20-Minute Vegan Brown Rice Salad with Greens
This vegan brown rice salad is a super quick, easy, delicious way to enjoy more vegetables. You can use it for meal prep, or to add to the dinner table alongside other dishes.
In the past, I’ve talked about sharing more quick and easy lunch recipes, and this vegan brown rice salad with greens recipe is a prime example.
You can whip it up the night before or if you have some time in the morning for prep, you can do it then as well. Or if you’re lucky like I am and work from home, you can do it when you’re ready to eat!
This vegan brown rice salad is really easy and this post will mainly serve as a guide, as you can have a million different variations.
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All you need to make sure is that your grains are cooked and ready to go. Otherwise, that will delay you if you use a grain like brown rice. For a quicker alternative, you can use quinoa. I like using the tri-coloured one in this instance.
Picking vegetables for your brown rice salad
So, firstly pick out the vegetables you want to use. I like to go with greens and then add some mushrooms, maybe some capsicum, red cabbage and some lentils or beans.
Typically it will be black beans, chickpeas or brown lentils. I’ll have some pre-cooked in the fridge and just use what’s on hand. If you’re time-poor and don’t cook your own beans and lentils, ones from a can are totally fine!
To keep things simple though, I tend to buy similar produce at the markets so that I can have this quick meal whenever I’m hungry. With the addition of seeds, it adds some crunch and added health benefits.
Some swaps and additions to this super easy brown rice salad
You can add a dollop of vegan mayonnaise on top for extra flavour.
If you don’t have garlic on hand, add in 1 teaspoon of garlic powder when all the veggies are in the pan. You can also easily swap out the kale for baby spinach.
You can make a massive batch and keep it in the fridge for lunch over the next 2-3 days.
If you want a bigger yield, cook 2 cups of brown rice and double the rest of the ingredients. This will make 4-6 serves. And you’ve got lunch sorted for the week!
Other recipes you’ll love:
- Roasted Curried Cauliflower with Coconut Rice
- Warm Vegan Lentil Salad with Tempeh (Gluten-Free)
- Brown Rice Arame
- Vegan Red Rice Salad with Tahini Dressing
- Creamy Vegan Mushroom Risotto
If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest.
Print20-Minute Vegan Brown Rice Salad with Greens
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2-3
Description
Enjoy this super quick and easy vegan brown rice salad with greens in only 20 minutes. There are lots of different variations to this dish, so feel free to experiment!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons toasted black sesame oil (or any other frying oil)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 bunch broccolini, chopped
- Handful snow peas, trimmed and chopped
- Handful snap peas, trimmed and chopped
- 4 mushrooms, thinly chopped (ideally Swiss brown)
- Handful baby kale, stemmed and chopped (small, soft leaves or 3 bigger leaves)
- ½ cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed (from a can)
- ¼ cup tamari (or soy sauce)
- 1 tablespoon pepitas (aka pumpkin seeds)
- 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
- ½ teaspoon nigella seeds (optional)
- 3 cups cooked medium grain brown rice
Instructions
- In a frying pan on medium heat, warm up the sesame oil then add the garlic and saute for a minute or two.
- Add in the broccolini and both types of peas. Saute for around 5 minutes.
- Add in mushrooms and toss, covering with a lid for a few minutes to soften everything.
- Add in the kale, chickpeas, and tamari. Cover again until the kale has nicely incorporated and the mushrooms are soft.
- Add in all the seeds and rice and toss well.
- Enjoy warm or use as meal prep for a few days.
- Diet: Vegan
Decided to make this for a Christmas day salad for my vegan daughter. So simple, readily available ingredients and super yummy. My non-vegan son loved it too.