Curried Chickpea Bowls with Garlicky Spinach
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Published Jan 27, 2017, Updated Mar 20, 2023
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These vegan curried chickpea bowls make meal prepping for the week a breeze. The chickpeas are paired with garlicky spinach and brown rice for an easy meal that’s absolutely delicious and filling.Â
Hooray, it’s Friday!! I’m not trying to rush the weekend away, but today I want to talk about meal prep. I’ve been doing it every Sunday for the past few months and it’s been a total game-changer. I use this meal planning printable to plan our meals for the week ahead, go to the grocery store and do a little meal prep. These few hours over the weekend make make it incredibly easy to whip up health meals throughout the week.
Last up we have my curried chickpea bowls with garlicky spinach.
These bowls are super efficient because you use the same pan to cook the spinach and the chickpeas, both of which can happen while your brown rice is cooking.
Plus, the flavor is on point!!
The chickpeas are cooked with onions and garlic and tossed in fragrant tomato based curry sauce that pairs wonderfully with the zesty lemon garlic spinach. Serving both of these over a generous portion of brown rice makes for a hearty and filling vegan gluten-free meal prep bowl that you can bring for lunch or have on hand for a quick dinner.
The recipe makes three servings so if you want a week’s worth of meals you’ll want to double it! You can easily reheat the curried chickpea bowls before serving or eat them cold. There’s no wrong way to eat meal prep bowls! 🙂
Curried Chickpea Bowls with Garlicky Spinach
Ingredients
Garlicky Spinach
- 1 teaspoon avocado oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 oz baby spinach
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 lemon juiced
Curried Chickpeas
- 2 teaspoons avocado oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 2 teaspoons curry
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 Tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- fresh cilantro, chopped (for topping)
- green onion, chopped (for topping)
- 3 cups cooked brown or white rice
Instructions
- Cook rice, if it’s not cooked already.
- Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant (about 1-2 minutes). Add baby spinach to the skillet and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until spinach has started to wilt. Toss in sea salt and lemon juice. Toss to coat, remove from heat and place spinach on a small plate.
- In the small skillet you used to cook the spinach, add another 2 teaspoons oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion and cook (stirring frequently) until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add spices (curry powder, cumin, cinnamon), chickpeas and tomato paste into the skillet. Toss to combine and quickly add water as the pan will start to dry out. Add sea salt and pepper, toss everything together and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and prepare bowls — each one with brown rice, chickpeas and spinach. Top with cilantro and green onion.
- For meal prep, allow all ingredients to cool and then grab 3 glass storage containers. Fill each with 1 cup rice, 1/3 of curried chickpeas and 1/3 of baby spinach. Top with cilantro and green onion. Place in fridge until ready to eat.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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- Shredded Mexican Beef Bowls — These shredded Mexican beef bowls are made in the slow cooker and perfect for weekly meal prep with rice, beans, plantains and peppers to round them out!
- Meal Prep Vegetarian Kung Pao Quinoa Bowl —  These Vegetarian Kung Pao Quinoa Bowls are the perfect meal prep recipe to make so you can enjoy a healthy lunch or dinner the entire week!
I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy these bowls. I usually double the recipe and then I have an entire week of prepped meals. What could be better than that?! I made a few tweaks that make the recipe equally delicious. In place of the tomato paste I add a can of diced tomatoes. I also like adding lentils and potatoes in addition to the chickpeas.
Thanks again for sharing a healthy, tasty, easy meal prep recipe!
These chickpeas are to die for. I looooove them. I added broccolini in with the spinach because I love veggies. My husband and I loved every bite
Yay!!!! This makes me so happy, Amy. And thank you so much for coming back to leave a comment and star rating after trying the recipe. Your feedback is so helpful.
Oo going to try and make these things weekend!
Megan
http://www.todayisthedaylifestyle.com/blog
This was really delicious! I think the amount of spinach that comes in a 5 oz package is not quite enough for 3 bowls, at least for me, so I think next time I’ll either get more spinach or try it with a more voluminous leafy green like chard or kale so I can really fill up the bowl with veggies. The spices on the chickpeas are amazing though, and the touch of lemon juice really brought the whole thing together. Thanks!
Just made it for lunch tomorrow, had to have a bite or FEW before. Great recipe!
This is one of my favorite meals to make! It’s quick, easy and tasty.
I just made this dish and it was quick and easy. The dish has lots of flavor. I like how you can make two dishes in the same cooking pan so theres less dishes to wash.
Made this for a couple of years now… it’s really good and easy… meal prep or for quick healthy weeknight meal. It went over well with the boyfriend! I always forget to add more spinach, it wilts down so much. And I’ll try a little chard next time. Thank you for this recipe.. and it’s great when you want a meatless meal!
Hey Joy, I am thrilled to hear that you have been enjoying this dish for quite awhile! And happy to hear it got the boyfriend’s stamp of approval too. 🙂 Thank you for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. It means the world to me!
I have recently started eating more vegetarian meals and decided to make this for dinner and meal prep for lunches. It tastes so amazing, I definitely wasn’t expecting it! I used twice the amount of chickpeas to make more meals but left the other ingredients the same and it worked well. I also replaced water with a can of diced tomatoes which turned out well. I added a bit more spinach but the same amount of garlic and it still tasted garlic-y enough for me. Will definitely be making again!
Hi Sophie! I am so glad that you found this recipe and enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing your substitutions and for taking the time to come back and leave a star rating. It means the world to me!
Way too much rice! also too much carb in one bowl! other than that very good recipe