This Rosemary Aioli Brown Rice Bowl is unique.
Let’s start with the rosemary aioli.
The Rosemary Aioli
Rosemary and garlic is a winning combination. And that was my inspiration for this aioli.
It’s creamy, full of flavor, and brings all the components of this dish together. Rosemary, garlic, and potatoes are a classic combination. But adding brown rice, chickpeas, and roasted tomatoes makes this a complete meal, and adds even more complementary flavors and textures.
The Brown Rice and Chickpeas
Another unique element of this dish is the brown rice and chickpeas. Because they cook together.
If you have a standard rice cooker, just add dried chickpeas to the rice cooker with the brown rice. When the brown rice is done cooking, so are the chickpeas.
The chickpeas will have a bite to them, which I love. If you don’t, simply cook the brown rice alone (you’ll want about 4-5 cups of cooked brown rice for this recipe). After the rice finishes cooking, add a drained, 15 oz can of cooked chickpeas to the rice, and stir the beans in before adding the seasonings.
The Roasted Tomatoes
If you’ve never roasted tomatoes before, you’re in for a delicious treat. (Try them in my Mediterranean Brown Rice Bowl, too.)
In this recipe, I roast the tomatoes with a little salt, olive oil, and red onion. Everything caramelizes during roasting and gets slightly sweet. The tomatoes are great eaten alone, but they’re even better in a bite with the rosemary aioli, potatoes, chickpeas, and rice.
Make this Rosemary Aioli Brown Rice Bowl!
Make this meal a bowl or serve it on a plate.
Either way, this unique dish is the perfect, healthy comfort food.
One Thing!
I don’t have a fancy rice cooker.
My Toastmaster rice cooker is so not fancy, they don’t make it anymore.
If you’re looking for a budget-friendly, simple rice cooker, here’s the closest one to the one I’ve got [aff. link]. You can also find this rice cooker in my Amazon store here.
Brown Rice Bowl with Rosemary Aioli
Ingredients
For the rice
- 1 ½ cups brown rice, rinsed
- 3 cups water
- ¾ cup dried chickpeas, rinsed
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- Squeeze of lemon juice, or to taste
For the potatoes
- 2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced to ½ inch cubes (or use a non-peel potato like Yukon gold)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 pinch pepper
For the tomatoes and onion
- 10 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ red onion, cut into half rings/moons
- 1 pinch pepper
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
For the rosemary aioli
- 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, removed from the stem and roughly chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 pinch pepper
- ⅓ cup Vegenaise or mayonnaise
- ½ cup cashew pieces
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ -1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
Cook the rice and chickpeas
- Add the brown rice, water, and dried chickpeas to your rice cooker, and let it all cook together.
- Alternately, you can cook brown rice using your favorite method (you'll ultimately want 4-5 cups cooked rice). After the rice finishes cooking, let it rest for 10 minutes, then stir a drained, 15 oz can of chickpeas into the rice.
- When the rice and chickpeas have finished cooking, let the rice cool uncovered for 10 minutes, then add the salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
Roast the potatoes
- While the rice cooks, roast the potatoes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the potatoes, olive oil, salt, and pepper together in a large mixing bowl. Transfer the seasoned potatoes to a baking sheet, and roast the potatoes at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.
- Take the potatoes out of the oven, flip each potato piece so that another side of each piece is facedown on the baking sheet, and roast for an additional 15-17 minutes. Potatoes are done, set aside.
Roast the tomatoes and onion
- While the potatoes roast, prepare the tomatoes and onion. Toss the tomatoes, red onion, pepper, sea salt, and olive oil together in the same mixing bowl that you tossed the potatoes in.
- Once everything is well incorporated, spread the tomato mixture out on a baking sheet.
- When the potatoes finish roasting, put the baking sheet with the tomatoes and onion in the oven, and roast at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. The tomatoes will shrivel a bit and the onions will be translucent. Tomatoes and onions are done, set aside.
Make the rosemary aioli
- While the tomatoes roast, make the rosemary aioli. In the bowl of your food processor, add the cashew pieces, chopped rosemary leaves, garlic clove, salt, and pepper. Process until everything has broken down to small flecks.
- Note: it's important to roughly chop the rosemary leaves before adding them to the food processor. Otherwise, the rosemary leaves will take forever to break down in the food processor.
- Now add in the Vegenaise/mayonnaise and olive oil. Process until everything has incorporated, then add 1 Tbsp water and ½ tsp lemon juice. Process, and add an additional Tbsp water if needed, and additional lemon juice to taste, if needed. Rosemary aioli is done.
Serve and enjoy
- Serve this meal in deep bowls or on plates, whatever your preference. Start with a layer of brown rice, followed by the roasted potatoes. Top with the roasted tomatoes and onion, then drizzle the rosemary aioli over everything. Serve with (or on top of) fresh greens, if desired. Enjoy!
4 Responses
Ok, stop it! You’re blowing my mind here… you cook the chickpeas with the rice? That’s so clever! And those roasted tomatoes sound absolutely delicious – I haven’t had them before and I kinda want to make some right now! Thanks so much for sharing!
Such a time saver right?!!!!! Chickpeas and brown rice is my new favorite combo because of this awesome trick!!! Awww thank you! Definitely give roasted tomatoes a try, you will quite literally fall in love with the flavor and texture! I could eat them all day long haha. Thank you so much for your kind comment Katerina! Hope you have a lovely weekend ❤️
What a great rice bowl! I love the flavors, and I love the way you plated it.
Oh I love homemade aioli! The rosemary flavor in this one sounds absolutely delicious. And drizzling it over a rice bowl? So much flavor going on in this one. This sounds like a fun recipe to help balance out all of the holiday baking that’s going on in our house right now!