Kale Rice Bowl
A quick lunchtime brown rice bowl with kale, capers, salted yogurt, za'atar, toasted sesame seeds - and a poached egg for good measure.
My lunch, at least a few days a week, is some sort of rice bowl or grain bowl. I love a feel-good lunch, and using rice as the foundation, I can usually grab other components from the refrigerator to make something quick and satisfying. This Kale Rice Bowl, for example, is worth a shout out. You have grains plus greens, dollops of creamy salted yogurt, blistered capers, and plenty of homemade za’atar. So good!
Kale Rice Bowl: Make Ahead Plan
Most of the components here can be made ahead. They’re also good travelers - work lunches, picnics, etc. So you could meal prep on a Sunday for meals through out the week. For that approach here’s the plan.
- Cook the rice. Then allow it to cool and then refrigerate until you’re ready to eat. At that point you can either heat it, or allow it enough time to come up to room temperature.
- Cook some eggs. If you like an egg on top of your rice bowls, make a few hard-boiled eggs or fried eggs and refrigerate those as well.
- Choose your spices: I use za’atar as my seasoning here, but if you have another favorite spice blend, no problem. Have that at the ready.
I typically fry up the capers and salt the yogurt at the last minute, but you could also do that in the morning if you’re packing a lunch for later.
Variations
You can certainly take a rice bowl like this one in many different directions. I mentioned exploring a spice or seasoning swap up above. On the grain front, you see brown rice here, but farro would be nice, or a quinoa / rice blend. When it comes to the kale, my original intent was to bake the shredded kale (massaged with olive oil and za'atar), so it had more of a crispy texture (kale chips), but didn't want to wait for the oven to heat. I ended up sautéing the kale instead. This is a long way of saying, play around!
More Rice Bowl Recipes
- A Simple Brown Rice Sushi Bowl
- Sesame Coconut Rice
- Instant Pot Brown Rice Bowl
- Super Orange Citrus Rice
- Rainbow Cauliflower Rice Bowl
- Bryant Terry's Amazing Green Rice
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Kale Rice Bowl
I used lacinato kale here. But use another kale if that is what you have. Or, you could even substitute chard. Broccoli or broccolini are also good substitutes. The main thing is I like to get something green and vibrant in the mix. Here's a link if you want to make your own za'atar.
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or clarified butter
- 1 bunch of kale, stemmed and chopped
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
- - capers, rinsed, dried, and pan-fried until blistered in butter
- - a poached or hard-boiled egg
- - a dollop of salted greek yogurt
- - a big drizzle of good extra-virgin olive oil
- - lot's of za'atar
- - toasted sesame seeds
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In a large skillet or pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the kale and a couple pinches of salt. Saute until the kale softens a bit and brightens, just a minute or so. Stir in the rice, and cook until the rice is hot. If your rice is on the dry side, you might have to add a small splash of water.
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Serve the kale rice topped with (preferably) all of the following: the capers, egg, yogurt drizzled with olive oil, and plenty of za'atar.
Serves 2-3
Related Recipes
A Simple Brown Rice Sushi Bowl
This sushi bowl recipe is simply a de-constructed sushi roll - brown rice, tofu, avocado, toasted nori and green onions served with a simple citrus-soy dressing. Simple and delicious.
Spicy Sesame Coconut Rice
This recipe makes a pot of brown rice cooked In a thin sesame-coconut broth. It is showered with lemon zest and drizzled with chile oil if you like a bit of heat.
Bryant Terry’s Amazing Green Rice
A very special green rice. A blender of green juice made from kale, spinach, and a creamy stock is cooked with onions, garlic, green pepper, and long-grain rice. It all cooks together into an intensely green and fragrant pot of fluffy grains.
Super Orange Citrus Rice
This incredible citrus rice is flooded with orange juice, flecked with celery and carrots, and boosted with a packet of French onion dip mix.
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Comments
I STILL love your simple recipes. Just like this one, one I know I will make and love.
I do something incredibly similar, but also including cooked Puy lentils and a dash of sambal oelek in the mix; poached egg like yours if I really want a protein fix. I also like homemade dukkah in this, with the lovely subtle crunch and taste of pistachios. Beautiful images as always. *sigh* Hope all your projects are ticking along nicely
YUM.
I was looking for a different way to use all of the kale from my garden that I'd blanched and frozen, and this was just the ticket. Simple but tasty, just the ticket for a quick but delicious after work meal.
This looks delicious and very beautiful!
I love your rice bowl - so simple, comforting and delicious. If za'atar is not available, the Japanese seeweed and sesame mix is also very flavorful.
Mmm! This reminds me of your kale/coconut salad in Super Natural Everyday, which is one of my family's favorites. I have to thank you for that recipe! My 2 and 5 year olds eat SO MUCH KALE! I always double it and eat it with barley cooked in vegetable broth. I'll have to try this now too.
This is one of my favorite meals...completely underrated in my opinion. Definitely on the menu for later in the week!
This is my major go-to dinner. Sometimes I premake the ingredients so when I don't feel like cooking during the week I can just reheat and it's delicous.
I did a similar dish to this recently but used quinoa as the grain, and I roasted small cubes of butternut squash for some nice color and texture. I dressed it with a dash of truffle oil and a squeeze of lime + some salted pumpkins seeds to finish. It was yummy!
Love this; so amazing Heidi. Simple and perfect for a February NYC day! Gluten-Free too!!
Made this tonight for dinner, and it was perfect! Thanks for the inspiration!
Sounds delicious! I love meals like this that are so simple, but so yummy. Have all these things around the house pretty much always, so I'm sure I'll be throwing this together sometime soon!
This is such a great quick meal for one. I always have left over cooked carbs. this reminds me of a simple version of the Korean rice bowl and im going to serve this Gochujang. I can not wait to try this with barley or wild rice too!
I love pushing rice bowls as a dinner idea, I always think of it more for breakfast/lunch, but would be a perfect quick and filling dinner. Thank you for sharing!
This looks so clean and delicious! I love a good poached egg so this has to be amazing!
that is my kind of meal!
Rice bowls with kale and egg is one of my absolute favorite go-to dishes. I made it last night! I often throw this together when I am in a hurry, have nothing fresh in the fridge but don't feel like going to the grocery store. My favorite is adding Sriracha!
looks like a nice and hearty bowl!
This looks fabulous and is just the inspiration I need to make a delicious rice bowl for dinner tonight - perhaps even including some za'atar!
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