One of my favorite dinners from my childhood was a big bowl of rice, black beans, salsa, and cheese, or what I call “Poor Man’s Burrito Bowls.” Looking back I don’t know if that was our dinner because we couldn’t afford more, or if my mom didn’t have the energy to make something more complicated, but either way I loved that meal. It’s only a few ingredients, it’s super inexpensive, but somehow still so filling and so delicious!
Why “Poor Man’s” Burrito Bowls?
In the age of Chipotle, when burrito bowls have become layers upon layers of fancy meats, creamy dressings, and crunchy tortilla strips, I’m scaling it back to the basics. No frills, no fancy ingredients, just the bare bones. The only ingredients you absolutely need to feel full and satisfied. And somehow, despite its simplicity, these super basic burrito bowls still make me so happy that my feet wiggle.
Add In Your Leftovers!
Another reason I love these Poor Man’s Burrito Bowls is because it’s a great “sweep the kitchen” meal, or a meal that is versatile enough that you can add in all sorts of leftovers you might have hanging out in your fridge or pantry. Here are some other ingredients that you can add, if you have them on hand, and they need to be used up:
- Cowboy Caviar
- Sour cream
- Roasted vegetables (zucchini, bell peppers, onions)
- Frozen corn
- Crushed tortilla chips
- Lime crema
- Avocado
- Pickled red onion
- Cilantro
- Tomato
- Rotisserie chicken
- Ground beef
- Carnitas (I make big batches of this and then stash some in the freezer)
See? You can go as simple or as fancy as you want, but the “Poor Man’s” version, with just rice, beans, cheese, and salsa is all the deliciousness I need. This time around I also added green onion and jalapeño because I seem to always have extras of those in the fridge. :)
Can You Freeze Burrito Bowls?
Yes! These burrito bowls freeze great, so you can fix up a bunch and stash them in the freezer, cheese and all, for busy weeknights. As with any rice dish, it’s important that they are divided and cooled immediately after cooking. Once they are cooled completely in the refrigerator, you can transfer them to the freezer for long term storage.
Poor Man’s Burrito Bowls
Servings 6Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked long grain white rice ($1.32)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 2 15oz. cans black beans ($0.98)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1 16oz. jar salsa ($2.37)
- 6 oz. shredded cheese* ($1.27)
- 1 bunch green onions ($0.89)
- 1 jalapeño (optional) ($0.15)
Instructions
- Add the rice, salt, and 3 cups water to a medium sauce pot. Place a lid on top, turn the heat on to high, and allow the water to come up to a full boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let it continue to simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it sit, with the lid in place, for an additional five minutes. Fluff just before serving.
- While the rice is cooking, make the beans. Add both cans of black beans (undrained) to a small sauce pot, along with the cumin, and garlic powder. Heat over medium, stirring often, until heated through.
- Slice the green onions and jalapeño (if using).
- Once the rice is cooked, build the bowls. Add one cup cooked rice, 1/2 cup warm black beans, 1/3 cup salsa, and 1 oz. shredded cheese (about 1/4 cup) to each bowl. Top with a few sliced green onions and jalapeños, then serve.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Poor Man’s Burrito Bowls – Step by Step Photos
Begin the rice first because everything else will be finished by the time the rice is done cooking. Add 2 cups long grain white rice, 1/2 tsp salt, and 3 cups water to a sauce pot. Place a lid on top and turn the heat on to high. Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let it rest, with the lid in place, for an additional five minutes. Finally, fluff with a fork.
While the rice is cooking, season and heat the beans. Add two 15 oz. cans of black beans (undrained) to a sauce pot along with 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp garlic powder. Heat over medium, stirring often, until heated through.
Slice a bunch of green onions and one jalapeño (optional). You’ll also need about 6 oz. (weight) shredded cheese (about 1.5 cups).
Then it’s time to build the burrito bowls! Add about 1 cup rice, 1/2 cup beans, and 1/2 cup salsa to each bowl.
Then add about 1 oz. (1/4 cup) shredded cheese, sliced green onion, and sliced jalapeño (if desired). Enjoy!
The heat from the hot rice and beans will usually be enough to melt the cheese, once stirred.
I made this last night as specified (except that I used canned beans) and it was a HUGE success. The kids even brought leftovers to school for lunch. I’m going to double this one the next time I make it.
I made something similar to this recently with another ingredient that’s cheap this time of year- sweet potatoes! I chopped one up, cooked the pieces ahead of time by boiling them, then tossed them in the pan with everything else I had. Whatever you call them, I have yet to find a dish that’s a variation on rice and beans that’s not absolutely delicious. :)
This was a college staple for me! I’d mostly-cook a sweet potato in the microwave, cube it up, and toss it in a skillet with some beans (and maybe even some corn, onion, etc.) I’d even substitute sour cream for the cheese most of the time, which makes it a bit cheaper. This is great in a bowl, as burrito filling, etc..
Another great recipe. I added sliced black olives and avocado chunks. No one even missed the meat.
The ”poor man’s” name, considering that this is the September challenge month, made me a bit uncomfortable… But to be fair, it’s highly possible that as a person born in poverty and who only just started approaching middle class, this is my inferiority complex speaking. The recipe looks so good, but the name left a bad taste in my mouth. :/
I totally understand. I actually wondered if anyone might be offended by it, but in the end I kept the name because I don’t find being “poor” or in poverty as a judgement on someone’s character. :) I’ve been “poor” and I know many “poor” people who are quite happy and wonderful human beings. I guess I mainly wanted a way to differentiate this very “simple” burrito bowl from the complex monstrosities that you find at places like Chipotle, and when I was poor everything I did was more simple and no-frills, like this bowl. Sorry for the offense and please know that it was not used with any sort of negative connotation.
Currently on food stamps (hope to be off soon). My family is considered poor. The name didn’t bother me at all. Actually I like it. It makes me feel less guilty about making something like this because it just sounds inexpensive but tastes expensive.
As someone who grew up with little money and two siblings, I understand that certain conditions affect people differently – even in the same family. I embrace recipes titled “poor-man’s” anything. For me, it marks a creative approach despite lack of resources. I know the stigma of growing up poor – it’s not “hip”. As an adult, my husband and I were unemployed at the same time and signed up with our food bank. It changed my life, as I am now in school for nutrition to help people with little money eat healthfully. As Beth said: being poor is not a judgement of character. Shit happens to so many of us. Anyway, my favorite food bank staples that I never used before: canned fruit (peach and pineapple buckle), powdered milk (I don’t’ drink milk, but it stays in the fridge for whenever you need it for baking/soups, whatever) and my favorite: potato flakes! (look up recipe for “Poor man’s peirogies”!) Jacques Pepin uses potato flakes all the time! Yes, I prefer local, fresh, and organic. We get that when we can, and sign petitions against Monsanto and factory farms until we are all allowed healthy, affordable food. I’m going to fight the good fight! Thank you for fighting too, Beth!
Thanks for this comment; I had the same reaction.
Don’t forget to plant the ends of the green onions…they will grow back and then you have more for free. (I do this all the time with certain food items. Onions are the easiest though.)
Are you planting just the root? Or the roots with bulbs? Or? This sounds like an amazing tip for my windowsill this winter.
You chop it off just above the bulbs and plant. We do this and the taste tends to mellow out a little the more you do it, but you can just keep cutting off what you need and re-growing.
You can also plop them in a cup of water on a windowsill and let them grow in there.
I plant the root end with a little bit of bulb.
Also, if your garlic cloves start to grow, plant them to get garlic scapes (which are lighter in taste than garlic in clove form but can be used in place of green onion).
Ginger is also easy to regrow.
Lookup “Foods you can regrow from kitchen scraps” for more info.
Oh, man – awesome tips, even in the comments! :)
I seek out and embrace recipes that are called “Poor Man’s” anything, because there’s a good chance that I’ll be able to afford it. And to have it be one of my favorites is a big bonus.
Thanks, Beth and commenters! I’ve been unemployed for most of the past 7 years and surviving by grace. I don’t know how I could’ve made it this far without these cost-cutting recipes and tips.
I made a burrito bowl with your slow cooker chicken ropa vieja a couple days ago! It was so tasty!
I started making this sort of thing in college, with shredded chicken and sometimes quinoa instead of rice if we had any. Sooo cheap and delicious, and I usually don’t have to go out and buy anything. Definitely making this for dinner tonight
Love me some burrito bowls. One of my favorite cheap toppings that makes rice and beans feel fancy is homemade pickled red onions or jalapenos! They are soooo simple and cheap to make and really make the dish pop. You can find recipes online just about anywhere and adjust it to your liking.
Yaassss, I love those! I actually have a recipe on the blog for them. So easy and I could eat the entire batch! :D
Made this for supper last night and had it for lunch today (and tomorrow too, probably!). My only “this is missing” was some kind of crunch — the beans and rice and salsa make for a rather monotone texture. Maybe the green onions would have helped? (I forgot them.) Next time I will add a few extras to help the texture, maybe some onions cooked with the beans, and frozen corn. I also have some old tortillas I need to make into chips, I bet that would be tasty here too :)
Some lettuce might be good too, if you want to try varying the texture. Especially the spines of romaine lettuce leaves!
I vote for tortilla chips. They would be amazing in it and give a lot of crunch. :)
Love this concept, easy way to put a weeks worth of healthy lunches together we not much more effort of preparing one. I always drain & rinse my beans though so I added the spices to the water I cooked the rice in.
I made this tonight with leftover quinoa. I used canned beans (rinsed) with the species and a drop of olive oil. It was really really good. Bonus is that I used reduced fat cheese :)
spices – sorry for typo !!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was excellent. Thanks for the idea!
Super excited to try this recipe. Beth, every recipe I have made of yours has always been a hit! :)
The cool thing is, it’s easy to find coupons on coupons.com, coupons.walmart.com, or grocery weekly ads for Kraft blocks of cheese. Hey, $0.75 is $0.75.
There isn’t a lot of taste in these, but they do in a pinch. If your eggs are $4 for a dozen, adding one egg with up the serving price by about $0.33. If you can get 18 for $4, it’s less than $0.25.
If you can get rice for $1/lb or less at either something like an Asian grocery store, Aldi’s, or just in 20-50 lb bulk, you won’t be paying anything near $1 for 6 cups rice (2 cups uncooked, 320 grams, or about 3/4 pound). $1.06 for 2 cups is finding rice around $1.50/lb.
If you find rice at $1/lb you could add an egg and keep the cost about the same.
That’s good information, and thank you for sharing it!!! :-)
If I’m using the dry cooked beans that I froze do I add water and if so how much?
I used beans that I had cooked from dry and frozen, but I froze them in the cooking water/liquid. If you drained them first, you can add a little water, but not too much because it won’t be nice and thick and starchy like that cooking water (or liquid in a can) is. Just enough to distribute the spices and help the beans heat evenly.