Delicious Coconut Rice Bowls with curried jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk and topped with crispy tofu, seasonal vegetables, fresh cilantro and mint, with toasted coconut flakes. Vegan with a video.
Always keep your eyes open. Keep Watching. Because whatever you see can inspire you. ~ Grace Coddington
The beauty of this Coconut Rice Bowl is that you can adapt it to seasonal veggies and use whatever protein you prefer! Here we are using tofu as our protein along with asparagus and peas in honor of Springtime. The rice is rich and delicious, cooked in coconut milk with a little curry powder giving it gorgeous color and warm flavor undertones without being overpowering. While the rice cooks, the tofu and veggies are prepped, seared, and sautéed.
Finishing this dish with fresh mint, cilantro, lime, and toasted coconut flakes makes the real magic in this dish! Bright herby toasty amazing flavor and texture that will completely elevate your meal. You really don’t want to leave these out! See all our Buddha Bowls!
Coconut Rice Bowl Video
Variations on Coconut Rice Bowls
- Rice: brown rice or white jasmine, brown or white basmati, or other grain like quinoa (follow cooking directions on package using coconut milk as part of the liquid required and the remaining with water.)
- Protein: chicken, shrimp, or even fish
- Vegetables: green beans, broccoli, snap peas, colorful bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, spinach, shiitakes, salad turnips
Ingredients in Coconut Rice Bowls
- Jasmine Rice
- Coconut milk
- Aromatics, Herbs, and Spices: ginger, garlic, lemongrass, cilantro, mint, Yellow Curry Powder
- Protein: tofu (or chicken or shrimp)
- Vegetables: asparagus, green onions, peas (or sub broccoli, snow peas, green beans, peppers, or carrots)
- Coconut oil
- Sriracha (or sambal olek)
- Soy Sauce
- Coconut Sugar
- Toasted Coconut Flakes
- Lime Juice
How to make Coconut Rice Bowls
Step one
Cook the rice: Add rice, coconut milk, water, curry powder, salt, and 1 teaspoon of ginger. Bring to a simmer. And cook for 20 minutes.
Step two
Make the Sauce: Whisk together sriracha, soy sauce, and coconut sugar. Set aside.
Step three
Pat tofu dry and cut into thick strips.
Prep veggies. Here we are using asparagus, but you can swap out for your season favorites.
Cutting the asparagus at an angle with cook it more quickly.
Step four
Sear Tofu (or cook chicken, fish or shrimp if using): Heat a pan to med-high (we like cast iron).
Add 1 tablespoon coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add tofu and sear for about 3 minutes without moving tofu around, flip over and sear for another 3 minutes. Set tofu aside.
Step five
Sauté Veggies: In the same pan that you cooked the tofu in add 1 tablespoon coconut oil sauté asparagus (or other vegetables) for about 1 minute.
Add garlic, lemongrass, and ginger and stir over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, until asparagus is tender. Add green onions and 1 tablespoon of water, scraping the pan to loosen all the stuck bits, cooking for another minute more.
Step six
Combine: Add tofu, sauce, peas, and lime juice, stirring to combine. Take off the heat.
Serving Suggestions
Place rice in the bowls with a scoop of the sautéed tofu and veggies. Liberally sprinkle mint, cilantro and coconut flakes on top.
Storage
Leftovers can be kept in the fridge for 3-4 days. Gently reheat to serve. Coconut rice can be frozen for up to 3 months.
More Bowls recipes you may enjoy
Hope you enjoy! And be sure to check out our Spicy Jerk Tofu Bowl, Garlic Noodles, and more of our Adaptable Recipes or Buddha Bowls!
More Favorite Rice Recipes!
- Moroccan Rice
- Korean Tofu Rice Bowls
- Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice)
- Crispy Sesame Tempeh Bowl
- Miso Salmon Bowls
- Wild Rice Pilaf
Coconut Rice Bowl
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: buddha bowl, Main, vegan main
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Delicious Coconut Rice Bowl is healthy and adaptable! Curried jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk topped with your choice of protein, and seasonal vegetables all tossed with a simple sauce, fresh cilantro, mint and toasted coconut flakes.
Ingredients
Coconut Rice
- 2 cups jasmine rice
- 13.5-ounce can of coconut milk
- 1 3/4 cups water
- 2 teaspoons yellow curry powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt (less if using table salt)
- 1 teaspoon of ginger, grated
Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons sriracha (or sambal olek). Adjust to taste- start with less if you like less spice.
- 1–2 tablespoons Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or Lite Soy Sauce (use half fish sauce and half soy sauce, if desired)
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar (or other sweetener)
Tofu and Veggies
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 16 oz firm tofu
- 1 pound asparagus, cut into 1 inch julienne pieces (or use green beans, broccoli, snap peas, bell pepper, carrots)
- 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2 teaspoons lemongrass, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced or grated
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 1 tablspoon water
- 1/2 cup peas (frozen is fine just give a quick rinse under cool water to thaw quickly)
- juice of a lime, about 2-3 tablespoons
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup fresh mint
- 1/2 cup toasted coconut flakes (unsweetened)
Instructions
- Cook the Rice: In a medium saucepan with a lid, add rice, coconut milk, water, curry powder, salt, and ginger. Cover, bring to a boil, lower heat to med-low, simmer for 20 minutes. Turn the heat off and let it sit with the lid on until ready to serve.
- Make the Sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together sriracha, soy sauce, and coconut sugar.
- Sear Tofu. Pat the tofu dry and cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Add the tofu and sear for about 3 minutes without moving the tofu around, flip over, and sear for another 3 minutes. Set tofu aside.
- Sauté Veggies: In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon coconut oil sauté asparagus (or other vegetables) for about 1 minute. Add garlic, lemongrass, and ginger and stir over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, until asparagus is tender. Add green onions and 1 tablespoon of water, scraping the pan to loosen all the stuck bits. Add the peas, cook for another minute more.
- Combine: Add tofu, sauce, and lime juice, stirring to combine. Remove from the heat. Taste for saltiness, adding more Bragg’s or soy sauce if needed.
- Serve: Place rice in the bowls with a scoop of the sautéed tofu and veggies. Liberally sprinkle mint, cilantro and coconut flakes on top.
Notes
Rice: Use brown rice or white basmati (but follow the cooking directions on the package, using coconut milk as part of the required liquid and water for the rest).
Protein Options: sub chicken, shrimp – pan sear and season with salt and pepper, set aside.
Vegetable Options: green beans, broccoli, snap peas, colorful bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, spinach, shiitakes, or salad turnips.
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container.
The nutritional information includes tofu, sauce, rice and veggies.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup rice with 1 cup tofu and veggies
- Calories: 495
- Sugar: 5.1 g
- Sodium: 490.7 mg
- Fat: 20.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 15.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 62.3 g
- Fiber: 4.7 g
- Protein: 15.7 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Excellent excellent excellent!!! Another winner 🥇 from your blog!
Great to hear Tessa!
I almost lost the rice!! Started the heat too high, but was able to save it! Great recipe, my partner said 10/10… which is very surprising for tofu. This will be in my fav section for sure!!
Awesome Sylive, glad it worked out!
Wow! This is dish amazing! Your recipe received so many compliments! Thank you so much for sharing your talents!
Thanks Elle, nice to hear from you!
I felt like the proportions were off. Two cups of rice makes a ton of rice. It also felt like there should have been more vegetables with that amount of tofu. All that aside the rice itself was the bomb.
Glad you gave it a try Heather!
Used full-fat coconut milk in the rice, subbed red bell pepper for asparagus, and used half soy sauce and half fish sauce for the sauce. This was phenomenal and relatively easy for me to make – would love to make again!
Glad you enjoyed!
We’ve made this dish several times now and it never disappoints. You can adjust veggies to your preference but following the recipe’s suggestions make it come together with flavors seamlessly.
My suggestion: Use the full fat coconut milk. Don’t skip the toasted coconut flakes! And try roasted broccoli 🥦 for another level of added crispy flavor!
Great suggestions Courtney! Glad you are enjoying this one.
Made this for dinner last night…it came together so quickly with things I already had in the fridge & pantry. It was fresh and flavourful – the perfect summer vegan dinner!
Yay, that is the best. Glad they were a hit!
I found this a bit time consuming to make, but I had time on my hands last night. Very tasty and worth the time! I made the dish with broccoli. The rice is delicious even though I used low-fat.
Glad you enjoyed Jax!
What a lovely recipe. I didn’t have any tofu, so just went with all veggies. I used green beans instead of asparagus, and doubled the amount of peas. That rice! I could eat that curry coconut rice daily. So beautiful and delicious topped with all of those pretty green veggies and sauce. Thank you!
Glad you enjoyed Dana! Thanks for the helpful review.