Homemade Chipotle Recipe

If you don’t have a meal plan, or only have a partial meal plan, planning meals can be tough. Yeah, usually you’ll order food or find your way to the Stag Snack Bar or the Daniel and Grace Tully Dining Commons, but what happens when you have a craving for Chipotle and don’t feel like going to get it? Make it yourself! If you live in the townhouses or in a beach house, you’re living with roommates, so you can all cook this Chipotle-style dinner together.

Here’s what you need for a great imitation Chipotle for two to four people:

• 1 box of Zatarain’s Cilantro-Lime Rice

• 5- 10 oz of lettuce (1- 2 boxes )— can use iceberg, spring mix or baby lettuce
• 4-5 medium-sized tomatoes

• 1 cucumber
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic or 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt (a pinch)
• ¼ teaspoon of pepper

• 5 oz ground beef, pork, turkey
• 1 can of beans, red or black

• 1/2 cup of chicken broth or water

For guacamole:

• 2 mashed avocados
• 1-2 teaspoons of lemon or lime juice
• 1 pinch of salt and pepper
• ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder

1. First, cut your lettuce into small pieces. Dice two tomatoes and a peeled cucumber.
2. Put all of your chosen ingredients into bowls. Next, place a small amount of olive oil on a skillet. Heat the skillet at medium-low heat.
3. Then, cut the onion into medium size pieces, or whatever size pieces you like the best for your meal. Begin cooking the chopped onion on the frying pan.
4. Once the onion is semi-translucent — shining, but not browned— add 1 piece of the crushed garlic or ½ tsp. garlic powder.
5. Add your meat to the frying pan. Turn the heat up to medium-high. Use a wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula to break up and turn the ground meat as it cooks.
6. While your meat is cooking, begin cooking the rice (Zatarain’s or plain rice, if you prefer). For Zatarain’s, follow the instructions on the packet and you’ll be good — I would recommend using 3/4 of the seasoning packet as more makes it too salty. For regular rice, follow the instructions on the container as well.
7. Drain the canned beans and cook in a separate frying pan. Add a clove of garlic (or a teaspoon of garlic powder).
8. Once the meat has browned, add the chicken broth (or water). This is important and is the key to the Chipotle flavor. Turn the heat up to high, wait until it boils, then quickly cover the skillet with a lid and lower the heat so that it simmers.
9. Once all of the chicken broth has simmered out, begin constructing your Chipotle bowls. For each bowl, place the rice on the bottom, meat on top, and cover with your tomatoes and cucumber mix and any other extras you may wish to have (i.e. guacamole).
10. Enjoy your food!