Earth Grown Plant-Based Southwest Burrito Bowl
While browsing my local Aldi recently, I found some new items in the aisle that contains canned goods, pasta, and other shelf-stable foods. Aldi doesn’t always have a lot in the way of nonperishable, quick-heating, single-serve food products. However, this time around, I spotted a mixed case with some vegan pouch meals that come in three varieties: a southwest burrito bowl, pad Thai, and taco filling.
These all heat in the microwave in just 60 seconds, and they contain a decent amount of protein per serving. They’re sold under the Earth Grown brand, which is an Aldi house brand that comprises mostly vegan and plant-based meals. Other products I’ve seen under the Earth Grown brand include nondairy frozen desserts, meatless meatballs, and veggie breakfast patties. There is no company called Earth Grown. Rather, Aldi puts that name on these types of products to give them a uniform look, but Aldi may source these products from multiple suppliers.
Today, I’m taking a closer look at the southwest burrito bowl with chipotle peppers that I found at Aldi not long ago.
The Earth Grown Plant-Based Southwest Burrito Bowl with Chipotle Peppers appears to be a new Regular Buy. That means it should be available at Aldi all year.
This cost $2.99 for a 10-ounce package at the time of publication. That’s about 30 cents per ounce.
This is a product of Thailand.
If you’re looking out for allergens, this contains soy. It is gluten free, and it has a vegan seal from The Vegan Society.
As is often the case with many products in the Earth Grown line, this contains some processed ingredients, including soy protein and smoke flavor, and it also contains vague “spices.” Overall, this still has a lot of whole, easily identifiable foods such as brown rice, tomato, black beans, and corn.
The full ingredients list is water, textured soy protein, brown rice, tomato, black bean, chipotle paste (chipotle pepper puree [chipotle pepper, water], water, tomato paste, vinegar, salt, spices, smoke flavor), bell pepper, sweet corn, onion, salt, lemon juice, spices, garlic powder, chili, and yeast extract.
This has a lot of sodium per serving, so keep that in mind if you’re on a limited sodium diet. On the positive side, this has 10 grams of dietary fiber and 18 grams of protein per serving.
One pouch is one serving. One serving (1 1/4 cups) has 260 calories, 2 grams of total fat (3% DV), 0.5 grams of saturated fat (3% DV), 1,080 mg of sodium (47% DV), 45 grams of total carbohydrates (16% DV), 10 grams of dietary fiber (36% DV), 5 grams of total sugars, no added sugars, and 18 grams of protein.

The pouch has directions for heating this in the microwave or on the stovetop. To microwave, tear the pouch 2 inches, stand it upright, and microwave on high for approximately 60 seconds. To heat on the stovetop, boil the sealed pouch in water for 5 minutes.
I decided to heat this on my stovetop, but I poured the contents into a small saucepan and heated it that way rather than boiling a plastic bag. It was hot and ready to serve within five minutes or less.

This is primarily rice, with scattered pieces of textured soy protein that imitates some type of meat such as chicken or possibly beef. It has a decent amount of beans and corn. It’s firmly in the medium spicy category, and possibly closer to the upper end of medium spicy. It’s well seasoned and doesn’t just taste spicy. Overall, this made for a good, easy, quick-to-prepare lunch. The portion size is good as well.
The Verdict:
The Earth Grown Plant-Based Southwest Burrito Bowl with Chipotle Peppers features rice, textured soy protein that reminds us a bit of chicken, beans, corn, and lots of seasonings. This is moderately spicy, so you’ll want to keep a drink nearby. If you want a vegan Mexican-style meal that is quick and easy to heat and serves one person, this fits the bill. Do be aware of the high sodium content, though.
We really like this – makes for a quick dinner, and it’s very filling. I put a dollop of plain Greek yogurt on the top to cut the spice a bit. I think this is the same as the Loma Linda product (also called Southwest Burrito Bowl – and same stats and ingredients)