Fajita Bowls
Fajita bowls are one of those meals we keep coming back to week after week, and honestly we never get bored of them. The combination of smoky marinated vegetables, that punchy lime-spiked marinade, and all the good stuff piled into a bowl is just unbeatable. We're talking sweet charred peppers, soft onions, meaty mushrooms, and enough flavour to make everyone at the table go quiet for a moment. It's the kind of dinner that feels a bit special without actually being that much effort. Make this tonight and you'll see exactly why it's a BOSH! staple.
Before You Start
- Preheat oven to 200°C
- Large baking tray
- Microplane or fine grater
- Mixing bowls (3)
- Fork for mashing
- Low-fat olive oil spray
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp hot chilli powder
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 lime
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 red onion
- 300g king oyster mushrooms
- 1 green bell pepper
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 avocado
- 6 cherry tomatoes
- 1 spring onion
- 1 fresh chilli
- 1 lime
- 10g coriander leaves
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 x 250g bags of microwavable basmati rice
- 1 x 400g can of black beans
- 200g sweetcorn
- 1 large tomato
- 2 spring onions
- 20g coriander leaves
- Tabasco
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 4 corn tortillas
- low-fat olive oil spray
- 100g iceberg lettuce
Method
For the Fajita Marinade
- Peel and finely grate the garlic
- Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice into a mixing bowl
- Add all the rest of the ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix with a fork to form a smooth marinade
Prepare the Fajita Vegetables
- Trim, halve, core and slice the peppers
- Peel, halve and cut the onion into slices
- Cut the caps off the mushrooms and slice
- Pull the stems of the mushrooms with two forks until they’re well shredded
- Add the mushrooms to the marinade and toss to coat (don’t use all the marinade as you need some for the rest of the veggies)
- Transfer the marinated mushrooms to the baking tray, put the tray in the oven and roast for 10 minutes
- While the mushrooms are in the oven, put the peppers and onions in the bowl and toss to cover in the marinade
- Take the mushrooms out of the oven, add the peppers and onion to the tray, put the tray back in the oven and roast for a further 20 minutes
Making the guacamole
- Halve, destone and scoop the flesh of the avocado out of the skin, put it in a bowl and mash with the back of a fork
- Finely chop the cherry tomatoes
- Trim and finely slice the spring onion
- Trim, halve, deseed and dice the chilli
- Halve the lime and squeeze into the bowl
- Roughly chop the coriander
- Add all the ingredients to the bowl and fold to combine
Prepare the rest of the fajita bowl
- Cut the tortillas into 8 pieces (like a pizza)
- Spread the slices out on the baking tray and spray with cooking spray on both sides
- Put the tray in the oven and bake the slices for 5-10 minutes until crunchy
- Drain, rinse and pat dry the black beans and sweetcorn
- Cook the rice as instructed on the packet
- Dice the large tomato
- Trim and finely slice the spring onion
- Roughly chop the coriander
- Shred the lettuce
Make the rice mix
- Put the rice, black beans, sweetcorn, tomato, spring onions, coriander leaves in a bowl and fold to combine
- Taste and season to perfection with salt, pepper and tabasco
- Remove the mushrooms, peppers and onions from the oven and stir to combine
Build the Fajita Bowls
- Add ¼ of the rice and bean mix to a serving bowl
- Make a “crown” of tortilla chips around the side of the bowl
- Sprinkle the lettuce over the rice and bean mix
- Top the rice with ¼ of the Fajita Vegetables
- Top the Fajita Vegetables with a dollop of guacamole
- Repeat 3 times and serve!
Tips & Variations
- Get the char: Don't be tempted to stir the veg too much. Leave them alone in the pan for a minute or two so they actually catch and caramelise. That slight char is where a lot of the flavour comes from, trust us on this one.
- Make it more filling: We love adding a tin of black beans or some cooked rice straight into the bowl. It turns this into a proper hearty meal and the beans soak up all that fajita marinade beautifully.
- Prep ahead: You can make the marinade the night before and keep it in the fridge. Even better, toss the sliced veg in the marinade and leave them overnight. The flavour goes up a notch and it saves you loads of time when you're ready to cook.
Why This Works
The trick here is giving the vegetables enough time in the marinade before they hit the heat. That garlic and lime base gets right into everything and when it caramelises in the pan, it creates this incredible depth of flavour. We find cooking the veg in batches rather than crowding the pan makes a huge difference too, you get proper colour and smokiness instead of everything just steaming.