Vegetarian Instant Pot Burrito Bowl With Avocado Crema

Using pantry staples like rice, beans and sweet corn, this vegetarian Instant Pot burrito bowl is filled with nutritious ingredients and classic Tex-Mex flavors. Paired with grilled sweet red peppers, fresh tomatoes and delicious cilantro avocado crema, this dish is a total crowd-pleaser and will be a hit with the whole family. It's gluten-free and vegan-friendly.

If you feel like a Chipotle-inspired burrito bowl without leaving the house, have a look in your pantry as you most likely have the key ingredients to make a spectacular dish. In today's recipe, we will show you how to put together a delicious veggie burrito bowl using the Instant Pot and a few common ingredients.

Ingredients For Vegetarian Burrito Bowl

For this Instant Pot burrito bowl recipe, you will need long-grain or medium-grain rice (any kind), canned beans (we used mixed variety), canned chopped tomatoes and sweet corn. You will also need a few fresh ingredients like onions and carrots that will go into the rice and some sweet bell peppers, tomatoes, cilantro and avocado that we will use for toppings.

For flavors, we have a few popular spices like cumin, coriander seeds, dried oregano, chipotle chili and paprika. Don't worry if you're short on some of these, it's okay to improvise.

As we mentioned above, this burrito bowl is gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan-friendly (omit the cheese or use a dairy-free alternative).

How To Make Instant Pot Burrito Bowls

There are 3 key stages to this healthy Instant Pot recipe:

1. Cooking the rice with spices and tomatoes and mixing in the beans and corn at the end.
2. Grilling or pan-frying sweet red peppers to give them extra sweetness.
3. Whipping up avocado cilantro cream or cream, which is a thick dressing sauce that will be our condiment.

Grilled Sweet Peppers

We love using grilled sweet peppers as the cooking gives them a much sweeter, more intense flavour and a little caramelisation. This sweetness pairs well with the rice and zesty cilantro dressing. We pan-fried the sliced peppers for a few minutes in a frying pan. You can use a grill plate or roast them in the oven. Tinned or pickled roasted peppers could also be used.

Cilantro Avocado Crema

If possible, don't skip on this delicious, zesty condiment. Avocado crema or cream is a thick dressing-like sauce made with ripe avocado, cilantro, lime juice and a touch of garlic. It's kind of like guacamole but a little heavier on cilantro and saucier. It adds freshness and elevates this dish to the next level. You can make it in a food processor, blender or just chop everything finely and mash together in a bowl.

Make-Ahead Tips

You can make all of the elements in this burrito bowl ahead of time. The rice, corn and beans base can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Avocado crema should be kept in an airtight container and stored for up to 2-3 days. When you open it, the top layer might discolor, so skim it off and mix the rest to freshen it up.

Grilled red peppers can be stored for up to 3-4 days in an airtight container. Reheat the rice and red peppers and dice some fresh tomatoes and extra cilantro if using.

MORE TEX-MEX INSTANT POT RECIPES

• Mexican Quinoa With Cilantro Dressing (Vegetarian)
• Black Beans With Spiced Fried Onions (Vegan, Vegetarian)
• Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup (Vegetarian, Vegan)
• Instant Pot Burritos With Rice & Beef
• Chicken Tacos With Pineapple Salsa

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5 from 2 votes

Vegetarian Instant Pot Burrito Bowl With Avocado Crema

Nutritious and super tasty, this Instant Pot burrito bowl is vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan-friendly. Made with pantry staples like rice, beans, sweet corn, spices, and canned tomatoes. You need just a few raw ingredients to freshen it up.

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Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 683kcal

Ingredients

PART 1

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion diced
• 1 medium carrot diced into small cubes
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon chipotle chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed powder
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• 1.5 cup long-grain rice such as Basmati, rinsed well
• 2 cups vegetable stock you can use 1 vegetable stock cube + 2 cups water
• 1 can diced tomatoes with juices (400 g)

PART 2 

• 1 can beans mixed, black, or pinto, strained and rinsed (400 g)
• 1 can sweet corn strained (350 g)

Avocado Cilantro Crema (Cream)

• 1 avocado scooped out and diced
• 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 tablespoons lime juice lemon is also fine
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons water

Extra (optional) toppings

• 1 red pepper sliced and olive oil for grilling
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes sliced or 2 medium tomatoes diced
• Crumbled feta cheese or grated cheese of choice omit for vegan version
• Extra cilantro for garnish
• Alternative to tomatoes: store-bought salsa

Instructions

Part 1

• Turn the Instant Pot on and set to Saute function. Once hot, add the olive oil, onions, carrots and salt and cook for 3-4 minutes, to soften. In the meantime, rinse the rice 3-4 times and strain through a sieve. 
• Add all the spices, chipotle chili and oregano and stir through. Add the rice, vegetable stock (or water and stock cube or powder) and stir through well. Press Cancel to stop the Sauteeing process. 
• Pour the canned chopped tomatoes over the rice but don't stir them in. This important as often having tomatoes on the bottom of cooking rice can cause the Burn notice as they start to caramelise.
• Pop the lid on top and lock, making sure the top valve is pointing at Sealing. Set to Manual/Pressure Cook, HIGH pressure for 4 minutes. After a few beeps, the Instant Pot cooker will start to build up the pressure, which will take 5 minutes or so. 
• While the rice is cooking, prepare other ingredients and make the avocado crema or cream.
• To make the avocado crema, simply add all ingredients to a small food processor or a blender and puree until smooth. If you don't have either of those, chop everything finely, mash the avocadi and whisk together in a bowl with olive oil, lime juice and water. Set aside. 
• If using fried peppers, heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add a splash of olive oil. Add sliced red peppers and cook for 2 minutes each side and season with a little salt. 

Part 2

• Once the rice is cooked (when the timer finishes) release the pressure manually by moving the top valve to Venting. 
• Open the lid, add the beans and corn and stir through until hot. 
• Serve the rice, bean and corn in bowls and top with fried red peppers, diced tomatoes, crumbled or grated cheese (if using) and a dollop of avocado cilantro cream. 

Notes

Ready-made guacamole can be used instead of freshly made avocado cream.

Tomato salsa, sour cream or yoghurt, pickled jalapenos, corn chips can all be added as toppings.

Nutrition

Calories: 683kcal | Carbohydrates: 114g | Protein: 18g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Sodium: 971mg | Potassium: 1410mg | Fiber: 16g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 7799IU | Vitamin C: 83mg | Calcium: 121mg | Iron: 6mg

CourseMain

CuisineTex Mex

KeywordBurrito, Gluten-Free, Mexican, Tex Mex, Vegan, Vegetarian

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