Photo: Stephen Johnson ©

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Our Best Meal Bowl Ideas

Whenever you’re hungry and have no clue what to eat, grab a bowl and take a look at your fridge. Grain bowls and smoothie bowls are a great way to transform a few odds-and-ends into a complete meal that’s both delicious and nutritious. The beauty of the bowl is that there is re ally no official set of rules to follow (though, we do have a few suggestions for building a healthy grain bowl

!). As long as you’re choosing some sort of base—a blend of pureed fruits, a cooked grain or something else—then piling on the toppings, you’re good to go. That said, a good grain bowl has a balance of crunchiness, creaminess and bold flavor. Exhibit A: This 5-star recipe.

Photo: Teri Lyn Fisher

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Healthy Tuna Grain Bowl with Turmeric Sweet Potatoes and Spicy Yogurt Dressing

You can easily make this dish from pantry staples and long-lasting freezer items, so it’s an ideal back-up lunch or dinner on the days when you just can’t make it to the store.

Photo: Renee Comet

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Mixed Berries and Banana Smoothie Bowl

The difference between a smoothie and a smoothie bowl is that for the latter, you can pile on all the toppings — sliced bananas, fresh berries, shredded coconut, chia seeds, you name it.

Photo: Renee Comet

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Quinoa Power Bowls with Butternut Squash and Tahini Sauce

The star of this dish is a tahini sauce that is slightly sweet, a bit nutty and 100% delicious. Try it drizzled all over a mix of cooked quinoa, sauteed squash, kale, pecans and cranberries. But, be warned: You will want to put it on everything from that moment on.

Photo: Teri Lyn Fisher

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Chipotle-Inspired Vegetarian Burrito Bowl

We took a cue from Chipotle’s sofritas and simmered crumbled tofu in a spicy poblano sauce. The mixture tastes amazing piled ontop of brown rice, pico de gallo and lettuce, but it’s also great as a taco or burrito filling.

Photo: Scott Gries

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Instant Pot Greek Chicken Bowls

Inevitably, many grain bowl recipes leave you with a sink full of dirty dishes, since you tend to cook the grains, protein and vegetables separately. Not this recipe, though. Everything cooks up together in the Instant Pot, so clean-up is a breeze.

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Tex-Mex Chicken Salad Bowl

Salads can be considered bowls, too, especially when they’re loaded up with fajita-spiced chicken, sliced avocado, tomatoes, corn, cabbage and tortilla strips. Plus, this recipe has a homemade creamy avocado ranch dressing that you’ll want to drizzle over everything.

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Teriyaki Salmon Quinoa Bowls

You can use store-bought teriyaki sauce, but our 5-ingredient version is so easy to make. We’re serving the salmon and vegetables on a bed of quinoa, but feel free to sub in brown, white or cauliflower rice.

Photo: Min Kwon ©

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Green Smoothie Bowl

Psst! The base of this healthy breakfast bowl is made with spinach, banana and avocado. We topped ours with sliced strawberries, kiwi and granola, but go ahead and get creative with yours.

Photo: Renee Comet

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Pork and Vegetable Bowl

This bowl does not have a single grain, but it’s still tasty and satisfying enough to keep you full. Ground pork is cooked with thinly sliced vegetables and shredded cabbage in a honey-vinegar-soy sauce. It’s basically an egg roll, but deconstructed.

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Chicken Quinoa Bowl

Featuring a homemade Roasted Corn Salsa and taco-seasoned grilled chicken, Ree Drummond’s bowls are packed with flavor.

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Cauliflower-Kale Hummus Bowl

Skip the grains and serve cooked veggies and hard-boiled eggs on top of homemade hummus. Smaller portions of this recipe could work as a quick-and-healthy snack.

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Brown Rice Bowl with Curried Roasted Cauliflower and Green Chutney

This Indian-inspired rice bowl is a filling option for vegetarians and meat-lovers alike. Cauliflower is tossed with curry powder and roasted with tomatoes, then served on a bed of brown rice along with peas, potato sticks and a homemade green chutney.

Photo: Renee Comet

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Roasted Veggie Grain Bowl

If you haven’t tried roasting canned chickpeas yet, stop everything you’re doing and make this recipe. The beans get so perfectly crispy in the oven, they add crunch to salads, bowls and soups.

Photo: Ryan Dausch

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Pork and Pineapple Grain Bowl

Fire up the grill to make this healthy grain bowl. Pork tenderloin (one of our favorite affordable proteins!) is covered with a blend of chile powder, salt and cumin, then charred on the grill along with pineapple slices.

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Quinoa, Sweet Potato and Black Bean Bowls with Yogurt Dressing

While sweet potatoes taste great simply roasted, Valerie dials up the flavor by tossing them with black beans, soy sauce and hot sauce as soon as she takes them out of the oven. Then, she serves them over cooked quinoa with pepitas, avocado and a citrusy cilantro-yogurt dressing.

Photo: Stephen Johnson ©

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Millet Bowl with Stuffed Grape Leaves and Yogurt-Hummus Sauce

Quinoa may get all of the attention, but millet is another one of our favorite gluten-free grains. It’s so versatile! To save prep time later, cook batched of millet, then cool and store in freezer bags for up to 1 month.

Photo: Chantell Quernemoen

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Citrus Chicken Rice Bowls

Molly Yeh’s easy-to-assemble dinner for two features marinated chicken, steamed brown rice, sriracha aioli and a quick pickled slaw.

Photo: Matt Armendariz ©

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Acai Breakfast Bowl

This beautiful bowl stars acai, a purple berrylike fruit of a palm tree native to Central and South America. It’s packed with antioxidants (anthocyanins) and omega-3 fatty acids. We used unsweetened frozen puree, which you can find in the freezer section of many grocery stores.

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Sunny’s Easy Salmon Bowl

Sunny Anderson taps into two popular ingredients — everything bagel seasoning and hot honey — to make her 5-star grain bowls. Her baked salmon would taste solid on its own, but it pairs beautifully with wild rice, mango, lettuce and a wasabi-honey dressing.

Photo: Andrew Purcell

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Bacon and Broccoli Rice Bowl

Please the breakfast-for-dinner fans with this morning-inspired grain bowl. Cooked rice is topped with crunchy bacon and fried eggs for a budget-friendly dinner that just happens to taste like the most important meal of the day.

Photo: Matt Armendariz ©

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Coconut-Chia Pudding Breakfast Bowl

Most of the heavy lifting for this nutritious breakfast happens the night before — and by heavy lifting, we mean stirring together coconut milk, chia seeds and maple syrup. We top ours with an assortment of fresh fruits and nuts, but you can use whatever fruits are in season.

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Black Bean-Feta Quinoa Bowl

Keep this recipe handy for the nights when you’re looking for something hearty and feel-good. Trisha Yearwood cooks up onions, quinoa and spinach in the same pot, then tops it all off with canned beans and thawed frozen corn. Easiest clean-up ever!

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Kale-Turkey Rice Bowl

If you love cilantro, this one’s for you. We’re pureeing cilantro with jalapeno, almonds and water to make a bold sauce ideal for flavoring plain ground turkey, potatoes and chopped kale. Make a big batch of rice to keep in the fridge the night before or stock your freezer with frozen rice, and this meal will be ready in minutes.