Chipotle Chickpea Bowls

June 1, 2023

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These Chipotle Chickpea Bowls are the perfect meal prep bowls for freezing. A delicious tomato-based spicy chickpea stew with rice you will look forward to.

Four chipotle chickepe meal prep bowls next to each other showing white rice and chickpea stew.

Meal prep is typically done for 4 days in advance for food safety reasons but what about the rest of the week? Make something freezer friendly and freeze it so you can pull it out of the freezer later in the week! Problem solved!

I have dozens of meal prep recipes on the website you can choose from to keep it interesting. Some are best kept in the fridge but many are freezer friendly. Meal prep is your best friend when you want to stick to a healthy diet.

If you want to take it one step further, follow my 21-Day clean eating meal plan that includes tons of meal prep recipes.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Ingredients for Chipotle Chickpea Bowls laid out on a kitchen counter.

Onion and garlic – In this recipe I like using yellow onion and fresh garlic. In a pinch you can also use dried and ground as well though. Especially if you are in a hurry.

Chipotle in adobo – I love Chipotle chilis. You find them in the canned goods section in any major grocery store in case you’re wondering. They are a smoke-dried Jalapeño pepper that are then preserved in an adobo sauce. So so flavorful. If you don’t like it spicy you can simply omit the chipotle

Chickpeas – you can use canned or home-cooked. I always prefer home-cooked chickpeas because I find them much easier to digest. I soak dried chickpeas overnight in cold water, then rinse them the next morning and then cook them on high pressure in my Instant Pot for 15 minutes and let the pressure release naturally. I freeze the cooked chickpeas in 2-cup portions so I always have them on hand. 2 cups is approximately the content of 1 can.

Canned tomato polpa – I love using tomato polpa which is super finely crushed tomato but regular crushed tomatoes work, too of course. You could even use fresh tomatoes but you’ll have to cook them down first for a good 20-30 minutes. To save time use canned.

Rice – any type of rice works in this Chipotle Chickpea Bowls recipe. A have a full tutorial on how to cook rice in the Instant Pot. White rice, brown rice, red rice, black rice. The sky is the limit.

Baby spinach – baby spinach is the fastest to cook but kale, regular mature spinach, or chard work great in this recipe, too.

How To Make Chipotle Chickpea Bowls

Closeup look of one Chipotle Chickpea Meal Prep Bowl

Start by preparing your rice so that will be ready at the same time as your chickpea stew.

Chop onion and garlic finely and set aside.

Preheat a large pan over medium heat and then stir fry the chopped onion and garlic as well as your chipotle chilis.

Add the chickpeas and tomato polpa and let it simmer covered for 15 minutes.

Add baby spinach and stir until the spinach wilts.

Build your meal prep bowls by dividing rice and chickpea stew among 4 meal prep containers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Store This Meal?

You can either store the chickpea stew and rice separately in two large air-tight containers and then serve 1/4 of both each day on a plate. Or, you can prepare 4 separate portions in separate containers and store those in the fridge for up to 4 days.

How Do I Freeze Chipotle Meal Prep Bowls?

Add them to freezer-friendly containers as measured out portions so you only defrost one portion at a time. To defrost simply move to the fridge 12-24 hours prior to eating.

How Do I Reheat My Meal Prep Bowls?

You can either eat them cold, they are delicious fridge cold. Or, you can reheat them in the microwave or in a pan. Make sure you are using a microwave-proof container or dump it on a plate.