Fiesta Lime & Black Bean Rice

Rice is life!

Seriously though. I eat brown rice everyday, for the most part. 

While brown rice is not a complete protein on its own like quinoa is, pairing rice with black beans (or any type of legume) makes it a complete protein. This means the combination of rice and beans provides us with all of the essential amino acids that we can’t produce on our own. So basically, rice and beans were made for each other and come together perfectly in this Fiesta Lime & Black Bean Rice creation. 

That’s the magic of plant based foods! They work together.

Plus, rice is super affordable, delicious AND nutritious with iron and 5 grams of protein per 1 cooked cup. When meal prepping on Sundays, I’ll make a pot of brown rice or quinoa to have in the fridge for the week, so it’s ready to go for a recipe or to add in a salad. Aside from this Fiesta Lime & Black Bean Rice, I’ll make my Forbidden Rice & Veggie Glow Bowl or my Hippie Macro Glow Bowl both of which use rice as well.

My mom was the inspiration behind this recipe! While at home last Sunday for dinner with the fam, we tried a recipe very similar to this one. SO good. We knew I had to recreate it for the blog, so here we are 🙂 thanks momma! Similar in taste to my favorite Spicy Kale & Quinoa Black Bean Salad, this rice bowl is beyond easy and reminds me of a brown rice and black bean Chipotle bowl. 

Eat it on it’s own for lunch or have it as a side with tempeh tacos! You can enjoy it warm or cold, both ways are delish.

It’s super fresh and flavorful, filling in a good way, lots of lime-y flavor, some jalapeño hotness (if you want it) and vibrant with beautiful color. SO YUM. 

Wanna know why this recipe is better than a Chipotle bowl? 

It’s OIL-FREE. (read more on eating oil-free here)

That’s right, my loves. Who knows how much oil they add to the rice at Chipotle… sure it’s fine to eat occasionally, but if you can make this rice and save on the empty calories that is ALL OIL, why not?! I don’t eat 100% oil free, but feel WAY better when I do. You would be surprised what happens when you cut back on oils.

This topic is controversial and the concept is often difficult to understand, that is, until you self-educate. Society has engrained some silly ideas into our brains. Oil in particular, is made out to be healthy with “healthy fats” but the fact is, these fats are extracted from whole foods and lose all other nutrients they once had, turning it into processed pure liquid fat.

I feel like people are SO disconnected from this concept… do you know how many olives it takes to produce 17 ounces of olive oil?

7.6 pounds of them!!! 

For one small bottle. Like I said, I’m not 100% oil free but only cook with it once, maybe twice a month and if I do, I’ll use raw organic unrefined coconut oil. You may be wondering how to cook without oil? Replace it with vegetable broth or water. The taste isn’t affected, I promise! Oil doesn’t have taste anyway. You’ll be able to see what I mean once you taste this recipe. 

Feel free to sauté the veggies up with coconut oil if you can’t live without, but I encourage you to try it oil-free first. Let me know what you think!

Time for some major fiesta flavor. A fresh margarita wouldn’t hurt either. 

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Fiesta Lime and Black Bean Rice

• Prep Time: 30
• Total Time: 40

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Ingredients

• 1 cup brown rice, uncooked
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth or water
• 1/3 red onion, diced
• small piece of jalapeño, about 1/2 inch, diced small (optional)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• pinch of sea salt and pepper
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup sweet corn
• 1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Fiesta Lime Sauce

• 2 limes, juiced
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup (or agave)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• extra jalapeño slices for fun (optional)

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Instructions

1. Start by cooking the brown rice. Follow directions on the package.
2. In a saucepan, heat the vegetable broth (or water) and sauté the onion, jalapeño, garlic, sea salt and pepper for 5 minutes on medium heat, adding a little extra broth or water, if needed. Next, add bell peppers and cook 5-7 minutes until soft. Reduce heat, then stir in the corn, black beans and cilantro, just to be heated up.
3. In a large bowl, combine the rice and sautéed veggies.
4. In a small bowl, mix all ingredients for the ‘Fiesta Lime Sauce’ until well combined. Pour into bowl then mix it all together.
5. Enjoy!

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Notes

• Can be eaten warm or cold.
• Leftovers can be refrigerated up to 3 days.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 4