11 Burrito Bowl Tricks That'll Make Dinner Taste Better Than Chipotle

There's nothing like a good bowl-based meal. But you don't have to head to your local Chipotle to get a delicious burrito bowl. This is actually one of the easiest dishes to make at home, since you're really just putting different elements together in one bowl and mixing them together. And although it's pretty simple to pull off a basic burrito bowl, we prefer versions that feel a bit more gourmet than what you can find at Chipotle. Luckily, there are a ton of simple tricks to elevate your burrito bowl and really take it to the next level. Whether you want to focus on the base of the dish itself — the rice — or you're trying to make a more delicious, protein-packed topping, we've got you covered. We even outline some tips to make your sauces and accoutrements taste better than ever.

Try out one of these ideas if you're looking for a quick upgrade, or employ several of them all at once when you want to make the tastiest, most interesting burrito bowl of your life. Either way, these tips and tricks might make you think of this simple dish in a totally new way. It's a great excuse to make this meal an even more central part of your monthly dinner rotation.

Chances are, unless you're really, really new to cooking, you've made plenty of pots of rice before. This staple grain is one of the easiest ingredients to make, and it often serves as the base of burrito bowls. And although you can always make your rice the classic way — simply boiled in water until it reaches the perfect, chewy, almost al dente texture — we think it's even better when you add some more flavor into the mix. Perhaps the easiest way to do that is to cook your rice with stock or broth instead of plain water.

This instantly gives the rice a more complex, savory flavor than you'd ever get from water. All of the flavor from the broth or stock gets infused into the rice, so every bite tastes interesting. You don't have to stick to one variety of broth, either. Vegetable, chicken, and beef broth or stock all work and give your dish a slightly different flavor. Use vegetable broth when you're looking for a lighter flavor (or if you avoid animal products). Turn to chicken for chicken-based burrito bowls or when you need a more versatile flavor that will work with basically every other ingredient. And for those times when you need extra richness and intensity in your rice, beef stock or broth can do the trick.

When you're making a burrito bowl, you shouldn't feel limited by your protein selections. We love a good meatless burrito bowl that focuses on beans or well-seasoned tofu, but we can also get down with a steak-topped burrito bowl for a super hearty meal. However, chicken is an especially popular option, probably because it's a kind of meat that can appeal to a wide variety of diners. So what cut of chicken should you use for maximum flavor when you're making a chicken burrito bowl?

While chicken breasts have their place in some recipes, we think that chicken thighs make for a much more flavorful burrito bowl. This is largely because chicken thighs are fattier than breasts, which not only makes the meat itself taste better but also affects the rice and other ingredients in the bowl once you mix everything together. Chicken breast, on the other hand, isn't going to infuse the dish with much extra fat (or flavor) and will likely have a drier texture. The best part is that chicken thighs tend to be cheaper than breasts anyway, so going this route will save you a bit of money while offering a more flavorful meal. Plus, it's a lot harder to mess up a chicken thigh than a chicken breast, so this trick is even suitable for burrito bowl beginners.

For some burrito bowl lovers, sour cream is the best part of the entire dish. Not only does it introduce some rich creaminess into the bowl, but it also provides a fresh, dairy tang that creates a nice balance with other ingredients in the mix. There are some delicious sour cream brands out there that can elevate your next burrito bowl, but let's be honest: This ingredient can be sort of heavy, and it doesn't particularly align with some people's health goals. So, if you're looking for a lighter option, you might want to turn to plain Greek yogurt instead.

Greek yogurt works in place of sour cream in your burrito bowl for many reasons. First of all, the texture is similar to sour cream, and it features the same (if not more) tanginess. At the same time, it packs a lot of protein and may be lower-fat than sour cream, depending on whether you get a lower-fat version and how much you use. Getting the plain variety, though, since you won't want to use sweetened Greek yogurt in a savory burrito bowl. Sour cream will always have a place in our hearts, but on those nights when we're looking for a slightly healthier option for dinner, this is a simple and easy swap that just makes sense.

One of the easiest ways to instantly make your burrito bowl more delicious is to switch up your salsa game. Sure, we love a classic tomato-based salsa, and a green tomatillo salsa can add a lovely, vegetal kick to your bowl. But when you're ready for a topping that feels even more sophisticated, try incorporating some fruit into your salsa. This may seem like an unconventional addition, but hear us out: The sweetness from the fruit mingles beautifully with the other savory flavors you're working with, creating more depth and flavor intensity in every bite. This balances out those more intense, savory flavors, with that sweetness rounding everything out in the tastiest of ways.

So, what fruit should you use for your salsa? Mango is an obvious choice here, like you'll find in our recipe for easy mango salsa. This fruit works particularly well because it delivers the sweetness you're looking for, while also providing a nice dose of acidity that adds even more brightness to your bowl. You can also use other sweet and tart fruits, like strawberries, for an even more unexpected (but absolutely delicious) flavor.

Want to make your beans more flavorful and have fewer dishes to clean up at the end of the cooking process? Then, cooking your meat and beans together is the way to go. Ground meat might be your best option here, since it'll easily mix with your beans while it all cooks. You'll start off by browning your meat along with any aromatics you may want to use, then dumping in your pre-soaked beans and plenty of cooking liquid. After simmering all of those ingredients together, the mixture will become a lot more flavorful than it would be on its own, since the fat and flavor from the meat meld with the beans.

Not only are you getting a more delicious protein source for your burrito bowl when you make your meat and beans this way, but you're also stretching your meat, making this an even cheaper meal. That's because the beans won't just be there for texture — in this case, they're actually adding a lot of flavor to the bowl as well, which means you might be more likely to pile them on generously. Plus, you're also cutting down on the number of pots and pans you need to use to make your dinner, and that's always a win.

As much as we prefer cooking beans from scratch, it's not always an option if you're pinched for time and just trying to get dinner on the table quickly. It's at these times that canned beans really come in handy. But let's be honest: Canned beans generally don't taste as good as the freshly cooked variety, and using them could be a downgrade for your burrito bowl. Unless, that is, you decide to infuse your canned beans with more flavor by using some fresh sofrito – a mixture of various vegetables and aromatics that's often used in different Caribbean cuisines. To make your own sofrito at home, you'll need ingredients like cilantro, bell peppers, and onion to capture its signature fresh, savory flavor.

Once you make your homemade sofrito, you can put it in the pan and allow it to saute for a few minutes before finally adding your canned beans. Then, let the beans simmer for a while, and you'll have an excellent topping for your burrito bowl. Whether you're making one where beans are the star of the show or you just want your beans to accompany another protein source in your bowl, this easy trick is guaranteed to give you a much more interesting meal — and it might inspire you to use canned beans more often.

Rice-based burrito bowls are delicious. The rice helps make the fish feel more filling and substantial, and its neutral flavor profile means that it tastes good with basically any savory topping you could possibly imagine. But for some people, rice can make the dish feel too heavy. Whether you're trying to cut down on your carb intake or just don't want to feel so weighed down after your meal, using cauliflower rice is a great way to stay true to the ethos of the meal without fully committing to that rice. Cauliflower rice has a similar flavor to rice, in that it doesn't taste like much on its own, making it a versatile base. Plus, it offers a very similar texture, so it doesn't change the eating experience of a standard burrito bowl much.

There are two main ways you can incorporate cauliflower rice into your burrito bowl. When you really want to keep things light, swap out the rice for cauliflower rice instead. This can help you maximize the amount of vegetables you're getting in your meal and offer a leaner, fresher-tasting dish. On the other hand, if you don't want to give up the rice completely, you can always mix part rice, part cauliflower rice. When these two ingredients come together, you surprisingly can't taste the cauliflower much at all, making this an especially easy, healthy upgrade for your burrito bowl.

When you look at some recipes for burrito bowls, you'll notice that many of them call for lettuce. This makes sense — that cold, slightly crunchy vegetable helps bulk up your meal in a healthier way and adds a much-needed freshness to the mix. But lettuce isn't a must-have ingredient. If you're looking for something more substantial and that delivers extra crunch, incorporate cabbage into your burrito bowl instead for some extra texture and flavor in every bite — that crunchiness can instantly elevate your bowl.

First of all, cabbage provides a level of crunchy freshness that lettuce simply can't deliver. Lettuce isn't super crisp in the first place, and it quickly starts to wilt when it comes into contact with the other hot ingredients. That leaves you with a limp, leafy mess that's definitely not doing anything for your burrito bowl. Cabbage, on the other hand, doesn't wilt the same way, since it's better able to hold its structure even when exposed to heat. Plus, it's also more flavorful than lettuce, offering a touch of bitterness that can instantly make your bowl a lot more interesting. To maximize that crunch without overpowering your entire burrito bowl, make sure to slice the cabbage super thinly. After all, you don't want to be working with large pieces of cabbage leaves in the dish. Keep it simple with plain green cabbage, or add an extra pop of color with red cabbage instead.

Every good burrito bowl needs to be adorned with a good sauce (or sauces) to taste its best. After all, you don't just use sauces for flavor — although that's certainly a central part of the appeal — they're also there to add some moisture to the dish. Sauce plays a central role in burrito bowls, which can sometimes be dry if you're working with a lot of rice. Guacamole and salsa are two common sauces that you'll find in burrito bowls, and although we can definitely get on board with using both separately, you can actually make a sauce that functions as a hybrid between the two.

Guacamole salsa is basically made with a mixture of both guacamole and salsa verde ingredients. So, yes, you'll have your tomatillos and jalapeños, of course, but you'll also incorporate avocado and lime juice into the mix. The result is a sauce that's creamy, thanks to the fattiness from the avocados, but still delivers a burst of freshness from the salsa portion of the combo. The resulting texture is excellent, and the sauce is packed with flavor that can make your homemade burrito bowl taste way better than anything you could find at a fast-casual joint.

Canned corn is a common addition in some burrito bowls, and although it may not be the most delicious version of the ingredient, it gets the job done. But when you want to take your burrito bowl to the next level, switch out that canned corn for equites, which is essentially elote in bowl form. Spoon it into your bowl alongside the other toppings you're using (or mix it in if you want its flavor more well-distributed throughout the dish), and you may find that it packs significantly more flavor than a sprinkling of basic corn kernels. And although you can certainly use fresh corn and char it yourself for that nice, smoky flavor you're going for, you can also utilize frozen charred corn to make things even simpler.

Along with the corn, you'll need cotija, mayonnaise, cilantro, and lime, along with a slew of spices to create that earthy depth of flavor this corn dish is known for. Once you put this stuff on your next burrito bowl, you'll wonder why you ever made one without it before.

Since rice is among the most important ingredients in a burrito bowl, it only makes sense to try to enhance its flavor any way you can to make the dish taste better as a whole. One easy way to do this is to add a zesty, acidic, and slightly fruity touch to the rice with some lime zest. Since you're likely using lime for something else in the recipe anyway, why not take advantage of its zest as well as the juice? We love lime zest for its ability to provide that signature bright citrus flavor without all of the moisture. It can also provide a boost of balancing bitterness that can really elevate otherwise plain rice. And once you see that bright pop of green in your rice, your mouth will immediately start watering.

Of course, you don't have to stop there. Many also like to add some cilantro to their rice along with that lime for an added herbal note, and other recipes call for rice vinegar, which provides even more acidity. Both of these flavors are going to taste excellent with lime, all spread against the backdrop of your choice of white or brown rice.