These easy vegetarian quinoa burrito bowls are the perfect recipe for meal prepping for lunch or dinner. Make five days' worth of nutritious and delicious food in less than 20 minutes!
I've honestly never really been a meal prep person. I tend to go with the flow and rustle something up for lunch or dinner based on what's in my fridge, but what I've noticed is that when I am crunched for time and feeling stressed, I don't end up making a very well-balanced meal.
So, when I started seeing all these meal prep recipes pop on Pinterest and videos on my Facebook feed, I got intrigued.
Would meal prep help ensure I'm eating balanced meals? Or is it going to take a ton of time and not be worth it?
The only way to answer that question was to give it a try!
I decided to start simple and go with a simple lunch option. I whipped up these vegetarian quinoa burrito bowls (based kind of off my 5-ingredient Mexican Quinoa), which ended up taking me less than 20 minutes!
And it resulted in 5 days' worth of meals that tasted great, were easily customizable, and saved well in the fridge.
What I Love About These Quinoa Burrito Bowls
- It only takes 20 minutes to make five days' worth of lunches or dinner
- You can customize your toppings each day
- Made with plant-based protein!
How to Make This Vegan Meal Prep Lunch
The base is a super simple quinoa salad that I've made hundreds of times; we start with cooked quinoa, add black beans, corn (fresh or frozen), chopped cilantro, spices, and lime juice. Lime juice is essential.
Then you stir that all together and serve it up! You can serve it warm or cold, but since we're making it as a meal prep recipe, I'd recommend doing this as a cold salad. If you'd like to eat your burrito bowl warmed-up, store your quinoa mixture separately from the greens and combine them after you have warmed the bowl.
The additions to my bowl are chopped romaine lettuce, a dollop of salsa, some sliced avocado, and a sprinkle more of cilantro.
Try our 7 Day Vegan Meal Plan
Do you currently meal prep? If so, what are some of your favorite recipes? If you're looking for a bit more meal prep inspiration, check out my 7-Day Vegan Meal Plan! Whether you are new to meal prepping or in a rut and looking for some new inspiration, I have got you covered! Check it out here!
More Meal Prep Recipes To Try:
- Meal Prep Quinoa Bowls with Spring Vegetables
- Fall Harvest Mason Jar Quinoa Salad
- Meal Prep Chipotle Tofu Quinoa Bowls
- Meal Prep Sesame Tofu Quinoa Bowls
- Buffalo Tofu Mason Jar Salads
- Meal Prep Balsamic Tempeh & Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Bowls
Meal-Prep Vegetarian Quinoa Burrito Bowls
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 15 oz can black beans, drained & rinsed
- 1 cup corn fresh or frozen
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 heads of romaine chopped
- 1/2 cup salsa divided
- 3 avocados halved (need 5 halves)
- Lime slivers optional
Instructions
- Prepare the quinoa salad by combining the quinoa, beans, corn, cilantro, spices and lime juice in a large bowl. Stir together until combined.
- Using 5 glass containers, add two cups of romaine, 1 1/2 cups of quinoa mixture, 1 - 2 tablespoons of salsa and 1/2 an avocado.*
- Garnish with lime wedges and a sprinkle more cilantro if desired. Seal containers and place in fridge for up to 5 days.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
this meal prep is absolutely delicious! i have been adding it to my meal prep rotation for months. so satisfying and tasty and so much flavor!
It is one of our top favorites!! I’m so glad you have enjoyed it 🙂
Thanks for this recipe. I love recipes like this that allow you to make foundation ingredients in advance to allow you to prep ingredients or use easily available ingredients. Much better than being at the mercy of whatever is in the cafeteria or the closest fast food restaurant ….and far cheaper.
I agree! I’m glad you find this recipe helpful, Mary 🙂
Worst recipe ever! Needs a complete rewrite. Also 3 cups of cooked quinoa? What is that before cooking? This is not a thought out recipe. Also where does cumin go?
I’m sorry you feel that way, Rich. This post is made with food prep in mind, which means you would already have a batch of quinoa made up for your week, and this recipe gives instructions on how to prep your bowls. As for the cumin, it is added in the first step with the other ingredients.
Can I use brown rice instead of quinoa
Sure!
Doesn’t the avocado go brown and disgusting??
I would recommend adding the avocado the day of!
How can I make this with less fat and carbs per serving?
Feel free to leave out the avocado and oil!
Made these bowls. Really good. I added more lime juice and some chipotle chili pepper. Quite yummy!
Sounds fabulous!
This was so good!! I did pretty much exactly what your recipe called except added a red onion to the quinoa salad! Added a little zing to it!
Love it! Thanks for sharing, Liz 🙂 xo
I made these bowls for meal prep a few days ago, along with your Golden Milk Energy Balls. Best meal prep ever! I’m eating a bowl right now and it is delicious, flavorful, and holds up well in the fridge for a long time. I will definitely be making them again!
YAY!!! I’m so glad you’re enjoying them 🙂 thank you!
Sounds perfect! How does the sliced avocado hold up in the fridge for five days?
I recommend slicing the avocado day of 🙂
What size dish do you recommend? Everything fit so neatly!!!
I like these from Pyrex: https://amzn.to/2KXTrh2
This sounds great! I’m vegetarian and trying to watch my carbs (it’s sooo easy when you don’t eat meat to replace it with bread and grains!). Do you think it would work to maybe sub half the quinoa for scrambled tofu or something similar?
I totally agree! And yes, that would work OR you could try using cauliflower rice!
I’ve just discovered your site and I’m in love. Thank you for all these vegan recipes! <3
Hooray! I’m so happy to have you here 🙂
This is the least time consuming meal prep! I still have my whole day ahead of me, which us fabulous. I love that it doesn’t have to be heated either. I am Lecturer and my husband is a polive officer and it is perfect for both of us. We feel light but full. Perfecto!
So glad you found it helpful, Justine!! There’s more meal prep coming your way, so stay tuned! xo
Where did you get your meal prep containers? I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. I find I get so tired of cooking by Friday that I often just skip lunch (so not good!) and I’m thinking Meal Prep is the answer.
I think it could be great for you! I get them on amazon 🙂 These are from Pyrex!
Love this thank you
You’re so welcome!
Alyssa, you are my new best friend!!! I tried the quinoa burrito bowl, which was a leap of faith for me. (I’d never had black beans before, and I’d never tried salsa as a replacement for salad dressing.)
The taste was amazing!!! So good! So, so,so, so very, very, very, very good!
Thank you for all your recipes and the wealth of information you share.
I’m seriously SOOOOO happy that you liked it, Jan! This comment is amazing! Keep on rocking it and let me know how you’re doing! xo
LOVE your blog & YouTube, Alyssa! Your content just gets better and better! Would love to see more posts like this ????
Aww thanks so much, Lucy! That means the world to me 🙂 And yes, definitely doing more meal prep content!
Thank you love the meal prep love to see more as well
Do you find that the avocado is completely brown by the end of the week? I find mine get brown even with lime juice. Love everything you do! Please keep it up!!
Yeah, I’d say slice them day of to make them last longer 🙂
Or, you can roll the halves completely in hemp seed to keep them green and add some protein in the process!
Sounds delicious!
I enjoyed watching your little video and the ease with which you prepare the separate portions, however, my appetite is strange. Whether it’s MS that I live with or the only two meds I take which if I learned affect my appetite, so preparing meals ahead of time isn’t always so great. I do make soups and sometimes if I have a soup already in leftover stage and have also prepared a casserole which is also leftover then I have two choices to choose from. I’ll see maybe will try this with leftovers of some sort sometime? Right now, did change one part of how I eat and that is chopped two small heads of cabbage red and green and several carrots putting some in veg drawer and the rest in freezer to use for soup. I can add some romaine to that and make a nice salad to eat more than once.
I think soups and casseroles are a great option when you don’t have a ton of time or just don’t feel like eating much.You can freeze your leftovers into individualized portions and it works great! xo
Love your meal prep video. Now to print it out…How do I print it out? I found the list at the bottom of the video, How do I print it?
Which recipe are you looking for?