These jackfruit burrito bowls with pineapple salsa bring the sweet-spicy flavor combo you know and love. Smoky spicy jackfruit paired with pineapple salsa, corn, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, and brown rice. It’s the plant-based burrito bowl of your dreams!
I first started cooking with jackfruit because of my dad. He always talked about how it’s his favorite vegetable, so I tried to make a new recipe with it every Father’s Day or his birthday. Eventually I realized I kinda love it too and started using it more regularly. Even though canned jackfruit is pretty bland on its own, it has a wonderful texture and a neutral flavor that soaks up any spices you add it to it. The texture is quite “meaty” for a vegetable and loaded with nutrients! If you want to know more, this article is super informative.
These jackfruit burrito bowls with pineapple salsa take 30 minutes to put together, given you have the brown rice, corn, and black beans ready. Those don’t really require any special instructions or any other ingredients, so it should be pretty simple! Then you just cook the jackfruit on the stove and mix the pineapple salsa in a bowl!
How to make smoky jackfruit
I use the same methods every time I make jackfruit and usually similar spices too. This time I added liquid smoke to the mix and oh boy! Liquid smoke is usually used to achieve that straight-off-the-bbq flavor, so clearly this jackfruit tastes (and smells) a-mazing with it. You don’t have to use this if you don’t have it, but you could add some BBQ sauce like I did in this recipe or hot sauce like I did in this one.
I also added smoked paprika instead of regular paprika, which I totally think makes a difference. Here is an article about the difference between the two if this is the first time you’re hearing about it.
How to make pineapple salsa
Just mix it all together in a bowl. You can use fresh pineapple or you can cut your fresh pineapple when it’s ready, and just refrigerate it until you’re ready to use it. Then put it together with onions, sweet peppers or bell pepper, cilantro, lime juice, and cayenne. Instead of cayenne, you could also do a jalapeño pepper.
Jackfruit Burrito Bowls with Pineapple Salsa
Ingredients
Smoky Jackfruit
- 2 500g cans of jackfruit
- 1 tbsp avocado oil *or any neutral oil
- ½ red onion, chopped
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 1 inch of ginger, minced
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ cup tomato paste
- 1 tsp liquid smoke
- 1 tbsp tamari
- salt to taste
- ½ cup water
Pineapple Salsa
- ½ a pineapple, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 2 sweet peppers, diced *or ½ red bell pepper
- ½ small red onion, chopped
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro
- ½ tsp cayenne
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- ¼ tsp sea salt
To assemble
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
- 3 cups cooked black beans (~ 1 cup dried black beans)
- 2 ears of corn, steamed
- 1 avocado
- tomatoes
- cilantro
- limes
Instructions
Smoky Jackfruit
- Rinse jackfruit under water and squeeze out excess water from each piece. Use a fork to “pull” it so it has a stringy texture.
- Add 1 tbsp oil to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic. Cook and stir occasionally for about 5 minutes, or until onion is translucent.
- Add all spices before adding liquid smoke and tamari. Cook for a minute before adding jackfruit. Cook for 2-3 minutes before adding tomato paste and 1/2 cup water.
- Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir once in the middle of this time to make sure the jackfruit does not stick to the pan. If it does, add a little more water.
Pineapple Salsa
- Simply cube the pineapple, chop the other ingredients, and add it all to a bowl with lime juice, cayenne, and sea salt.
Assembly
- Start with brown rice. Then add corn, black beans, and jackfruit. Finish off with avocadoes, tomatoes, and salsa!
For more jackfruit recipes, check out…
BBQ Jackfruit Quesadillas with Kale and Cashew Cream
Yessss! Always love converting people to the jackfruit fan club haha
WOW! Just made this for dinner tonight & it was pretty darn delicious. It was my first time having jackfruit, but it certainly won’t be the last. Thank you for a phenomenal dinner. Xoxo.