Buy It VS Make It? Chipotle

El Guzii

This video has been trending in Venezuela, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Ecuador, and Mexico

The video’s creator sets out to answer every Chipotle fan’s classic question: Is it better to buy a burrito bowl at the restaurant or recreate it at home? To find out, he weighs three factors—flavor, cost, and time. The experiment begins with a trip to Chipotle to purchase a standard order: chicken, cilantro rice, black beans, pepper-and-onion fajitas, roasted corn salsa, pico de gallo, and guacamole. That bowl serves as the sensory and economic benchmark.

Back in the kitchen, the host reproduces each component from scratch. He marinates chicken thighs in chipotles in adobo, cumin, oregano, garlic, and lime juice, sears them on a griddle, and finishes them in the oven to mimic Chipotle’s signature smokiness. He cooks long-grain rice with bay leaves, fluffs it with lime juice, and folds in plenty of fresh cilantro. For the black beans, he makes a sofrito of onion, garlic, and bay, then simmers the beans slowly until they reach the chain’s creamy texture. The pepper-and-onion fajitas are sautéed in a hot pan with a touch of Mexican oregano. The mise en place is rounded out with roasted corn salsa, classic pico de gallo, and guacamole mashed with garlic, lime juice, and jalapeño.

With everything ready, he assembles a homemade burrito bowl following the franchise’s proportions and sets up a blind tasting with friends. The flavor verdict is split: the homemade version delivers fresher notes and deeper chicken flavor, while Chipotle shines for its consistency and a subtle smokiness from industrial equipment. The surprise comes in the cost analysis: once all ingredients are tallied, the homemade batch yields eight servings at a per-bowl cost 40–50 % lower than buying one ready-made. The trade-off is time—about two hours of active prep, not counting the beans’ long simmer.

The video concludes that making Chipotle at home is the clear winner if you’re cooking for several people or meal-prepping for the week; you get bigger portions, more control over ingredients, and significant savings. For a single quick meal, however, the restaurant’s convenience is hard to beat. Ultimately, the choice hinges on whether you value time or total control over flavor and budget

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