Carne Asada Bowl
In the age of not eating out I’ve been trying to come up with some copy-cat recipes that are family friendly. My family loves mexican food and today’s post is my attempt to copy Chipotle’s burrito bowls, specifically the carne asada steak bowl. My son and husband love meat, but I prefer to meatless meals. With this carne asada bowl recipe you can let each person in your family choose their own ingredients.
My biggest stumbling block in cooking meat is that I tend to under-season. Does anyone else feel like this? To help with this I’ve been using MANY of Trader Joe’s ready-to-cook meats. These are the greatest! This is the best way I have found to make a carne asada burrito bowl with that delicious carne asada marinade. I’ve posted before about how delicious their Spatchcocked chicken is and today I’m using their Carne Asada.
Carne Asada is made from one of those cuts of beef that tastes best if it marinades for quite a while. It’s typically made from flank steak or sirloin. This step is done for you if you use these prepackaged meats and marinade ingredients. One note of caution, these are not a good option for anyone who is watching their sodium intake.
This recipe requires lots of chopping if you want to have a lot of vegetable options, but otherwise the meal prep is pretty easy.
You can cook your carne asada in a cast iron skillet. Another great option is to use an outdoor grill. it seems the choice of toppings is endless. If you are looking for a meatless bowl you can make a rice bowl with cilantro rice, cilantro lime rice, brown rice or white rice. You could also try cauliflower rice or start with a bed of lettuce. The choice of topping is endless. You can add pinto beans or black beans. When it comes to vegetables, add your favorites. I like to add red onions, green onions, red bell peppers, corn, tomatoes and even mushrooms. If you want to add serious mexican flavors you can make homemade pico de gallo with mexican oregano and fresh cilantro with fresh lime juice. Top it off with monterey jack cheese, pepper jack cheese or cotija cheese for a fiesta of flavors.
Carne Asada Bowl
This meal is a mix and match dinner that's easy. It can be gluten free and vegetarian if that's what you choose.
- – 1 package of Trader Joe’s Carne Asada
- – 1 package of Trader Joe’s frozen jasmine rice (this is such a quick way to get perfectly cooked rice)
- – 15 oz can pinto beans
- – Red Bell Pepper
- – Yellow Onion
- – 3 ears of corn
- – Bunch of cilantro
- – Lime
- – 2 cloves of garlic
- – Mushrooms (optional)
- – Romaine lettuce (optional)
- – 1 Tablespoon of butter
- – 2 teaspoons of olive oil
- Start with chopping before I start to cook anything.
- 1. Clean your corn husks (if you’re using fresh corn) and cut the corn off the cob.
- 2. Chop Onion and peppers into strips
- 3. Chop romaine lettuce and cilantro
- Now for the cooking. I cook everything in a different pan but you could easily cook this all in one pan if you want to do one step at a time.
- 1. Pop the bag of rice in the microwave and cook according to the instructions. I love the pre-cooked rice because it’s so fast, easy and perfectly cooked.
- 2. When the rice is cooked stir in the juice from 1/2 lime, salt and cilantro.
- 3. Heat butter in a skillet and add chopped corn, salt and pepper. Saute for around 8-10 minutes.
- 4. Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add garlic, onions and peppers. Cook for 5 minutes and then add mushrooms (if you choose to). Season with salt and pepper.
- 5. Heat a skillet to high. I spray the pan with a little bit of coconut oil since it has a higher smoke point. Add the carne asada to the pan. Cook to taste, around 3-5 minutes per side. When It’s cooked set it on a cutting board. Let it rest for a few minutes and then chop into bite sized pieces.
- 6. Heat pinto beans through on the stove or in the microwave
- 7. Assemble bowls by letting each person add in what they want.
This can be a vegetarian meal, it can be grain free, paleo or keto depending on what you add. You could add cheese for more deliciousness (but we don’t).
This looks WAY better than Chipotle! I would come to your kitchen and order this any time! YUM!
This sounds amazing, and I cannot wait to try it. I love bowls because everyone can adapt what they want in them too.