Tex-Mex Quinoa Brown Rice Grain Bowl

For a versatile, tasty recipe idea, try a quinoa brown rice grain bowl with some Tex-Mex flavors. Mix up the ingredients to your liking and add some protein for extra nutrition. This makes a great lunch or light dinner menu option.

Yesterday, MaryJo had a late afternoon dental appointment and I wasn’t sure how she would feel after it. I just figured that something soft would be best, so I made this Tex-Mex style quinoa brown rice grain bowl.

Ingredients To Consider

Ingredients in a grain bowl could be just about anything you can think of. Basically, you want grain, vegetables, and protein to form a balanced meal.  

Add to that perhaps something with a crunch and then some contrasting flavors. A lot of these ingredients might be leftovers that you have in the fridge.  You can pretty much use what you like.

The elements that I put together included: brown rice mixed with quinoa, chopped tomatoes, black beans with caramelized onions, avocados, green onion, cilantro, and soft-boiled eggs.

For some flavor enhancement, I drizzled some Ortega taco sauce on the rice/quinoa and beans and put a large dollop of Herdez salsa in the middle to get mixed in with everything else.

I topped the whole thing with a couple of boiled eggs for additional protein.

Mix the ingredients together to your liking and enjoy the great flavor combinations.

While we were eating, I mentioned that I should have included some cut up fried tortilla strips for some crunch.  Dang…I forgot about the crunch part!  A little shredded cheddar cheese might be nice too.

All in all, this is a simple meal with some awesome flavor. MaryJo thought it was perfect for her still semi-numb mouth.

Buzzfeed’s Hannah Loewentheil featured this as one of the “23 Recipes That Will Make Cooking Alone Fun.”  If that is your situation…cooking or eating alone, this recipe makes one serving.

Next time you are in a quandary about what to have for supper, give this dish a thought. Tex-Mex quinoa brown rice grain bowl is simple but delicious.

Tex-Mex Quinoa Brown Rice Grain Bowl

Tasty one bowl meal that's packed with protein.

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: quinoa brown rice grain bowl

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 1 serving

Calories: 640kcal

Author: Joe Boyle

Ingredients

Ingredients for one grain bowl

• 1/4 cup cooked white quinoa
• 1/4 cup cooked brown rice
• 1/3 cup black beans with caramelized onion
• 1/2 ripe avocado sliced lengthwise
• 1/2 plum tomato , seeds removed and diced
• 2 soft boiled eggs
• 1 tbsp taco sauce
• 2 tbsp salsa
• 1 chopped green onion
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

• Cook quinoa and brown rice according to package instructions, (I used 1/2 cup of each and had a little over 1 cup leftover after 2 servings)
• Dice a medium onion and place in a skillet with 1 tbsp vegetable oil and cook on medium low heat while stirring occasionally to caramelize the onion, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Open a 14 oz. can of black beans and put in a strainer and rinse.
• Add the beans to the caramelized onion in the skillet and heat until warmed, 3 or 4 minutes, (there was about 3/4 cup of leftover beans and onion)
• Quarter a plum tomato lengthwise and use your thumb to remove the seeds, then dice.
• Slice 1/2 of a ripe avocado
• Boil 4 or 5 cups of water in a saucepan, then add eggs with a slotted spoon or small kitchen spider, and boil for 5 minutes for a runny yolk
• Remove the eggs with the slotted spoon and place in ice cold water for 30 seconds to cool slightly, then peel
• Assemble the grain bowl as desired, drizzle with taco sauce and lightly salt and pepper the dish.
• Garnish with green onion and cilantro

Notes

The nutrition information and ingredients are based on 1 serving.

I used regular brown rice which takes 40 or 45 minutes to cook. You may want to use a microwavable package of rice to dramatically save time making this.

Nutrition

Calories: 640kcal