Sometimes I Cook- DIY Chipotle-Inspired Burrito Bowl

It's my personal belief that Chipotle is God's greatest gift to mankind.

That may be putting it a little seriously but honestly, it's my favorite food. There's almost nothing better than getting a burrito bowl after a long day. The food is filling, healthy (relatively) and I don't feel like I need to go to the gym for hours after I eat it.

With all that being said, I don't like to spend a lot of money and after seeing many a pinterest tutorial on Chipotle copycats, I thought I'd try it myself. The issue I really find with a lot of the Pinterest tutorials is that I don't have all of the necessary ingredients, or I have a variant of something. Because of that, I altered all of the recipes I found to fit my college-sized pantry. I winged it, I'm not ashamed to admit that, but I'll try to give as best of a description as I can! I also made everything in much larger quantities so I would have left overs for later in the week.

A couple of things before I start. First: Somewhere in the reaches of the internet I found an article about how you can successfully freeze cilantro. Well I'm here to tell you that's just not true and if I were to change one thing about this whole process, I would use fresh cilantro, not cilantro that was fresh which I later froze. It turned to the consistency of cooked spinach (which I hate) and I had a lot of trouble cutting it. Second: This won't taste exactly like Chipotle. Nothing will. I think they put magic in their food. Also I used pre-cooked steak and leftover fajita veggies so that could be part of it. Third: Generally, I would have chosen chicken and cooked it myself but I had steak pre-cooked so I threw it in there. 

Also, do NOT under any circumstances touch your eyes after handling the jalapeños and wash your hands even when you think you're good. Because you will touch your eyes, and they will burn. I'm speaking from my experience just one hour ago.

For fully-pinterestable images of the components, check out the BOTTOM of this post! 

How I usually like my Burrito Bowl: Brown Rice, Chicken, Fajita Vegetables, Mild Salsa, Corn Salsa, Cheese. No, I don't like beans so I can't really help you with that, but I'm sure there are TONS of copycat recipes out there to mimic the black or pinto beans!  

Brown "Cilantro-Lime" Rice: (~3 servings)

• 1 cup brown rice (I used Uncle Bens Instant rice, and I'm SURE there are better ways) 
• 3 tablespoons lime juice 
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro 
• salt
• pepper

Cook Rice according to package. After cooking, stir in chopped cilantro and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Mild Salsa (Pico de Gallo) (~3 servings) 

• 2 Medium sized tomatos, chopped
• 1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
• 1 medium jalapeño pepper, de-seeded and chopped FINELY
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Cilantro 
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• salt 

Dice tomatos, onions and jalapeños. Chop cilantro and stir with diced ingredients. Top with lime juice. Season to taste

Corn Salsa (~4 servings) 

• 1 package sweet white corn, frozen (You can use fresh or off the cob, this is just what I had) 
• 1/2 large sweet onion, chopped (If you want to be authentic, use a red onion, I just, again, didn't have one) 
• 1 medium jalapeño, chopped 
• 2 tablespoons lime juice 
• 1 clove garlic (I used minced) 
• salt 
• pepper

Cook corn according to direction, stir in diced onions, jalapeños and garlic. Top with lime juice and season to taste. 

Like I said before, I used pre-cooked beef as well as some leftover fajita veggies I already had, but if you're interested, it's very simple to just cut up some bell peppers and onions and sautee in oil with garlic for the perfect addition to your burrito bowl! 

After it was all said and done, I combined all of my ingredients and topped with a little cheese! While I have to say I'm impressed with myself, I know it's not really the same, but I suppose it's close enough for a Chipotle-loving-college-girl on a budget! Can't wait to see what else I can think of to make with my extra rice and salsas!

Verdict: Delicious, but obviously not a perfect substitute for the real, delicious thing. 

Perfect for Pinterest