Meals · Grain & rice bowls

Quinoa black bean bowl

Name: Quinoa black bean bowl
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1 cup dry quinoa, cooked; 1 1/2 cans black beans, drained; 1 1/3 cups frozen corn, thawed; 1 red bell peppers, diced; 1/2 small red onions, diced; 1 avocado, sliced; a handful fresh cilantro, chopped; 2 tbsp olive oil; 2, juiced lime; 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin; 1 tsp salt

The vegetarian meal-prep bowl the internet keeps rebuilding: quinoa, black beans, corn and avocado with a lime-cumin dressing. Complete protein, no cooking beyond the grain.

Time: 30 min (15 prep + 15 cook)
Servings: 4
Per serving: 492 kcal
Protein: 16 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

1 cup dry quinoa, cooked600 g
1 1/2 cans black beans, drained360 g
1 1/3 cups frozen corn, thawed200 g
1 red bell peppers, diced150 g
1/2 small red onions, diced60 g
1 avocado, sliced150 g
a handful fresh cilantro, chopped15 g

Dressing

2 tbsp olive oil25 g
2, juiced lime45 g
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin3 g
1 tsp salt5 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Cook the quinoa (rinsed) and let it cool a little.
Whisk the dressing and toss with the quinoa, beans, corn, pepper and onion.
Fold in the cilantro; lay the avocado on at serving so it doesn't brown in the fridge.
Keeps four days without the avocado — which is what makes it the meal-prep favourite.

Why this score

moderately filling

No single route carries this one — a moderate amount of protein, volume and fiber.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

12% of kcal

70% water

31 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

Nothing here converges the way engineered food does — no sugar, no savoury and no alcohol penalty.

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 1968 kcal goes into the pot, 1613 g of ingredients comes out as ~1400 g of food → 141 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 141
Protein: (12%); 4 g
Fat: (33%); 5 g
Carbohydrates: (54%); 19 g
of which sugar: 2 g
Fiber: 4 g
Sodium: 215 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

More meals

Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.