Easily Improve The Look Of Your Rice Bowls With Some Artful Arranging
Hats off to whoever invented the rice bowl trend. It's an extra easy way to make a stylish lunch or dinner just by cooking up a pot of rice, picking a protein (like chicken, tofu or eggs), and then chopping and slicing up whatever fruits and veggies you can find in the fridge to fill it out. Add your favorite salad dressing and maybe some chili crisp and your rice bowl feast is ready in no time.
TikTok and Instagram are crawling with rice bowl theme ideas if you're stumped for flavor combinations, or you can make a copy of something from the bowl masters at Chipotle and Sweetgreen. When you're scrolling through videos for bowl inspo, however, pay attention to more than just the ingredients; take note of how creators are arranging their bowls to get some ideas for artfully arranging your own. After all, the only thing better than a bowl of delicious food is one that looks as amazing as it tastes. There are a few easy ways to step up your rice bowl skills that don't require any special equipment or expertise — just a little eye for detail and patterns.
Start with the rice
The first step in making a beautiful bowl is to jazz up the rice. Plain white and brown rice are lovely in their natural state, of course, but you can toss them with herbs and spices to give them a little color, like turmeric or paprika. There's no rule that you need to use plain rice, either. Try starting with a pre-seasoned packaged variety like Costco's Cilantro Lime Rice, which is a great dupe for Chipotle's version. Depending on your flavor theme, try adding chopped vegetables like tomatoes for a taco bowl, or mixed olives and artichoke hearts for a Mediterranean bowl. You'll not only get extra veggies in your bowl, you can also add some fun contrasting colors.
Once you've settled on your rice, you can do better than just piling it in a heap in the bowl. Try packing it into a round mold or cookie cutter to make a perfect circle, or you can use a dry measuring cup as well. You can also use a cookie cutter in the shape of a heart or a star for a little more of a whimsical take, or look for larger fun-shaped rice molds, like flowers and papayas that are usually used for bento box making.
Arranging the rest
For your protein, fruits, and vegetables, variety is key to making an attractive bowl. Try cutting and slicing things into different shapes and sizes, like pairing matchstick apple slices next to cubes of sweet potato. Don't stop at rice molds when you're looking to bento boxes for ideas, either. Oftentimes rice molds are sold as kits with small cutters for fruits and vegetables that you can use to stylize your bowl. A pile of carrot sticks is nice, for instance, but a pile of carrots shaped like flowers is way more fun. Just be sure to reuse any vegetable or fruit trimmings for something else so you don't create food waste.
Now that you have everything ready to go, arrange your produce and proteins artfully. An easy and popular way to do it is to make neat rows or stripes around the center, like a clock, which you can stir up when it's time to eat. You can also try fanning out anything sliced, like avocado, grilled Portobello mushrooms, or sections of pineapple.
And don't forget to add some edible garnish! A few chopped scallions, homemade parmesan croutons, bacon bits, grated cheese, and crispy scallions are just a few final touches that will add an extra pop of flavor to your bowl, plus edible flowers are perfect for making your everyday rice bowl a little bit extra.