Chicken & Chorizo Rice Bowl

Chicken & Chorizo Rice Bowl Recipe

If you’re looking for a cheerful, colourful, and delicious rice bowl recipe, this Chicken and Chorizo Rice Bowl Recipe is for you.

When I was younger, when we thought of Mexican food, it was deep-fried, golden, and covered in cheese; there was no preconception that it was in any way healthy, only delicious. I can still vividly recall grilled cheese-covered burritos, tacos, and oily rice. You’d come away from the “Mexican” chain stores covered in grease, and a few kilos heavier. It’s not a favourable memory, let me assure you.

Thankfully, due to the interconnectedness of the modern world, we know that Mexican food isn’t the grilled cheese dishes of our past, but instead brightly colourful, light and healthy, just like this Chicken and Chorizo Rice Bowl.

Mexican food is a cultural culmination of traditional South American foods dating back 9000 years, combined with Spanish and African influences. Over the past decade, Mexican street food has exploded with popularity thanks to its fresh and zesty flavours, and how healthy it can be!

This chicken and chorizo rice bowl is fresh and fun, brightly coloured with flavours to match. It is easy to prepare, and in no way boring – in fact, I guarantee once you make this recipe you’ll forget all about those greasy Mexican burritos from the 90’s!

This chicken and chorizo rice bowl is inspired by the “naked burrito” which is commonly found from Mexican street food chains both here in the UK, and back home in Australia. I’m sure you’ll be more than familiar with these naked burritos, and just how delicious they can be.

However, I have decided to skip the guacamole, cheese and sour cream for something lighter and less complicated. After all, to make salsa verde, guacamole, and the like, can take a lot of time and effort! Whereas we want this dish to be as quick and easy as possible.

Let’s talk Ingredients…

Chicken: Chicken thigh is a tastier cut of meat as compared to chicken breast, however, you can swap these out easily. Alternatively, you can use pork instead of chicken. Try to ensure you dice the chicken quite small, about 1cm cubes, roughly the same size as the diced chorizo.

Chorizo: This spicy sausage is perfect for any dish needing a little bit of extra pizazz. As it cooks it will release deep red, paprika flavoured oils into whatever you’re preparing alongside. When dicing your chorizo, try to keep it roughly the same size as the diced chicken so it all cooks evenly.

Basmati rice: This is long grain rice, that isn’t too claggy or sticky. It’s perfect for rice bowls such as this, as it’s easily tossed through other ingredients.

Peppers: This recipe calls for red and orange peppers, however, you can use whichever colour peppers you have on hand – expect green. Green peppers are simply unripe red peppers and have a harsh and bitter taste.