Vegetable Grain Bowl Recipe

This Vegetable Grain Bowl recipe can be prepared in about 30 minutes and can be made ahead of time, making it a perfect meal prep lunch or dinner recipe. It’s filled with the perfect balance of healthy fats, carbohydrates, protein, and makes a nutrient-dense plant-based meal. 

One of my intentions for this year was to eat more plant-based meals. Meals like this Vegetable Grain Bowl remind me why I love eating this way. It’s a simple, easy-to-prepare meal, that leaves me feeling nourished and satisfied. I think you’re going to love this one.

Are Grain Bowls Healthy?

It’s a time when so many people are trying low-carb or ketogenic diets, and cutting out wholesome grains, so it’s natural you may be wondering if a grain bowl can be healthy.

I’m a strong advocate that most healthy people do well with a balanced diet of all food groups and macronutrients. More important than whether you’re eating a low carbohydrate diet, in my opinion,  is if you’re eating a plant-rich diet that consists of mostly whole food sources, rather than highly processed foods. Whole grains can certainly be a part of a healthy diet.

This recipe gives you a good balance of all the macronutrients and is full of nutrient-dense plant foods like kale, mushrooms, farro, tomatoes, and pine nuts, just to name a few. It’s a healthy AND delicious meal!

In similar fashion, you may love this Quinoa Salad or this Roasted Vegetable Buddha Bowl.

Recipe Ingredients

You’re going to start with some cooked farro. Farro is a wonderful, nutty, ancient whole grain. It’s an excellent source of protein, fiber, magnesium, zinc, and some B vitamins.

You simply simmer the farro in water for 20-45 minutes, depending if you have the whole grain version, or if it’s been pearled or semi-pearled. Check your package for specific cooking times. You can also speed up the cooking time by soaking the farro first, but this isn’t necessary.

When I have time, I will soak mine for about 20 minutes. You can also soak it overnight, just keep it in the refrigerator and drain and use fresh water to cook.

The rest of the ingredients for this grain bowl are shown below. Don’t they all just scream delicious flavor?! 

Preparation Tips

This can be an excellent meal-prep recipe or one that you can prepare components of ahead of time.

Cooking the farro is one thing you can do ahead of time. I like to cook bigger batches so I can use it for other recipes, like this Rainbow Farro Salad. You’re going to need 1 cup cooked farro, so if you just want enough for this recipe, start with 1/2 cup dry.

You can also prepare the dressing ahead of time. Place the fresh parsley, olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a blender.

Blend it on medium speed until everything is combined and the parsley has no large pieces in tact.

The lovely, herb-y dressing adds a terrific layer of flavor to the grain bowl.

Grain bowls are delicious with a little something crunchy. For this recipe, I used pine nuts. They are dry toasted in a pan for just a few minutes. Watch them so they don’t burn!

If you don’t cook the farro, make the dressing, and toast the pine nuts ahead of time, this is still a quick recipe and you can multi-task and prepare a few of the components at the same time.

The only thing that’s left to do is cook the vegetables in a large skillet. You’ll start by softening the onions in a little oil, then you’ll add the mushrooms, garlic, tomatoes, dried thyme, salt and pepper.

Once the mushrooms have cooked down and the tomatoes are starting to burst, you add in the kale and cook just until it’s wilted.

Now that everything’s ready, you just have to mix it all together! Start with the farro, add the cooked vegetables, top with the pine nuts and dressing. So good!

If you try this recipe, will you please give it a start rating below? It’s so helpful for other readers to see how the recipe turned out from those who tried it! I’d also love to connect with you on Facebook and Instagram–stay in touch!

If you’re interested in great plant-based dinners, you will probably also love this Sweet Potato Black Bean Burger! If you’re a meat eater, try these Spicy Turkey Meal Prep Bowls!

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