Kale and Sweet Potato Brown Rice Bowls
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Published Dec 30, 2016, Updated Sep 21, 2023
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These kale and sweet potato brown rice bowls are topped with a delicious savory peanut sauce and packed with 18 grams of protein and 20 grams of fiber per bowl! Vegan + perfect for meal prep.
I can’t believe that I forgot to post this little gem earlier in the week because it’s one of the best dinners I’ve made in a while.
And it’s awesome because it’s one of those meals that comes together so quickly if you prep your ingredients ahead of time. The funny thing is that I wasn’t planning on creating a recipe. I simply got hungry while meal prepping last weekend, tossed a bunch of things I’d prepped in a bowl and this little meal was created.
As it turns out the brown rice bowl was absolutely delicious — I loved it so much I ended up having the same meal for lunch and dinner the next day. You never know what a night of meal prepping will bring to fruition.
What Goes Into This Brown Rice Bowl
- Brown rice: Make a big batch on the stove for the week or keep it simple and buy frozen brown rice. Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Kroger all see frozen options that cook up in less than 10 mins. You can use cauliflower rice if you’d like a grain-free option. I ended up using a brown rice and quinoa blend.
- Chickpeas: Cook your own or use canned if you’re in a rush. I cooked a big batch of chickpeas in my pressure cooker, which only took only 11 minutes.
- Sweet potatoes: Chop 1 large sweet potato into 1/4 inch chunks, drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Bake at 400° F for 30 minutes. This step can be done ahead of time. Check out my coconut oil roasted sweet potatoes if you want to make a larger batch of sweet potatoes as part of your meal prep.
- Kale: De-stem, wash and chop kale. Then steam in a steamer basket for 3-5 mins or until tender. You can also blanch or sauté the kale if you’d rather.
- Peanut sauce: Simply put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend. Then add as much water as necessary to make the consistency that you like. The recipe makes about 3/4 cup so you’ll have plenty to store in the fridge for later. (It tastes good on everything!)
What we LOVE about this brown rice bowl is that it is sooo easy and versatile. You could totally add or switch up ingredients and it would still taste lovely. Although, I must say that the blend of kale, chickpeas, sweet potatoes and peanut sauce is amazing and makes for a lovely, protein-packed plant-based meal!
More Bowl Meals to Try:
- Greek Chicken and Quinoa Bowl
- Falafel Bowl (Homemade Cava Bowls)
- Tofu Sofritas Burrito Bowl
- Maple Mustard Tempeh Bowl
- Chicken Fajita Quinoa Bowl
- Roasted Harvest Bowl
Kale and Sweet Potato Brown Rice Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked brown rice, or quinoa
- 2 cups steamed kale
- ½ cup cooked chickpeas
- 2 cups roasted sweet potato chunks
Creamy Peanut Sauce
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, chopped
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons maple syrup
- a pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
- water, to thin
Instructions
- Roast sweet potatoes if you haven’t already. Chop 1 large sweet potato into 1/4 inch chunks, drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Bake at 400° F for 30 minutes. This step is best done ahead of time.
- Cook brown rice according to package instructions while sweet potatoes are roasting.
- Prepare kale by washing, de-stemming and chopping. Then steam in a steamer basket for 3-5 mins or until tender. You can blanch or sauté the kale if you’d rather.
- Make peanut sauce by blending all the sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add water to thin sauce and create desired consistency.
- Once all ingredients are prepped, grab two bowls and evenly distribute brown rice, kale, chickpeas and sweet potato chunks between both.
- Drizzle each with as much peanut sauce as you’d like. Serve warm or at room-temp.
Notes
- Everything in this bowl can be made 2-3 days in advance. Just reheat the rice, kale and sweet potato chunks before serving. Toss with chickpeas and peanut sauce and enjoy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Healthy, super clean and tasty. Definitely going to have this for breakfast
This recipe is unreal. SUPER tasty and easy to prepare. Definitely going to be a staple in our house from now on!!!
The peanut sauce is phenomenal! I didn’t think something this easy could be so extraordinary! Thank you!
So glad you love this sauce, Michelle! It’s definitely my favorite sauce of all-time. 🙂 Thanks for coming back to leave a comment + star rating. I so appreciate it. <3
AHH OMG!! I love!!! I made the sauce without ginger because I didnt have any on hand. I also didn’t have kale and chickpeas but tomatoes and i mashed some canned kidney beans and everything came out incredible still! I almost couldn’t stop eating everything haha! The sauce is also perfect and It is definitely my new fresh sauce addiction. Thanks so much for this recipe Brit!!<3333
Xoxo
-Giselle.
Ahh this makes me so happy to hear!! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe, Giselle. Thanks for trying it and for coming back to leave a comment and star rating. It means the world to me. <3
I made this with quinoa instead of rice and it was really good. When I tasted the sauce, it didn’t taste that sweet so I was worried this recipe wouldn’t taste good but magically everything came together. My husband loved it too! Not much luck with my 3yo tho. I’ll definitely make this again!
Ahh yay!! So glad this dish was a hit with you and your husband! I so appreciate you making my recipe and coming back to leave a comment + star rating, Rachel. 🙂
I loved this Kale and Sweet Potato Bowl. I used Forbidden rice instead of brown and is was delish!!! One question though..can you substitute something else in place of the soy sauce? I lessened the amount and added more peanut butter but it was still overpowering.
So glad you loved this recipe, Tara. You could use tamari or coconut aminos (which is soy-free).
This was so easy to make and very tasty, even my husband who doesn’t “love eating meatless meals” enjoyed it. I roasted the chickpeas and served with cauliflower/jasmine rice. Will definitely be making again, thanks for the recipe!
Woo! So glad this recipe was a hit! Thanks for the review, Colleen. I so appreciate it!
I have never made a comment on a recipe post before but I had to drop a note to say this is one of my all time favorite things I’ve ever made! I made this on a recommendation from my sister and ate it for dinner the first night, lunch the second day and dinner the second day – I just couldn’t get enough!! I have never done that! This was amazing and so healthy. I loved the pinch of cayenne and I added some roasted carrots and beets to it too. SO good!! Thank you for a filling and delicious vegan meal!
Oh yay!! This makes me so happy to hear, Shey. I’m so glad you loved this recipe. Thanks so much for making it and for the review. It means the world to me. 🙂
Finally made this! My daughter and I LOVED it! I sent her to work with one and she just texted me how delicious it was 🙂 I didn’t have sweet potatoes but had a whole butternut squash so I used that instead. The dressing is AMAZING! Thank you Brittany!
Yay!! So glad this recipe was a hit, Catherine! Thanks for making it and for the review. I so appreciate it. 🙂
I really loved this dish. A LOT. So much so that I sent it to my sister and she really loved it. I just wanted to make one note that this dish is marked “Gluten Free” however, a lot of soy sauces are not gluten free, so if you are needing this to be gluten free, you need to make sure to get gluten free soy sauce.
Hi Melissa – I am so excited to hear that you are loving this recipe. Yes, I always choose gluten free soy sauces. Thank you for mentioning that. I appreciate your review + star rating, it means so much!