Spicy Sweet Potato and Green Rice Burrito Bowls
Healthy burrito bowls made with roasted sweet potato, green rice and black beans! This delicious, vegan dinner reheats well for lunch.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
Cookie and Kate are finally back in the kitchen. I still wasn’t feeling in the mood up until a couple of nights ago, when I spent a few hours cleaning out the cabinets and the refrigerator. Turns out, everyday cooking doesn’t need to involve avalanches of dried pasta. Organization is key.
The past few weeks of kitchen avoidance have been heavy with introspection. I want to say that I’ve come out on the other side with clarity and a renewed zest for life. (Every sad story needs a happy ending, right?) The truth is, I’m still just one sappy coffee shop love song away from another fit of tearful existential despair.
It’ll pass. In the meantime, I’m treating myself right with these burrito bowls. Roasted sweet potatoes, seasoned black beans and cilantro-spinach brown rice combine in one bowl for a cozy vegan dinner. Oven-toasted pumpkin seeds, avocado and salsa verde make it totally irresistible.
More reasons to love this dish? You’ll have enough time while the sweet potatoes and rice cook to clean the kitchen before dinner’s ready. Oh, and these bowls reheat well for lunch, too. Burrito bowls for the win!
Watch How to Make Sweet Potato and Green Rice Bowls
Please don’t be intimidated by the length of the recipe—it’s pretty basic stuff. All you do is blend up the green rice seasonings and toast the rice before cooking it as usual. Roast some sweet potatoes, toast some seeds and warm some beans. Then you arrange it all in a bowl and make it look pretty. Or not. I assure you that my leftovers won’t look as pretty as shown here.
If you’re craving more spicy sweet potato recipes after this, check out my sweet potato burritos and tacos. Leftover green rice would be great in my kale and avocado burrito bowl, too. Lastly, don’t miss the burrito bowl recipe and sweet potato enchiladas in my cookbook!
Le Creuset 3 1/2-Quart Cast Iron French Oven
Wusthof 7-Inch Santoku Knife
Blendtec blender
▸ For more of my favorite cooking tools, shop my healthy kitchen!
Spicy Sweet Potato and Green Rice Burrito Bowls
Healthy burrito bowls made with roasted sweet potato, green rice and black beans! This delicious, vegan dinner reheats well for lunch. Recipe yields 4 servings.
Ingredients
Green rice
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ cups long grain brown rice
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 ½ cup baby spinach, lightly packed
- ½ cup cilantro (mostly leaves, stems are ok), lightly packed
- 1 jalapeño or serrano pepper, seeded, membranes removed and roughly chopped
- 1 medium shallot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove, peeled, roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt, more to taste
Sweet potatoes
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes (3 to 4 medium sweet potatoes), peeled and sliced into 1-inch chunks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
Seasoned black beans
- 2 cans (14 ounces each) black beans or 3 cups cooked black beans, with their cooking liquid
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar or lime juice
- Fine salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Additional garnishes
- ¼ cup pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
- ¼ teaspoon olive oil
- 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
- Jarred mild salsa verde
- Chopped cilantro
- Crumbled feta (optional, not vegan)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line one large, rimmed baking sheet and one smaller sheet with parchment paper. Place the spinach, cilantro, jalapeño, shallot, garlic, salt and ½ cup of the vegetable broth in a food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat until shimmering. Add the rice and stir to coat. Spread the rice in an even layer on the bottom of the pot and let the rice lightly brown. This happens quickly! When the rice starts to brown, stir it and spread it out in an even layer again so that more of the rice browns.
- When most of the rice has lightly browned, scrape the green purée into the rice. Stir until the rice is evenly coated with green purée and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for a minute. Add the rest of the vegetable broth to the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cover the pot. Cook the rice on a very low simmer until tender, 35 to 40 minutes.
- While the rice cooks, toss the sweet potatoes in the olive oil, smoked paprika and salt until the sweet potatoes are evenly coated in oil. Arrange in a single layer on your prepared baking sheet. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, tossing halfway, until the sweet potatoes are tender and caramelizing at the edges.
- Meanwhile, transfer the beans and their cooking liquid (don’t drain the beans) to a medium pot. Stir in the cumin and chili powder and warm over medium heat. Once the beans are simmering, cover the beans and reduce heat to maintain a very gentle simmer until you’re ready to serve.
- Once the rice is done cooking, remove the pot from heat. Uncover the pot and place a clean tea towel over the pot, then recover. The towel will help absorb excess liquid as the rice continues to cook in its own steam. (If you don’t have a clean towel, you can skip this step, just cover normally.) Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Once the sweet potatoes are done cooking, toss the pepitas with ¼ teaspoon olive oil and a sprinkle of salt on the small baking sheet. Toast the seeds in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes, until they’re turning lightly golden and making little popping noises. Set aside to cool.
- Fluff the rice with a fork and season with salt if necessary. Remove beans from heat, stir in the vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Assemble your bowls: First add green rice, then use a slotted spoon or fork to transfer beans to the bowls. Top with sweet potatoes and add a few slices of avocado to each bowl. Sprinkle with toasted pepitas and cilantro and optional feta. Serve with salsa verde on the side.
Notes
Green rice adapted from Simply Recipes. Burrito bowls inspired by my sweet potato and black bean tacos.
Change it up: I think butternut squash would be great in place of the sweet potato! You could also substitute another grain for the rice, although you’ll need to adjust the cooking method and amount of liquid for said grain.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was by far my favorite recipe I’ve tried from this site — The green spiciness of the rice combined with the sweetness of the sweet potato was just perfect!
Woohoo, thanks Alejandra!
My husband did not want to eat this, but after eating stated that this recipe is a keeper. Delicious! Thanks for your excellent recipes!
I made this recipe this weekend and it was superb! My son told me it was the best thing I have made yet!
Great flavour combinations! My husband (who doesn’t believe any meal is complete without meat) said it was one of the best things he’s eaten. Will definitely be making again.
WOW! This was fantastic. The green rice was phenomenal. I didn’t make the pepitas (allergies) but topped it with crushed tortilla chips for crunch, and I also sautéed two small chopped/seasoned chicken breasts since we aren’t vegetarian. This recipe was so tasty and made ample leftovers, so it was definitely worth the extra time/dishes.
This is such a great recipe! The green rice added so much flavor and was a great way to sneak some spinach into my two year old. Thanks for giving us another dinner to add into the rotation!
My family and I loved this recipe!
I got going on this recipe too late in the evening and so limited my serving size to a small cereal bowl… And wow… Was it fabulous!!! Kate, you are a master at combining textures, tastes, colors and smells! I really wasn’t very sure about how it was going to turn out and now I am not sure why I ever doubted. The packaging on my brown basmati rice said to rinse well before using so I did and drained as much water as I could, then browned it. Perhaps because of this or because my green sauce was runnier than what yours appeared to be, the rice was wetter. (It absorbed all the liquid but was not fluffy.) It didn’t matter. Thank you for the recipe; don’t know how you consistently score 10’s every time! So very well done! Can’t wait until your recipe book comes out!
I’ve made this dish twice now and I love it! But struggling to get the rice right! Even after cooking it for upto an hour it’s still hard and crunchy not soft at all. Any tips??
Hmmm, I’m sorry to hear that! It might just be your bag of rice. Toasting it for too long before adding liquids also seems to stretch out the cooking time later. I’d try simmering it at a slightly higher temperature next time and see if that does the trick.
This recipe is unbelievably good, as is your entire blog. Since discovering it a few months ago, I now make at least one of your recipes every week. Your blog is the first vegetarian blog I’ve ever found that consistently delivers delicious recipes. Forget Moosewood- I can’t wait for your cookbook!
Omg! I’m a meat eater, but lately I’ve become very aware that I’m eating, well – flesh
Anyways, I’ve been wanting to try to eat vegetarian to see if I can “survive” without meat. First step: burgers (found a recipe that I will eat over meat burgers ANY DAY!)
Second step: Mexican food. Tried this recipe, and even without the salsa verde, feta and cilantro (topping) this tastes AMAZING! All the different flavors, I never knew what I was missing from my life!
This vegetarian thing might not be so bad after all;)
Recommend everyone to try it out, I’m guessing it tastes like a little piece of heaven if you actually manage to get all the ingredients included in the recipe .
YUMMMMM
Made this one tonight, it’s fabulous!! Love your recipes Kate!
This is some good kush
I’ve made this recipe a dozen or more times and it is just phenomenal. So healthy, so satisfying, and the flavors are subtle and delicious! This is my husband’s favorite meal. THANK YOU for the recipe. It is so great :)
This is a DELICIOUS recipe! I’ve been making variations of it for the past few months and can’t get enough. The green rice is amazing – can be used for regular burritos as well. I mix up what I put in the bowl with it (or the burritos) and it’s new and just as tasty every time! Thanks so much for the recipe x
I made this last night, and my fiancé and I both loved it!!
I made the delicious burrito bowls for lunch today and they were amazing! Great combination of textures and flavors. So happy to have stumbled across your blog!
this recipe has become one of my favorite for lunches!
Awesome!
I made this tonight for dinner and loved it. Thanks for the recipe! Any idea what the nutrition/calorie info is per serving?
Hey, Lindsay – glad you enjoyed it! I don’t have that information just yet, but we’re actively working on a solution.
Just made this dish for dinner and wow! Sooo delicious and was a huge hit!
:) This makes me happy!
This is a great recipe! One of my favorite flavor profiles. I accidentally used cayenne in the beans instead of chili powder but was able to remedy that by adding sour cream to the kid’s bowls (they are 5 and 8). The husband thoroughly enjoyed this too and we are looking forward to having leftovers tomorrow (it made a ton!). Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed, Kylie! & happy your remedy worked out :)
This is a wonderful recipe. My husband ate this and said “I wouldn’t mind having this once a week” and my daughter agreed. Me too!! Thank you.
:) YES! Love hearing when a dish makes it into regular rotation. Thanks, Gwen!
I made this the other night and it was amazing. Very flavorful. I admit that at first read, the recipe looked really time-consuming. But once I got started, everything flowed very easily. Definitely making this again!
Glad to hear this one proved worth the effort! Thank you for letting me know, Liz.
This was really delicious! I used butternut squash instead of the sweet potato and it came out great. The cilantro and spinach is a really nice update to my usual brown rice and black bean combo, this will definitely become a regular dish in our house!
Oh, so glad to hear it!
Never had a favorite food until now..
Yay!
I totally agree. This is my favourite too!!
I just made this today and I am in heaven. It is a beautiful recipe and everything turned out phenomenal. Thank you for this beautiful blog. You certainly know how to spread love and kindness through your passion.
Thanks again!! ❤❤
You’re welcome, Sarah! Thanks for such a nice comment, I appreciate it.
I made this last night for my mom for dinner. It was so good! The combination of flavors was absolutely stunning! It will become one of my regular recipes.
Wonderful! Thanks, Michele.
I made this for dinner tonight and it was SO good! This will become one of my standards.
Great, Erin! Thanks.
This was so, so good! My husband I are dipping our toes into eating less meat and this was a meal that really felt like we weren’t giving anything up. Thank you! The rice is my favorite!
Oh, I’m so glad this could help you phase some meat out! Thanks, Molly.
I made this for dinner the other day and it was delicious! The only changes I made were using chicken broth and draining the beans. I think next time I will dice the sweet potatoes smaller so that it feels like there are more of them – I love sweet potatoes! I’ll also make the servings smaller next time too – dividing it up into 4 servings was more than we could eat. I think 6 would be about right, or even 8 if we were going to serve it with some sides or a salad. Thanks for such a tasty, healthy meal!
Thank you, Michelle! Sounds like this was a hit.
I agree – I got 7 lunch size portions out of the recipe!
I just got an instant pot and wanted to try the green rice in that. I made this recipe previously and it was great! Any ideas on how to modify the rice recipe for the instant pot?
Not just yet, Susie! I haven’t experimented very much with my instant pot and how I can adjust my recipes over to it. Maybe someone else here in the comments has tried it?
This became one of my family’s favorite dishes. I’ve been making it many times now. I also served it for a dinner party of 12 guests recently. Adults and kids loved it. It’s ideal to prepare ahead, and fun to put together at the table. It looks delicious and tastes great. Thank you, Kate!
Wonderful, Karin! I’m so glad this is great for both large and small crowds.
yum! made this ahead to bring for lunches – super tasty! next time i’ll add more heat to both the sweet potatoes and green sauce, though
Great! I hope next time they are spicy enough for you. :)
I just made this and it’s so freakin’ delicious! I’m not vegan but am trying to eat more meatless meals – so great! Thank you.
Great! I’m glad this helped you with your goals, Lauren.
I love finding recipe writers who know what they are doing! Your instructions for kale salad were so good l was inspired to try this bowl recipe. Spiralizing sweet potatoes has made me an avid fan, & the green rice idea was too intriguing to pass up. I made the bowl as written using a fresh batch of home made veggie stock. It turned out a delicious, multi textured & colored treat for the eyes & palate. l am not usually a fan of Mexican flavors but this recipe is a brilliant exception!
Oh, awesome! I’m so glad this exceeded expectations for you, Jan.
This is one of my favorite dishes of all time! The first time I made it, my 19-year-old daughter said – ‘Mom, this stuff is like crack’. Not that she’d know…..haha. Wonderful flavors, healthy….it’s got it all. Absolutely loved this.
Haha! I’ll take that as a compliment. ;) So glad the two of you enjoyed it.
This was absolutely DELICIOUS! I may add some more spice to the green sauce next time, because I love spicy food, but everything was amazing!
Great! And yes, always adjust it to your tastes.
These bowls were super yummy! It took me much longer than 20 minutes to prep all those sweet potatoes though – I must be a slow chopper.
I’m glad you enjoyed them, Mallory!
Tried this recipe out last week. It looked and tasted as delicious as the pics above!
I’ve recently decided to drastically decrease my meat consumption and I can tell that this website will be a ‘go-to’ resource for new recipe ideas. Great commentary, clear instructions, and tasty results. Thanks C+K!
I’m so glad my blog has been helpful in decreasing your meat consumption, Traci! That’s really wonderful.
We love this recipe! Defiantly a family favorite :) Thank you!
You’re welcome, Emily!
This was the first vegan recipe that I have ever attempted. It was delicious! Thanks.
You’re welcome, Debbie!
Hi Kate! Love this recipe. It was all perfect, but my beans still had most of their liquid by the end of their cooking time and when I turned up the heat and uncovered them to get rid of the liquid they all stuck together and went a bit gloopy. Is there something I can do to stop that? Looking forward to making this again :)
WOW. Can I just say I don’t know what I love more? The deliciousness of this recipe or the photography? (JK. This food looks amazing!) My husband and I are toying around with the idea of becoming vegetarians for all the reasons you mentioned in your book (which I just purchased). THANK YOU for making such amazing, wholesome foods available for us to help make our bodies healthier and also making the world a better place for all animals, ourselves included :)
I’m not sure how exactly I happened upon your blog, but I’m so glad I did. This was the first recipe I tried, and it seemed too easy to be delicious…but I was wrong. The green rice recipe is something I keep making over and over with other dishes as a side.
I’m so glad you found the blog, too! I love that green rice, it goes with everything.
Green rice is my new favorite food. Seriously, so good! And yet another recipe my 1.5 year old daughter devoured. Thanks!
YES it’s so addicting!
We’ve been vegetarians almost one year and this recipe is without a doubt one of our absolute FAVORITES. Thank you, Kate!
You’re welcome, Adrienne! And happy vegi-versary. :)
OUTSTANDING! 3 out of 4 of us at dinner tonight are not vegetarian/vegan. I will be making this recipe again and again. So healthy and so delicious! The only change I made was that I used organic basmati rice instead of the brown long grain. I rinsed my basmati rice a couple of times to remove the excess starch. I did have to use extra vegetable broth with this type of rice. The taste was superb.
I prepared the sweet potatoes a couple of hours in advance, kept them covered and quickly reheated them.
The recipe looks a little tedious when you first read it, but it is actually really easy.
Thanks so much! I will be trying your vegetarian chili recipe next!!
This recipe was *amazing*!
We aren’t vegetarians, but I do enjoy making healthy meals and am incorporating more vegetarian meals in my cooking (dragging my husband along :D).
I made this tonight, exactly as written (but no cilantro, thankyouverymuch) and we both loved it! The spices were perfect—interesting and so flavorful. I used one large sweet potato and one can of organic black beans for the two of us and it was very satisfying. My husband really enjoyed it.
I will absolutely be making this again and am going to check out other recipes on your site.
I’m so glad this turned out so great, Jules. Let me know which other recipes you try!
We had your red curry tonight and it was excellent. My husband loved it. Thankfully he enjoys different cuisines and likes to try new things.
Absolutely amazing and my 8-year-old loves it, too! Cheers
My husband and I have taken turns making this recipe, for ourselves and for friends. It is always a big hit! We add fresh spicy red salsa on top and alternate between using tortillas and tortilla chips on the side. Thank you for posting this recipe!