Chipotle Burrito Bowl (Copycat Recipe) (2024)

FAQs

What does a Chipotle bowl consist of? ›

Your choice of freshly grilled meat or sofritas served in a delicious bowl with rice, beans, or fajita veggies, and topped with guac, salsa, sour cream or cheese.

Does Chipotle use chicken breast or thighs? The original Chipotle chicken recipe uses thigh meat, not breasts as we do in this recipe. Keep in mind, however, that the restaurant makes it in large quantities and well in advance, not just before serving as we're doing here.

“You can order a bowl with steak, vegetables, lettuce, salsa, a sprinkle of cheese, black beans and guacamole for around 400 calories and 30 grams of carbohydrates,” says Leonard. “This would be fine for anyone following a regular healthy-eating plan.”

Chipotle says a serving size of rice should be 4 ounces. But even after subtracting the weight of the bowl (. 038 ounces) from this, our serving was still bigger than what Chipotle describes. The rice weighed roughly 6.59 ounces, suggesting a serving of white rice could easily be well above the advertised 185 calories.

The shredded white cheese that Chipotle uses is commonly known as Monterey Jack. It is a semi-hard cheese made from cow's milk that melts well when exposed to heat. Chipotle's Monterey Jack cheese is used to make quesadillas and queso dip, and it's happily added to any menu item when asked.

After the rice is cooked, it's tossed in the smallest amount of olive oil to keep the grains separated (according to their website, Chipotle uses rice bran oil, although it's much more likely you have olive oil in your pantry). There's also the balance that's found in tossing the rice in both lime and lemon juice.

Chipotle chicken is smoky, spicy and a bit tangy from the lime juice. The chipotle pepper is complemented by the warm, earthy, slightly bitter citrus notes of cumin, smoky sweetness from the smoked paprika and aromatic garlic and onion powders. The zesty lime juice cuts through the robust richness.

The restaurant marinates its beef, pork, and chicken overnight in a pool of either sunflower or rice bran oil.

Which is healthier, Chipotle or Chick-fil-A? ›

Both Chick-fil-a and Chipotle are good fast food restaurants, Chick-fil-a has a wider range of food choices and has more active role in the community but Chipotle is healthier which makes choosing which one is better a lot harder.

If you're looking for a healthy balance of fat, protein, and carbs, your best meat options would be plain grilled chicken, steak, or barbacoa. Between those options, they include no more than 7 grams (g) of fat, at least 21g of protein, and no more than 2g of carbs.

By choosing lean proteins, loading up on vegetables, watching your portions, choosing healthier sides, choosing a bowl or salad, and skipping the rice in your burrito, you can eat at Chipotle while pursuing weight loss or other health goals.

The brown rice contains less sodium and more fiber than the white rice. If you did choose the burrito or tacos, you might want to skip the rice (210 calories) altogether since you're getting your grains in your shell. That said, white rice can also be a healthy choice if that's what you prefer.

But, prices are based on prescribed serving sizes of every ingredient.” Those prescribed serving sizes are four ounces of meat and rice, two ounces of green or red salsa and a one-ounce pinch of cheese or lettuce, according to an employee handbook that describes the “art of portioning.”

Meanwhile, a bite of your burrito may end up being more rice than anything. Finally, and probably the best reason to get a bowl is that they usually have more food overall. Take it from ex-manager Devin Caldarone, who told Thrillist that "Generally, bowls get more food fillings like rice and beans, just not the meats.

The economical approach to a Chipotle order

Barring these variables, burrito bowls, at their most basic price, are seemingly more expensive than some other dishes. They are similar to Chipotle salads, but they swap the base of greens with a base of rice, beans, or fajita veggies.