Our Easy Chipotle Burger Bowl Recipe Will Put A Kick In Your Weeknight Meal Routine

Once upon a time, a bowl was simply a serving vessel. Over the past decade or so, however, bowls have become an entire food genre: breakfast bowls, smoothie bowls, açai bowls, rice bowls, poke bowls ... the list goes on and on. In fact, there are even a number of fast-casual bowl restaurants. The beef bowls you might get at such restaurants are frequently Asian-style, but developer Julianne De Witt has come up with a different take on beef-based bowls. Her easy-to-make version, which can be on the table in under 20 minutes, starts with a salad base and piles on a few mini burgers, for a fresh and satisfying upgrade on burgers as well as bowls.

"This lower-carb recipe is delicious and satisfying," says De Witt, adding that it's also "easily customizable to suit different tastes." She likes to use typical burger toppings like pickles, tomatoes, and cheese. She also tells us, "I use crispy fried onions to add a pleasant crunch," while she adds avocado for extra richness. Topping things off is a spicy, creamy chipotle dressing, while the burgers, too, have a little kick from chipotle powder.

For the burgers, you'll need ground beef along with ground chipotle, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper to season it with. You'll also need some cooking spray for the pan. Other ingredients required to assemble the salads include romaine lettuce, pickles, cherry tomatoes, crispy fried onions, cheddar, and an avocado, as well as mayonnaise and canned chipotles for the dressing.

Add the mayonnaise, chipotle peppers, and a pinch of salt to a small bowl.

Whisk the ingredients until well blended and set aside.

Add the ground chipotle, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt, and pepper to the ground beef. Mix well until the spices are evenly blended into the meat.

Divide the meat into 6 equal portions and roll into balls.

Flatten the balls to form small patties.

Line a frying pan with cooking spray and place over medium-high heat.

Place the patties in the pan and cook for 3 minutes until browned.

Flip the patties over and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until they reach an internal temperature of 160 F.

Divide the lettuce between two bowls, top with the patties, and then divide the pickles, tomatoes, onions, cheddar, and avocado between the bowls.

Top the bowls with the chipotle mayonnaise and serve.

• 2-Ingredient Biscuits Recipe
• Classic Homemade Aioli Recipe
• Za'atar and Parmesan Smashed Broccoli Recipe
• Cool and Classic Horchata Recipe
• Nutty Carrot and Apple Soup Recipe

This recipe is very versatile, since you can change it up in any number of ways and it will still work. For starters, you can grill the burger patties instead of frying them in a pan. You could also crumble the ground beef taco-style instead of forming it into patties.

The salad ingredients, too, can be swapped out to suit your preferences. Instead of a classic burger combo of cheddar and pickles, you could go for more of a Mexican-style salad by using pepper jack, black beans, and pico de gallo. Another idea would be to substitute Swiss cheese for cheddar and add sauteed mushrooms. Bacon, too, would make an excellent addition, or you could put together a Mediterranean-flavored burger bowl with feta cheese, Kalamata olives, and red onions.

You can also tweak the dressing to suit your salad. You may want to add some lime juice or garlic, or you could lighten things up by replacing some of the mayonnaise with plain yogurt. It's also possible to go with a different type of creamy dressing. Tzatziki, for example, would work perfectly if you're going the Mediterranean burger bowl-route.

As De Witt says of her patties, "I like to use lean ground beef for meaty tasting burgers without too much fat. Extra lean ground beef isn't the best choice for burgers as the low-fat content will give a dry and tough patty." Her personal preference is for ground chuck with an 80/20 blend of lean meat to fat, since she feels this makes for a nice, juicy burger. 73/27 is also tasty and economical, although you might need to drain some fat from the pan. You can go as lean as 85/15 if you like, but 90/10 won't have enough fat to make a tasty burger.

Of course, it's also possible to use an alternate ground meat. Turkey or chicken would be leaner, while a mixture of pork and beef would make for an extra-moist burger with a mild, slightly sweet flavor. You can also opt for a plant-based meat substitute, along with plant-based mayonnaise and cheese, in order to make a vegan burger bowl.

• Lobster Cobb Salad Recipe
• Game Day Loaded Taco Dip Recipe
• Firecracker Salmon Sticky Rice Bowl Recipe
• Takeout-Style Beef& Broccoli Recipe
• Deconstructed Egg Roll in a Bowl Recipe