Easy and delicious Mexican burrito bowls made in just one pot in 30 minutes…making cleanup a breeze. Perfect for busy weeknights!

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Table of Contents
Ground Beef Burrito Bowl
If you’ve been a long-time reader, it’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of Mexican recipes. Some of my favorites include my green chicken enchiladas and taco soup.
These easy burrito bowls have now been added to the list! If you like my taco soup, you will love this recipe. I used many of the same ingredients but added my easy Mexican rice to make the famous burrito bowl.
This burrito bowl recipe is an easy 30-minute meal and one of our favorite one-pot dinners. It’s loaded with ground beef, rice, black beans, cheese, fresh tomatoes, and cilantro!
Ingredients
Don’t let the ingredient list overwhelm you! These ingredients are simple to dump together in a one pot bowl and mix together.
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Seasonings: Chili powder, taco seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste are blended together to make a Mexican spice.
- Vegetables: Red bell pepper, sweet onions, corn, and diced green chiles are spicy and savory crunch.
- Legumes: We used black beans, but pinto beans would work too.
- Tomatoes: Diced tomatoes and Thick n’ Chunky Salsa is the perfect freshness in this one-pot burrito bowl.
- Rice: I use jasmine white rice, uncooked.
- Cheese: Shredded cheddar jack is our go-to cheese to use for this recipe.
- Meat: Our preference is lean ground beef, but you can substitute chicken breast or thighs if preferred for a chicken burrito bowl.
- Liquid: We used chicken broth, but vegetable broth works too.
How to Make a Burrito Bowl
One pot meals is the perfect meal for a busy weeknight dinner. Cook the beef, add sesasoning, and cook the vegetables, legumes, tomaotes, and rice together for a delicous mixture. It is the best beef burrito bowl!
- Saute. Cook the onions and red pepper in a large pan until soft, then add in the beef and cook until brown. Drain any excess grease.
- Combine. Stir in the salsa, black beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, jasmine rice, taco seasoning, and chili powder.
- Simmer. Then pour in chicken stock and bring to a light boil. Cover the pan and reduce heat to low. Cook until rice is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Top. Add favorite toppings and serve over lettuce in a salad bowl and eat with tortilla chips. It also tastes delicious on top of nachos or wrapped in my flour tortilla recipe to make a burrito.
“FABULOUS! My husband and I loved this – super tasty! We had it on lettuce but I’m sure it would be good on tortilla chips or even by itself. Thank you so much for posting this recipe – this will be a regular meal at our home now 😀”
Tips + Modifications
You are going to love how simple this meal is and how fast it comes together all in one pot! Try these tips and modifications to make your burrito bowl just the way you like it. Modify the meat, make it vegetarian, add more spice, and make the rice just right!
- Meat. Feel free to sub ground beef with ground turkey or chicken (dice into 1-inch cubes). You can also use any leftover cooked meat, like taco meat or shredded chicken. Just mix it in when you add all of the other ingredients.
- Vegetarian. Sub the meat with diced sweet potatoes, similar to my one-pot sweet potato bowls. You could add in more beans, my easy refried beans, or fajita veggies too.
- Spice. To take the heat up a notch, add a little more chili powder or mix in some red pepper flakes or chopped jalapenos. You can also use fire-roasted diced tomatoes or hot salsa.
- Using leftovers. Leftovers are perfect for making stuffed bell peppers or a taco salad.
Recipe FAQs
These burrito bowls are full of fresh ingredients with vegetables, protein, beans, and rice. It is a filling and hearty and delicious dinner with low calories.
A burrito bowl has several options to add to it and build on it with ingredients of your choosing whereas a lifestyle bowl is premade bowl options like grains, veggies, balanced macros, or plant-based bowls.
Burrito bowls are versatile and can be arranged in several different ways. The base of the one-pot chicken burrito bowl usually contains chicken, rice, beans, salsa, and guacamole. Squeeze fresh limes over top for a nice zest!
They are usually cooked and warmed up when served.
Storing Buritto Bowl
Place your leftovers in an airtight container and place in the refrigerator for five to seven days. When ready to reheat, place in the microwave or stovetop until it is warm.
Feeding a crowd? Serve this dish with these baked nachos or an extra side of black beans and rice!
More Easy Mexican Dinners
Burrito Bowl Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup red bell pepper , chopped
- ½ cup sweet onion , chopped
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ cup salsa , I used Thick n’ Chunky Medium spice
- 15 ounce can black beans , rinsed and drained
- 15 ounce can corn , drained
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 4 ounce can diced green chiles
- 1 cup jasmine rice , rinsed
- 1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
- ½ teaspoon chili powder , use 1-2 tsp if you like more spice
- 2 cups chicken stock , or vegetable broth works too
- 1 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese
- S&P to taste
Optional Toppings: Sour cream, cilantro, green onions, tomatoes, guacamole or sliced avocados, jalapenos or hot sauce
Instructions
- In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the onions and red peppers. Add in hamburger and cook until browned. Drain grease. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir in salsa, black beans, corn, tomatoes, green chiles, jasmine rice, taco seasoning and chili powder. Pour in chicken stock and then bring to a light boil. Cover the pan and reduce heat to low. Cook for an additional 15 minutes, or until the rice is all the way cooked.
- Stir and season to taste. Add cheese if desired. Cover pot with lid and let rest for 5 minutes for the cheese to melt.
- Spoon into bowls and top with your favorite toppings. We like to serve over lettuce in a salad bowl and eat with tortilla chips.
Last step: Please leave a comment and rating after you make the recipe.
Notes
- You could also make this recipe with chicken. Dice the chicken into 1-inch cubes and cook in place of the hamburger.
- You can also use a can of rotel in place of the separate cans of tomatoes and green chiles.
- You can add extra veggies in with the peppers. Add 1/4 cup extra broth if adding more.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Marion
So easy and very tasty!
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Glad you enjoyed it!
Jill Heins
I added a block of cream cheese to this and it was very popular. Easy and delicious!
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
That sounds delicious Jill!
Talia
I’ve been making this recipe for years! Amazing! Thank you!
Cheryl
Good flavor, makes a lot so leftovers for lunch. Win, win!
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Agreed, makes the best leftovers!
Jennifer Kloos
My daughter’s favorite dinner! So delicious, the leftovers never get wasted, we have to call dibs on them
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
ha, love it! Thanks for the review Jennifer!
Patty
I cooked this a few days ago. It was tasty. I made pico, and cheese dip to enhance the flavor. I added more taco seasoning as well. I added some more spices to our liking. We ate chips with it. I would make it again and I do recommend this recipe. Note to everyone: It makes a LARGE amount! We ate on it for several days and I froze some of it on the first day because I knew we would get tired of it before it was gone. It would be a great company meal. I also fixed it for breakfast one morning. There are two of us. I added 4 beaten eggs w/a bit of milk & seasonings, shredded pepper jack & cheddar cheese & of course pico. It was delicious. Jamielyn Thank you for the recipe.
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
So glad you loved the burrito bowl recipe and could revamp it for many meals!
Maria
I made it and loved it! I didn’t have cheddar cheese so I added queso fresco that I had. I didn’t have jasmine rice and substituted for brown rice. I cooked everything for 20 minutes instead of 15 and also added 1/2 cup more of the chicken stock. The recipe turned out perfect!! Thank you so much
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
So happy to hear you could adjust the recipe as needed to what you had on hand!
Maria
I would like to try your recipe. I have a question, can I add queso fresco instead of cheddar?
Thank you
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
You could try, but note that queso fresco doesn’t melt the same, so the final dish will be different.
Andrea
This was really good and simple to make. We are gonna make this every week!
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Love that Andrea! So glad you enjoyed the one pot burrito bowl!
Linda B
I made this recipe even simpler for me. Skip the broth and rice. After everything is mixed and cooked, I bought a 90 second cook in a bag
(in the microwave) jasmine rice. Put some in a bowl and topped with the mixture and add your additional toppings. Takes less time. Thanks
Jamielyn Nye
Great tip, thanks for sharing!
Dvanpete
Fabulous
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Glad you enjoyed the burrito bowl!
Carole Dore
Quick and very tasty !
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Thank you for your review!
Heidi
This was so good! I’ll definitely be making it again. Thanks!
Julie
Quick, easy recipe everybody loves!
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
So glad you enjoy it as much as we do!
Parker
For some reason, I was unable to get the rice to soften when cooking it in the dish. I kept adding more liquid and tried cooking it for close to an hour but the rice was still hard, making the dish inedible. I would definitely recommend cooking the rice beforehand and just adding it in.
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Sorry to hear you had trouble with the rice, did you use a jasmine or white rice? If you swapped to brown rice or something different time will increase.
Sandra
This looks like a great recipe! Any adjustment needed if I use brown rice in place of jasmine rice? Thanks!
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Yes, brown rice will need to cook longer which will require more liquid. I would use jasmine rice or white rice if possible.
Lin
Thanks for this recipe which is easily adapted to use up fresh or frozen veg already on hand. I added sweet potato, plus celery, extra sweet peppers, onion, fresh cilantro and more fire-roasted diced tomatoes in lieu of jarred salsa. Many of us are – or should be – watching salt intake, and prepared foods are often way too high in sodium. Brown Rice: Just prep separately from meat and veg, and stir in when very close to done. I’ve made this with both brown and red rice, and add rice five minutes from fully cooked.The last few minutes in the meat mixture allows rice time to absorb the great flavors. More than one pot, but an easy fix for those who prefer brown, red or purple-black rice. Thanks again. Now time to nap!
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Thank you for the review and so glad it works out multiple ways for you Lin!
Juanita
This recipe was excellent my family loves it. I do it at least twice a month.
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Awesome! So glad it has become a regular!
Tonya
Easy to make and tasted great!
Sarah @IHeartNaptime
Thanks for the review!