoon each ground cumin, chili powder, granulated garlic, and fresh cracked black pepper (or use whatever seasonings you like). Mix well with your hands or a set of tongs. Bake for 30 minutes, using the tongs to stir the veggies halfway through. Set aside to cool when cooked.
  • Make the Spiced Black Beans: Heat a small nonstick pot over medium heat. If you have no-salt-added black beans (or cooked them from scratch OR if you don't care about sodium and just have regular black beans), you can add the full can (liquid and all) to the pot. Add a half teaspoon each ground cumin, chili powder, dried oregano, granulated onion, granulated garlic, or whatever seasonings you'd like. If you want, add 1-2 teaspoons of dulse flakes for saltiness. You could alternatively add salt to taste or you could add thinned miso (1 teaspoon yellow or white miso paste to 3 teaspoons warm water) when the beans are done cooking and off the heat. Bring the beans to a low boil, then reduce to a simmer for 6-10 minutes or until they're thickened to your liking. Remove from heat. Just before serving, add the 2 tablespoons of lime juice if you like.
  • Make the Tofu Sour Cream: Add the silken tofu, lemon juice, and miso paste to the blender. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust if needed. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use (it will last for up to 5 days in the fridge).
  • Make the Plant Based Nacho Cheese Sauce: If you haven't made this yet, you can make it now (and you don't even need to clean out the blender!). Add all the ingredients and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust if needed.
  • Make the Edamame Guacamole: Like the previous two sauces, this ingredient can be made well in advance. I prefer to do that since I think it's better cold. But if you haven't made it yet, hop on over to my Edamame Guacamole recipe and whip it up in just 5 minutes.
  • Make the Corn Pico de Gallo: Add the diced tomatoes, diced white onion, minced jalapeño, thawed corn, and lime juice to a large bowl. Stir and taste. Adjust if needed. Feel free to add chopped cilantro if everyone who's eating it likes cilantro!
  • Assemble: This is totally up to you how you build your plant based burrito bowl (or burrito or tacos)! I'll tell you how I make mine: I add a whole chopped romaine heart one side of a large bowl. On the other side, I add a cup of cooked brown rice, a half cup of the spiced black beans, a large amount of cooked fajita veggies (usually a third of the pan!), a few big scoops of pico de gallo, a heavy sprinkle of chopped cilantro, a third cup or so of the edamame guacamole, and a few good drizzles of both the plant based nacho cheese sauce and the tofu sour cream.
  • Storage: Each of the vegan burrito bowl components will last for at least 3 days in the refrigerator. I would store each component separately in airtight containers, or at least store the pico de gallo separately from the cooked elements.

Video

Notes

  • Black Beans: You can use plain black beans or you can make spiced pinto beans if you prefer. Feel free to switch up the seasonings. This is the main source of protein for this dish (but the other ingredients have a bunch too, including the guac and sauces), but you're welcome to make sofritas too. There are tons of recipes on the web. If you don't have the bean liquid available, use a quarter cup low sodium vegetable broth or water.
  • Dulse Flakes: Yes, dulse flakes are seaweed, however the spices in this recipe overpower any "seaweed flavor" in this recipe. I promise it doesn't taste like seafood. This is a replacement for salt. You could totally use regular salt or the lower sodium potassium chloride salt substitute if you prefer. Yellow or white miso paste would also work, but thin it out with warm water (2 teaspoons miso to 2 tablespoons warm water, mix them) and add it after the black beans are cooked and removed from the heat source.
  • Finding the Right Size Silken Tofu: You can find 16-ounce packages of silken tofu in the refrigerator section at your local grocery store, that's where I buy mine even in my little town that has almost nothing. But if you can only buy your silken tofu in the shelf-stable 12-ounce aseptic containers, you can either use 1 + ¼ of those, or just use one pack and add 2-4 tablespoons of soaked raw cashews, soaked raw sunflower seeds, cooked white beans, or dehydrated potato flakes.
  • Substitution for Silken Tofu: If you can only find soft or regular tofu (don't use firm), you can use this and just add a little plain unsweetened non-dairy milk (just enough to blend). If you don't want to use tofu at all, you can 1 cup of either soaked raw cashews or soaked raw sunflower seeds (and you will need water or plain unsweetened non-dairy milk to blend, and how much depends on how long you soaked them so start with equal parts nuts/seeds and liquid and adjust from there).
  • Yellow or White Miso Paste: This is to replace the salt in the recipe, but I also love the little hint of umami flavors. Per Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively. Please feel free to omit or use a pinch of salt if that is what you prefer.
  • Lower Sodium: To further lower sodium, you can omit the miso from the component recipes (cheese sauce, guac, etc.).
  • Note About Nutrition Info: The nutrition info is coming soon; check back tomorrow!

Nutrition

Serving: 0.25recipe
Keyword beans, burrito, burrito bowl, fajitas, healthy burrito bowl, oil-free, oil-free vegan, plant based burrito bowl, rice, rice and beans, tex-mex, vegan burrito bowl, wfpb
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