Kale and Sweet Potato Brown Rice Bowls
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Published Oct 04, 2023
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These kale and sweet potato brown rice bowls are topped with a delicious savory peanut sauce and packed with plant-based protein. Vegan, gluten-free + perfect for meal prep.
Meet your new go-to meal for busy weeknights or relaxed weekends: kale and sweet potato brown rice bowls.
It’s a hearty mix of nutrient-rich ingredients topped off with a divine creamy peanut sauce. Simple yet unforgettable, this dish offers the ideal blend of comfort and nourishment.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Nutrient-Rich: Packed with vitamins, fiber, and protein thanks to kale, sweet potatoes, and chickpeas.
- Versatile: Easily adaptable to various diets. Swap brown rice for quinoa if you prefer.
- Flavorful: The homemade peanut sauce adds a delightful kick that ties everything together.
- Meal-Prep Friendly: Make components ahead of time for easy assembly during busy days.
Ingredients Needed
- brown rice – cook the rice according to package directions over the stovetop or in a rice cooker. I love the Lundberg Organic Short Grain Brown Rice, but you can use any brand of rice you prefer.
- chickpeas – cook your own or use canned chickpeas for a shortcut. I cooked a big batch of chickpeas in my pressure cooker, which only took only 11 minutes.
- sweet potatoes – when shopping for sweet potatoes, look for firm, unwrinkled skins. There’s no need to peel your sweet potato for this recipe, just make sure to scrub your potato well and then cut into cubes.
- kale – any type of kale will work here but I like using curly kale!
- peanut sauce – a delicious and simple combination of peanut butter, rice vinegar, tamari (or soy sauce), garlic, ginger, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. The recipe makes about 3/4 cup so you’ll have plenty to store in the fridge for later. It seriously tastes good on everything!
How to Make
Roast sweet potatoes – Chop 1 large sweet potato into 1/4 inch chunks, drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil or avocado oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Bake in the oven at 400°F for 30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are fork tender.
Cook rice – While sweet potatoes are roasting cook brown rice according to package instructions.
Steam kale – 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 sauce – Make peanut sauce by blending all the sauce ingredients in a blender until smooth. Add water to thin sauce and create desired consistency.
Assemble and serve – 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.
Variations
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, but if you want to switch it up here are some ideas:
- Grain: Feel free to swap the rice for any grain of choice. This bowl would be delicious with white rice, wild rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice or farro.
- Greens: Swap out kale for spinach, Swiss chard, or collard greens if you’d like a different leafy companion. Each green brings its unique nutritional profile and flavor.
- Protein: Though chickpeas provide a plant-based protein kick, you could also use grilled chicken, tofu, or tempeh for a change of pace and additional protein. You could also swap the chickpeas with another legume like lentils, black beans or cannelloni beans.
- Vegetables: If you’re not a fan of sweet potatoes, try roasted butternut squash, roasted cauliflower, zucchini, broccoli or bell peppers for a different yet equally delicious experience.
- Sauce: I love this creamy peanut sauce but you can switch it up! If you have a peanut allergy swap the peanut butter with almond butter or sunflower seed butter or make this tahini sauce or garlic tahini dressing instead.
- Toppings: Consider sprinkling some sesame seeds, crushed nuts, or even a handful of pomegranate arils for added texture and a burst of flavor.
How to Meal Prep in Advance
This is the ultimate meal prep bowl. You can prep all of the components in advance and have a delicious, filling meal in minutes! Here’s what I would do:
- Roast the sweet potatoes and steam the kale and store in an airtight container.
- Cook the rice and store in an airtight container.
- Make the sauce and store in a mason jar or airtight container.
Then when you’re ready to eat all you have to do is assemble all the components and add the chickpeas!
How to Store Leftovers
In the Fridge: Store individual components separately in airtight containers for up to 4 days. The peanut sauce can be stored in a separate jar and should be given a good stir before using.
Reheating: Warm up the rice, kale, and sweet potatoes in a microwave-safe dish for 2-3 minutes. The peanut sauce can be gently reheated in a saucepan over low heat. Add a bit of water to adjust consistency if needed.
Serving Suggestions: When ready to eat, simply assemble your bowl, reheat if necessary, and enjoy!
More Bowl Recipes to Try
- Egg Roll in a Bowl
- Greens and Grains Bowl
- Falafel Bowls
- Vegan Burrito Bowl
- Maple Mustard Tempeh Meal Prep Bowls
- Pesto Salmon Bowl
- Acai Bowl
- Roasted Harvest Bowls
- Asian Noodle Bowl (for Meal Prep)
- Buddha Bowl
- Poke Bowl
- Mashed Avocado Bowl
- Coconut Curry SunButter Noodle Bowl
- Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl
- Mother Earth Bowl (Flower Child Copycat)
- Salmon Burrito Bowl
Be sure to check out all of the vegan recipes as well as the full collection of dinner recipes on EBF!
Kale and Sweet Potato Brown Rice Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato, cut into ¼ inch chunks
- 1 teaspoon olive oil , or avocado oil
- 1 cup cooked brown rice, or quinoa
- 2 cups steamed kale
- ½ cup cooked chickpeas
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
- Chop 1 large sweet potato into ¼ inch chunks, drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Bake at 400° F for 30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are fork tender.
- 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.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I need to get on this kale train! I see it everywhere! Must mean it is pretty amazing…
yum, these are so many of my favorite foods, in one!
That looks so tasty! Your pictures are fantastic, too!
I love meals like this! Looks great. 🙂
Yum – I love greens with warm sweet potatoes or butternut squash.
Love that peanut sauce, Britt…seriously going to make that tomorrow.
Have a great Easter! xoxo Miss you and Love ya.
Miss you too lady!! Come visit RVA. 🙂
This bowl looks incredible. I need to make more rice bowls, you’re right they are so easy and versatile.
that brown rice bowl looks awesome!!!
oh! i love kale & sweet potato! during thanksgiving i add steamed kale to smooshed sweet potatoes & lightly cooked cranberries. it’s sweet, savory & tart!
can’t wait to try adding your recipe now!
This looks amazing! Making this asap! 🙂
I love when recipes are completely accidental. Your bowl looks fantastic!
YUMMY, a perfectly delicious bowl 🙂
HOPPY EASTER !!!
Looks like such an amazing dinner! Love the pink bowl too 🙂
I’m pretty sure I’ve never met a brown rice/garbanzo bean combination I didn’t like! I love peanut sauces too – totally sweet and savory – this looks totally delicious! Thanks for posting the sauce recipe!
Ooh, this sounds really good!
Nice blog! I am so going to try put this recipe this week 🙂
WOW, made this recipe last week after keeping it up on the computer for about 3 weeks (should have made it when I first saw it!) . It is to die for and my families new fav!!!! Thx Thx Thx!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Tamara!
Made this tonight for dinner and it was AMAZING!!! So delicious! I made it exactly as you but choose to garnish it with a small handful of peanuts. My fiance and I are vegan and I love seeing that you have many recipes we can use. You should really consider writing a cookbook, I would buy it just because this Kale & Sweet Potato Rice Bowl was so freaking good! YUM!!!
This looks absolutely delicious!!
Made this peanut sauce this afternoon! I used sun-nut butter instead and apple cider vinegar instead of rice vinegar. I also added in some chopped green onion. So delicious! I could put this (and intend to) on everything!
So glad you liked the peanut sauce Emily. I definitely put it on anything and everything!!
Hello! I’m trying to convert over to a Macrobiotic diet, came across your website in my hours of googling what I can eat and not feel like life is over…… I just made the kale sweet potato & brown rice bowl! OMG….amazing!! I substituted Almond Butter instead of Peanut Butter…. Did I say I thought life was over?!? If food with this diet is this good, life has JUST begun!
I will be sure to follow your blogs and test out many more of your recipes… thanks SO much!! Cheers to great health 🙂
This looks great. I have all the ingredients to make this. I will try it soon.
Thank you! This was really wonderful! My family is not always easy when it comes to dinner and this was a huge hit!! Definitely making this again and spreading the word… Thank you!!
This is such an amazing looking recipe, but I totaled up the calories and there are approximately 1225 calories! The peanut sauce alone has 852 calories! I could easily eat half this recipe for a quick dinner (the whole thing if I’m really hungry) but I can’t do 425 calories of peanut sauce, much less 852! I really want to try it because the other ingredients are so healthy!!
Can you think of some viable, low calorie peanut sauce substitutions that would make it just as tasty?
Recipe looks great even for a non-vegetarian! Can’t wait to see others.
I googled a recipe that I could use sweet potato and brown rice and I’m so glad I found this. Wow!! It’s still cooking, waiting for it to finish but..it has been so easy to make and I tasted the sauce and its so yummy!! People say I eat like a bird…and now I really do 🙂 Yum! Thanks for the great recipe. Can’t wait to put it all together and enjoy.
Yay! I hope you loved it.
Hi, I’m going to LOVE this! Do you peel the sweet potatoes when you make this, or skins on? Thanks! And thank you sooo much for thia recipe. Cannot wait to make!
brown rice syrup has high levels of arsenic! be careful when using. other substitutes include maple syrup, honey, molasses, agave, etc.
Yum! The sweet potatoes, kale, and chickpeas sound like they’d go great with the peanut sauce. I’ll definitely try this recipe next week.
Let me know what you think of it!! <3
Thanks for the reminder about this recipe! I used to make it all the time but I haven’t in forever. I must fix that! It’s perfect for weekday lunches.
Yay!! I loved making it this week as a reminder to myself. So glad you’re a big fan too. Thanks, Amanda!!
I’ve been in need of real food since I’ve had my fair share of sweets, so this rice bowl is just what I’m looking for! Simple, filling yet flavorful!
I made this for tonight’s dinner, I didn’t take a photo, but it turned out great and it was delicious!!
Looks super delicious and easy. Thanks for the tips for early prep. I need to do more of this. Also, yay protein!!!
I have to add this to my lunch plans this week!
Delicious! Perfect for lunch or dinner!
Love simple, surprising meals like this! I’m such a sucker for sweet potatoes AND peanut sauce — fab!
I love hearty, feel good meals like this. This is such a beautiful seasonal dish and I am really digging that dressing 😀
I was a little skeptical at first, but OMGOSH! So yummy! Even my two year old over it. So quick and easy! I am LOVING the 7 day clean eating so far and only on day one. Super pumped for tomorrow.
I meant he loved it!
Are the quantities in this peanut sauce recipe the same as in the original post? Every time I’ve made it before the peanut sauce was quite thick and fairly pale, and since the re-do of the post, it’s quite runny and dark. My brain is telling me it used to be 3/4 cup of peanut butter. Yes/No?
I did cut back on the peanut butter a bit. It used to be 1/2 cup. Good catch! 🙂
Aha! It was tasty this way too, just looked quite different than what I had made the other thirteen thousand (approximately) times. 🙂
Totally feel ya on that!! Glad it was still tasty. 🙂
All of the ingredients compliment each other and the peanut sauce elevates the dish. The sauce is so good, I plan on using it on other bowls/salads. This is a hearty, filling bowl and easy to make.
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!
SO good. I added fresh and roasted red peppers and avocado which were great additions. Thank you!
YUM! I am so excited to hear that you are loving this recipe, Rain. Thank you for your review & star rating, I really appreciate it!
I did not have brown rice and I did not have quinoa but I did have wild rice, so I said what the heck, how bad could it be. NOT BAD AT ALL. Me likee. I did not put enough Kale in. I think it was supposed to be 2 cups steamed. I measure 2 cups fresh and THEN steamed. WRONG. Next time I know better. This is the first recipe I have tried, but I have saved a bunch more to try. I think I am going to be a fan. Thank You!!
This is great, Chris. I am so glad you’re enjoying this recipe and it turned out great for you with the wild rice. Thank you for sharing your review & star rating, it means so much to me!
Yummy! Just made and this is delish thank you!
YUM! Glad to hear you’re loving this recipe and it turned out great for you, Shelly. Thank you for sharing your review & star rating, it means so much to me!
Another absolutely winner from this site! The peanut sauce is everything. Rich flavors and so simple to put together.
Hello! I’ve I’m trying to make carbs and fat and protein balance a little more, any advice on lowering the carb count and raising the protein and fat? I’m looking forward to make this next week for my lunch prep!
Hi Vanessa – You could use cauliflower rice instead of brown rice to lower the carbs. As far as the protein goes you could serve it with chicken, salmon, tempeh or tofu to amp up the protein! And for the fat you could top it with some nuts/seeds and/or avocado slices. Hopefully that helps!
super yummy dressing! subbed broccoli for the kale and lentils for the chickpeas. will keep in our weekly rotation.
SO delish! I am so glad you are loving this recipe and it turned out great for you. Thanks for sharing your review & star rating, I truly appreciate it!