Home » Easy Weeknight Dinners » KALE + BLACK BEAN BURRITO BOWL

KALE + BLACK BEAN BURRITO BOWL

This Kale & Black Bean Burrito Bowl features protein rich black beans, healthy kale, quinoa, and creamy chipotle dressing for a delicious, quick and easy burrito bowl!

top down view black bean burrito bowl with wooden fork and items surrounding.

Something about all this wholesome goodness mixed together with a creamy sauce that gets me every time. It’s the first vegan burrito bowl to be added to the recipe collection and I know you’re going to love it!

It’s a simple, mindful and deliciously flavorful recipe, all the while being packed with nutrient dense foods to keep you satisfied & feeling at your best without breaking the bank. It’s a win, win all around!

Despite the recipe list looking long, it’s pretty straight forward. There isn’t much to change-up unless you opt for using a different sauce/dressing as noted below.

top down view of ingredients used to make black bean burrito bowls.

Ingredient Notes

In this recipe,  black beans, massaged kale, cooked quinoa, and creamy chipotle dressing is combined together creating a most wonderful burrito bowl, perfect for a healthy whole food plant based lunch, dinner or meal prep idea.

Here is everything you will need, plus ingredient variations as noted:

  • Black beans – use canned or fresh cooked like these flavorful Instant Pot Black Beans
  • Quinoa – use white or tri-color quinoa
  • Kale – flat kale is preferable, but curly kale would work too
  • Pico de gallo – use premade or make homemade Pico de Gallo
  • Tahini – use store bought or make homemade Tahini
  • Spices – include garlic & onion powder, chipotle powder, and red pepper flakes
  • Lime – you’ll want to have a couple on hand
  • Avocado – can be optional
  • Salt – to taste

side by side photos of cooked quinoa and chipotle tahini dressing.

How To Make Black Bean Burrito Bowl

This vegan burrito bowl is super easy to throw together and can be made even simpler by using some of the options suggested below (like using premade pico de gallo). I hope you enjoy this often!

  • Quinoa: The quinoa is what will take the longest to cook so start it first, giving you plenty of time to prep the other ingredients.
  • Chipotle Tahini Sauce: The tahini sauce is super easy to make, and is what brings this salad together and making it delicious. The creaminess combined with all the other goodness will make you say ahhhh!

  • Kale: Kale, king of the leafy greens, will benefit from marinating in lime juice for a few minutes while the quinoa is cooking. The acid from the lime will help soften the kale making it a bit more pleasing for those who find raw kale hard to eat.
Tip: To save yourself from washing one less dish you can marinate the kale right on your cutting board. If you don’t have an extra cutting board to spare for prepping your other ingredients you can use a large bowl to marinate it in.
  • Black beans: These can be eaten at room temperature, or warmed up on the stovetop or in the microwave just before assembling the black bean burrito bowls.

And there you have it, an easy and healthy vegan burrito bowl perfect for lunch, dinner or make ahead meals!

You may find this to be on repeat in your meal rotations for a while!

top down view of dressing about to be poured overtop black bean burrito bowl with item surrounding.

How To Store + Meal Prep

  • Refrigerator: Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 – 6 days. Keep covered for best results.
  • Meal prep: Black bean burrito bowls are great for meal prep. Store in multi-use containers (affiliate link), either with the dressing drizzled over top or separate, and keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

Serving Suggestions

Here are a few delicious ways to change up the bowl or add to it:

More Easy Bowl Recipes!

top down view of healthy black bean burrito bowl drizzled with chipotle dressing.

If you try this black bean burrito bowl recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment and rate it below. I love to hear what you think, or any changes you make.

Print

KALE + BLACK BEAN BURRITO BOWL

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

No reviews

Packed with heart smart goodness, this black bean burrito bowl with kale, quinoa and chipotle dressing is filled with simple ingredients and delicious flavors!

  • Author: Julie | The Simple Veganista
  • Prep Time: 5 min
  • Cook Time: 25 min
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 2 - 3 1x
  • Category: Entree
  • Cuisine: Tex-Mex, Mexican
  • Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Scale

Quinoa or 1 batch Cilantro Lime Rice

  • 1 cup dry quinoa
  • 1 3/4 cups water + 2 tablespoons
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • mineral salt, to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Kale

  • 1/2 bunch kale, center stem removed and julienned
  • 12 limes

Chipotle Tahini Sauce

  • 3 tablespoons tahini
  • 23 tablespoons water, plus more as needed
  • juice of 1/2 lime
  • 1/81/4 teaspoon chipotle powder
  • dash garlic + onion powder
  • pinch of salt

To serve

Instructions

Quinoa: In a medium pot, add quinoa, water, garlic & onion powder,, red pepper flakes, and salt, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove cover and let set 10 minutes, fluff with fork. You will most likely have a bit of leftovers.

Kale: Rinse kale, remove the hard center stem and julienne. Either right on the cutting board or in a large bowl, squeeze the juice of 1 – 2 limes over top and mix to coat (this will help soften the kale), set aside to let the kale marinate.

Chipotle dressing: Place all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Taste for flavor adjusting as needed. To thicken add a tad more tahini, to thin add more water. Set aside, the flavors will develop over a few minutes.

Beans: To heat or not to heat is up to you (I typically don’t). If heating, place beans with juices in small pan and heat over medium until warm. If not heating, drain and rinse beans well.

To serve: In serving bowl, place about 3/4 – 1 cup cooked quinoa, 1/3 of the beans, 1/3 of the kale. Top with pico de gallo, avocado and chipotle tahini sauce. Add a few smashed tortilla chips or pepitas (pumpkin seeds) sprinkled over top for a crunchy addition. Mix it all together and enjoy!

Serves 3

Store: Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 – 6 days, in a covered container.

Notes

Dressing: If you’re not a fan of heat try this Cumin-Lime Tahini Dressing, Creamy Avocado-Cucumber Dressing (something cool & refreshing), Creamy Hatch Chile Dressing, or this Cilantro-Lime Cashew Cream.

Simplify this by using your favorite ready-made pico de gallo.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 573
  • Sugar: 8.5 g
  • Sodium: 1652.9 mg
  • Fat: 20.7 g
  • Saturated Fat: 3 g
  • Carbohydrates: 87.8 g
  • Fiber: 22.8 g
  • Protein: 21.2 g
  • Cholesterol: 0 mg

Updated: Black Bean Burrito Bowl was originally published in August 2015. It has been retested and updated with new photos and helpful tips in September 2020.

FOLLOW TSV on FacebookInstagramPinterest or RSS for more updates and inspiration!</p

13 Comments

  1. Is your nutritional info for one serving or for both? That’s a lot :-|

    1. Julie | The Simple Veganista says:

      I know, I can eat a lot, and most of the time nutritional info is for such small portions. But you’re right, it was a lot. I changed it to serve 2 – 3. The nutritional info reflects this change. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Cheers :)

      1. Thank you! I normally wouldn’t care bc being plant based, calories and fat don’t matter much but I was just shocked about how much would be in a kale and quinoa dish lol

  2. Julie- what a lovely dish! I just had it for dinner and it was delicious, healthy and so easy to prepare. I’ve been following you and making your dishes since 2013 now and it’s always a huge pleasure. Thank you.

  3. Sarah | Well and Full says:

    Freshly made pico makes anything taste amazing ;) I’m loving this bowl!!

  4. Claudia | The Brick Kitchen says:

    Love how healthy and easy this is – looks super colourful and vibrant too! Your avocado looks perfect and that tahini sauce?! Yum!

  5. Sam (the Quantum Vegan) says:

    YES PLEASE.

    I need to have this for lunch or dinner the moment I obtain an avocado.

  6. Taylor @ The Girls on Bloor says:

    Love burrito bowls!! I always make mine with quinoa as well but haven’t thought of adding kale!!

  7. Taylor | Perpetually Hungry says:

    This looks so amazing – and I love the chipotle tahini sauce…it is something I’m going to have to try this weekend. Can’t wait!

  8. i made this for us tonite and YUM!!! i will keep this one in my regulars :) love the bowl!! so easy and so good. yours was prettier though… :)

    1. Julie | The Simple Veganista says:

      So glad you liked it! Cheers :)

  9. Bethanie Rose says:

    This looks insane! Definitely going to be trying this this week, great post xox

    1. Julie | The Simple Veganista says:

      Thank you, enjoy! :)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star