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?
Slow cooker burrito bowls
If you've cooked this recipe, don't forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 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 ¼ cups, when drained)
- 215 g uncooked brown rice (~ 1 cup)
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes (~ 1 ½ cups)
- 150 ml water (~ ½ cup)
- 1 tablespoon chipotle hot sauce (or other favourite hot sauce)
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon 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
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
Love a Mexican-style dinner made in the slow cooker? You'll love my slow cooker enchilada chilli:
Becky says
I also had problems with the rice but found adding more liquid - probably twice as much - helped it cook and I started on the high setting
Carlie S says
Unfortunately, this recipe was an epic fail and I won't be trying it again. As a mom with zero time on my hands, I was really excited to try to an easy prep meal. After 4 hours on high, the rice is still completely uncooked and now I have no meal and a screaming, hungry kid. I suppose I'll try transferring it out of my crock pot and into something for the stove top, to salvage it for another night...but for now, I'm stuck ordering carryout.
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Hi Carlie, I'm so sorry this one didn't work for you! I'm a busy mum too so I totally understand how annoying that must have been, and I'm sorry this recipe let you down. It seems that everyone has a different experience with this recipe which I can only attribute to each slow cooker being different! I hope it doesn't put you off trying any of my other recipes - here's another slow cooker recipe that you might enjoy, it takes very little prep and is easily customisable for kids :) https://www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/slow-cooker-lentil-quinoa-tacos/
Ellen Armour says
Is there anyway to do this without a slow cooker?
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Absolutely, here's a non-slow cooker version :) https://www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/veggie-burrito-bowls/
Julie says
Thank you for this amazing recipe!!! I tend to fudge some ingredients and use what I have, but it always turns out great!!! Just wanted to let you and other fans know that on leftover night I use this as enchilada filling. I just use a regular enchilada recipe (with red sauce and corn tortillas) and replace the filling with this. However, before I fill and roll the tortillas, I mix the left overs from your recipe with some softened cream cheese and a little shredded Colby cheese in a big bowl. AndI top the enchiladas with more red sauce and also shredded cheese and bake at 350 for 20 min.
If any one wants to try it, cover bottom of baking dish with red sauce (I just diluted a can of tomato paste in a pan with water and a little brown sugar bc I was out of tomato sauce); combine your left over burrito bowl mixture with cream cheese; roll jumbo corn tortillas filled with the burrito bowl and cream cheese mixture; lay side by side in baking dish; cover with more tomato sauce; top with shredded cheese. Bake 20 min on 350 and top with a dollop of sour cream and sprinkle with sliced black olives from a can! Yum!!!
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Oooooh that sounds amazing!! What a brilliant idea! Glad you enjoy this one :)
Poonam Dhaliwal says
any suggestions on how i would do the settings to make in an instant pot?
Becca @ Easy Cheesy Vegetarian says
Ooh I'm not sure sorry, I'm still not super experienced with my Instant Pot! I will definitely get working on an IP version of these though :)
Tim says
I just set it on the rice setting and it works just fine.
Angela DiMichele says
Hello. I've started making this in my slow cooker just a few minutes ago. I added about an extra half cup of rice, though. And some different vegetables. I added a tad bit more water to the mix, just by eyeballing. I'm wondering if the rice will still cook appropriately? Should the ingredients be just slightly covered by liquid? Entirely covered in liquid? I'm having trouble understanding how it should look while cooking, and I want to make sure I don't have too much liquid or not enough. Thanks.
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
Hi Angela, I can't say for sure whether your version will cook properly, as you've switched up the quantities of rice and liquid. For an extra half a cup of rice, I would add at least an extra 1 cup of water. Hope it works out ok!
Tara says
Do you think it'd be okay to freeze this? I made way too much on accident (I did a little extra veggies and extra everything) and my husband is leaving for a work trip for the rest of the week. Thinking of just freezing portions for a later time? It was delicious! And I hate to be wasteful.
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
I haven't tried freezing this so I can't say for sure, but I think it would probably work ok. Might be a little mushier after being reheated, maybe? You need to be a little careful with rice, so just make sure you reheat it really thoroughly :) Let me know how it works! Glad you enjoyed the recipe! :D
Tia says
Really excited to try this! I have white rice (I think it's basmati) instead of brown, do I need to change the cooking times or anything? Thanks :)
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
I would probably check on it after 2 hours and see how it's getting on - brown rice generally takes noticeably longer to cook than white :) Hope you enjoy them!
Jade says
Ive literally just bought a slow cooker to try this recipie so I’m a little confused! If I cook it on high instead, do I have to shorten the amount of time? Or should I try a medium heat for the one suggested in your recipie? I’m sorry, I’ve never used a slow cooker before and I’m so exited to try this!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
Now that's pressure!! Haha, I hope you enjoy it. Uysually, ou can't always change the heat that things are cooked at in a slow cooker - the rice needs the time to cook through. Just like different oven temperatures - you can't just boost the heat and cook something in half the time. Buuuuut, since some people have found that their rice doesn't cook properly (I think it might be a difference in UK / US rice or something? Where are you from?), some people have had success with cooking for the same amount of time on high. I'm in the UK and it worked fine on low with the rice we have here, but hopefully cooking on high will work for you if you're in the US!
Debbie says
Thanks for this recipe - it’s really tasty! I couldn’t get black beans in the supermarket here in UK so substituted but otherwise followed the recipe. I use my vintage slow cooker (about 30 years old!) which cooks at a lower temperature so I can put it on low at lunch time and forget about it until dinner. That said, I had to top up the water a little. I was also told only ever to use “easy cook” rice in the slow cooker and have never had any problems with rice not cooking. Don’t know if there’s a US equivalent of that though!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
Thanks Debbie, glad you enjoyed it! :) You actually can get black beans in the UK (I'm British too!), but for some reason they're often in the world foods aisle rather than with the other beans.
Debbie says
Trust me - they weren't there and I didn't have time to go to another! I've lived over half of my adult life outside the UK so am well used to substituting all sorts of ingredients:) The 'world food aisle' never fails to amuse when abroad... I remember finding a carrot labelled as exotic vegetable once!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
Ah ok, you can definitely find them in most supermarkets usually, maybe they were out. Yes the world foods aisle can be a bit random sometimes, some goodies in there though!