The Meatless Chipotle Bowl With The Hands-Down Most Protein

Finding vegetarian meals at fast food restaurants used to be challenging, but now there are some good options. Chipotle's burrito bowls are completely customizable so you're getting exactly what you want and nothing you don't. While you can order some preassembled bowls off the menu like the high-protein, low-calorie bowl with adobo chicken, there isn't an option like this for a meatless bowl, so you do have to build your own. The good news is (if you're ordering through the app or website) you can see exactly how much protein is in each item you add to your bowl. But, don't worry, we'll give you the highest-protein vegetarian order so you can just pop it in and get your meal.

The meatless option with the most protein is a bowl with sofritas (Chipotle's plant-based protein option with 8 grams of protein), white or brown rice (both have 4 grams of protein per serving), and black beans or pinto beans (both offer 8 grams of protein per serving). Then, for the toppings, add red chimichurri (if the limited-time sauce is still available) (1 gram of protein), guacamole (2 grams of protein), roasted chili-corn salsa (3 grams of protein), sour cream (2 grams of protein), fajita veggies (1 gram of protein), cheese (6 grams of protein), and queso blanco (5 grams of protein). This order will bring your bowl's protein total to 40 grams. If you're wanting to turn your vegetarian creation vegan, you'll need to omit the sour cream, cheese, and queso blanco, resulting in a burrito bowl with 27 grams of protein.

If you're on a low-calorie, low-fat, or low-carbohydrate diet, this toppings-heavy bowl may not be the best choice. This bowl comes out to 1350 calories, 89 grams of fat, and 115 grams of carbohydrates. You can drastically lower these totals by choosing toppings based on your goals. For instance, if you omit all toppings except fajita veggies, that results in a meatless bowl with 510 calories, 16 grams of fat, 71 grams of carbohydrates, and 21 grams of protein. You can also boost the protein content further with some easy steps. 

You may notice when ordering that there are options for portion sizes. Adding larger portion sizes to your order is the simplest way to maximize the protein in your meatless Chipotle burrito bowl. You can double your sofritas for an added 8 grams of protein, and order extra rice for an additional 4 grams of protein or extra beans for 8 grams more protein. That brings the total protein count of the original bowl to 60 grams. You can up the protein even more by adding extra toppings. The only toppings that don't have this option are the red chimichurri, the guacamole, and the queso blanco. However, you can order extra roasted chili-corn salsa, sour cream, fajita veggies, and cheese. Those extras add 12 grams of protein to your burrito bowl. And the total protein count for all of them? An astounding 72 grams. While you're enjoying your high-protein meal, check out some fun facts about Chipotle.