Once I knew someone who told me he likes to eat rice plain, just as it is. I thought to myself that he must be crazy. I didn’t know back then that if you add the right amount of salt to rice, it can taste great with pretty much any vegetable – making it the easiest vegan recipe there is.
This one may be obvious but it actually took me a long time to realize that with a lot of spices and most vegetables (or fruits, hello tomatoes), rice can really taste wonderful. How I do it is in the form of a somewhat “risotto” but mostly just a random way of cooking rice that I find works well and only requires one pot. Yay to one pot vegan meals, and yay to the simplicity of rice.
Vegan Rice With Any Vegetable
Ingredients:
- Rice (around 2 cups) or as much as rice you want to make (NO RULES HERE)
- Any vegetables you have (whatever amount you have)
- Spices (anything such as oregano, paprika, basil, cumin, curry, really whatever you have at home)
- 1 chopped onion
- (2 tbsp) of any kind of oil you like
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (optional)
- Water (enough to cover rice a few times)
- The cool thing about rice is that it is so versatile that you can really add any leftover veggies you got and see what happens – most likely it will work out great!

Recipe for vegan rice with any vegetable:
- Heat up a big pan or pot with some oil (around 2 tbsp)
- Add the chopped up onion and stir around for 2-3 minutes. You can do it longer if you want, I think personally I like it better when I do it for around 4-5 minutes and wait for the onion to become slightly golden.
- Add the vegetables among with spices you have and soy sauce(optional). Stir them around for 4-5 minutes until they are well covered in everything you added.
- Add rice and stir quickly around.
- Add water enough to cover the rice (I use boiling water I boiled in the kettle since it makes it a lot faster).
- Let the whole thing boil and then turn down the heat a bit and simmer (stir around occasionally so it doesn’t stick to the bottom).
- When all the water is gone, check how it tastes, if you like it, it’s done!
- If you don’t – add some more water, salt, or whatever else it may be missing, stir around and wait a bit longer so it does not stick to the bottom. Try again when the water is gone and do the same depending on whether you like it or not.
- It’s done!
Can I eat rice every day?
Combined with a healthy and balanced diet, eating a bit of rice every day should not be a problem.
Rice is low in fat and high in starch, full of vitamins and minerals and it is a great source of vitamin E, B vitamins (thiamin, niacin) and potassium.
- The average person in much of Asia eats rice two or three times a day.
- Most rice is consumed in the country where it is produced. Only 5 percent of the world’s total is exported.
- It takes 3,000-5,000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of rice – don’t waste it!
Facts from Yumasia.
Want to eat some more rice? Check out my recipe for potatoes with rice – one of my favorite comfort foods, easy and delicious to make.
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