Chickpea, Spinach, and Brown Rice Pot

This Chickpea, Spinach, and Brown Rice Pot is a great little dish that is so easy to prepare. Delicious served with some yogurt, a big dollop of hummus, and some fresh whole wheat pita bread or Lebanese bread if you can get it. Great as is, or if you and the kids are adventurous, then add some extra spice to vamp it up.

Chickpea, Spinach, and Brown Rice Pot

This Chickpea Spinach and Brown Rice Pot is a great little dish that is so easy to prepare.

It is delicious as is served with some yogurt, a big dollop of hummus, and some fresh Lebanese bread, or served as a side with something with pizzazz like these Oven Roasted Middle Eastern Chicken Breasts.

You are going to need:

• avocado oil or other cooking oil of choice
• garlic
• onions 
• canned chickpeas (you can prepare your own chickpeas and use those if you prefer)
• brown rice
• baby spinach leaves
• ground cumin
• seven spice seasoning (see notes below for a cheat )
• fresh tomatoes for serving
• salt and pepper

Nothing too fancy, and hopefully all ingredients you will readily have on hand.

Why This Should Become Your Go-To Staple

This Chickpea, Spinach, and Brown Rice Pot has fast become my go-to side dish when dinner has to be on the table and I just have no inclination to come up with something fancy.

You know the staple recipes you can always rely on, and you can dress it up or down depending on the mood?

Yeah, it's one of those.

It ticks all the boxes:

• quick
• easy
• fills the belly
• nutritious
• can be made mild-flavored for the fussy eaters
• can be dressed up for the more adventurous eaters
• takes 10 minutes of hands-on time to get it ready (if using pre-prepared rice and chickpeas, more if you want to prepare your own).

Have at it.

Tips, Tricks and Substitutions

Onions and Garlic

This is a fairly simple dish, and we are going to get most of the flavour from the onions and garlic mixed with the beautiful middle-eastern spices.

It is important to cook them at medium heat so they become colored and almost caramelized, without being burned.

Chickpeas

Canned chickpeas are a staple in my house, so that is what we use.

If you want to prepare your own chickpeas from a dried form then you can easily do that instead.

Here are some instructions from The Wimpy Vegetarian on how to get perfect cooked dried chickpeas.

Brown Rice

You can prepare brown rice from scratch using the instructions that come with the particular pack of rice you purchase.

Alternatively, if you like to save time, you can always purchase pre-cooked brown rice which can simply be reheated in the microwave in a couple of minutes.

You do you.

Seven Spice Seasoning

Seven spice seasoning is a common spice mix used in middle eastern cooking.

You can usually find it in well-stocked international supermarkets.

Alternatively, you can grab some from a good spice store or from Amazon.

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If you can't get your hands on seven spice seasoning, you can totally get away with pumpkin spice seasoning and a little bit of extra cumin (may sound weird but it works).

How To Serve This Brown Rice and Chickpea Pot

How you serve this is completely up to how you are feeling on the day.

Here are some suggestions:

• As is, dump it in the bowl, top with some fresh chopped tomato and away you go
• With some hummus, yogurt and Lebanese (or pita) bread
• As a side to something with pizzazz like these Oven Roasted Middle Eastern Chicken Breasts
• Stuffed in a wrap for lunch with some hummus and yogurt
• If you are feeling like more flavor then add more seasoning

Need More 'Bowl Recipes'?

I love a good throw together bowl recipe on a weeknight, check these out:

• BBQ Chickpeas and Veggies Bowl
• Quinoa Veggie Bowl with Basil Hummus Dressing
• Baked Almond Crunch Falafel Bowl
• 6 Ingredient Teriyaki Salmon Bowl

Happy Eating

xx

Recipe

This post was originally published in April 2015, but has been reworked and republished in 2021 based on reader feedback.

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.