One Pot Zucchini Rice Burrito Bowls

My garden is making me crazy. On the up side, I do have the garden and my two lovely zucchini plants to thank for this super easy, super yummy One Pot Zucchini Rice Burrito Bowl. So, there's that. But really, gardening is hard and if it weren't for the squash I'd be throwing my towel in at this point.

The zucchini is perfect. The Kabocha Squash plant is doing well and has some cute little kabochas growing. The Butternut Squash plant is huge and green and has lot's and lot's of blossoms, but no squash. It's a mystery.

The green beans are stressing me out. The plants are green and big and produce only a few green beans. I don't get it. I thought I'd have loads of green beans to can and freeze and eat, but really we're just eating a handful of beans every couple of days.

The tomatoes look great, but no tomatoes. All the herbs are fine, thank goodness. The cucumber plants kept disappearing (maybe a bird?) and I had to replant them so many times that at this point they are small and I don't know if we'll actually get any cucumbers or not before the season is over.

People, I just want to be like Soulemama and Aimee. It's so hard.

Perhaps I just need to stick with what's working for now. Spinach, Lettuce, and Zucchini.

But here's the thing: I planted zucchini plants because I knew they would grow easily and make me feel good about my gardening self, but I don't really love zucchini. I know, I know. And now I have an abundance of this vegetable that is kind of meh to me. However, since zucchini is what is working for me right now, I won't complain and I'm just looking for ways to use it and eat it and try to love it.

This One Pot Zucchini Rice Burrito Bowl is a success on all three counts. 

The pure genius of this recipe is its ability to use large quantities of zucchini that I can eat without really noticing that I'm eating them at all. The kids, who actually really like zucchini, were almost disappointed that you don't really taste it, but that was mostly the point for me. In the end, the kids have pronounced this recipe a delicious dinner and I heartily agree!

This is one healthy, veggie packed, simple burrito bowl. Everything is cooked together in one pot, so less mess and less clean up. It's also mighty tasty. We've been topping ours with guacamole and a bit of plain yogurt and eating it with chips on the side. Good stuff. As long as the zucchini keeps growing, this will remain on the weekly menu.

Note: I have had an abundance of good local corn on the cob, so I've been roasting that and adding it to the burrito bowl. For this to be a truly one pot meal, however, I have called for canned corn in the recipe. If you have fresh corn and want to add an extra step to the dinner prep, it does taste delicious. If you don't, the recipe still tastes great with the canned stuff.

Also, we've been eating this as a meal so we've added in chicken to make it heartier. If you wanted to use this as a really good Tex Mex Side Dish, you could easily leave out the chicken and eat the vegetarian version without sacrificing any of the delicious flavor.

Lastly, I used one jalapeno in this recipe. The final dish is mildly spicy - my kids still eat it, but they don't mind a bit of spice. If you want less spice, skip the jalapeno and maybe sub in mild green chiles instead. If you want more spice, well you know what to do - pile on that jalapeno!

Yield: 6

One Pot Zucchini Rice Burrito Bowls

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Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 ¾ cups broth
• 1 ½ cups long grain rice (I use basmati)
• 2 medium zucchini, grated
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 (15 oz) can corn, drained
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• ⅓ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Juice of one lime, plus 1 teaspoon zest
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a stock pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until browned on all sides, about 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and jalapeno and saute for 1 minute.
2. Add the broth and rice to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cover. Cook for 15 minutes, or until rice is fluffy and water is almost completely absorbed.
3. Stir in the zucchini, corn, tomatoes, and black beans. Cover and let cook for another 5 minutes or until water is absorbed and mixture is heated through. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice and zest and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Serve as is or top with burrito toppings - guacamole, sour cream, cheese, etc.

I adapted this One Pot Zucchini Rice Burrito Bowl from this delicious Zucchini Garlic Brown Rice recipe on Olga's Flavor Factory.