Tag: #EasyDinnerIdeas

Posted in Rice Bowls

Harvest Vegetable Fried Rice

Posted on by simplegoodfood

Saturday is a good day to look around the refrigerator and ask one very important question:

What needs to be used?

Maybe there’s a little roasted squash left from Thursday’s Autumn Harvest Rice Bowl. Maybe you’ve got some carrots, zucchini, corn, peppers, or onions hanging around from earlier in the week.

And maybe there’s some cooked rice waiting in the refrigerator.

That’s dinner.

This Harvest Vegetable Fried Rice is designed for exactly those moments. It doesn’t require a specific collection of vegetables. It simply gives all those little leftovers somewhere to go.

The result is a quick, colorful skillet meal that’s inexpensive, filling, and a whole lot better than throwing good food away.

It’s Waste Not, Want Not in a bowl—or, in this case, a skillet. 🍚🌾

simplegoodfood's avatarsimplegoodfood

Harvest Vegetable Fried Rice

Give leftover vegetables and cooked rice a delicious second life with this easy one-skillet fried rice.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 3 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: American
Calories: 315
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups cold cooked rice
  • 2 cups mixed leftover vegetables chopped into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 small onion diced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 green onions sliced
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley optional
Good vegetables to use:
  • Roasted carrots
  • Corn
  • Zucchini
  • Peppers
  • Green beans
  • Peas
  • Mushrooms
  • Roasted squash or sweet potatoes
  • Cooked broccoli

Method
 

Prepare the rice.
  1. Break up any clumps in the cold cooked rice with your fingers or a fork. Cold rice works particularly well because it is less likely to become mushy in the skillet.
Cook the eggs.
  1. Heat a large skillet or electric skillet over medium heat. Add about half of the olive oil. Beat the eggs lightly, add them to the skillet, and gently scramble until just cooked. Transfer them to a plate.
Sauté the onion.
  1. Add the remaining olive oil to the skillet. Add the diced onion and cook for 2–3 minutes, until softened.
Add the vegetables.
  1. Stir in the leftover vegetables and cook for 2–4 minutes, depending on how firm they are. Since most of the vegetables are already cooked, you’re simply heating and lightly browning them.
Add the rice.
  1. Add the cold rice to the skillet. Stir and toss everything together. Cook for about 4–5 minutes, allowing the rice to heat through and pick up a little color.
Season.
  1. Stir in the soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder, and black pepper.
Return the eggs.
  1. Add the cooked eggs back to the skillet and gently stir them into the rice and vegetables.
Finish.
  1. Sprinkle with sliced green onions and fresh parsley, if using. Taste and add a little more soy sauce if needed.

Notes

🌾 The Beauty of Leftovers
This recipe doesn’t have a “correct” vegetable list.
That’s intentional.
If you have a cup of leftover roasted vegetables and half a cup of something else, use them.
If your vegetables are already seasoned, that’s fine.
If they’re a little soft, that’s okay, too. Fried rice is an excellent place for vegetables that aren’t quite at their fresh-from-the-garden best anymore.
The goal is to use them while they’re still good, not wait until they’re perfect.

🥢 Make It Your Own

Want more protein?

Add:

  • Leftover cooked chicken
  • Cooked ground beef
  • Cooked pork
  • Shrimp

Want more vegetables?

Add frozen peas, corn, or carrots straight from the freezer.

Want to keep it meatless?

The eggs provide protein and make this a satisfying meatless meal.

For a little extra flavor, add fresh ginger or a small amount of minced garlic if you have it.

🏕️ Campground Kitchen Tip

This is an especially good recipe for an electric skillet because you have plenty of surface area for the rice to brown without having to juggle several pans.

It’s also a great campground meal because it turns leftovers into something that feels completely different.

Nobody needs to know that Thursday’s roasted vegetables are making a return appearance. 😉

🧊 Meal Prep Tip

If you’re intentionally making fried rice for leftovers, cool the finished rice promptly and refrigerate it in a shallow container.

When reheating, heat the portion thoroughly until steaming hot.

And remember that cooked rice should be handled just like other perishable cooked foods—don’t leave it sitting at room temperature for hours.

Posted in Kitchen Tips

Smart Shopper Spotlight: What’s Worth Buying in September?

Posted on by simplegoodfood

September is an interesting month at the grocery store.

Summer isn’t quite finished, but fall is beginning to make an appearance. Farmers markets are still bringing in the last big crops of summer, while apples and winter squash are starting to take their place.

For a budget-conscious shopper, that’s good news.

When produce is plentiful, you have more opportunities to find a good price—and when you find a genuinely good price on something your household will use, that’s when it’s worth thinking about buying a little extra.

Not everything has to go home with you.

The trick is knowing what is likely to be plentiful, checking the price, and having a plan for what you’ll do with it.

That’s the heart of smart seasonal shopping.

🍎 Apples

September is prime apple season in many parts of the country, and the variety can be wonderful.

This is a good time to compare prices between grocery stores, farmers markets, orchards, and roadside stands.

Don’t automatically assume the farmers market is cheaper—or that the grocery store is cheaper.

Compare.

If apples are a good price, they’re one of those fruits that can earn their keep in several ways.

Eat them fresh.

Bake with them.

Add them to oatmeal.

Make applesauce.

Or simply buy enough for the week instead of purchasing fruit that will sit forgotten in the refrigerator.

And remember that an apple doesn’t have to be perfectly shaped to be useful.

🎃 Winter Squash and Sweet Potatoes

The arrival of autumn means vegetables such as butternut, acorn, and other winter squash begin appearing more frequently.

Sweet potatoes are another useful fall staple.

These vegetables are particularly handy because they’re versatile and can become part of several different meals.

Roast them.

Add them to rice bowls.

Turn them into soup.

Mash them.

Stuff them.

Or roast a larger batch and use the leftovers throughout the week.

That’s the kind of ingredient I like to see in a grocery cart:

One purchase. Multiple meals.

🍅 Late Tomatoes

September can still bring plenty of tomatoes, depending on where you live.

If you find a good price on ripe tomatoes, have a plan before you buy a large quantity.

Tomatoes are wonderful for eating fresh, but they don’t have an unlimited refrigerator life.

Use them for sandwiches, salads, pasta, salsa, soups, or skillet meals.

And if you know you’re not going to use them quickly, consider freezing them for cooked dishes rather than watching them become a science experiment in the back of the refrigerator.

🫛 Green Beans

Green beans can still be plentiful as summer winds down.

They’re an especially useful vegetable for small households because you don’t need a giant quantity to make a meal.

Roast them.

Steam them.

Sauté them.

Add them to soup.

Or combine them with other vegetables in a skillet.

If the price is right, fresh green beans can also be a good candidate for freezing.

The important thing is to buy the amount you can realistically use or preserve.

A bargain isn’t a bargain if half of it ends up in the trash.

🌶️ Peppers

Peppers are another vegetable worth watching in September.

Bell peppers can be used in everything from breakfast eggs to rice bowls, soups, pasta dishes, fajitas, and casseroles.

And peppers are particularly useful for putting a little back.

If you find them at a good price, you can clean and cut them into meal-sized portions and freeze them for cooked dishes.

No fancy equipment required.

That’s a pretty good return on a few minutes of prep.

🌽 Sweet Corn

Depending on your region, September may be the tail end of the fresh corn season.

If the corn looks good and the price is right, enjoy it while it’s available.

But this is also a good time to ask yourself whether buying a large quantity makes sense.

If you’re not feeding a crowd, a dozen ears of corn may be more enthusiasm than your refrigerator can handle.

Buy what you’ll eat—or have a preservation plan before you put it in the cart.

That’s the difference between buying in season and simply buying too much.

🛒 The Smart Shopper Question

Before buying a large quantity of anything, ask yourself three questions:

1. Is it actually a good price?

Don’t assume.

Know roughly what you normally pay, and compare the unit price when possible.

A large package isn’t automatically cheaper.

A farmers market isn’t automatically cheaper.

A sale sign isn’t automatically a bargain.

The number on the shelf is what matters.

2. Will I actually use it?

This may be the most important question.

If you don’t normally eat five pounds of zucchini, a five-pound bargain isn’t necessarily a bargain.

Buy more of the foods your household already uses.

3. What will I do with the extra?

Have a plan before you buy.

Will you:

  • Eat it this week?
  • Freeze it?
  • Dehydrate it?
  • Can it using a tested recipe?
  • Cook it into another meal?
  • Share some with family or a neighbor?

If the answer is simply “I’ll figure something out,” that’s usually a good reason to buy less.

🧺 Buying by the Case vs. Buying by the Pound

Bulk buying can save money—but only when the math and the quantity both work in your favor.

Buying a case of produce may give you a lower per-pound price, but that doesn’t automatically make it the better choice for a household of one or two.

Consider the usable cost, not just the sticker price.

If a case costs $20 and contains 20 pounds, that’s $1 per pound.

Sounds great.

But if you only use 10 pounds before the rest spoils, you’ve effectively paid $2 per usable pound—and you’ve spent money on food you didn’t get to eat.

On the other hand, if you have a plan to freeze, dehydrate, can safely, cook, or share the extra, that case might be an excellent purchase.

Bulk buying works best when you already have a plan for the bulk.

🌾 A Little Extra Can Go a Long Way

This is really what our September theme, Harvest & Putting Things Back, is about.

You don’t need to buy a pantry full of food.

You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars preserving the harvest.

And you certainly don’t need to buy something simply because it is on sale.

Instead, watch for the foods you already use.

When they’re plentiful and the price is genuinely good, buy a little extra.

Then decide what “putting it back” looks like for you.

Maybe it’s a bag of frozen peppers.

Maybe it’s dehydrated carrots and celery.

Maybe it’s a few jars of properly canned food made using a tested recipe.

Maybe it’s simply an extra container of soup in the freezer.

The method can change.

The principle doesn’t.

♻️ Waste Not, Want Not: Freeze Those Herbs

Fresh herbs have a frustrating habit of going from “I have plenty!” to “What on earth happened to these?” in what feels like about three days.

If you have fresh herbs that you aren’t going to use, freeze them rather than throwing them away.

For herbs you’re planning to use in cooked dishes, a simple method is to chop them, place them in an ice-cube tray, cover them with a little water or olive oil, and freeze.

Once frozen, transfer the portions to a labeled freezer bag or container.

They won’t have the same texture as fresh herbs after freezing, so they’re best used in soups, sauces, skillet meals, and other cooked dishes.

It’s a tiny preservation project—but that’s exactly the point.

Putting a little back doesn’t have to be a big production.

🫙 Pantry Builder: Start One Shelf

This week, take a look at one pantry shelf.

Not the whole pantry.

Just one shelf.

Ask yourself:

What do I use regularly that would make life easier if I already had some waiting for me?

Maybe that’s rice.

Maybe it’s canned tomatoes.

Maybe it’s dried beans.

Maybe it’s broth.

Maybe it’s properly preserved meat or vegetables.

Choose one thing.

Add it.

Then move on with your life.

Next week, you can add something else.

That’s how a practical pantry grows—quietly, steadily, and without turning grocery shopping into a military operation.

🌾 Shop the Season. Buy What You’ll Use. Put a Little Back.

September gives us a wonderful opportunity to practice a very old-fashioned idea in a modern way.

Pay attention to what’s plentiful.

Watch the prices.

Buy what you can use.

Preserve what makes sense.

And don’t confuse more with better.

The smartest pantry isn’t necessarily the fullest one.

It’s the one that contains food you actually eat, ingredients you know how to use, and a few things waiting patiently for the days when you need them.

That’s putting a little back.

And that’s a pretty good way to head into autumn. 🌾

Posted in Miscellaneous (Unsorted), Rice Bowls

Autumn Harvest Rice Bowl

Posted on by simplegoodfood

By September, the vegetables on the table begin to change.

The bright summer zucchini and corn are still around, but now we’re starting to see winter squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables that seem to belong to the cooler months.

This Autumn Harvest Rice Bowl brings those flavors together in one simple meal.

Roasted vegetables are the stars here. Rice gives them a hearty base, while beef or chicken adds protein and makes the bowl satisfying enough for dinner. A simple sauce brings everything together without overpowering the vegetables.

And just like our other Build-A-Bowl recipes, you can change the personality of the meal simply by changing the seasoning and sauce.

It’s a great way to start letting your cooking move from summer toward fall—one bowl at a time. 🍂

🥣 Build Your Bowl

Base:
Cooked brown or white rice

Protein:
Cooked lean ground beef, sliced steak, or chopped chicken

Vegetables:
Roasted winter squash or sweet potatoes, carrots, and onions

Sauce:
Choose one of the Flavor Builder combinations below

Fresh Finish:
Chopped fresh parsley or green onions

Optional Toppings:
Toasted pumpkin seeds, crumbled feta, Parmesan, or sliced almonds

Make It Your Own:
Use whatever autumn vegetables are available and affordable. Butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, and even leftover roasted vegetables can all find a home here.

simplegoodfood's avatarsimplegoodfood

Autumn Harvest Rice Bowl

Roasted squash or sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, rice, and tender beef or chicken come together in this cozy fall-inspired Build-A-Bowl.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Calories: 390
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Bowls
  • 2 cups cooked rice
  • 2 cups cooked lean beef or chicken chopped or shredded
  • 2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash or sweet potato
  • 1 cup carrots sliced
  • 1 medium onion cut into wedges
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or green onions
Choose Your Flavor Builder
🌿 Herb Garden
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
🌶️ Southwest
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
🥢 Asian-Inspired
  • 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
🧄 Garlic Butter
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

Method
 

Prepare the vegetables.
  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Cut the squash or sweet potato into small, evenly sized cubes. Slice the carrots and cut the onion into wedges.
Season.
  1. Place the vegetables on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, thyme, salt, and pepper. Toss until evenly coated.
Roast.
  1. Roast for 25–30 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned around the edges.
Warm the protein.
  1. While the vegetables roast, warm the cooked beef or chicken in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add a splash of water or broth if needed to keep it moist.
Prepare the Flavor Builder.
  1. Whisk together the ingredients for your chosen sauce.
Build the bowls.
  1. Divide the cooked rice among four bowls. Add the warm protein and roasted vegetables.
Finish.
  1. Drizzle each bowl with your chosen sauce and sprinkle with fresh parsley or green onions. Add your favorite optional topping.

Notes

🎨 Flavor Builder
This is where one basic bowl can head in four completely different directions.
🌿 Herb Garden
Thyme and parsley make the roasted vegetables taste like they came straight from an autumn kitchen garden.
🌶️ Southwest
A little cumin, chili powder, and lime give the sweet vegetables a savory Southwestern twist.
🥢 Asian-Inspired
Soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and a tiny bit of sesame oil make an especially nice contrast with roasted squash or sweet potatoes.
🧄 Garlic Butter
Rich and comforting, with Parmesan adding a little savory depth.
And if you aren’t a fan of highly spiced food, the Herb Garden or Garlic Butter versions are especially gentle.

🧺 A Good Use for Leftovers

This recipe is practically designed for leftovers.

Roasting vegetables takes a little time, so roast extra while you’re already doing it.

The next day, those vegetables can become:

  • A quick rice bowl
  • A filling for a wrap
  • A topping for a baked potato
  • An addition to scrambled eggs
  • A simple soup ingredient

That’s one of the easiest ways to put a little back without actually putting anything in a jar.

You’re simply making tonight’s cooking do some of tomorrow’s work.

🫙 Pantry Builder Connection

A well-stocked pantry isn’t just canned goods.

Rice is a pantry staple.

Frozen chicken or beef can become the protein.

Frozen vegetables can stand in for fresh.

And a few basic seasonings can completely change the flavor of the same ingredients.

The more of those building blocks you keep available, the easier it becomes to make a meal without starting from scratch.

Posted in Rice Bowls

Refrigerator Fried Rice

Posted on by simplegoodfood

Introduction

This is the kind of recipe that doesn’t really need a recipe.

Have some cooked rice? A little pulled pork? A few vegetables that need to be used? Maybe an egg or two? You’re already halfway there.

Refrigerator Fried Rice is all about taking the odds and ends in your refrigerator and turning them into a completely new meal. The ingredients don’t have to match perfectly, and you certainly don’t need to make a special trip to the grocery store. In fact, the whole point is to use what you already have.

It’s one of those meals every cook should have in their back pocket—and it’s a perfect example of Waste Not, Want Not cooking.

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • A great way to use planned-over ingredients
  • Ready in about 20 minutes
  • Budget-friendly
  • Flexible and easy to customize
  • Perfect for small households
  • Works with pork, chicken, turkey, shrimp, or no meat at all
  • An excellent campground or RV meal

🥣 Build Your Bowl

This isn’t technically a Build-A-Bowl recipe, but it follows the same basic idea: start with a foundation and build from what you have.

  • 🍚 Base: Cooked, chilled rice
  • 🥩 Protein: Precooked pulled pork
  • 🥕 Vegetables: Whatever cooked or raw vegetables need to be used
  • 🥣 Sauce: Low-sodium soy sauce
  • 🥬 Fresh Finish: Sliced green onions
  • ✨ Optional Toppings: Fried egg, sesame seeds, cilantro, sriracha, or a drizzle of sesame oil

💡 Make It Your Own: Don’t have pulled pork? Use cooked chicken, turkey, shrimp, ham, or leave the meat out completely. Carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, cabbage, peppers, mushrooms, and green beans are all fair game.

simplegoodfood's avatarsimplegoodfood

Refrigerator Fried Rice

RefrigeratorFried Rice is all about taking the odds and ends in your refrigerator andturning them into a completely new meal.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: American
Calories: 400
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups cooked chilled rice
  • 1½ cups precooked pulled pork chopped into small pieces
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup mixed vegetables chopped small
  • ½ cup corn or peas
  • 2 green onions sliced
  • 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil divided
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger optional
  • Black pepper to taste
Optional:
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • Sriracha or other hot sauce
  • Sesame seeds
  • Additional green onions

Method
 

  1. Prepare your ingredients first. Fried rice cooks quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before you turn on the skillet.
  2. Heat a large skillet or electric skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cooking oil.
  3. Add the eggs and scramble gently until just cooked. Transfer them to a plate.
  4. Add the remaining ½ tablespoon sesame oil to the skillet.
  5. Add the garlic, ginger, and vegetables. Stir-fry for 2–3 minutes, until the vegetables are heated through and beginning to soften.
  6. Add the chopped pulled pork and cook for another 2 minutes.
  7. Add the cold cooked rice. Stir and toss everything together, breaking up any clumps of rice.
  8. Pour the soy sauce around the edge of the hot skillet and stir it into the rice mixture.
  9. Return the cooked eggs to the skillet and stir everything together.
  10. Add the green onions and a splash of rice vinegar, if desired.
  11. Taste and adjust the soy sauce or seasonings as needed.
  12. Serve hot.

Notes

🧺 Kitchen Confidence
This Week’s Skill: Learning to Cook Without a Recipe
This might be the most important kitchen skill of the entire week.
A recipe is a guide, not a set of handcuffs.
Once you understand the basic technique, you can look into your refrigerator and make substitutions based on what you actually have. The vegetables don’t have to be the same ones listed here. The protein doesn’t have to be pork. You don’t even need meat.
The trick is to cut everything into similar-sized pieces and add ingredients according to how long they need to cook.
That’s cooking.

💰 Stretch Every Grocery Dollar

Fried rice is one of the best ways to make inexpensive rice stretch into a complete meal.

It’s also a great reason to cook extra rice when you’re already making it. One batch can become a side dish one night and the foundation for fried rice a few days later.

♻️ Waste Not, Want Not

This is where the refrigerator really gets to shine.

That last handful of peas? Toss them in.

Two lonely carrots? Absolutely.

A little corn from Tuesday’s rice bowl? Into the skillet it goes.

Some cabbage left from your Rainbow Coleslaw? Chop it up and use it.

And that little container of pulled pork that isn’t quite enough for another full meal? Perfect.

This is exactly what Waste Not, Want Not is supposed to look like.

🍽️ Cooking for One or Two

You can easily make a smaller batch by cutting the ingredients in half.

Or make the full recipe and portion it into individual containers for quick lunches. Fried rice reheats well, making it an especially useful meal for small households.

🥣 Meal Prep Note

If you’re cooking rice for another meal this week, make extra.

Cool the extra rice promptly and refrigerate it so it’s ready for fried rice later. Having cooked rice waiting in the refrigerator turns this from a recipe into a 20-minute clean-out-the-fridge meal.

Storage & Freezing

Refrigerator: Store cooked fried rice in an airtight container and use within 3–4 days.

Freezer: Portion cooled fried rice into freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to 3 months.

Reheating: Reheat thoroughly in a skillet or microwave. Add a splash of water if the rice seems dry.

Food safety: Cool and refrigerate cooked rice and other leftovers promptly rather than leaving them at room temperature for an extended period.

🌾 A Little Kitchen Wisdom

Don’t wait until your refrigerator is completely empty to make fried rice.

The sweet spot is when you have a little bit of several things.That’s when the magic happens.

Posted in Rice Bowls

Sweet & Tangy Pork & Veggie Rice Bowl

Posted on by simplegoodfood

Introduction

One of the easiest ways to make meal planning feel fresh is by changing the flavors—not the entire recipe. This Sweet & Tangy Pork & Veggie Rice Bowl starts with the same precooked pulled pork and rice you already have on hand but gives them a completely new personality with a simple homemade sauce and colorful vegetables.

It’s another Build-A-Bowl meal that’s perfect for busy weeknights, campground cooking, or anyone looking to stretch ingredients without sacrificing flavor. With just a few pantry staples, you’ll have a wholesome dinner that’s as colorful as it is satisfying.

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Ready in about 20 minutes
  • Uses precooked pulled pork
  • A fresh flavor twist on yesterday’s meal
  • Packed with colorful vegetables
  • Budget-friendly and easy to customize
  • Perfect for meal prep and small households

🥣 Build Your Bowl

Build-A-Bowl meals are all about mixing and matching simple ingredients you already have on hand. Start with a base, add a protein, pile on vegetables, then finish with a flavorful sauce and your favorite toppings.

  • 🍚 Base: Cooked Rice
  • 🥩 Protein: Precooked Pulled Pork
  • 🥕 Vegetables: Broccoli, Carrots & Bell Pepper
  • 🥣 Sauce: Sweet & Tangy Honey-Garlic Sauce
  • 🥬 Fresh Finish: Sliced Green Onions
  • ✨ Optional Toppings: Sesame Seeds, Crushed Peanuts, Fresh Cilantro, Sriracha, Plain Greek Yogurt, Crispy Chow Mein Noodles

💡 Make It Your Own: Use whatever vegetables you have available. Snow peas, green beans, zucchini, mushrooms, cabbage, or even leftover roasted vegetables all work wonderfully.

simplegoodfood's avatarsimplegoodfood

Sweet & Tangy Pork & Veggie Rice Bowl

Oneof the easiest ways to make meal planning feel fresh is by changing theflavors—not the entire recipe.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Calories: 450
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Bowls
  • 2 cups cooked rice
  • 2 cups precooked pulled pork
  • 1 cup broccoli florets
  • 1 cup shredded carrots
  • 1 bell pepper thinly sliced
  • 2 green onions sliced
For the Sweet & Tangy Sauce
  • ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1 tablespoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger or ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons water

Method
 

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, cornstarch, and water.
  2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
  3. Add the broccoli, carrots, and bell pepper. Cook for 4–5 minutes until crisp-tender.
  4. Stir in the pulled pork and cook until heated through.
  5. Pour the sauce over the pork and vegetables, stirring until everything is evenly coated and the sauce thickens slightly.
  6. Divide the warm rice among four bowls.
  7. Spoon the pork and vegetable mixture over the rice.
  8. Garnish with green onions and any optional toppings before serving.

Notes

🧺 Kitchen Confidence
This Week’s Skill: One Sauce, A Whole New Meal
You don’t need a new recipe every night. Learning a few simple sauces is one of the easiest ways to create variety in your cooking.
Today’s sweet and tangy honey-garlic sauce transforms the same pulled pork you enjoyed earlier this week into a completely different meal. Once you’re comfortable making simple sauces like this one, you’ll discover endless ways to reinvent leftovers and pantry staples.

💰 Stretch Every Grocery Dollar

Frozen vegetables are an excellent budget-friendly option. They’re picked at peak freshness, require no chopping, and let you use only what you need, reducing food waste.

♻️ Waste Not, Want Not

This recipe is perfect for cleaning out the vegetable drawer. Small amounts of broccoli, carrots, cabbage, zucchini, mushrooms, peas, or peppers all work beautifully together. There’s no need to make a special trip to the store if you already have vegetables waiting to be used.

🍽️ Cooking for One or Two

Prepare only the amount you’ll eat today and refrigerate the remaining ingredients separately. The cooked pork, vegetables, and rice can be mixed and matched for easy lunches or another quick dinner later in the week.

🥣 Meal Prep Note

If you have extra vegetables after making this recipe, don’t throw them away. They’ll be perfect for this week’s Kitchen Sink Vegetable Soup, where every little bit helps create a hearty, nourishing meal.

Storage & Freezing

Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Freezer: Freeze the pork and vegetable mixture separately from the rice for best quality, up to 3 months.

Reheating: Warm gently in a skillet or microwave. Add a splash of water if the sauce has thickened too much.

Posted in Rice Bowls

BBQ Pulled Pork Rice Bowl

Posted on by simplegoodfood

Simple meals don’t have to be boring. This BBQ Pulled Pork Rice Bowl combines fluffy rice, tender precooked pulled pork, sweet corn, black beans, and a drizzle of your favorite barbecue sauce for a hearty meal that’s ready in about 20 minutes.

Rice bowls are one of the easiest ways to stretch ingredients while creating something that feels fresh and satisfying. They’re also wonderfully flexible—use what you have on hand, swap ingredients to fit your family’s tastes, and make each bowl your own.

Whether you’re cooking at home, in an RV, or at the campground, this Build-A-Bowl meal is an easy way to turn a few simple ingredients into a delicious dinner.

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Ready in about 20 minutes
  • Great use for precooked pulled pork
  • Budget-friendly and filling
  • Easy to customize
  • Perfect for meal prep lunches
  • Campground friendly

🥣 Build Your Bowl

Build-A-Bowl meals are all about mixing and matching simple ingredients you already have on hand. Start with a base, add a protein, pile on vegetables, then finish with a flavorful sauce and your favorite toppings.

  • 🍚 Base: Cooked Rice
  • 🥩 Protein: Precooked Pulled Pork
  • 🌽 Vegetables: Corn & Black Beans
  • 🥣 Sauce: Your Favorite Barbecue Sauce
  • 🥬 Fresh Finish: Sliced Green Onions
  • ✨ Optional Toppings: Shredded Cheddar Cheese, Plain Greek Yogurt or Sour Cream, Diced Tomatoes, Sliced Avocado, Pickled Jalapeños, Fresh Cilantro

Make It Your Own: No black beans? Use pinto beans. No corn? Try diced bell peppers or leftover roasted vegetables. Build-A-Bowl recipes are designed to be flexible, so use what you have and make each bowl your own.

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BBQ Pulled Pork Rice Bowl

Ricebowls are one of the easiest ways to stretch ingredients while creatingsomething that feels fresh and satisfying.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Calories: 425
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups cooked rice
  • 2 cups precooked pulled pork
  • 1 cup corn kernels
  • 1 cup black beans drained and rinsed
  • ½ cup barbecue sauce
  • 2 green onions sliced
Optional Toppings
  • Shredded cheddar cheese
  • Sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
  • Diced tomatoes
  • Sliced avocado
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Pickled jalapeños

Method
 

  1. Warm the rice according to package directions or reheat leftover cooked rice.
  2. Heat the pulled pork in a skillet or microwave until hot.
  3. Warm the corn and black beans.
  4. Divide the rice evenly among four bowls.
  5. Top each bowl with pulled pork, corn, and black beans.
  6. Drizzle with barbecue sauce.
  7. Garnish with green onions and any additional toppings you enjoy.
  8. Serve immediately.

Notes

🧺 Kitchen Confidence
This Week’s Skill: Cooking Perfect Rice
Rice is one of the most economical pantry staples you can keep on hand. For fluffy rice, follow the package directions and avoid lifting the lid while it cooks. Once it’s done, let it rest for about 5 minutes before fluffing it gently with a fork.
Already have cooked rice in the refrigerator? That’s even better! Leftover rice reheats beautifully and is perfect for quick meals like this one.
💰 Stretch Every Grocery Dollar
Buying bags of regular long-grain rice instead of instant rice can save money over time. Cook a larger batch and refrigerate or freeze meal-sized portions for quick weeknight dinners.

♻️ Waste Not, Want Not

This recipe is a great way to use small amounts of ingredients already in your refrigerator. Don’t have black beans? Try pinto beans. No corn? Diced bell peppers, leftover roasted vegetables, or even a handful of fresh spinach work well, too.

🍽️ Cooking for One or Two

Assemble only the bowls you’ll eat today and store the ingredients separately for the best texture. Rice, pulled pork, beans, and corn can all be refrigerated for several days, making it easy to enjoy another bowl later in the week.

🥣 Meal Prep Note

Cook extra rice today and refrigerate it. You’ll have it ready for Thursday’s Sweet & Tangy Pork & Veggie Rice Bowl, saving even more time later in the week.

Storage & Freezing

Refrigerator: Store rice and toppings separately in airtight containers for up to 4 days.

Freezer: Cooked rice and pulled pork freeze well for up to 3 months.

Reheating: Reheat the rice with a splash of water to restore moisture before assembling your bowl.