I have lived in Utah many times in my 33 moves. We lived in Provo for 2 years from 2005-2007 and have been here in Salt Lake for over 3 years this time. And I just, THIS YEAR tried Cafe Rio for the first time. It is AMAZING! Seriously I love it. And they have been expanding a ton, so a lot more of you will be able to experience it. But I like being able to make my own food, I like saving money… So I started searching for some copy cat recipes.
I’ve made it a few times now, I’ve tried a few different recipes of each part of the burrito. I’m still looking for the perfect Black Beans, this isn’t juicy enough, but my husband loved it!
Rice Cooker Cilantro lime rice
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
- 2 tsp butter or margarine
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 scoops uncooked rice (the scoop your rice cooker came with)
- 2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- 4 tsp chicken bullion
- water fill to the number 3 line
- 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
- 4 tsp sugar
- 6 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Place the butter and garlic in the rice cooker and press cook.
- Cook until the butter is melted and the garlic is fragrant, about 10 mins.
- Add the rice and stir, add water to the correct level (3 in this case). Add the chicken bullion and the 2 tsp squeezed lime juice. Press off and then press cook again to reset the cook cycle.
- When the cook cycle is over let it sit for 10 mins. While it's sitting mix the 2 Tbsp lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Fluff the rice and stir in the cilantro mixture!
Shredded Sweet Pork
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Total time
Ingredients
- 2 pounds pork sirloin tip roast
- 3 cans Dr Pepper (liked it better than the Coke called for)
- 1/4 C brown sugar
- dash garlic salt
- 1/4 C water
- 1 can diced green chilies
- 10 oz can red enchilada sauce
- 1 C brown sugar
Instructions
- Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of Dr Pepper and 1/4 C brown sugar. Marinade overnight.
- Drain marinade (important, don't keep the old stuff) and put pork, 1/2 can of Dr Pepper, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.
- In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Dr Pepper, chilies, enchilada sauce and 1 C brown sugar. Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours.
- adapted from favorite family recipes
Black Beans
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Total time
Ingredients
- 2 Cans Black Beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2/3 C diced onion
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 C chicken broth
- 1 tsp bullion
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp coriander
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 lime
Instructions
- Saute onions in the olive oil for until they become translucent, or longer- I like to caramelize them for flavor.
- Add garlic and saute abut 30 seconds more.
- Add beans, broth, and remaining seasonings and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and simmer for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- When they are done cooking, remove from heat and add in a few squeezes of fresh lime juice. They will thicken more upon standing.
- adapted from Our Best Bites
Green Enchilada Sauce
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 green peppers, chopped
- 1 jalapenos, seeded and membranes removed if desired (and I desire. Always.)
- 3/4 lbs tomatillos, husked and halved
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 C chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
- in a large sauce pan Saute onions in the olive oil until translucent, add the garlic and saute until fragrant.
- While onions are sauteing, combine tomatillos, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, cilantro and broth in your blender. Process until smooth.
- Pour the tomatillo mixture over the onions and garlic and add salt, pepper, cumin and sugar. Simmer 15 minutes-1 hour, depending on the consistency you want.
- Adapted from Our Best Bites
Pico De Gallo
Prep time
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Ingredients
- 4 ripe red tomatoes diced
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1/4 C diced onion
- 1/4 C chopped cilantro
- 2 jalapenos (stems and seeds removed) diced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients and let it sit for half an hour. Then serve immediately.
We place a large flour tortilla on the plate, and spread out a scoop of rice in the top third of the tortilla!
Top with some pork
beans…
sauce…
and Monterrey Jack Cheese.
Fold down over the top, then fold in the sides and roll the burrito up!
Then top with more green sauce and cheese. I like to serve it with chopped romaine topped with the Pico De Gallo and a side of rice! And there you have it- the Cafe Rio Smothered Burrito!
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Ashlee
CEO at Ashlee Marie Cakes
Ashlee Prisbrey is a self taught cake decorator and home chef turned blogger turned youtuber. On her blog and youtube channel she shares cake decorating tutorials, from scratch recipes, and themed party food (cause for her parties are all about the food). In addition to blogging and videos she travels around the country speaking at blog conferences. Last year she competed on Food Network, the Halloween Baking championship, a dream come true! Ashlee loves empowering women and moms, in the kitchen, in blogging or in life. Her motto is nothing is too hard with the right tips and tricks.
We have a similar recipe, and it’s a favorite at our house. I haven’t tried the green enchilada sauce yet, but it sure looks yummy!
Also, I have a recipe for black beans in the crock pot that I think are amazing. You can make them as saucy as you want, so you might like them. Here’s the link: http://www.creationsbykara.com/2009/06/crock-pot-black-beans.html/
I’m totally going to try your beans next time! But I make the pork in the crock pot and i only have one, I’ll have to do it a time when I’m cooking with my sister and use hers too!
It’s funny, I have never lived in Utah, but I have known quite a few people who have and I have heard all about Cafe Rio! This recipe looks delish, I’ll have to add it to my “future recipes” mental collection.
Lucky for the outside world, they are EXPANDING, they are in quite a few states now, so check it out. But this will tide you over until then!
where does it tell me how many people your pork recipe or sauce will feed
I don’t really get into serving sizes, cause then people come after you for over eating. It feeds our family of 7 for one meal plus a little left over (or it did the last time I made it, we have teenage boys now so we’d probably eat it all)