Slow cooker burrito bowls

These vegetarian slow cooker burrito bowls are SO easy to make, no pre-cooking required! Serve hot with your choice of toppings – I like cheese and avocado!

My veggie burrito bowls are still one of the most popular recipes on this blog, even now, 3 years later. Not to blow my own trumpet or anything (except that I totally am), but I still get pretty regular comments about how much people enjoy the recipe. That’s how I know you guys are my soul mates – anything with spicy black beans, covered in melted cheese, you love about as much as I do.

I’m hoping that you’re also as lazy as I am (read: pretty damn lazy), because I thought it was time to revamp my old burrito bowl recipe into a version that’s even easier, even quicker to prepare, and just as delicious (the italics make it extra true). That’s right, I bring you slow cooker burrito bowls! Huzzah!

The basic process is this:

1. Put some ingredients in the slow cooker. You don’t need to pre-cook anything, because that would be rubbish. Mix it around a bit.
2. Turn it on (this really does need to be a step all on its own, otherwise this list of processes would just be far too short).
3. Wait for three hours. Take a bath or drink a bottle of wine or something.
4. Top the burrito bowls with grated cheese, avocado, sour cream, or whatever else tickles your fancy (this is the fun bit).
5. Eat (…okay, maybe this is the fun bit).

See? Really couldn’t be any easier. You’ve got your beans, your veggies, your rice – all cooked together in one big yummy mix. Feel free to swap around the veggies depending on what you have in the fridge, add a bit more hot sauce if you like things spicy, use different spices to put your own spin on it. The slow cooker burrito bowl is your oyster.

I kept my toppings pretty simple – some grated cheddar, fresh coriander (that’s cilantro, and it’s a must in my book), a dollop of sour cream, and some sliced avocado. You can add whatever toppings you fancy though, of course. Mexican food (even knock-off, untraditional Mexican food like this) has so many options when it comes to toppings, so go crazy. Salsa, guacamole, jalapeños, spring onions, a squeeze of lime… toppings for daaaays.

What would you pile up on top of your slow cooker burrito bowl?

Print Recipe

3.75 from 8 votes

Slow cooker burrito bowls

These vegetarian slow cooker burrito bowls are SO easy to make, no pre-cooking required! Serve hot with your choice of toppings – I like cheese and avocado!

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time3 hrs

Total Time3 hrs 10 mins

Course: Main meal

Servings: 4

Calories: 389kcal

Author: Becca Heyes

Ingredients

• 1 onion, diced or thinly sliced
• 1 bell pepper (I used yellow), diced
• 1 mild red chilli, finely chopped
• 400 g tin black beans, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
• 215 g uncooked brown rice (~ 1 cup)
• 400 g tin chopped tomatoes (~ 1 1/2 cups)
• 150 ml water (~ 1/2 cup)
• 1 tbsp chipotle hot sauce (or other favourite hot sauce)
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• Salt
• Black pepper
• To serve, your choice of: grated cheese, fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped spring onions, sliced avocado, sour cream, guacamole, etc.

Instructions

• Add all the burrito bowl ingredients (not toppings) to a slow cooker – mine is 4.7 litres / 4 quarts. Mix well.
• Cook on low for around 3 hours, or until the rice is cooked *see note below*.
• Serve hot with your choice of toppings.

Notes

Some people in the comments have found that their rice doesn’t cook properly on the Low setting. If you’re concerned about this or you’re having trouble getting the rice to cook, try cooking on High instead.

Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/4 o the recipe.

Love a Mexican-style dinner made in the slow cooker? You’ll love my slow cooker enchilada chilli: