These Black Bean & Brown Rice Meal Prep Bowls are the perfect way to stay fit and organized in the midst of a crazy week. Make these bowls up ahead of time for a quick, easy and healthy meatless meal! {Vegan, gluten-free & dairy-free}
Now that our house is officially SOLD (it’s so weird seeing the sign up in the front yard!!), we’ve been hard at work packing up all of our stuff into boxes since we’re moving in less than four weeks.
Yeah. LESS than four weeks away.
When did all of this happen?!
It’s crazy how fast life can take a turn when you least expect it.
But we found a house that we LOVE. The timing seemed right. The doors opened up. So we decided to take a leap of faith and go for it.
And did I mention, I’m super excited??
As I was packing up the other day, it hit me that we have a lot of food sitting in our cupboard that I’d prefer NOT to lug over to the new house.
I’m all for exercise and lifting heavy things, but we seriously have enough to lift without adding a bunch of food to the mix.
So my goal over the next few weeks will be to use up the food in the fridge and cupboards. And you know what that means…
Lots of new recipes!
It’s always fun to have a challenge!
The first thing that I noticed that we had an abundance of in the cupboard were black beans. I love keeping things like beans, chickpeas and lentils on hand because it makes for such a quick source of protein for those days where you don’t know what to have for lunch or dinner.
But put those heavy cans in a bag or box and it’s not exactly light.
So guess what was on the menu last week??
You guessed it!
Black beans.
But black beans can be a little boring on their own, so I incorporated them into one of our favourite meals.
These Mexican Black Bean & Brown Rice Meal Prep Bowls.
I ADORE everything about these bowls.
And it turns out, my hubby did too. It’s not very often that he raves about any meal in particular, but he brought up these bowls a few times and that’s when I knew they were a winner.
Remember my Stuffed Black Bean Sweet Potatoes from last week? Well, we had leftover bean mixture and avocado creme from that meal, which I planned purposely just so that we could have these bowls later on that week. That’s what I like to call meal planning ;)
It made such an easy meal because since we already had the black beans and avocado creme ready to go, all we had to do was chop up some fresh tomatoes, cilantro and green onions, put on a pot of brown rice and dish it all out.
We served all of the ingredients heaped into large bowls on a bed of romaine lettuce topped with the avocado creme.
With 17 grams of fibre and 14 grams of protein per serving, it made for one filling, healthy and delicious dinner.
And then we simply packed up the leftovers in meal prep containers, which made the perfect lunch for both of us the next day!
There’s something about packing up your meal all neat and tidy in a meal prep container that makes you feel so organized, like you have your sh*t together (even though we totally don’t). But we can dream, right? ;)
Plus, these meal prep bowls are perfectly portion-controlled so it’s the ultimate way to reach your fitness goals when life gets crazy busy.
Prep it. Measure it out. Gobble it up.
Easy as 1-2-3.
Here are my top three recommendations for the Black Bean & Brown Rice Meal Prep Bowls:
- Make the full batch of black bean mixture and avocado creme. Even if you don’t want eight of these meal prep bowls, you can use the leftover bean mixture for stuffed black bean sweet potatoes (which are equally amazing!) Or you can even freeze the leftover bean mixture for round two of the meal prep bowls or to throw into chili.
- Don’t skimp on the cilantro and green onions! I provided rough quantities, but feel free to pile these bowls high with those toppings for the ultimate flavour-packed meal.
- Divide and pack this recipe into meal prep containers in advance for quick and easy meals on the go. Believe me, doing all of this in advance might seem like a lot of work, but it’s a serious game changer if you’re looking to improve your overall health and fitness.
Just open the fridge. Grab the container. And head out the door.
It’s that simple. You barely even have to think.
Aren’t those the best types of meals?
More delicious meatless recipes:
- Rainbow Vegan Falafel Wrap
- Vegetarian Quesadillas
- Vegan Black Bean Tostadas
- Healthy Pasta Salad
- Chickpea Avocado Feta Salad
- Mediterranean Lentil Salad
- Best Black Bean Burgers
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a rating and review!
Black Bean & Brown Rice Meal Prep Bowls
Ingredients
For the black bean mixture:
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 small onions chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 540mL or 19 oz cans no salt-added black beans (or 3.5 cups cooked beans)
- 1/2 tsp. chili powder
- 1/2 tsp. cumin
- Juice of one lime or more to taste
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the Avocado Creme
- Flesh from 2 ripe avocados
- 3/4 cup full fat coconut milk
- Juice from 1 lime or more to taste
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp salt to taste
For the bowls:
- 4 cups cooked brown rice
- 4 Roma tomatoes diced
- 1 cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves
- 1/2 cup chopped green onion
- 1 cup corn kernels
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce optional
- Dollop of your favourite salsa optional
Instructions
- Cook brown rice according to package directions. You should have four cups cooked rice total (this is about 1 cup dry brown rice).
- In a medium-sized skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook the onions and garlic until softened and fragrant (approximately 3-5 minutes). Add the chili powder, cumin and beans and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add the lime juice, salt and pepper and stir until combined.
- Next, to make the avocado creme, place avocado, coconut milk, lime juice, cilantro. garlic and salt in a food processor or magic bullet and blend until smooth.
- Next, chop up the tomatoes, cilantro and green onion.
- Finally, in bowls or containers, evenly distribute, black bean mixture, brown rice, corn, diced tomatoes, cilantro, and green onion by themselves or on a bed of romaine lettuce. Top with a dollop of avocado creme and your favourite salsa (optional, but recommended).
Nutrition
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