These Mexican Veggie Rice Bowls are flavor-packed with seasoned rice, roasted corn, black beans, garden-fresh salsa fresca, Cotija and a kiss of lime. Perfect for meal prep and light, and healthy lunch!
Growing up this is the kind of recipe I would have turned my nose up at. I mean it has beans, corn (well ok I liked corn), onions, peppers and lots of other veggies. Plus it had rice. Pretty much all the things my parents begged me to at least try but refused to. FYI…I was an idiot for at least not trying! But when you’re such a finicky eater and incredibly stubborn, you won’t budge. I swear for 2 years the only things I ate were pb&j, mashed potatoes and corn.
My how times have changed. Well, Mr. Fantabulous may argue the whole still being stubborn part but now I actually eat more veggies (including onions!) than meat. Becoming a Chef helped me truly appreciate vegetables and how they can not only be the supporting character in a meal but also the star!
What’s your take on veggies?
Rice bowls have been around forever but it seems like they really didn’t get really popular until Chipotle came into the picture. Rice bowls for the longest time were the end of the week/use what’s left in the fridge up types of meals. Nowadays folks are making them on purpose whether they are all vegetarian like this one, meat lovers (FYI, this recipe is AMAZING with both chicken and beef barbacoa!), or even vegan.
Since I prefer wild rice blend or all brown, that’s typically what I use however you could totally go with white rice.
Want to make it keto? Go with cauliflower or any other veggie rice! And skip the beans if you’re hardcore keto.
To make my rice I used my Instant Pot Wild Rice Blend recipe and added lime juice, cilantro, cumin, and lime zest.
Want to make it on the stovetop? Use this Stovetop Rice recipe as a base!
While the rice is cooking, I put an ear of corn (husked) over a medium flame to slightly char it. When that was done, I cut the kernels off the cob.T save time I used a can of black beans that I drained and rinsed. Into a buttered skillet, they went with some minced shallots, cumin, lime juice, and salt to help season them while they warmed up.
With it being summer, Salsa Fresca is something I always have on hand! It’s so light and refreshing! Depending on the type of rice you make and how you make it, this recipe can be done in as little as 20 minutes. Since I went for the wild rice blend, it took about 35 minutes total. But that 35minutes gave me enough meals for a week!
These bowls are perfect for meal planning or as a great side dish. Want to mix it up a bit? Add grilled chicken, seafood skirt steak. Use it inside a veggie wrap or lettuce cups!
Mexican Veggie Rice Bowls
- Category: bowls
- Cuisine: healthy
These Mexican Veggie Rice Bowls are flavor-packed with seasoned rice, roasted corn, black beans, garden-fresh salsa fresca, Cotija and a kiss of lime. Perfect for meal prep and light, and healthy lunch!
Ingredients
Mexican Lime Rice
- Use my Instant Pot Wild Grain Blend Rice recipe and add the following items
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- Juice 1 whole lime plus the zest
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Rest of the ingredients
- 4 cups of Salsa Fresca
- 1 ear of corn, charred/grilled and kernels cut off
- 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoon minced shallots
- 1 teaspoon butter, unsalted
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- minced jalapeno (*optional)
- Crumbled Cojita (to your liking)
Instructions
Make the rice
- After cooking my Instant Pot Wild Grain Blend Rice recipe, drain the water, fluff it up and add in the rest of the rice ingredients. Taste for seasoning
Make the beans
- To a pot add over medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted add in the shallots; cook just till they soften. Next add in the beans, cumin, lime juice, jalapenos (if using) and salt. Mix to combine and heat just until warmed. Once warmed remove from the heat, add in the cilantro and set aside.
Make the bowls
- To each bowl add 1 cup of the rice. Add 1 cup of the salsa fresca, followed by a sprinkling of the corn, seasoned beans and finished off with crumbled Cotija.
- To use for meal prep, add the rice, beans, and corn to each container leaving the salsa fresca and cotija off. Just heat up the rice bowl and then add the rest of the ingredients. You want that warm/cold contrast!
Notes
- For other rice cooking times, here’s a great breakdown for the stovetop!
- Want it keto? Used rice veggies and replace the black beans with black soy beans!
Jo says
I love rice and I love Mexican flavors. This is such an amazing rice recipe. Loaded with so much veggies, this looks delicious!
Analida Braeger says
Beautiful colors on this bowl! I definitely need some of this deliciousness in my life, heavy on the cotija 😉
Amanda Mason says
What an AMAZINGLY perfect lunch bowl!!! I struggle to come up with new lunch ideas and this looks absolutely perfect for a lunch. Can’t wait to make this!! Lime and cumin sounds perfect right now.
Claire says
I made this a few days ago and kept it in the fridge ready for lunches!!! It was one of the best meal prep dishes I have made!!! The beans and corn balanced each other so well and the lime made everything sing!! I am going to make it again next week with some grilled chicken. It was delicious!
Paula Montenegro says
A beautiful and simple recipe! These bowls look fantastic and can’t wait to try them. Thanks for sharing!
Anne Lawton says
That is my kind of rice bowl. Full of Mexican flavors, perfect for dinner and make extra to use during the week
Carrie says
These bowls look so good, I love all the flavors you have going on! Perfect for a light lunch!
Debbie says
This Mexican Rice bowl is right up my ally. I love all of the flavor combination and you make things easy cooking the wild rice in the instant pot.I love the suggestion of using the cauliflower rice. This is on my to do list very soon .
Kelly Anthony says
These mexican veggie rice bowls are so bright and colorful. I will enjoy making these bowls on Sunday and eating them for lunch for the week.
Elena says
These bowls look amazing! I love all things Mexican and I’m sure these bowls taste just as good as they look. Also they are perfect for meal prep!