Meatless meals can be bland and leave one feeling jipped. These Chipotle Veggie Burritos are the antitheses of bland and unsatisfying – they’re stuffed with flavorful and healthful ingredients, and using chipotle chile powder lends a smoky uniqueness. There are three truly delicious components involved here: you start out by cooking rice in a simmering mixture of cilantro, garlic, (water), and chipotle chile powder. The second component is black bean soup with spinach. The third is a salsa of corn, tomato, lime, and more cilantro & chipotle chile powder. Wrap it all up with some pepper jack cheese in a soft tortilla and you’ve got yourself a really fantastic burrito… and you won’t even notice there’s no meat.
Tips (unsponsored): we use the Sam’s Choice brand Spicy Black Bean Soup from Walmart, as well as canned fire-roasted corn from Walmart.
These aren’t extremely low-calorie. To make these a bit more healthful, loose the cheese and tortilla and have a lettuce wrap or bowl. You could also ditch the rice and cheese and enjoy the black bean and salsa mixtures in a smaller tortilla.
Have your kids help you dump, mix, and layer ingredients. As you prepare and enjoy this meal with those you love, teach them a few things about the ingredients:
- Black beans are helpful if you have diabetes because they are high in fiber and help keep the sugars in your blood at healthy levels.
- Spinach is high in vitamin K, which helps your bones stay healthy.
- Corn has a lot of lutein, which is great for your eyes.
Let’s celebrate burritos by learning a few things about Mexico and it’s people:
- People LOVE soccer in Mexico. Like a lot.
- Children usually have 2 last names – their father’s last name plus their mother’s.
- A traditional food, called tamales (a dough made of corn flour and filled, usually with meat and spices), are steamed in corn husks.
From: Chipotle Veggie Burritos
- 1 bunch cilantro, chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon chipotle chile powder, plus more to taste
- Kosher salt
- 1 cup white rice
- 1 15 -ounce can black bean soup (preferably spicy)
- 1 10 -ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 2 cups frozen corn (preferably fire-roasted), thawed
- 1 large tomato, diced
- Juice of 1 lime
- 4 burrito-size flour tortillas
- 2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese (about 8 ounces)
- Puree all but 3 tablespoons cilantro with 2 cups water, the garlic, chile powder and ¾ teaspoon salt in a blender until smooth. Transfer to a medium saucepan along with the rice and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low; cover and cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 18 minutes. Uncover, stir and let cool 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring the black bean soup to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and cook until the liquid is slightly reduced, about 3 minutes. Stir in the spinach and return to a simmer. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.
- Toss the corn, tomato, lime juice, the reserved 3 tablespoons cilantro, ½ teaspoon salt, and chile powder to taste in a large bowl.
- Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet or in the microwave. Divide the rice, bean mixture and cheese among the tortillas; top with some of the corn salsa. Fold up the bottoms of the tortillas, then fold in the sides and roll up. Serve with the remaining corn salsa.
