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.
This looks AMAZING friend! Please make it for me next time I come ovah. kthanks
Ok, you got it!
The melody of flavors “wowed” me! I especially love the kale. I threw tomatoes into the avocado with a little kosher salt and then just whipped up the beans with an onion and the garlic! Delish!
Thanks, Leslie! Glad you enjoyed the burrito bowl!
I just discovered your site but already have tried almost all of your kale recipes (and others!) . Am making this burrito bowl tonight (with my dog Cody by my side). Can’t wait! It smells so good! Thank you!!
Hi Jessica and Cody! Thank you! I’m delighted to hear that you’re enjoying my recipes! I’m a big fan of kale, more recipes coming soon. :)
Looks like the perfect healthy comfort food for this blustery day.
That avocado salsa verde is great. I make it all the time!
Thanks, Jesse! I’m obsessed with that stuff.
This is the second thing I’ve made from your blog….so delicious!! I’m going to put the avocado salsa verde on everything!
Thanks for saying so, Kathleen! I want to smother everything in avocado sauce, too!
This was my first recipe from this blog & it was AMAZING. I have tried & failed at brown rice for years. It turned out perfectly here. Wouldn’t change a thing. Looking forward to enjoying this for lunch the rest of the week, and trying many more recipes!
Thank you, HM! Delighted to hear that you enjoyed it so much. That’s my favorite method for cooking rice!
This was really good. The sauce was amazing and the brown rice turned out perfectly. Thanks for the great dinner idea!
Thank you, Jennifer! Delighted that you enjoyed it.
Cooked this for my family tonight. Trying to get them to eat less meat and it went down a treat. Especially loved the marinated kale! Going to try the sweet potato and green rice bowl next :)
Hooray! So happy to hear it. Hope you all love the sweet potato bowls just as much.
One of our favorite recipes for a healthy meal. Everything comes together nicely. We usually substitute farro or wheat berries for the rice. Thanks!
Thank you, Aaron! So glad you all enjoy this one!
Just made this tonight, and my boyfriend and I loved it! We are moving soon and have been trying to not buy a lot of pantry items, so because we are out of rice we used some leftover pearled farro, and we had a couple carrots that were going to go bad soon, so we chopped those and added them to the black bean mixture. The lime dressing with the kale was so good…I just kept picking at it by hand while waiting for the black beans to finish up! We will definitely be making this again, it was sooo tasty!! What a great recipe, and it’s so easy to mix and match with other things that are in the pantry and the fridge.
Thanks, Anjuli! I bet your bowls were great with farro and carrots. Thank you for letting me know!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome! I was already nervous about making it and serving it to my husband (because, HEALTHY!) and while making it, I knocked the avocado salsa verde sauce over and watched it all pour down the drain. 10x more nervous. And mad. But, it still tasted awesome! And my husband agreed. Can’t wait to try it with the avocado sauce next time.
Oh no!!! Poor avocado sauce. It really takes this burrito bowl to another level, so I’m glad you enjoyed it without!
This looks so good. I need to make this ASAP. Everything looks so fresh :)
Kale, Black Bean and Avocado Burrito Bowl: The best veggie recipe I’ve ever made. I’m so addicted. The flavors, consistencies, and colors make the perfect meal. I’d pay for this in a restaurant, it’s that good. Thank you Kate! I’m a newbie subscriber and look forward to more of your yummy wholesomeness to come!
Thank you for saying hello, Megan! So glad you enjoyed this recipe. I could eat it every day. I really could.
I’m not vegan but this is delicious. I used leftover beans and it turned out great. My aunt (who is vegan) has asked me make it two nights in a row. Thanks for the recipe it was the only one I found that I had all the ingredients in hand.
Hi Emma! I’m so glad you two enjoyed the burrito bowls!
I made a hibridized version of this and it was a big hit as well as delicious.
It had to be altered for two reasons… First, I’ve had ‘touchy’ digestion recently–so there was less “heat” and second I did not have all the ingredients. :)
I used spinach for kale, farro for rice, and black bean ‘noodles’ instead of beans. The ONLY ingredient in the ‘noodles’…black beans, go figure. When I cut open the avacado it was not fit to eat so salsa verde worked just fine. Btw, scoop out a non-edible avacado, add olive oil and sugar. totally mash it all together and rub it well into your hands–it’ll make them smooth as can be…what a mess though so stay near the sink. :)
Anyway, it was a great meal in a bowl. I really liked the farro and am so glad I finally tried it. There was plenty of leftovers that will be altered and turned into breakfast tomorrow.
Thanks for your great idea Kate! Everything that I’ve tried of yours turns out well and is thoroughly enjoyed.
Thank you, Kathy! I’m glad you enjoyed the burrito bowls. Thanks for the avocado trick, too—especially helpful this time of year!
I made this as written and it was excellent. I had most of the ingredients in the house already, so that was a plus. The only downside was that the clean up took a while since a dirtied a bunch of pans and the blender.
Thanks, Tina! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I hear you on the dishes. I wish they would learn to wash themselves already.
This is my favorite meal of yours I’ve made so far!!
Thanks so much
Yay, thanks Sheri!
I am an old vegetarian and a new vegan, and have really been enjoying expanding my repertoire with yummy new recipes, but *this* is one of my top two. I made it Sunday and we had it Monday for dinner, and it is so, so good. My omnivore partner said he was “prepared to choke it down,” but he actually loved it, and raved about it all night. This was also my first foray into a raw kale dish (other than smoothies, of course), and I am officially hooked. Thank you so much for this absolutely glorious recipe!
Hehe, I’m so glad you both appreciated this burrito bowl! Thank you so much for your kind note. I have tons of raw kale salads on the blog, if you want to give those a try!
Oh man! Just made this and I would have never thought of adding the Jalapenos- they really made the overall taste a bit more sassy! This was so fresh, so fab- I was just about to give up the good fight- when I put this into my mouth my taste buds reminded me why I was created to enjoy healthy, clean food! I just need some new recipes! Ah-herm…now I’ve got to go get my butternut squash out of the oven because I am trying your linguine recipe T.O.N.I.G.H.T xx
Belated thank you, Autumn! Hope you loved the linguine, too. :)
This was wonderful! kale and black beans are two of my favorite things. No rice so I used quinoa and think I’ll always do that with this recipe. And the salsa verde…..fantastic–such a terrific idea! My husband detests cilantro, so I used a bit of dried coriander and cumin seed instead. I love your blog and recipes. Thank you!
Thank you so much, Jennifer! Sounds like we share similar taste buds. I have some black bean and kale tacos in my cookbook! Can’t wait for you to see them.
Ok, so, I’ve been vegan for alot of years and have my sort of routine dinners, usually nothing special, just sustenance more or less. I’m definitely a get dinner on the table as quick as possible, maybe it will taste good, maybe it wont, sort of gal. But, and this is huge…my husband has finally decided to go vegan. Sooo, I figured oh gosh, if I want this to stick (and I do, very much) I’m going to have to really wow him with familiar foods and no fake meats, we prefer whole foods. Enter Cookieandkate! I downloaded some recipes and went grocery shopping. Tonight was the kale and black bean bowl. OH MY GOSh, so yummy! And, the hubby thought so too! I’ll admit I cheated in two places. I added a touch of orange juice to the kale marinade cus it was a little too sour for me, on was a great addition. And, I stuck with my own quacamole, just cus I love it so much. You know how you have your foods that are so good, you don’t mess around with trying different recipes? That’s my quacamole for me :) this recipe could have easily fed four, but just the two of us scared it down. It was delicious, thank you! Tomorrow I’m making the butternut linguine, I’m sure it won’t disappoint, as each recipe has been phenomenal! And easy and quick, so perfect for me. If I keep following cookie and kate, I think my husband’s plant based diet will be for good! That’s an answer to my prayers!
Thank you so much for your sweet note, Lili! Delighted that you found my blog and are enjoying my recipes. Your version of these burrito bowls sounds fantastic. Best of luck converting your husband over! :)
I changed my eating style only 30 days ago. I feel wonderfully happy about my decision. I have been getting by with lots of lentil soup mostly, until today. I made my first vegan recipe. I made the Kale, Black Bean and Avocado Burrito Bowl! The flavours of cumin and lime in this bowl of yummy food made my stomach way, WoW! Although the recipe was very easy to follow, I made a few errors that caused my presentation to fail, but the taste was still there. I did not have green salsa on hand, and have been trying to finish off white rice. The picture to send would have been the picture of a mad kitchen scientist, and the messy, messy kitchen… apparently I am out of the practice of following a recipe while cooking and this simple dish had me squeezing and chopping real food which left a trail of happiness that manifested in quite a mess! I loved it. Thank you.
Delicious! I just with there was nutrition information attached. Thanks so much – I love your recipes.
Hi Lisa, I’m trying to come up with a good solution for nutrition info.
Made this tonight! It was absolutely delicious and I especially enjoyed the kale. My family loves Protein Bar and Qdoba so I was searching for some recipes to include in our regular meal plan. Right on!
I’m glad! Thanks, Jessica.
This looks AMAZING! Can’t wait to try it!
Thanks, Stef! Hope you love it!
Made this recipe on the weekend and it is delicious. I’ve been taking it to work this week, and I love the variety in one dish. I made roasted sweet potato seasoned with chili and turmeric instead of rice, and really enjoyed it. Love your vegan recipes Kate!
I made this and it was delicious! At first, I wasn’t sure how it would all taste together but it worked out really well. I would definitely make this recipe again :). Thank you for the recipe!
I was looking for some inspiration for our run of the mill vegetarian dishes. This is about the 4th recipe of yours that I have tried and we are loving them! The mexican inspired dishes and flavour combinations are fantastic. My husband is also a competitive triathlete and he finds the meals to be nutritious and satisfying
I’ve made this twice now and love it! The lime juice-marinated kale totally converted me to eating raw kale! This is a perfect recipe to make for weekday lunches in the office because it’s easy to pack and reheat and leftovers taste just as great. Thanks!
This was absolutely delicious. I am obsessed with this dish❤️
Made this for the first time last week and it was delicious! Added some vegan cashew sour cream on top!
Sounds great! I’m happy it worked out.
I just made this tonight after coming across it on Pinterest. The only difference was that I used pinto brand instead of black since that’s what I had on hand. It was phenomenal! After the holidays I’ve been craving a healthy flavorful meal, and this was perfect. I’ll definitely be making again soon!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Julia!
First think first, I am not Vegan. I love cheese and meat to much. That said, NEW FAVORITE RECIPE. Nothing would be added to it with the addition of dairy or meat.
It was cheap and made multiple meals and definitely filled my need for some chipotle, but it was better.
Thank you so much!!!
I get the cheese thing, girl, trust me. But how great that you loved this! & it was easy on the wallet? Perfect.
This was incredible. I halved the recipe since I was just making lunches for myself for the week. I doubled the amount of chili powder in the beans. Made the regular amount of dressing (but with less oil) for the flavor to soak into the rice. Added a few sprinkles of cheddar cheese. AMAZING. Will be making again. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Kristen! This sounds like a great lunch.
I love your recipes. I am so glad I found your site. The kale with this recipe is great. A healthy winter salad. Thank you.
Oh my gosh … amazing! I love this salad. I had some leftover sweet potatoes (from your sweet potato burrito recipe, which I also LOVE) and threw them in my salad today. YUM!
Great use of leftovers! :)
Hi. I just made this. It was quite delicious! I can’t wait until tomorrow night so I can eat it again. Thank you very much for sharing it! Valerie
Thank you, Valerie! Enjoy your leftovers!
Wow wow wow! We’re slowly starting to transition to a plant based diet and if all meals taste this good, it’ll be easy!! I added grilled corn and fresh tomatoe on top. Wow so so tasty and nourishing!
Aw, this is so sweet, Cara! Thank you so much. Good luck with your transition!
I’m a vegan, but the thing that attracts me most to your site is your love of your dog Cookie. I lost my last dog over 2 years ago, and have not adopted a new one due to not being able to afford vet bills. If I ever win the lottery or once I learn how to make a fortune online (whichever comes first), the first thing I’m going to do is adopt a new dog. I actually miss my dogs more than some humans whom I’ve known in my life who have passed on. IMHO, the unconditional love of a dog cannot be found in human relationships. Thank you for sharing your recipes and your life stories here.
I made this last night and it was wonderful! My husband especially liked the salsa verde. I loved the combination of flavors and textures. Healthy food tastes so good!
Thank you Carole! That last sentence is music to my veggie-loving ears. :)
Looks amazing! Going to make it for dinner tonight. I’ve recently gone vegan and found your site today… thanks for the awesome vegan recipes :-)
Welcome, Carlin! I hope you find my website helpful. Most recipes have notes on how to make vegan if not already vegan-just look in the notes below instructions. Let me know what you think once you give it a try!
I made this last night. It was super delicious., this recipe will be going in our regular dinner rotation.
Thank you, Jen for the review! I am happy to hear you liked it so much.
Trying out different recipes here has been so interesting. This wasn’t my favourite but this time my husband really enjoyed it. He’s very “white bread” so it’s big deal when he says he would order this in a restaurant. He’s also not one to mince words. Once again I got the dirty dishrag comment but he was able to narrow it down to the avocado part. Then I remembered reading somewhere that some people’s taste receptors interpret cilantro as “soapy”. So I think I’ve figured out how to tweak this so he will like it, skip the cilantro in his serving. Thanks again for another tasty and healthy recipe.
I have read that before and find it interesting as well! Yes, that is always something you can omit based on tastes. Thanks, Christina for your comment.
This is a great, original take on a burrito bowl. I made it a few days ago and loved it! The lime kale adds a great flavor that I don’t usually have in my typical burrito bowls. I also added cashew queso and that worked well with it too.
That is great! Happy to hear it, Danielle. Thank you for your review :)
This was delicious! I used cauliflower rice instead of regular rice, sautéed zucchini and mushrooms with the onions and garlic before adding the beans, and then added chopped red onions and roasted brussel sprouts to the top.
This was wonderful! A great alternative to more traditional burrito bowls.
I agree, Kristina! Thank you for your review.
Great recipe Kate and my husband really enjoyed it too. I think I would parboil the kale next time as I find raw kale a bit hard to chew and get through or perhaps substitute for chopped up spinach. Will definitely be making again soon
Spinach would be a great option, too. Thank you, Kathy!
I made your butternut squash/apple/wheatberry/pecans/ginger dressing. Wow! Now here I am looking for something to do with a can of black beans (opened so not a full can), greens, and I love spice. You popped up again. Perfect combo. Making it tonight for dinner tomorrow since I’ll get in late. Many, many thanks.
You’re welcome! Thank you for trying the recipe.
I would like to start by saying as an avid bean eater & lover; these were the best black beans I have ever had. This will be my go to recipe for black beans. It was so easy I could not believe it. I substituted brown rice for oven-roasted corn and I cut back on the amount of kale-my bunch was freakishly abundant. The only thing I would do different in the future is prepare the kale a little further in advance to let the dressing soak in a bit- I ate it today for breakfast and it was slamming as opposed to last night when it was just okay. Otherwise, this was a delicious weeknight meal. It certainly saved me because I was stuck in a baby vegan rut of being hangry and tired of eating the same boring foods.
Thank you so much. I look forward to trying more recipes from this site.
Thank you for your comment! I appreciate the review.