These Enchilada Meal Prep Bowls with Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Rice are healthy, delicious and freezer friendly!
Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend 🙂 The weather has been pretty gorgeous here lately and I’ve been trying to get outside as much as I can. We’ve been doing lots of hikes and playground time.
I’ve also been experimenting in the kitchen a lot lately and am really excited to share these Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Rice Enchilada Meal Prep Bowls with you! A while ago I had the idea that I wanted to test out some single serve freezer meals and today I’m sharing my first one with you 🙂
Homemade single serve freezer meals are great for a few reasons: If you’re not a person who likes to eat the same thing every single day for lunch then they’re great because you can store them away for the next week and they won’t go bad. You can freeze them up to 3 months and if you don’t have/want to use glass containers you can freeze them in ziplock bags.
They’re also great because you have a delicious and healthy meal right at your fingertips! You’ve made the meal so you know exactly what’s in it and can control amounts, like sodium. These Butternut Squash and Cauliflower Meal Prep Bowls can be used for lunches or dinners. If you work long hours and don’t have much time to prepare dinner, freezer meals can be life savers!
I’d love to hear from you all whether or not you find single serve freezer meals handy because I really want to do some more! I find them so great to have stashed away for when I need a healthy and filling meal but just don’t have the time to cook it.
I hope you enjoy them as much as I did 🙂
PrintButternut Squash and Cauliflower Rice Enchilada Meal Prep Bowls {Freezer Friendly}
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
These freezer friendly enchilada meal prep bowls are so also healthy and delicious! Gluten free and vegan friendly!
Ingredients
- 1 small head cauliflower, roughly chopped
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into bite size pieces
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 heaping teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups black beans
- 1 cup enchilada sauce
- 2 corn tortillas, chopped up into small pieces
- 1/2 cup grated cheese
- Optional toppings: avocado, onion, tomato, cilantro, salsa, etc…
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F. On a large baking sheet, toss together the cubed butternut squash with the olive oil and spices. Bake butternut squash until for tender, about 40 minutes.
- Make the cauliflower rice while butternut squash is baking. Add the chopped cauliflower to a food processor and blend until it has a rice like texture.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray or about 1/2 teaspoon olive oil. Add cauliflower rice and season with salt and pepper. Cook cauliflower until tender, 5-7 minutes.
- Assemble bowls: you can either assemble them in a freezer friendly glass or plastic container or a freezer friendly ziplock bag. For each bowl add: 3/4 cup cauliflower rice, 1/3 cup roasted butternut squash, 1/2 cup black beans, 1/4 cup enchilada sauce, 1/4th of the chopped tortilla, 2 tablespoons grated cheese.
- You can either refrigerate the bowls or freeze them for up to 3 months.
- When ready to eat: heat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes, or in the oven at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Add desired garnishes before eating.
Notes
You may end up with extra cauliflower rice or butternut squash. You can either make an extra bowl or add more to your existing bowls.
If you’re freezing in plastic bags, thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter and then transfer to a microwave/oven safe container before heating.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Category: Dinner, Lunch, Meal Prep, Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Dodie says
i always make more than enough [planned overs] to freeze for the days am too tired or too lazy or too busy to cook. A widower neighbor who loves my cooking often gets a jar, too. Any recipe that is amenable to freezing is always welcome. Soups and stews are our winter staple – not always use easy recipes but always flavorful and nutritious. Thanks for your many wonderful, creative recipes. I’ve shared the stacks of muffin and cookie recipes with my brother who likes convenience but doesn’t pay much attention to nutrition. His staple has been 2 eggs a day. EGAD!! 😀
She Likes Food says
Freezer food is so nice to have around! I need to start making extras more often so I can freeze it! Haha, I’m glad you’re sharing my recipes with your brother! So glad you are enjoying them too 🙂
Amy says
This looks so yummy. Can’t wait to make today.
Thank you for all your simple, delicious and vegan recipes.
She Likes Food says
Thanks so much, Amy! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
Katie | Whole Nourishment says
Ooh, I love this idea! I’m always freezing leftovers, which often turn out to be about the right amount for a single serve. But it would nice to deliberately make single serve freezer meals on occasion. So bring on the ideas! Loved this first one, especially with the cauliflower rice.
Traci | Vanilla And Bean says
Delicious work, Izzy! I freeze a lot of food because I’m lazy and only like to cook about 3-4 times a week. The rest are from the freezer – we go out to eat about once a week. This works perfect for Rob and I. I love cauli rice and love how you’ve used it in this scrumptious recipe! So hearty yet nourishing!
She Likes Food says
Thanks, Traci! I need to start freezing more food! It’s so handy to have around! I’m a big fan of the cauliflower rice too 🙂
Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health says
This is so my kind of lunch! You know I love Mexican-inspired dishes as much as you do and using winter squash is just icing on the cake. I need to prep these for next week!
Also, I know you’re jealous of our cold weather but I’d love for it to be warm enough for me to feel the sun on my bare skin, lol. I’ve been wearing like 2 shirts and a sweater everyday just to keep warm. Florida girl can’t hang in this cold!
Ashley@CookNourishBliss says
Yas!! Now this is my kind of dish! I love that you used butternut squash! We’ve had such chilly weather here lately (and snow!) – it’s kinda exciting even though it would be nice to go outside and not freeze lol
Danielle says
I made this for my meat and potatoes husband. He loved it. The spice on the squash is perfect. I had too much squash, so we had it the next night as a side. Love this recipe!
She Likes Food says
That’s so nice to hear, Danielle!! I’m glad you got your meat and potatoes husband to eat it haha, I have one of those too 🙂
Gray says
I started cooking this just now and have read over the instructions multiple times. I see black beans as an ingredient, but not in the instructions?
She Likes Food says
Sorry about that! Have just added it in!