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Craving the bold flavors of Chipotle? Dive into these irresistible Chipotle Chicken Bowls! They’re packed with juicy grilled chicken, tender rice, fresh veggies, and all the fixings.
Make these tasty burrito bowls just the way you like them in your own kitchen, topped with your favorite Tex-Mex toppings.
Chipotle Chicken bowls are versatile and appealing to various taste buds, making them a hit with families and picky eaters. Add your favorite toppings like mild pico de gallo, blender salsa, or guacamole without cilantro (for you picky eaters, wink wink).
Why you'll love this recipe
- Healthier Choice: By making your own bowls, you get to control the ingredients and the portion sizes.
- Budget-Friendly: Have you noticed the prices of your favorite takeout place going up? Preparing Chipotle Chicken bowls at home is more cost-effective than dining out, making it a delicious meal that’s still easy on the wallet
- Easy for Weeknights: This recipe provides a quick and easy weeknight solution, satisfying cravings for a wholesome and flavorful dinner with minimal fuss.
- Leftovers - This works perfect if you like to meal prep and love leftovers like I do. You can pack up leftovers in your lunchbox for the next day!
Tip: For a tropical themed chicken bowl, you'll want to check out my slow cooker Hawaiian chicken.
Ingredients
- Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce - these are smoky, zesty and pack some heat. Use just the sauce if you want to keep things mild, or reduce the amount used. If you have leftover sauce, you can use it to make an easy chipotle mayonnaise.
- chicken thighs - these are my personal favorite because they pack some extra flavor. You can also use chicken breasts if you prefer.
Substitutions
- Rice - for a low carb version, use cauliflower rice. Slow cooker brown rice or cilantro lime brown rice are good substitutes for white rice, too!
- Beans - black beans can be substituted with pinto beans, kidney beans or even garbanzo beans. This recipe is also the perfect way to repurpose leftover Instant Pot Mexican black beans.
- Chicken - boneless, skinless chicken breast can be used as an alternative to the chicken thighs.
- Toppings - oh my gosh, I could go on for days. Anything you'd put in a burrito or on a taco is welcome here. Diced avocado, lettuce, shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, fresh tomatoes...I can keep going!
Variations
Looking to stretch this recipe? You can serve leftovers in chicken burrito form by wrapping in flour tortillas. Or, use the leftover meat to top tachos or a Mexican chopped salad.
How to make chipotle chicken bowls
Add the chipotles and adobo sauce, onion, olive oil, lime juice garlic, cumin and salt to a blender.
No need to pre-chop the onion! Blend until smooth.
Place the chicken in a large zip-top bag. Pour the chipotle sauce from the blender over the chicken.
Use your hands on the outside of the bag to gently distribute the marinade around the chicken.
Allow to marinate for at least one hour or up to 12 hours in the refrigerator.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Cook the chicken in two batches, flipping over after 5-6 minutes. Cook until the chicken is at a temperature of 165°F when measured with a meat thermometer.
Repeat with the remaining chicken.
Allow chicken to cool for several minutes, then cut into bite size pieces.
Assemble the burrito bowls by adding a portion of cooked rice, chicken, black beans, and corn.
Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over the top.
Pro Tip
This chicken does have some zing. To minimize it, I cook the chicken thighs whole and then cut them after cooking.
To reduce the heat, use few of the whole peppers and more of the smoky sauce.
Top Tip
If you decide not use all the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, you can totally freeze the leftovers too. Just grab some ice cube trays or silicone molds.
Pour the sauce and peppers into the slots, let them freeze solid, and then toss those frozen cubes into a freezer-friendly bag or container.
Boom! You'll have frozen chipotle in adobo that'll stay awesome for a bunch of months to use in other recipes.
Recipe FAQ
The chicken, rice and beans provide protein, carbohydrates, and fats to make a complete meal. Go easy on the guacamole, sour cream and cheese for the healthiest version.
You can absolutely make the chicken in the marinade and freeze for later. Make sure it's in an airtight freezer bag.
To cook, thaw in the refrigerator, then follow the cooking instructions.
More Tex-Mex inspired recipes
Chipotle Chicken Bowls
Ingredients
- 11 ounce can chipotle in adobo sauce
- ¼ white onion
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice about 1 lime
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 cups cooked white rice
- 15 ounce can black beans drained and rinsed
- 15 ounces canned corn drained
- ¾ cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
- ¾ cup mild salsa
- ¾ cup low fat sour cream
Instructions
- In a blender, add the chipotles and adobo sauce, onion, olive oil, lime juice garlic, cumin and salt. Blend until smooth.
- Place the chicken in a large bowl (or a ziplock bag if you want to save a dish) and pour the chipotle sauce from the blender over the chicken. Stir gently to distribute around the chicken. Allow to marinate for at least one hour or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add half the chicken from the marinade into the skillet, making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cover and cook for 5-6 minutes, then flip and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through to a temperature of 165°F.Remove the cooked chicken and transfer to a plate to rest. Repeat with the remaining chicken. Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before chopping into bite sized pieces.
- Assemble the burrito bowls by adding a ½ cup cooked rice, 1 portion of chicken, ¼ cup black beans and ¼ corn. Top with 2 Tablespoons each of shredded cheese, sour cream and salsa. Top with optional toppings. Serve with lime wedges to squeeze over the top.
Notes
Ingredient Substitutions
-
- Rice - for a low carb version, use cauliflower rice. Slow cooker brown rice or cilantro lime brown rice are good substitutes for white rice, too!
-
- Beans - black beans can be substituted with pinto beans, kidney beans or even garbanzo beans. This recipe is also the perfect way to repurpose leftover Instant Pot Mexican black beans.
-
- Chicken - boneless, skinless chicken breast can be used as an alternative to the chicken thighs.
Leftovers: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
To freeze from cooked: The chicken mixture can be frozen up to 3 months. Thaw, reheat and add the other toppings. To freeze the uncooked chicken: Place in marinate and freeze in an airtight container up to 3 months. Thaw and cooked as directed. Topping ideas: guacamole, shredded lettuce, fresh tomatoes, diced avocado. For serve: each serving is 1 chicken thigh, ½ cup rice, ¼ cup black beans, ¼ cup corn, 2 Tablespoons each of sour cream, shredded cheese and salsa.Nutrition
This Farm Girl Cooks is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
