If you haven’t been able to tell by how much I love chili powder by the use of it in my recipes, then I’m letting you know, I love it. This recipe is basically centered all around chili powder. It’s in the rice, the beans and the sauce. Consider this recipe an ode to chili powder.
My love of chili powder is then combined with my love of simple food, like black beans and brown rice. Extra chili powder on those too please.
I’ve learned to really enjoy food in it’s simplest form and that good food can also be simple food and completely satisfying. This entire recipe is just 8 simple ingredients (+ salt & water), yet FULL of flavor. I believe it’s about choosing the right ingredients, not a billion of them. This bowl not only packs loads of flavor, it is low-fat and packed full of protein.
This rice, black bean and avocado bowl is just that. It is so simple to make and so incredibly flavorful. My hubby was over the moon about this fat-free sweet chili mustard sauce. I talked about this sauce on Instagram and Facebook a few weeks back and I just needed a recipe to go along with it, that complimented it. This is it.
Chili powder: I love you. You make everything better.
To complete this bowl, it needs some sauce. Some yummy, bold-flavored sauce in fact. It’s just 3 ingredients….yellow mustard, maple syrup and chili powder….plus a little bit of water to thin out and mellow the flavor. It seriously can’t get any easier than that.
This sauce is SO GOOD and it is completely oil-free, nut-free and fat-free! It goes well on pretty much anything….salads, tacos, fries and especially this simple rice bowl. It tastes just like the name indicates, sweet from the syrup, bold and tangy from the mustard and a nice kick from the chili powder.
Now, after you assemble your bowl, it’s time to add your toppings of your choice. Chopped avocado is a must, am I right? Tomatoes, if you wish. Lastly, generously finish it all off with that amazing sweet chili mustard sauce.
This makes a TON, so you will either have plenty for your large family or plenty for lunch the next day. You guys told me you wanted more easy reheat meals and lunches, so here ya go!
Rice, Black Bean and Avocado Bowl with Sweet Chili Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
FOR THE RICE
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups (360g) slow-cooking jasmine brown rice
- 1 cup 240 g tomato puree/sauce (not tomato paste) ( mine has salt added)
- 1 tablespoon regular American salt-free chili powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons fine salt
FOR THE BEANS
- two 15 oz cans low-sodium black beans, drained & rinsed
- 2 teaspoons regular chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
SWEET CHILI MUSTARD SAUCE
- 1/2 cup (120g) regular yellow wet mustard
- 1/4 cup (80g) pure maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons regular chili powder
- 1-2 tablespoons water
REMAINING INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium avocado, chopped
- 1 cup tomatoes
Instructions
- Rinse the rice with cold water for about a minute. This will help to prevent too sticky of rice. Then combine all of the "rice" ingredients into a medium pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, immediately turn it to the lowest heat, cover and cook for 35-40 minutes until tender and all the liquid is gone. Remove from the heat, cover and steam for just 5 minutes (set your timer). Fluff with a fork and leave the lid off.
- When the rice is almost done cooking, prepare the beans by combining the "beans" ingredients and heat either over the stove or microwave.
- Add the "sauce" ingredients to a small bowl and whisk well until smooth. It will thicken best using a whisk. Add as much water to desired taste/consistency.
- Assemble into serving bowls, layering with the rice, beans, avocado and tomatoes. Drizzle with lots of sweet chili mustard sauce and toss to coat everything.
Notes
Nutrition per serving (based on 6): 399 calories, 5.5 g fat, 14.65 g protein, 74.1 carbs, 2.8 g sugars
Nutrition per serving of 1/4 cup sauce (makes 1 cup): 52.5 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g protein, 13.25 carbs, 12.5 g sugars
I just made this meal for our lunch/dinner today, and was a hit! I could definitely eat the sauce by itself…lol The combination of the sauce with the beans and rice was absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much for making my new vegan life a little easier. 🙂
Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback and sharing your pic on Instagram! I’m so happy this was a hit for you and I agree, this sauce is good on it’s own, lol!
Just made this….absolutely amazing! I added a huge handful of cilantro =)
Made this last night, it was great. A nice, easy recipe that avoids added fat. I will use less salt and less mustard next time, and probably half the rice.
So glad you enjoyed it Andrea! Yes, it makes a ton because I love leftovers but feel free to reduce!
Hi Estee and all,
How many soaked dates did you use? Thanks Diane
Brandi… this looks and sounds awesome. What brand of chili powder do you use? Thanks. 🙂
Hi Jeffrey! Any American brand should work fine. McCormick is fine or Fiesta. As long as it’s standard chili powder blend. I know some brands in other countries are way different, as they are made from habanero peppers and is very hot.
I made this tonight and it was incredible! The flavor is crazy awesome!
I just made the sauce and put it on leftover Chipotle….YUMMM!!! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it Tina! Thank you for the feedback!
Just made this and it was sooo good! Supposed to be my lunches for the week but I doubt I’ll have enough for even two. Thank you for sharing your talent. Keep up the great work!
Wonderful! So glad it was a hit!
Hi! I just tried this- the meal is so filling, feels like eating great comfort food. And the sauce is really so good. It makes the whole dish.
The only part I couldn’t figure out was the rice. What is slow cooking brown rice? (I used white jasmine rice that i had on hand and it tasted good but next time, I’d like to try whichever brown rice you recommend).
Thank you for putting the top 20 list together. This had made switching to vegan much less scary. 😀
Hi Allie, so glad to hear you really enjoyed this! Slow cooking rice just means not instant. Basically in the rice isles you will find bags of brown rice. I love brown jasmine rice. White jasmine rice cooks twice as fast as brown, so the water ratios will be completely different. You need a lot more water for brown than white because of this. So glad to hear this list is helping so much!! Thank you for the wonderful feedback!
Brandi, so easy yet so good! Thanks for another winning creation.
So wonderful to hear that Sue, thank you!
Brandi, this was delicious! You’ve proven again that something so simple can be so amazing. Thanks for another winner.
Oh, Sue, I just love getting your reviews! They are always making my day, thank you for the feedback!
Just made this to take to work this week for lunches. It’s not only super easy but super tasty. That sauce is terrific.
I absolutely love the flavor of smoked paprkia. Do you think I could substitute any of the chili powder for the paprika? If so, how much and would you do it in the beans or the sauce (i’m guessing the beans since the reviews RAV about the sauce, I probably don’t want to mess with that). Trying this TONIGHT!!!!
Hi Megan! Yes, you can certainly add it to the beans..maybe start out with 1/2 teaspoon and if you want it smokier, add more. Sorry I’m just seeing this, I was out all day!
This was awesome! My husband wouldn’t try the sauce but I loved it and will make it and this dish a regular at our house. I’m not sure how to upload a photo. Thank you!
Thank you so much Shannon, so glad to hear it! Oh, my comment section doesn’t have a photo feature, sorry about that.
This is awesome! I made this last week for dinner and it will become a staple recipe for us. The dressing is great on everything! My husband wouldn’t even try the dressing. Oh well, more for me. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this.
This is an incredible recipe! I just started a whole foods, plant based, low fat (no oil) diet and was directed to this. I did not have very high hopes for rice and beans, to be honest, since I’ve had my share of bland dishes of the sort. The sauce is the super star of this dish and really takes it to the next level. It has made the diet transition so enjoyable 🙂 Reminds me of the Costa Rican “Gallo Pinto” dish – but I like this even better! I feel better afterwards without things being cooked in oil, too. Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you so much Andi! So glad this one surpassed your expectations! The sauce is so delicious on so many things too! Thank you for the lovely review!
I used this sauce as a dressing for a southwest style pasta salad. It was perfect and myself and 3 others loved it, thank you!
Amazing!!! Made this today and it was great. My kids really liked it also. Thanks for the recipe
DELICIOUS!!!
I made this rice bowl for dinner tonight. I needed something quick and easy so I could use up my left over rice. I have been hesitant to make the dressing because I’m not crazy about mustard or anything with a vinegar taste. I made it anyway because it was a fat free dressing and I know how good you make everything taste. I loved it and so did my family. Perfection! I will definitely make it again.
To the bowl I added Romaine lettuce, fresh zucchini, fresh bell pepper, and corn.
Thank you for all these wonderful recipes you create! You are very talented in creating recipes!
This is just so delicious!! I have made it so many times since finding the recipe, I can now make it without looking!! I use 1/4 of the listed ingredients which makes just enough sauce for a microwave pouch of rice (with added chilli powder), a tin of black beans, an avocado and about 6-8 baby plum tomatoes. There is enough for 2 but I do usually end up eating it all because it’s so yummy! Thanks from the UK
Alison x
SO wonderful to hear Alison! So happy you love this dish!
Fantastic recipe love the homemade chili mix
So wonderful to hear that Lisa, thank you!
Amazing. This is so good. I made it twice for my family and had to double it the second time. My college grandsons, who I am proud to say are vegan asked me to forward the recipe and made it for their friends. Great combination of flavors. ❤️❤️❤️
What do you do when it’s 100 degrees outside and you want a simple, no-fuss meal? You browse through Brandi’s archived posts and find this gem! 🙂 The ingredients are staples (even during a pandemic!) and were so easy to put together. I served this immensely flavorful dish on top of baby lettuce and topped it with avocado, green onion, and of course – the sweet and spicy bold sauce! I am SO EXCITED there’s enough to share with my daughter and son-in-law and still have enough for my husband and me to enjoy. Thank you for this recipe, Brandi, and I’m not sure I ever mentioned this in my other reviews, but THANK YOU for not having those annoying pop-up ads like I find on other blogs! Reading through your posts is enjoyable as much as it is informative. Thank you for always taking time to tell the story behind each dish and for going into incredible detail to help readers recreate your recipes. You are such a blessing!
So glad to hear this Colleen! Haha, yes, I think my site is one of the only blogs out there withOUT ads, lol! I know I personally cannot stand to constantly click out of ads over and over to see something on a site, so I know how you feel!
I just made this bowl last week. Wasn’t sure what to expect, and was a little skeptical that I would like it. I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY HOW DELICIOUS IT WAS!!! My husband and I both enjoyed this so, so much. The combination of flavors just works (and works well!!)! The textures work well together too. I’ve added this to our regular rotation of meals.
Yay, that is awesome!
I made this yesterday. I also used The Vegan 8’s chili powder blend, which I used for this recipe wherever it called for chili powder. I am not a big fan of mustard, so I only used a little and will leave it out when I eat leftovers. (My husband liked the sauce a lot.) I chopped up the tomatoes and mixed everything together. Yum!
So EASY, and so WONDERFUL!!! Just made this tonight for the first time. Excellent!!! We will be making this routinely!
So very happy to hear this Diana, thank you!
Another fantastic recipe. Just made and now have 6 lunch/dinner meals ready to go for the week. I used my instant pot fit the rice. I added the water, tomato purée and spices. Stirred well, added the rinsed brown rice. Cooked on high 15 minutes, 20 minutes natural release. Came out perfect. I also used 1/2 the maple syrup and a little extra water in the sauce. Tastes great.
So happy to hear it worked in the instant pot Shirley, yay!
This recipe is a winner! I was going to make this without the sauce because mustard with rice and beans didn’t sound right to me. But then I thought, Brandi wouldn’t steer me wrong! And You Did Not! Absolutely delicious and easy. Definitely a keeper, thank you again.
This recipe is awesome for a couple reasons! It is so delicious! Secondly, I made it in a snap, literally 5 minutes.
I used a Seeds of Change Organic Quinoa and Brown Rice microwavable pack, so my rice was done in 90 seconds. I did skip the tomato sauce, (because I forgot it!)
I chopped the vegetables and was serving it in 5 minutes!!!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for your recipes and glad to get daily updates on Instagram when you are able to post.
Sincerely,
Carolyn
That’s so wonderful to hear Carolyn! Thank you for sharing!