Roasted Veggie Rice Bowls FTW! These rockin’ rice bowls are loaded with fluffy yellow rice, crispy chickpeas, tender fajita seasoned peppers and onions, fresh salsa, crisp lettuce, and all the extras your heart desires!
I’m a big fan of roasting up a tray of veggies and serving it over fluffy yellow rice.
It’s so flipping comforting and can be dressed up with any and all toppings your little heart desires.
My go-to roasting combo lately is a mix of chickpeas, peppers, and onion. I love how the chickpeas get oh so crispy and the peppers and onion get nice and tender. Delish!
Other veggies you could roast include zucchini, broccoli, jalapeño peppers, diced sweet potato or yukon gold potato, and so much more!
I’ll include all the handy dandy instructions in the recipe card but essentially all you’ll need to do is roast your veggies and, while they’re roasting, cook up the rice and prep your favorite toppings. Then once it’s ready simply combine and faceplant!
YES. PLEASE.
Rice Bowl Toppings – Mix and Match Your Favorites!
When it comes to toppings the options are endless. I like to make my rice bowls a glorified burrito bowl with all the types of things I’d stuff in a burrito or top a taco with.
- fresh cilantro
- chopped green onion
- extra roasted veggies
- black bean salsa
- black beans
- sweet corn
- pico de gallo
- jarred or homemade salsa
- guacamole
- sour cream (vegan or regular)
- tomatillo salsa verde
- avocado salsa verde
- sliced black olives
- pickled jalapeño peppers
- fresh sliced jalapeño
- marinated or pickled red onion
- shredded cabbage or slaw
- crushed tortilla chips
- hot sauce
Today’s rice bowl topping situation features fresh pico de gallo salsa (i’ll add the recipe in the recipe card for ya!) along with fresh sliced jalapeño, shredded romaine lettuce, chopped green onion, Valentina hot sauce, and a drizzle of Sriracha ranch.
For the spicy ranch you simply combine sriracha chili sauce with your favorite ranch dressing and mix until your level of heat is desired. You could also make a spicy mayo instead (sriracha + mayo) or add the chili sauce to sour cream with a little squirt of lime juice to thin into a sauce. All options are oh so tasty! You can also whip up a vegan version of this sauce by using vegan ranch/mayo/sour cream and it’s gloriously plant based.
No yellow rice? No problem! Try it with regular white rice, Spanish rice, cilantro lime rice, or even brown rice.
Roasted Veggie Rice Bowls with Crispy Chickpeas
As written, the recipe below makes 2 large-and-in-charge meal-sized burrito bowls with *all the toppings*
Feel free to double or triple the recipe if you have a larger crew to feed.
These baller bowls are gluten-free and vegetarian and can easily be made vegan by swapping out my beloved sriracha ranch for a vegan version.
Roasted Veggie Rice Bowls
Ingredients
RICE BOWL BASE + TOPPINGS
- 1 cup uncooked yellow rice
- 1-2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 jalapeño , sliced thin
- 1½ cups pico de gallo (see recipe below)
- hot sauce for toppping
- sriracha ranch for topping (combine sriracha + ranch to taste)
ROASTED VEGGIES + CHICKPEAS
- 1 can chickpeas (15 oz)
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 TBSP avocado oil or olive oil
- ½ tsp salt and pepper or season to taste
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper optional – add extra for spicy chickpeas
EASY HOMEMADE PICO DE GALLO
- 1 cup finely diced roma tomatoes
- ½ cup finely diced white onion
- 1 small jalapeño , finely diced (optional)
- ½ lime , juiced
- 2-4 TBSP chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼-½ tsp salt or to taste
Instructions
- Cook yellow rice via package instructions (approx. 20-25 min).
- While the rice cooks, prep rice bowl ingredients and roast your chickpeas and veggies. This way once the rice is ready all you have to do is assemble and faceplant!
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Rinse and drain chickpeas then pat dry. Slice bell peppers and onion.
- Place chickpeas, onion, and peppers on a large baking sheet.
- Drizzle with avocado or olive oil.
- Season with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne, salt, and pepper.
- Toss to the coat the veggies and chickpeas (keeping the chickpeas together opposite the peppers + onion) with oil/spices and spread into single layer. The more spread out the chickpeas are the crispier they'll get.
- Roast for 12-14 minutes.
- Use a spatula to remove onion and peppers from the sheet pan and return chickpea to the oven to continue roasting until the rice is cooked, another 15 minutes or so.
- To make the Pico de Gallo (which is basically just a chunky fresh salsa – delish!) finely chop onion, tomato, and jalapeño. Combine with the juice of half a lime, fresh cilantro, and season with salt to taste. This recipe makes more than you’ll need for the bowls so you can add extra as desired or snack on it as an appetizer with tortilla chips. Love it so!
- Once rice is done cooking, fluff with a fork and portion into bowls.
- Add chopped lettuce, pico de gallo salsa,and jalapeños to each bowl. Top with roasted chickpeas, peppers, and onion.
- When it comes to a sauce for these rice bowls, anything goes! I like to drizzle the chickpeas with hot sauce for a little kick and drizzle my bowls with sriracha ranch. (Essentially ranch dressing with sriracha chili sauce added – love it so!) You can add any of your favorite premade or homemade sauces to your bowl. They're great with sour cream, guacamole, chipotle mayo, taco sauce, salsa, etc…
- Feel free to add any extra toppings your heart desires and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
More Rockin’ Rice Recipes
- NEW! Vegetarian Enchilada Soup with Beans and Rice
- Cheesy Broccoli Rice Casserole – READER FAVORITE
- Vegetarian Black Bean Burrito Bowls
- Instant Pot Mexican Rice via Sarcastic Cooking
- Easy Salmon Rice Bowls
- Vegetarian Burrito Bowls with Roasted Cauliflower
If you get a chance to try these roasted veggie rice bowls, let me know! Leave some love in the comment form below or tag your photos with @peasandcrayons on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creation. I can’t wait to see what you whip up!
This was delicious. It will definitely be in rotation in our household.
I love a good rice bowl. This one was particularly good – the flavors meshed well, and the crispy chickpeas added some nice crunch and texture! Will definitely be enjoying again.
Yay!!!! So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Justine. Thank you!
The homemade pico really makes this recipe special!
Right!? Love it so!