Chipotle Chicken Taco Bowls

This recipe is my follow-up to last week’s Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken. While you can definitely use that chipotle chicken in any Mexican dish you love, I thought I’d give you the recipe for what we’ve been eating several times a week, for weeks on end.

We both love taco bowls and obviously we eat them quite often, but we never get tired of all the variations you can do. With just the salsa alone there’s tons of directions to go from the standard tomato salsa to one of my favorites, mango salsa.

Since we have so many vine ripe tomatoes right now, I’ve been making a fresh tomato salsa/pico. And for an extra shortcut in this recipe, I just cubed up an avocado and mixed it right into the salsa instead of making guacamole.

I like to add in some sautéed veggies to the mix which is more like a fajita bowl, but let’s just roll with it. (I actually couldn’t figure out what to call these – burrito bowl, taco bowl, or fajita bowl because it’s kind of a mix. I almost went with Mexican Bowl of Goodness, but I restrained myself and went with taco bowl in the end.)

To cut the onions into half moon slice, start by cutting off both ends. Then cut the onion in half from the top to the bottom and peel away the tough outer layer. Next lay each onion half flat side down on the cutting board, and cut across the rounded top into thin strips.

As you sauté the onions the strips will break apart into half moon shaped pieces. And while the veggies are sautéing, you can make a side of rice or cauliflower rice.

Once you put it all together, you’ve got comfort food in a bowl!

As a side note, this makes great packed lunches too. I use glass Pyrex containers and layer the cauliflower rice, then chipotle chicken and sautéed veggies, and finally top it all off with the fresh tomato/avocado salsa.

Sometimes when I’m really just not feeling it, and cauliflower rice seems like too much work, I sub in roasted sweet potatoes for the cauliflower rice. Cauliflower also varies greatly in price here where one week it costs $3-4 per head, and the next week it can be $12, (which just seems crazy to me, so it’s nice to have other options)!

Chipotle Chicken Taco Bowls

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• Author: Get Inspired Everyday!
• Total Time: 40 mins
• Yield: 4 servings 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Avocado Tomato Salsa:

• 1 pound tomatoes, about 3 medium
• 1 small jalapeno, stems and seeds removed
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and cubed
• 3/4 cup diced red onion, see note
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tablespoon lime juice
• 1 Teaspoon sea salt, or to your taste

Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice:

• 1 head cauliflower, 2 pounds
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
• sea salt to taste

Sautéed Veggies:

• 1 large red bell pepper, 10 ounces
• 1 red onion, about 2 cups after slicing
• 1 Tablespoon avocado or olive oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground cumin

Final Touches:

• 1/2 recipe of Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken
• 1 bunch green onions thinly sliced

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Instructions

1. For the salsa, remove the cores from the tomatoes, and chop them into bite sized pieces. Finely chop the jalapeno, there should be around 2 Tablespoons. Add the chopped jalapeno and tomatoes to a bowl along with the avocado cubes, red onion, cilantro, and lime juice. Season to taste with sea salt and set aside.
2. For the cauliflower rice, start by trimming away the leaves around the head of cauliflower. Then to make ‘rice’ either grate the head of cauliflower on a cheese grater, or cut it into about 3″ pieces, and process until it’s a rice like texture in a food processor.
3. Add the cauliflower rice and 1/4 cup water, (only add the extra if the rice gets too dry while cooking) to a pan with a sprinkling of sea salt. Cover with a lid and bring the pan to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to a simmer and steam the ‘rice’ until it’s tender, about 5-6 minutes. When the rice is done, it can be set aside and kept warm until you finish the rest of the recipe. It’s best to add the cilantro and lime juice right before serving.
4. While the rice cooks, make the sautéed veggies. Remove the stem and seeds from the bell pepper and slice it in half. Then slice each half into 1/4″ wide strips. Once you’ve cut up both halves into strips, cut the strips in half crosswise to create smaller pieces.
5. For the onion, if you buy a large enough onion, (14 ounces) you can cut your 3/4 cup diced onion for the salsa first before cutting the remaining onion into 1/4″ half moon slices for the sautéed veggies. Then preheat a 9″ cast iron pan over medium high heat, add the avocado oil and cut up pepper and onion. Sauté briefly, 1-2 minutes, then add the sea salt and cumin. Continue to sauté until the veggies are crisp tender, about 5 minutes.
6. Make sure your Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken is heated/reheated before finishing the recipe.
7. Stir the cilantro and lime juice into the cauliflower rice, and season to taste with sea salt.
8. Serve the cauliflower rice, sautéed veggies, salsa, chipotle chicken, and sliced green onions altogether and let everyone assemble their bowls as desired.
9. Any leftovers refrigerate well for 2-3 days, and are great for lunches.

Notes

To make the preparation easier (and faster), try to chop each ingredient all at once. Chop the cilantro and separate it into both the cauliflower rice and the salsa. For the onion, I diced the 3/4 cup for the salsa, and then cut the remaining onion up for the sautéed veggies.

• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins