Vegan Chipotle Bowl

Build a vegan Chipotle bowl at home with fresh, healthy, oil-free ingredients. 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 a Vegan Chipotle Bowl
• Spicy Pinto Beans Ingredients
• Spicy Pinto Bean Ingredient Substitutions
• Other Ingredient Options
• Other Possible Garnishes
• Recipe FAQs
• Tips
• Other Great Vegan Mexican Dishes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

Since Chipotle 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 a Vegan Chipotle 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 the Sofritas!

Sofritas at Chipotle is organic, shredded tofu braised in chipotle chilies, roasted poblanos, and a "blend of aromatic spices." However, the description lacks the added oil and sugar to mass-produce this processed Chipotle 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: When you use extra-firm or sprouted tofu, it does not require pressing. Instead, dry it off and use it immediately.
• Campari Tomatoes: Campari tomatoes are bold, sweet, and juicy.
• Red Onion: Red onion is pungent yet mellows when cooked. It brings a sweet flavor to the chipotle bowl.
• Garlic: I prefer using fresh garlic cloves for the best flavors.
• Limes: Fresh lime juice gives the sofritas a fresh flavor with a hint of lime flavor.
• Poblano Peppers: They taste like green bell peppers with a little more kick. Cooking poblanos mellows them even more, making them slightly sweet.
• Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce: (also called Adobo Chili Peppers in a can) Note: these are not roasted with the other vegetables. 
• Cumin: Cumin is slightly spicy with a warm, earthy flavor.
• Salt: A pinch of salt enhances the flavors in the sofritas.

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.

Spicy Pinto 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.
• You can use any hot sauce you prefer. However, always use spicy ingredients sparingly and taste as you cook. Leave this ingredient out if you are sensitive to heat and prefer mild food.

• Next, heat over medium-low, and spoon on as the second layer of the Chipotle bowl. 
• The next layer of the vegan Lifestyle 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 Ingredient Options

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

• The final layer of the vegan lifestyle Chipotle bowl recipe is the garnishes.
• Instead of guacamole, I chose fresh avocado slices, jalapeños, 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 wear 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.

Make a healthier vegan version at home the next time you crave Chipotle Lifestyle Bowl! With layers of fresh vegetables and other goodies, this bowl will bring you back for more!

Other Great Vegan Mexican Dishes

If you love this Vegan Lifestyle Chipotle Bowl recipe, give us a 5-star review and comment below. We would love to hear from you!

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