Vegetarian Burrito Bowl
This vegetarian burrito bowl recipe features lime-marinated kale, black beans and avocado salsa verde. It's vegan if you skip the cheese.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on June 10, 2025
This unexpected burrito bowl is an absolute delight. If you’re looking for a hearty meatless meal, give this recipe a try. These burrito bowls feature cooked brown rice, lime-marinated kale, seasoned black beans, and a quick and irresistible avocado salsa verde that brings it all together.
This burrito bowl is a complete and balanced meal that makes great leftovers. To make it more of an event, serve it with tortilla chips and salsa or guacamole, perhaps with a zingy cocktail on the weekend (try a margarita, paloma or ranch water).
I developed this recipe over ten years ago when I was craving a wholesome meal with greens after returning home from a weekend road trip. It’s economical and practical, but above all, delicious! This recipe is still one of my favorites, so I’m sharing it again today with updated photos and a video to show you how it comes together.
Burrito Bowl Components
Each component is simple to make, and once combined, they create a stellar meal. You’ll find the full recipe below, but here’s what makes each component special.
Cooked brown rice: Follow my brown rice cooking method for great results every time—you’ll boil the rice in an abundance of water, like you would for pasta. Prepare the remaining components while it cooks for 30 minutes.
Lime-marinated kale: First, we’ll massage the kale to make it more tender and palatable (I’ve emphasized this in my kale salad recipes). All you do is scrunch up big handfuls at a time until the leaves are darker in color and fragrant—don’t worry about hurting the kale. Then, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, chopped jalapeño (optional), cumin and salt, and stir it into the kale.
Avocado salsa verde: I’m obsessed with this ultra-flavorful sauce. It’s just ripe avocado blended with salsa verde (store-bought is fine), plus fresh cilantro and lime. You could double this component to serve with chips.
Seasoned black beans: Canned black beans become tender and delicious when you sauté them in olive oil with shallot or red onion, garlic and chili powder.
Garnishes: Choose from sliced cherry tomatoes, toasted pepitas (green pumpkin seeds), hot sauce or crumbled feta. I love the accents of salty, creamy feta on my bowls, but you can easily make this recipe vegan and dairy-free by omitting it.
Watch How to Make Burrito Bowls
Planning on leftovers?
Enjoy this recipe for up to four days. Store individual components separately in the refrigerator for best results. Reheat the beans and rice before topping them with marinated kale and salsa verde.
More Burrito Bowls to Try
If you enjoy this burrito bowl recipe, don’t miss these:
- Fresh Black Bean Burrito Bowl
- Mango Burrito Bowls with Crispy Tofu and Peanut Sauce
- Spaghetti Squash Burrito Bowls
- Sweet Potato and Green Rice Burrito Bowls
- Burrito-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
Please let me know how your bowls turn out in the comments. I hope this one becomes one of your favorite meals as well.
Kale and Black Bean Burrito Bowl
This vegetarian burrito bowl features super flavorful components—lime-marinated kale, seasoned black beans, brown rice and avocado salsa verde. This recipe is gluten free, vegetarian and vegan/dairy free if you skip the feta cheese. Recipe yields 4 burrito bowls.
Ingredients
Brown rice
- 1 cup brown rice, rinsed (short grain/arborio or long grain/basmati recommended)
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
Lime-marinated kale
- 1 medium bunch curly kale, ribs removed and chopped into small, bite-sized pieces
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped (omit if sensitive to spice)
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
Avocado salsa verde
- 1 avocado, pitted and sliced into big chunks
- ½ cup mild salsa verde (any good green salsa will do)
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves (a few stems are ok)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Seasoned black beans
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 shallot, finely chopped or ⅓ cup chopped red onion
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 2 cans black beans (15 ounces each), rinsed and drained, or 3 cups cooked black beans
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional, for spice)
Optional garnishes
- Cherry tomatoes, sliced into thin rounds
- Crumbled feta cheese
- Toasted pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
- Hot sauce, such as Cholula
Instructions
- Cook the rice: Bring a big pot of water to a boil, pour in the rinsed brown rice and boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat, drain the rice and return it to the pot. Cover and let the rice steam in the pot for 10 minutes, then fluff the rice with a fork and season with ¼ teaspoon salt, or more to taste.
- Make the kale salad: Place the chopped kale in a big mixing bowl. Massage the leaves with your hands by scrunching up big handfuls at a time until the leaves are darker in color and fragrant. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, chopped jalapeño, cumin and salt, then pour the dressing into the bowl and stir to combine.
- Make the avocado salsa verde: In a food processor or blender, combine the avocado, salsa verde, cilantro and lime juice. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
- Warm the beans: In a medium saucepan, warm the olive oil over medium-low heat. Sauté the shallot and garlic until fragrant and tender, about 2 to 3 minutes, then add the beans, chili powder and cayenne pepper. Cook until the beans are warmed through and softened, stirring often, about 5 to 7 minutes. If the beans seem dry at any point, stir in a small splash of water.
- To serve, spoon generous portions of rice, beans and kale salad into individual bowls. Top with a couple of spoonfuls of avocado salsa verde and garnish as desired. Each component of this recipe keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. For leftovers, reheat the beans and rice and serve alongside marinated kale and salsa verde. To ensure the salsa verde stays bright green, store it in a bowl with plastic wrap pressed against the sauce.
Notes
Recipe inspired by Not Without Salt’s jalapeño and lime marinated kale tostada. Recipe updated in 2024 to include massaging the kale for an improved texture, plus additional garnish suggestions.
Make it vegan/dairy free: Don’t add cheese.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
So delish!!!! Added a little sweet to the kale salad for balance, hubby went back for thirds thank you for the recipe!
PS- this was a last minute google search in Publix parking lot- the perineal question? #vegandinnerrecipe
Whoa. This came out so nicely!
I did something a little bit different and baked the kale for 8min at 420F and just threw the marinade ingredients separately on top of it before I stuck it in the oven.
Just used regular avocado instead of the purée because I don’t much care for Verde, and put the cilantro on the beans.
Thank you for the recipe! I’ll be doing this one a lot.
Thank you for sharing, Jansen! I like that idea.
Very yummy, but my kale was pretty chewy. Do you let it marinade for a while to soften?
Thanks for another fabulous recipexx
I love trying all your recipes! Thank you for widening my horizons with food. This wasn’t my favorite. For me maybe a little too much tang from all the lime juice. I would try again with less lime juice.
I’m allergic to avocado. I’ve noticed that it’s almost a staple in your repertoire. Is there any substitution(s) I can make that will help re-create that creaminess and sublime taste?
Thanks for all the great recipes. Never a bad one in the bunch!
Hi, I don’t really have a replacement for avocado. You could try a creamy soft cheese in some cases, or omit. It would really just depend on the recipe.
Fantastic, as always, Kate! Tonight we made this again and served with corn on the cob and watermelon margaritas! Celebrating the waning summer days.
And thanks for being the source for about 80% of the dinners we make each week!
I’m happy you are enjoying so many of my recipes! Thank you for your review, Courtney.
This recipe is awesome! It combines all of my favorite things: kale, black beans, avocado, and rice! Thank you for sharing.
This was easy and delicious! Thanks for the idea! I’m glad that it uses ingredients I regularly have on hand and help me put them together for a cohesive vegetarian meal with lots of flavor. Adding this one in the rotation and excited to try more from Cookie and Kate!
I’m happy to hear that, Jo! Thanks for sharing.
Yum! I used leftover cilantro lime rice and added salsa verde to store purchased prepared guac because avocados looked terrible. Flavor combination was great! I love your site and the quick, easy, delicious flavor combinations! Thanks again!
You’re welcome, Melissa! I appreciate your review.
Fabulous! I made it yesterday and everyone loved it. Thanks……
Thank you for your comment!
We love this recipe! Made it it too many times to count. We are not big fans of kale, however, so always substitute spinach instead, and it’s super delicious. The leftovers are great stuffed into a wrap!
I finally had the chance to try this recipe, and it was great. It was even better because I was able to use dried black beans from my garden that I had cooked and frozen using your recipe “How to Cook Black Beans! :)
I’m eating this as I type, and this is ahhhhhhhhh-mazing! The flavors and textures all just work so well together – this will go into the regular rotation, for sure.
I want you to know that I have your cookbook, and I’ve never made anything bad. You’re my go-to for salad and cocktail recipes. That old-fashioned with maple syrup is one of my favorites.
Lastly, thank you for putting in gluten-free substitutions as I have a wheat allergy. Sometimes, it’s nice to have to not think up substitutions.
Much love xoxo
I have to agree, have never made anything that didn’t turn out well! Every recipe is so well curated, distilled down to the necessary instructions yet filled with helpful extra hints that take each recipe from good to great! Love C and K!
I clicked on “Marinated Kale” and each time it took me to Avocado Burrito Bowl. The Kale is in the pictures, but there is no mention of how to do it. I can’t find the kale recipe anywhere on your site.
Would arugula work for this recipe as a substitute for the kale? (I am unable to eat kale)
Otherwise sounds amazing for lunch
Yes, that’s an easy substitution.
This dish looks delicious. I love following your blog. One of a few that I follow. My wife and I need to get away from eating a lot of red meat and need to eat more vegetation food. I also have a heart condition and have to watch my sodium intake. From the delicious ingredients, why is the Sodium 1383.1mg per portion? I would really would like to try this dish but for the large amount of sodium. Because every plate I see on your site looks delicious. Thank you for your response.
Hi George, any nutrition information is approximate but I don’t see where you got that info. You can reduce the sodium by omitting the cheese and adjusting in component ingredients like the salsa. Storebought salsa can be high in sodium, so making your own can help control that.
HELLO! Can u plz put a link for Pinterest? I don’t know why there is not one.
Thank you