Copycat Cantina Chicken Burrito & Bowl
Cantina Chicken is Taco Bell's attempt at a fresher-tasting chicken line, and the home version stands or falls on the chicken itself: slow-roasted, well-seasoned, rested before slicing. The published build for the Cantina Chicken Burrito is flour tortilla, seasoned rice, Cantina slow-roasted chicken and Avocado Verde Salsa (540 Cal, $6.29 sampled); the Cantina Chicken Bowl is the same chicken over rice without the wrap (580 Cal, $8.39 sampled). One marinade, two meals — that is the whole economy of this recipe.
A TacoBellMenuOnline guide.
Copycat Taco Bell Cantina Chicken — ready in about 40 minutes, makes 4 servings. The restaurant original is 540 calories ($6.29 sampled).
Illustrative stock photo — not a Taco Bell product photograph.
Ingredients (makes 4 burritos, or 2 burritos + 2 bowls)
- 600g chicken thighs, marinated in lime juice, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika and oil
- 300g cooked seasoned rice (cooked with a pinch of cumin and lime zest)
- Avocado verde salsa: 2 ripe avocados, tomatillo or green salsa, lime juice, coriander, salt
- 4 large flour tortillas (burritos only)
- Shredded purple cabbage and pico de gallo, to finish
Method
- Roast the marinated thighs at 200°C until cooked through and charred at the edges, about 25 minutes. Rest 10 minutes, then slice.
- Blend the avocado verde salsa until smooth but not thin; season hard with lime and salt.
- For burritos: rice, chicken, salsa, cabbage and pico down the centre of a warmed tortilla; fold the ends in and roll tight. Toast seam-side down in a dry pan.
- For bowls: rice as the base, chicken on top, salsa spooned over, cabbage and pico around the edge. No wrap, no toasting, same chicken.
The restaurant panels are the reference, not a promise for the home version: burrito 540 Cal and 25g protein, bowl 580 Cal and 26g protein on the published panels. Home portions move those numbers, so no summed homemade total is printed. What the home version reliably beats is the price — four servings from one marinade against $6.29–$8.39 per restaurant serving.
About this guide's data
The original's price and calories quoted on this page come from our dataset — a sampled price and the published nutrition panel, compiled in October 2026. If the original's record has a gap, the page says so; nothing is estimated to fill it. Full sourcing: how we verify our data.
Frequently asked questions
What is Cantina Chicken made of?
Slow-roasted seasoned chicken with seasoned rice and Avocado Verde Salsa in the burrito build, per Taco Bell's published ingredient statement. The bowl drops the tortilla and keeps the rest.
How many calories are in the Cantina Chicken Burrito?
540 calories and 25g of protein on the published panel; the bowl is 580 calories. Sampled prices: burrito $6.29, bowl $8.39.
Can I make the burrito and the bowl from one batch?
Yes — that is the point of this recipe. One marinade of chicken thighs covers both; the bowl is simply the burrito's filling over rice without the wrap.
Keep reading
More from this section: