Chicken Burrito Bowls with Pico de Gallo

These loaded Chicken Burrito Bowls make a perfect gluten-free and dairy-free lunch or dinner. With rice, black beans, spiced chicken, fresh pico de gallo and a simple guacamole, the bowls are filling and satisfying.

The bowls are made up of burrito ingredients that would otherwise be wrapped in a flour tortilla. I love traditional burritos, but if you want a gluten-free and dairy-free option, you have to try these bowls.

I’ve written the recipe to serve two people, with one medium chicken thigh each. This gives around 38g protein per bowl (see nutrition estimate below), as the black beans also provide protein.

If you can’t eat legumes, you could leave out the black beans and double the chicken. If you want to make the bowls grain-free, just leave out the rice and perhaps add some more chicken or a rice alternative like cauliflower rice. The bowls are also great served with this Easy Gluten Free Flatbread instead of rice.

Ingredients for Chicken Burrito Bowls with Pico de Gallo

Free-range chicken thighs: I use boneless and skinless chicken thighs in this recipe. If you have leftover chicken or other leftover meat, you can easily use that instead as a short-cut. Just warm it up before adding to the bowls. If you’re looking for a chicken breast recipe, you might like to try my Gluten Free Cashew Chicken with Broccoli.

Rice: You can use any sort of rice in this recipe. I like to use long grain white rice, but you can use brown rice if you prefer. Just keep in mind that brown rice takes longer to cook and usually requires more water. You could also use instant packet rice for an even quicker solution. But if you have a rice cooker, cooking fresh rice is a breeze. I highly recommend buying one if you eat rice regularly like I do.

Black beans: I use canned black beans for convenience and buy brands that come in a BPA-free can. We warm them up in the pan used to fry the chicken so they get coated in the cooking juices for a boost of flavour.

Avocado: For the best guacamole, your avocado must be ripe. There’s nothing worse than hard lumps of avocado! If you can’t get a ripe avocado, I would just leave out the guacamole and add some grated cheese to the bowls instead.

Lime: Lime juice brings life to the guacamole and pico de gallo. Before cutting your lime, roll it on the bench by pressing down firmly and moving it forward and backwards. This helps to release the juices. If you can’t get limes, you could use lemon juice instead.

Tomato: Any ripe tomato will work in the pico de gallo. I like to use roma, vine or truss tomatoes. We remove the seeds and watery part of the tomato before chopping up the flesh because they’ll make the salsa too wet.

Red onion: I like to use red onion in the pico de gallo, but you could use white or brown onion if you prefer.

Jalapeño pepper: Remove the seeds and inner ribs from the jalapeño if you don’t want the pico de gallo too hot. Don’t touch your eyes after doing this and wash your hand well. If you want the salsa hotter, you can add some of the seeds or use serrano peppers (which are hotter). If you don’t want the salsa spicy at all, you can leave the jalapeño out completely.

Fresh coriander: Coriander is the traditional herb used for pico do gallo. If you don’t like coriander, you can use flat leaf parsley instead. When I made the bowls for the photos, I only had parsley and it still worked out well. If you have any leftover parsley, you might like to try my Parsley Pine Nut Pesto.

Pantry staples: This recipe uses quite a few seasonings in addition to the fresh ingredients to give lots of flavour. They are all staples that I keep in my pantry and use regularly – garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin, ground chilli, extra virgin olive oil and fine sea salt.