Vegan Chipotle Bowl

Build a vegan Chipotle bowl at home with fresh, healthy ingredients, oil-free. Skip the drive-thru and eat healthy at home with this copycat version of Chipotle's LifeStyle Vegan Bowl. You will love this vegan chipotle bowl recipe.

Whenever the kids go to Chipotle, I always tell them I can make a Vegan Chipotle Bowl healthier. After a lot of trial and error, I mastered a vegan Chipotle bowl without oil or added preservatives. Although I understand Chipotle's healthy version is different from mine, I prefer homemade food over fast food any day. 

Jump to:

• Cauliflower Rice Ingredients 
• Cauliflower Rice Substitutions
• Making Cauliflower Rice
• How to Make the Bowl
• Ingredients for Spicy Pinto Beans
• Bean Ingredient Substitutions
• Other Possible Garnishes
• Recipe FAQs
• Tips
• Other Great Vegan Mexican Dishes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

Since Chipolte doesn't share their secret recipes, my copycat Chipotle bowl is my best guess at the mystery ingredients. But, the kids said I nailed it, and I guarantee my version is not only easy to make, but it's also fresh and fabulous. 

Instead of going out to build a  Lifestyle Chipotle Bowl, build a vegan Chipotle bowl at home. And the fun part about making it at home, is there are so many variations to make your Chipotle bowl unique.

Let's layer the lifestyle vegan Chipotle Bowl! 

Cauliflower Rice Ingredients 

• Cauliflower: Cauliflower pulsed in a food processor, creates rice-sized bites of cauliflower instead of using rice.
• Vegetable Broth: The vegetable broth is used to help cook the cauliflower in the skillet without using oil.
• Lime Juice: The lime juice adds some citrus flavoring to the cauliflower rice.
• Cilantro: The cilantro flavors the cauliflower rice with a beautiful herb flavor.

Cauliflower Rice Substitutions

Of course, there are alternatives to making your own cauliflower rice, as well as using different base ingredients for the vegan Chipotle bowl.

• Frozen cauliflower rice is available in the freezer section. If you use frozen cauliflower, use half the broth and do not thaw it before cooking. It will get mushy.
• Or, cauliflower is often sold already priced in the produce section where the bagged salads and coleslaw are located.
• If you don't like cauliflower, try brown, jasmine, or white rice.
• Quinoa is also a possibility, or any other grain you prefer.

Making Cauliflower Rice

First, cauliflower rice begins with a head of cauliflower.

Once the core is removed and the cauliflower is cut into large pieces, place it into a food processor with a large blade.

Then, pulse until the cauliflower resembles rice. 

Another method of preparing cauliflower rice is using a hand box grater using the medium grater side. 

One head of cauliflower, for instance, yields 6 cups of cauliflower rice depending on the size of the cauliflower head. 

Instead of using oil, place the cauliflower rice in a skillet and heat the skillet to medium-low, and add ¼ cup of vegetable broth.

Stir to combine, and heat covered, so the cauliflower rice steams, for 5-8 minutes. 

Once cooked, remove the lid, and add ¼ cup of lime juice, and ½ cup of fresh chopped cilantro. 

How to Make the Bowl

To begin, choose the base for the vegan chipotle bowl recipe.

• Prepared brown rice
• White Rice
• Combination of rice and cauliflower rice
• Jasmine Rice
• Mexican Rice Recipe

Next, add Sofritas!

Sofritas at Chipotle are organic, shredded tofu braised in chipotle chilies, roasted poblanos, and a "blend of aromatic spices." What lacks, however, in the description is the added oil and sugar to mass-produce this processed Chipolte health food. 

To make a healthy version of Chipotle sofritas, I chose fresh ingredients and roasted my vegetables to make the sauce cook into my crumbled tofu. 

Even though most copy-cat Chipotle sofrito recipes include cooking the tofu in oil, I discovered a quick and easy way to cook the tofu oil-free. 

Sofritas Ingredients

• Extra-firm or sprouted tofu
• Campari tomatoes, or tomatoes similar in size and juiciness
• Red onion
• Fresh garlic cloves
• Limes
• Poblano pepper
• Chipolte peppers and sauce (also called Adobo Chili Peppers in a can) Note: these are not roasted with the other vegetables. 
• Cumin
• Salt

Ingredients for Spicy Pinto Beans

Ingredients:

• Pinto beans: Pinto beans are firm and meaty in texture. They are mild tasting and absorb herbs and spices well.
• White onion: White onions, when cooked are slightly sweeter, a bit milder in taste than yellow onions. They're a good choice for dicing and serving raw on sandwiches and salads or in fresh salsas, and are often used in Mexican recipes.
• Garlic: Cooked garlic will still taste like garlic, but it will also have a sweet flavor, and that comes from the fact that it gets slightly caramelized as it roasts in the oven. Roasted garlic has a milder flavor than raw garlic.
• Hot sauce: I used Cholula for a slightly spicy flavor.

Bean Ingredient Substitutions

• If I don't have pinto beans, I often replace them with black beans.
• Yellow or red onion substitutes for white onion in recipes.
• I prefer fresh garlic, but jarred garlic can be used in a pinch.
• Choose any hot sauce you prefer. However, always use spicy ingredients sparingly and taste as you cook. If you are sensitive to heat and prefer mild food, leave this ingredient out.

Next, heat over medium-low, and spoon on as the second layer of the Chipotle bowl. 

The next layer of the vegan Chipotle bowl is fresh corn salsa. 

I make my own corn salsa, but there are many tomato-free corn salsas at the grocery store. One of my favorites is Trader Joe's Corn Salsa.

Other Options:

• Jarred or fresh salsa of choice
• Fruit Salsa Recipe
• Chopped tomatoes
• Grilled, canned, or frozen corn

The final layer of the vegan Chipotle bowl is the garnishes. Instead of guacamole, I chose slices of fresh avocado, sliced jalapenos, sliced grape tomatoes, and lime wedges. 

Other Possible Garnishes

• Vegan Sour Cream
• Salsa
• Vegan Southwest Dressing drizzled on top

Recipe FAQs

Tips

• Make the sofritas in advance.
• Instead of sofritas, try vegan lentil meat for a tofu-free option.
• The bowl can be eaten hot or cold.
• Choose guacamole and sales instead of sliced avocado and corn salsa.
• Add any toppings you enjoy; don't restrict yourself. Instead, be creative.
• When working with jalapeno peppers always use gloves to avoid contact burns. Remove the seeds and veins before chopping and adding to a recipe.
• Grape tomatoes have fewer seeds and are preferred in Mexican recipes.
• To save time, buy frozen cauliflower rice, or already riced cauliflower available in the produce section.

The next time you're craving Chipotle, make a vegan Chipolte bowl at home healthier! With layers of fresh vegetables and other goodies, this vegan Chipotle bowl will bring you back for more!

Other Great Vegan Mexican Dishes

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📖 Recipe