Burrito Rice Bowls

Rice Bowls seemed to be all the rage at chain Tex-Mex restaurants when we were in the US last year. Chipotle had them. Moe's had them. They're all over Pinterest too. We tried them, and they are quite good! I tend to shy away from cooking much rice at home, mostly because its such a mess with little kids. But I've been trying to do more rice things as they are easy on the budget. So we recently decided to try a Burrito Rice Bowl. My idea for it was to keep it as much like build-your-own nacho or burrito as I could. My kids LOVE the idea of build-your-own or make-your-own ANYTHING, so just saying those words had them on board. And they really ended up loving them. We've made them several times now. So here's the deal--this is a SUPER easy dish if you have some leftover salsa from other Mexican meal efforts. Or if you already have some beans cooked up in the freezer that you can just pop out. Or if you keep plain yogurt around that you can use as a sub for sour cream. If you're making everything you need on the day of you'll have plenty to do! I highly recommend prepping some extra things for your freezer or extra salsa at a given meal that then make this easy! Its totally adaptable to what you like. The rice base is my Spanish Rice recipe without any tomato or salsa added to it. Enjoy!

Burrito Rice Bowls
For the rice:
1 Tbs oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups rice
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
A few chopped peppers for kick (opt)

For the chicken: 
2-3 chicken breasts, diced
A few tablespoons of lemon juice
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper
Any or all: cumin, onion powder, dash of liquid smoke

Additional toppings to choose from:
Shredded cheese
Black beans or other favorite
Chopped tomato
Shredded lettuce
Sliced avocado or guacamole
Salsa
Sour cream (I usually use plain yogurt!)
Chopped cilantro
Chopped green onion

Prep the chicken and allow to sit about 15-30 minutes in the marinade. The "recipe" here is just what we kind of throw together. You could season it simply with some salt and pepper and be fine as well.

Heat oil in skillet (one that has a good fitting lid!). Add onion, garlic, and rice. Cook and stir until rice is browned a bit and onions are tender. Add remaining ingredients. Bring liquid to boil. Cover skillet of rice and turn heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes or until rice is done. Meanwhile, prep toppings and stir fry chicken in a teaspoon or two of oil.

Put rice in individual bowls. Top with meat, beans, cheese, and any other fresh ingredients and sauces. Serve and enjoy!

Notes:
If you prefer ground beef or steak, go with it! You could just use a taco seasoning for the meat as well.

You can make this vegetarian by omitting chicken stock and subbing vegetable stock or water and not using meat toppings. This is a great gluten free meal as well.