Super healthy rice bowl with beetroot falafels
Quick, easy & healthy dinner ideas
Super healthy rice bowl with beetroot falafels recipe ticks all the boxes. It’s quick and easy to make, can be made with plenty of variation and flavor, and is very cheap to make! and oh soooo healthy!
We love this healthy vegetarian-friendly rice bowl (for vegan option, use vegan yogurt for the dressing and omit feta cheese). It takes the delicious texture of falafels, some fragrant rice, and your choice of salad or veg and makes a filling meal.
Meal prep your rice, falafels and toppings in advance and enjoy a stress free week of rice bowls that are packed full of nutrients and will offer the perfect balance of enery throughout the day and night!
Vegetarian | Vegan Option | Easy to make | Gluten-free Option | Suitable for Meal Prepping | Makes 6-8 servings
Serving:
6-8 servings
Ready in:
Under an hour
Skill level:
Easy
Serve with:
Your fav toppings
Ingredients you’ll need (makes 6-8 servings)
Rice
- 3 cups White rice (allow ½ cup per serving)
Falafel Ingredients
(makes 20-25 balls)
- 2 Cups of chickpeas (store-bought in the tin is fine)
- 2 Cooked beets cut into ½ inch / 1.25 cm cubes
- 1 Onion, finely diced
- ½ Cup of fresh parsley
- 5 Garlic cloves
- 2 Tablespoons of ground cumin
- ½ Cup of bread crumbs (swap for crushed almonds to make the recipe gluten-free)
- Salt (for seasoning)
For the toppings
- 1 carrot, grated or shaved fine
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons of chickpeas (or hummus)
- 2-3 tablespoons of pomegranate seeds
- 1 small cucumber, sliced
- 1 tablespoon of pine nuts
For the yogurt salad dressing
- 3 tablespoons of Greek Natural yogurt
- 2 tablespoons of Fresh chopped chives
- 1 clove of Garlic (crushed)
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons Red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Equipment needed
- 1 food processor
- Oven
- Parchment paper and a large baking tray
- 1 clean jar with lid (for the salad dressing)
- Rice cooker or microwave
- Microwave safe bowl
Watch step-by-step recipe video
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Who doesn’t love a good healthy dinner!
We absolutely love eating healthy and when it comes to diet and food plans, there’s really no better eating plan than the those based around the Mediterranean diet.
With that in mind, we’ve made a bunch of these healthy rice bowls and this super healthy rice bowl with beetroot falafels is one of our favorites!
It’s super easy to make and ideal for meal prepping for midweek meals;
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 25 minutes
- Total time: 40 minutes
Rice bowls and beetroot falafels
Who doesn’t love a good falafel? They’re filling, taste awesome, and can be made with a variety of ingredients to give them virtually any color of the rainbow.
This super healthy rice bowl with beetroot falafels is also super easy to make. The falafels take just 25 minutes in the oven, giving you plenty of time to make the rice, toppings, and tasty dressing of your choice.
Looking for a gluten-free option? Use crushed almonds instead of breadcrumbs to thicken up your falafels.
How to make this rice bowl recipe
making rice bowls may look daunting at first, especially given the huge list of ingredients. Don’t worry, we’ve broken the recipe down into a few easily digestable chunks (there’s some classic food blog puns right there!)
1. Make your Beetroot falafels
2. Prepare Rice
3. Prepare your toppings
4. Prepare your salad dressing
5. Assemble your rice bowl
Make your beetroot falafels
These beetroot falafels come together super easy as it’s really justblending the ingredients and then baking the balls. Read on and follow the steps below (or in the recipe card section).
Note: The full beetroot falafel recipe guide is here
Falafel Ingredients
For the beetroot falafels (makes 20-25 balls)
- 2 Cups of chickpeas (store-bought in the tin is fine)
- 2 Cooked beets cut into ½ inch / 1.25 cm cubes
- 1 Onion, finely diced
- ½ Cup of fresh parsley
- 5 Garlic cloves
- 2 Tablespoons of ground cumin
- ½ Cup of bread crumbs (swap for crushed almonds to make the recipe gluten-free)
- Salt (for seasoning)
Falafel Recipe instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas well in some fresh water.
- Pour them into your food processor along with the garlic, onion, parsley, roasted beets, salt, and cumin.
- Pulse for around 3 minutes. You want a slightly coarse texture to the mixture. Slowly add the breadcrumbs (or crushed almonds) to thicken up the mixture as required.
- Use a spoon or ice cream scoop to measure out around a heaped tablespoon of the mixture (enough to make a 2-inch ball (golf ball size), or a 3-inch disk around ¾ inch thick).
- With damp hands, shape into balls or disks. This mixture should make 20-25 balls.
- Place balls on some parchment paper on an oven tray and bake for 25 minutes. Once ready they’ll crisp up slightly.
- While your falafels are in the oven, cook the rice and make the salad dressing. If you are short on time, use a microwave to cook the rice with some fresh water. It should take around 12 minutes on high setting.
Prepare your rice
Once your falafels are in the oven, it’s time to prepare some rice. There’s a few different methods so just pick whichever is easiest for you.
Rice cooker method
Add the desired amount of rice and water with the ratio specified in the rice cooker instructions (see our notes below). Switch on the rice cooker and wait till it finishes and turns off. This should take around 25-35 minutes depending on the model of the rice cooker and the amount of rice you’re using.
Rice Cooker Ratio
- Long grain white rice – 1:1.75 ratio (1 cup rice + 1 3/4 cups water)
- Long grain brown rice – 1:2.25 ratio (1 cup rice + 2 1/4 cups water)
- Basmati or Jasmine rice – 1:1.5 ratio (1 cup rice + 1 1/2 cups water)
Microwave method
First, give your rice a rinse in fresh water for a minute or two.
Add rinsed rice to a microwave-safe bowl and add enough water to cover the rice by ¾ inch / 2cm. Microwave for 5 minutes, check, and stir. Microwave again for 5 minutes, check again, and stir. Finally, heat for 2 more minutes and leave to cool for around 5 minutes.
Prepare toppings
We opted for plenty of fressh ingredients so no further cooking is required. We used some grated carrot and red onion, some hummus, avoccado, raw chickpeas, and some pine nuts.
For greens, we opted for a few sprigs of fresh parsley and some lambs ear lettuce (although you could use any lettuce).
Prepare salad dressing
Homemade salad dressings really help complete any rice bowl recipe. A good salad dressing will add yet another layer of flavor to your already tasty bowl!
For this recipe we went with our healthy yogurt salad dressing which can be made in around 2 minutes from start to finish!
Assembling your rice bowl
- Once our rice is ready, add a bed of rice to your rice bowl (around 6 heaped tablespoons is plenty).
- Add your choice of salad, veg, and some freshly cooked beetroot falafels on top of the rice.
- Add your toppings of choice.
- Add a good splash of your dressing of choice, and serve.
Nutrition facts
| Serving size: 200-250 grams | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 8 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 594 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 13.3g | 17% |
| Saturated Fat 2.1g | 10% |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 161mg | 7% |
| Total Carbohydrate 101.8g | 37% |
| Dietary Fiber 13.2g | 47% |
| Total Sugars 9.9g | |
| Protein 18.2g | |
| Vitamin D 0mcg | 0% |
| Calcium 129mg | 10% |
| Iron 8mg | 46% |
| Potassium 895mg | 19% |
Super healthy rice bowl with beetroot falafels
Equipment
- 1 food processor
- Oven
- Parchment paper and a large baking tray
- 1 clean jar with lid (for the salad dressing)
Ingredients
Rice
- 3 cups Rice (allow ½ cup per serving)
Falafel Ingredients
- For the beetroot falafels makes 20-25 balls
- 2 Cups of chickpeas store-bought in the tin is fine
- 2 Cooked beets cut into ½ inch / 1.25 cm cubes
- 1 Onion finely diced
- ½ Cup of fresh parsley
- 5 Garlic cloves
- 2 Tablespoons of ground cumin
- ½ Cup of bread crumbs swap for crushed almonds to make the recipe gluten-free
- Salt for seasoning
For the toppings
- 1 carrot grated or shaved fine
- 1 avocado sliced
- 2-3 tablespoons of chickpeas or hummus
- 2-3 tablespoons of pomegranate seeds
- 1 small cucumber sliced
- 1 tablespoon of pine nuts
For the salad dressing
- 3 tablespoons of Greek Natural yogurt
- 2 tablespoons of Fresh chopped chives
- 1 clove of Garlic crushed
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons Red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Step 1 - Prepare the falafels
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/390°F.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas well in some fresh water.2 Cups of chickpeas
- Pour them into your food processor along with the garlic, onion, parsley, roasted beets, salt, and cumin.2 Cooked beets cut into ½ inch / 1.25 cm cubes, 1 Onion, ½ Cup of fresh parsley, 5 Garlic cloves, 2 Tablespoons of ground cumin, Salt
- Pulse for around 3 minutes. You want a slightly coarse texture to the mixture. Slowly add the breadcrumbs (or crushed almonds) to thicken up the mixture as required.½ Cup of bread crumbs
- Use a spoon or ice cream scoop to measure out around a heaped tablespoon of the mixture (enough to make a 2-inch ball (golf ball size), or a 3-inch disk around ¾ inch thick).
- With damp hands, shape into balls or disks. This mixture should make 20-25 balls.For the beetroot falafels
- Place balls on some parchment paper on an oven tray and bake for 25 minutes. Once ready they’ll crisp up slightly.
Step 2 - Prepare rice
- Rice cooker methodAdd the desired amount of rice and water with the ratio specified in the rice cooker instructions (see our notes below). Switch on the rice cooker and wait till it finishes and turns off. This should take around 25-35 minutes depending on the model of the rice cooker and the amount of rice you’re using.3 cups Rice
- Microwave methodFirst, give your rice a rinse in fresh water for a minute or two.Add rinsed rice to a microwave-safe bowl and add enough water to cover the rice by ¾ inch / 2cm. Microwave for 5 minutes, check, and stir. Microwave again for 5 minutes, check again, and stir. Finally, heat for 2 more minutes and leave to cool for around 5 minutes.
Step 3 - Prepare toppings
- Slice or grate your carrot and cucumber. Remove the flesh and pulp from the pomegranate and keep the seeds. Rinse and drain some tinned chickpeas and set aside a handful (or make some hummus if you have the time). Measure out other ingredients (pine nuts, pomegranate seeds) and set aside for use later.1 carrot, 1 avocado, 2-3 tablespoons of chickpeas, 2-3 tablespoons of pomegranate seeds, 1 small cucumber, 1 tablespoon of pine nuts
Step 4 - Make the salad dressing
- Add the Greek yogurt, olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, garlic, chives, salt, and pepper to a mixing bowl (or jar).3 tablespoons of Greek Natural yogurt, 2 tablespoons of Fresh chopped chives, 1 clove of Garlic, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons Red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons Extra virgin olive oil, Salt and pepper to taste
- Whisk ingredients together until a thick, creamy consistency.Continue to whisk while adding a tablespoon or two of fresh water. This will thin out the dressing and give a better consistency for drizzling. Add more water if you want a thinner dressing texture.
Step 5 - Assemble your rice bowl
- Once our rice is ready, add a bed of rice to your rice bowl (around 6 heaped tablespoons is plenty).
- Add your choice of salad, veg, and some freshly cooked beetroot falafels on top of the rice.
- Add your toppings of choice.
- Add a good splash of your dressing of choice, and serve.
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