Burrito bowl meal prep comes down to one cutting session and one rule: cut everything that keeps, and leave the things that do not keep for the day you eat them. Dice the onion, slice the peppers, cook and chop the protein, and make the pico de gallo on Sunday. Leave the avocado, the lettuce and any squeeze of lime until you build each bowl. Refrigerate everything within 2 hours, and plan to eat the cooked parts within 3 to 4 days.

That is four lunches from one board and about an hour of work. The list below runs in the order that keeps raw meat away from everything else.

The bowl, in parts

A burrito bowl is a base, a protein, beans, vegetables, a salsa and a few toppings. For four bowls:

  • Base: 2 cups dry rice, cooked. White or brown, plain or with lime and cilantro stirred in.
  • Protein: about 1½ pounds of chicken thighs, chicken breast, or flank steak.
  • Beans: two 15-ounce cans of black or pinto beans, drained and rinsed.
  • Vegetables: 2 bell peppers and 1 large onion for the skillet; 1 cup of corn kernels.
  • Salsa: pico de gallo from 4 Roma tomatoes, half a white onion, a jalapeño and a handful of cilantro.
  • Toppings, on the day: avocado, shredded romaine, lime wedges, cheese, sour cream.

The cutting list, in order

Order matters more than speed. Everything that will be eaten raw gets cut first, on a clean board, and the raw meat goes last.

1. Cilantro. Wash and dry it well, then chop the leaves and tender stems. Wet herbs bruise and turn dark under the knife. How to chop fresh herbs covers the technique. Split the pile: some for the pico, some for the rice.

2. Pico de gallo. Seed the tomatoes and cut them into a quarter-inch dice. Cut the white onion and jalapeño to match, so no single piece dominates a spoonful. Pico de gallo with an even dice walks through each ingredient. Salt it, stir in the cilantro, and hold back the lime until serving if you want it to stay bright.

3. Skillet vegetables. Halve the peppers, pull out the core and seeds, and slice them into strips about a quarter inch wide. Slice the large onion pole to pole into strips of the same width, so they soften at the same rate. How to slice peppers and onions for fajitas shows both cuts.

4. Corn. If you are using fresh ears, stand each one in a wide bowl and run the knife down the cob; the bowl catches the kernels. Frozen corn needs no knife at all.

5. The protein, last. Cut the raw chicken or steak only after the vegetables are in their containers and off the board. Cube chicken into three-quarter-inch pieces for a fast sear, or cook thighs or steak whole and slice them after cooking.

Then the board goes to the sink.

The board, and keeping raw meat apart

Federal food-safety guidance from the FDA is to use one cutting board for fresh produce and a separate one for raw meat, poultry and seafood, and to wash boards, knives and counters with hot, soapy water after each food item. If you only have one board, the order above does the same job. If you have two, keep the raw protein on the second.

After the meat, wash the board in hot, soapy water. To sanitize it, use 1 tablespoon of unscented liquid chlorine bleach in a gallon of water, poured over the board, left for several minutes, then rinsed. Vinegar is not a sanitizer. Dry the board standing on its edge.

A long prep session spreads across the whole surface. The WONAMU. acacia cutting board is 12 by 9 inches, with a perimeter juice groove that holds the liquid from tomatoes and limes instead of letting it run off the edge. There is room to keep a pile of diced onion at one end while you slice peppers at the other.

Cook, then cool

Cook the rice, the protein and the skillet vegetables while the pico rests.

  • Chicken is done at 165°F, measured in the thickest piece.
  • Ground beef is done at 160°F.
  • Steak is done at 145°F, then rests for 3 minutes before you slice it.

Slice the cooked steak or whole chicken thighs against the grain into thin strips, then cut across the strips into bite-size pieces so they sit flat in the bowl.

Spread the rice and the protein on a sheet pan to cool rather than packing them hot into containers. A deep, hot container stays warm in the middle for a long time. Everything goes into the refrigerator within 2 hours of cooking, or within 1 hour if the kitchen or the car is above 90°F.

Pack it to last

Pack the bowls in parts, not all together, and the textures hold through the week.

  • Rice, beans, corn and protein go into the bowl container together.
  • Skillet vegetables go on top or in their own section.
  • Pico de gallo goes in a small separate container so its juice does not soak the rice.
  • Avocado, lettuce, cheese and sour cream wait for the day.

Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below. Cooked meat and poultry leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, so four bowls made on Sunday are eaten by Thursday. For a fifth bowl, freeze it on Sunday and move it to the refrigerator the night before. Reheat the rice and protein to 165°F, then add the cold toppings.

What to cut on the day

Three items do not belong in the Sunday session.

Avocado. Cut it at lunch. How to cut an avocado safely shows the board method that keeps the knife away from your palm.

Romaine. Shred it the morning you eat it, or keep the leaves whole and dry in a container lined with a paper towel and shred them at the table.

Lime. A fresh wedge over the finished bowl does more than lime squeezed on Sunday.

The short version

Cut in this order: cilantro, pico de gallo, peppers and onion, corn, then the raw protein last. Wash and sanitize the board after the meat.

Cook the chicken to 165°F, ground beef to 160°F, steak to 145°F with a 3-minute rest. Cool everything spread out, refrigerate within 2 hours, and eat the bowls within 3 to 4 days. Add the avocado, lettuce and lime on the day.

For a full week of protein-first prep built the same way, see high-protein meal prep on a Sunday.

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WONAMU. makes an acacia cutting board, 12 × 9 inches, acacia, with a perimeter juice groove. Available on Amazon.

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