These Chipotle Chickpea Bowls are the perfect bowls for meal prep to freeze. A delicious spiced tomato based chickpea stew with rice that you will look forward to.
Meal prep is typically done 4 days in advance for food safety reasons, but what about the rest of the week? Make something freezer-safe and freeze it so you can take it out of the freezer later in the week! Problem solved!
I have dozens recipes for preparing meals on the website you can choose to keep it interesting. Some are best kept in the refrigerator, but many are freezer-safe. Meal prep is your best friend when you want to eat a healthy diet.
If you want to take it a step further, follow my 21 days meal plan for clean eating which includes tons of recipes for meal prep.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Onion and garlic – In this recipe I like to use yellow onion and fresh garlic. In a pinch you can also use dried and ground as well. Especially if you are in a hurry.
Chipotle in adobe – I love Chipotle peppers. You can find them in the canned goods section of any major grocery store in case you’re wondering. They are a smoke-dried jalapeño pepper that is then preserved in an adobo sauce. So so flavorful. If you don’t like it spicy you can just omit the chipotle
Chickpeas – you can use canned or home cooked. I always prefer homemade chickpeas because I find them much easier to digest. I soak the dried chickpeas overnight in cold water then rinse them the next morning and then high pressure cook them in my Instant Pot for 15 minutes and let the pressure release naturally. I freeze cooked chickpeas in 2-cup portions so I always have them on hand. 2 cups correspond approximately to the contents of 1 can.
Canned tomato pulp – I love using tomato pulp which is a very finely mashed tomato, but of course regular mashed tomatoes work too. You could also use fresh tomatoes, but you’ll need to cook them for a good 20-30 minutes first. To save time use canned.
Rice – any type of rice works in this Chipotle Chickpea Bowls recipe. To have a complete tutorial on how to cook rice in Instant Pot. White rice, brown rice, red rice, black rice. Sky’s the limit.
Small spinach – fresh spinach is the quickest to cook, but kale, regular ripe spinach, or Swiss chard also work great in this recipe.
How to make Chipotle chickpea bowls
Start by preparing your rice so that it is ready at the same time as your chickpea stew.
Finely chop the onion and garlic and set aside.
Preheat a large skillet over medium heat and then saute the chopped onion and garlic and your chipotle peppers.
Add the chickpeas and tomato pulp and cook covered for 15 minutes.
Add the baby spinach and stir until the spinach is wilted.
Build your own meal prep bowls by dividing chickpea rice stew among 4 meal prep containers.
Frequent questions
You can store the chickpea stew and rice separately in two large airtight containers and then serve 1/4 of both each day on a plate. Or you can prepare 4 separate servings in separate containers and store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Add them to freezer-safe containers as measured portions so you only defrost one portion at a time. To defrost it is sufficient to place it in the refrigerator 12-24 hours before consumption.
You can eat them cold, they are delicious cold from the fridge. Or you can reheat them in the microwave or pan. Be sure to use a microwave-safe container or pour it onto a plate.
Bowls Of Chipotle Chickpeas
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ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 chipotle
- 2 cups cooked chickpeas
- 14 ounce tomato pulp
- 5 ounce small spinach
- sea salt
- pepper
Instructions
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Cook the rice in the Instant Pot or a pot on the stove as directed on the package.
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Finely chop the onion and garlic.
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Preheat a large pan with lid over medium heat and when hot add a drizzle of oil and saute the chopped onion and garlic and chipolte peppers. Break up the chiles a bit.
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Once the onion is translucent, add the chickpeas and tomato pulp and season everything with sea salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
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Add the baby spinach and stir until the spinach is wilted.
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Divide the Chickpea Rice Stew into 4 meal prep containers and refrigerate for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
