Ingredients
- For the quinoa:
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Juice and zest of one lime, or 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
For the chicken:
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee
For the bacon: (optional)
- 2 pieces of thick cut bacon
- For the sweet potatoes:
- 1 large sweet potato, washed, with both ends cut off
- 1 tablespoon residual bacon oil or coconut oil
Other ingredients:
- 3 cups chopped lettuce
- 5 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
- 3/4 cup shredded cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Method:
For the quinoa:
- Add the quinoa, water, and salt to a medium sized pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat. When it has reached a boil, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until the quinoa is soft and fluffy.
- Set the quinoa aside to cool.
- When it has cooled, add the lime juice, lime zest, and 1/4 cup chopped cilantro to the rice and stir to evenly distribute the ingredients. Taste, and add more lime or cilantro as needed.
For the chicken:
- Dry off both chicken breasts thoroughly with paper towels, and season both sides of each breast using the 2 teaspoons of salt.
- In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee over medium-high heat until the oil is very hot.
- Add the chicken breasts to the hot skillet, and cook for about 4 minutes on each side. Both sides should have a pretty brown sear to them.
- When the chicken breasts are cooked all the way through, remove them to a cutting board to cool. Once they've cooled, cut the chicken into small chunks, about 1/2 square inch each.
For the bacon:
- If you're going to add bacon to your salad, cook 2 slices of bacon as you normally would, until it is crispy enough to crumble. Reserve 1 tablespoon of bacon fat for the sweet potatoes.
For the sweet potatoes:
- Cut up the sweet potato into tiny chunks, about 1/2 square inch each.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of bacon fat (or, if you didn't use bacon, coconut oil) in your large skillet over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the sweet potato cubes. Sear the potatoes on all sides, stirring every 3-5 minutes.
- When the potatoes have all browned on the outside, turn the heat down to medium-low, cover the skillet with a lid, and cook the sweet potatoes until they can be easily pierced with a fork. Set aside to cool.
To assemble the salads:
- When all ingredients have cooled, you can begin to assemble your burrito bowl salads. Add 1 tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt to the bottom of each Mason jar.
- Top with about 2 tablespoons of sweet potato cubes.
- On top of the sweet potatoes, add 3-4 tablespoons of the cilantro lime quinoa.
- Layer 1-2 tablespoons of cheese over the quinoa, a little less than half a piece of bacon over the cheese, and a layer of chicken over the bacon. (To make this vegetarian, substitute 1 can of rinsed beans for the chicken and bacon and add a layer of beans here.)
- Fill the remaining space in the mason jar with lettuce, and sprinkle some additional chopped cilantro on top before screwing on the lid.
