Chipotle Chicken Bowl
Have you ever walked out of a restaurant and thought, “I could make that at home. And mine would be even better!” Our chipotle chicken bowl is better than the original restaurant version. A copycat chipotle bowl, this recipe is made with breast meat served with fresh homemade chipotle lime rice and toppings.
One of my favorite meals, I love to add fresh pico de Gallo, lettuce, sour cream, and mozzarella cheese to finish off my bowl. What makes this really handy for families is that everyone can customize their own bowls.
Table of Contents
Ingredients for a Copycat Chipotle Bowl
To make a chipotle chicken bowl, you just need a little olive oil, boneless, skinless chicken breast, taco seasoning, (make your own with this recipe or store-bought is okay too), and lemon pepper.
For the Chipotle Chicken
The recipe calls for sautéing the fresh, uncooked chicken in olive oil, but if needed you can also grill or bake the chicken coated in seasoning, or use leftover pre-cooked chicken from a previous meal and simply add the seasonings as you reheat it.
If you make extra cubed, cooked chicken and freeze it to use in recipes later, it will make mealtime on busy weeknights a snap with recipes like this one. Just remember not to keep any leftovers if you’ve thawed and re-heated chicken from frozen.
For the Cilantro Lime Rice
To make the rice you can use a pot on the stove or use a rice cooker. You’ll need water, olive oil, salt, white rice, lime juice from one lime, and freshly chopped cilantro.
I love using jasmine rice for this kind of recipe. Any rice you have at home will work.
Toppings for the Copycat Chipotle Bowl
You can use any toppings you like on your chipotle chicken bowl. This is a list of some of the classics. Black Beans: Drain and rinse canned beans and heat them in the microwave or on the cooktop.
Shredded Lettuce. Pico De Gallo or diced tomatoes. Pico is so easy to make, and nothing beats freshly made. Especially if you have summer tomatoes from your garden or farmer’s market!
Guacamole. Fresh guacamole is one of my favorites. You’ll love this super easy three-ingredient recipe.
Sour cream. Corn: I just use the steam-in microwave bags. Tomatillo Salsa or any favorite salsas. We like the tomatillo salsa and Mozzarella Cheese.
How to Make a Chipotle Chicken Bowl
First, you need to cook the cubed chicken with the seasoning. Make sure you get your oil nice and hot before you add the chicken. When it reaches 165ºF set it aside.
Next, make the rice, stirring in the lime juice, cilantro, and lemon juice after the rice is finished and has absorbed all of the water. You can make this in a pot as described on the recipe card or use a rice cooker.
When everything is ready, assemble your bowl with rice, chicken, and the toppings of your choice. This recipe will make four bowls.
Want to keep this low carb? Substitute the rice for a cilantro lime cauliflower!
Serving the Chipotle Chicken Bowl
One way to make serving up individual bowls easy is to put all of the possible ingredients on an island or kitchen counter and have everyone come through and build their own bowls.
This works especially well if you are cooking for a large family or guests. If necessary, you can easily double or triple this copycat chipotle bowl recipe.
The copycat chipotle bowl is great as a one-dish meal, but you can also serve it with warmed tortillas, Mexican Street Corn, or Homemade Tamales.
Storing Leftovers of the Chipotle Chicken Bowl
If you have leftovers, that’s exciting because they will make perfect meals to take to work or school later! You could make extra chicken just for that purpose.
For use at home, keep the unused ingredients separated, and build your own bowls from leftovers later. The rice and chicken will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days.
You can also make bowls of rice, chicken, and beans to take to work, reheat in a microwave, and add the fresh toppings plus cheese from a plastic baggy.
Rice and chicken can both be frozen in airtight containers for up to three months. If you make individual bowls of rice, chicken, and beans, these can be frozen as well.
After thawing and reheating once, any unused chicken should be discarded. For this reason, it is a good idea to freeze individual-sized portions.
Similar Tasty Recipes
Instant Pot Pork Carnitas. So easy to make carnitas this way, and when you are finished you can build your own copycat carnitas bowl!
Slow Cooker Meatballs in Chipotle Sauce. A wonderful twist on a classic dish. Perfect to serve a crowd!
Instant Pot Pozole Mexican Soup with Hominy. When you want the flavors of Mexico and the convenience of the pressure cooker, this soup delivers.
Chipotle Chicken Bowl
Ingredients
For The Chicken
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut in to 1” cubes
- 1 Tablespoon taco seasoning
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
For The Cilantro Lime Rice
- 3 cups cold water
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups white rice
- 2 Tablespoons lime juice about one lime
- 1 cup cilantro chopped
For Assembly (optional)
- ½ cup black beans
- ½ cup lettuce shredded
- ½ cup Pico de Gallo or diced tomatoes
- ½ cup guacamole
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, warm the oil. Add the chicken and season with taco seasoning and lemon pepper. Cook chicken until no longer pink and the insides reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees F. Set aside for now.
- In a medium sized pot, pour in the rice, cold water, the olive oil, and salt. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover the pot, turn the heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes or until the rice is soft and fluffy.
- Once all the water has been soaked up by the rice, add in the lime juice, and cilantro. Let simmer for another minute and then remove from heat and set aside.
- To assemble the bowl, place a ¾ cup of rice on the bottom. On top of the rice, add black beans and the chicken.
- Top the bowl off with shredded lettuce, Pico de Gallo, guacamole, and mozzarella cheese.
- Repeat assembly three more times to make four bowls. Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Please note that the nutritional information provided are guidelines and may vary based on the brand of products used. For your specific nutritional goals use My Fitness Pal or Verywell Fit recipe calculators. All content within this site is not intended as medical diagnosis or treatment and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical expertise.
To answer your question about eating out and thinking, “I can make that better.” Yes! Since Covid two things happened. First, the quality of the food, especially meat, has gone way, way down yet prices are up. Secondly, I have upped my cooking game, out of necessity at first then out of enjoyment. Last week my wife and I had fajitas at a local restaurant. I came away thinking the beef was probably from a roast of some sort. Definitely a poor quality. I went to Sam’s and found beef skirts, the traditional fajita meat. I made a fajita spice blend and sprinkled it on the skirt and chicken breast, refrigerated it for 3 hours then grilled them, sliced them against the grain, and mixed with pepper and onions I had sautéed and I had a much better product than the Mexican restaurant will ever have.
I bet your meal was fantastic! You get more for your money when cooking at home too, so I say keep it up!