• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Big Flavors From a Tiny Kitchen  | Sara's Tiny Kitchen
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Contact
  • Portfolio
  • Subscribe
menu icon
go to homepage
  • About
  • Recipes
  • Contact
  • Portfolio
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • About
    • Recipes
    • Contact
    • Portfolio
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home

    Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls

    August 23, 2021 by sara Leave a Comment

    This Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowl is light, easy, and vegan. A perfect summer side or main dish. Full of black beans, pineapple, red onion and cilantro, it's a treat for all your senses!

    Jump To Recipe

    Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls

    This Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowl is light and easy, a perfect summer side or main dish.  It would be great to take to a barbeque, or just to eat for a quick Tuesday night dinner.

    Technically I guess you could call this a rice salad, but I prefer “bowl meal” because let’s face it – bowl meals are just fun.  Take all the things you love, and toss them in a bowl with some dressing, and call it day.  Couldn’t be easier.

    This rice bowl definitely couldn’t be easier.  The only cooking you have to do for this dish is the rice, and if you have a rice cooker (which you definitely should) that takes all the guess work out of it.  If you don’t have a rice cooker, you can use the standard stovetop method for cooking rice,  or you could even use microwave or boil-in-a-bag rice. 

    If you’re looking to lighten things up a bit, you could sub quinoa or barley or any other whole grain for the rice, and that’s just the start of the alterations and substitutions you can make with this dish.

    Shopping List for Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls

    • Rice

    • Pineapple

    • Black Beans

    • Peanuts

    • Red Onion

    • Lime

    • Cilantro

    • Olive Oil

    • Salt and Pepper

    Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls

    Tips and Tricks

    Because the only thing that requires cooking is the rice, this dish comes together really quickly once the rice is ready.  Use the rice cooking time to prep everything else.

    I normally recommend heating up black beans before using them because I think it gives them a better texture, but you’re tossing the beans with hot rice, which has the same effect.

    Like any salad, a mixture of textures is the key to a great dish, so don’t skip the peanuts – the crunch they give is vital to the overall experience. If you, or someone you’re cooking for is allergic, you could substitute pepitas or sunflower seeds instead.

    Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls

    Alterations and Substitutions:

    • I personally don’t love mango, but I imagine it would be great in this dish, either as a swap for the pineapple or an addition.

    • If you don’t love cilantro, you could replace it with parsley.  If you’re using cilantro, you can definitely use the stems as well as the leaves.  They’re tender and delicious.

    • Soak the red onion in ice water for 10-15 minutes before adding to the bowl to mellow out their bite.

    • Some creamy avocado would be an awesome addition.

    • The lime juice and olive oil come together to make a sort of on-the-fly dressing for this bowl, but if you want something more substantial, might I recommend this Lime Chipotle Sauce?

    • Feel free to add things as well – if you like things a little spicier, some diced jalapenos would be fantastic. 

    • As it stands, this recipe is vegan, but you could add grilled chicken or shrimp to make a more substantial dinner.

    Don’t forget to season – the ingredients in this dish are all on the bland side, and require plenty of salt and pepper.  Taste and season as you mix the salad together, but keep in mind that while you can always add more salt, you cant take it away once it’s in there, so start slow and go from there.

    Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls
    Yield

    4 Bowls

    Author

    Sara Rauckhorst

    Prep time

    5 Min

    Cook time

    35 Min

    Total time

    40 Min

    Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls

    This Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowl is light, easy, and vegan. A perfect summer side or main dish. Full of black beans, pineapple, red onion and cilantro, it's a treat for all your senses!

    Ingredients

    Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls
    • ½ cup of uncooked rice or the equivalent of microwaveable rice.
    • 5 ounces pineapple, diced small
    • 1 15 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
    • ¼ cup chopped peanuts
    • ¼ cup diced red onion
    • 1-2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
    • Salt and pepper to taste.

    Instructions

    To Make Tropical Black Bean Rice Bowls
    1. Cook your rice according to package directions.
    2. Prep your other ingredients while rice is cooking.
    3. Once rice is cooked, pour it into a large bowl, and add pineapple, beans, onion and cilantro and stir together.
    4. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the bowl, and drizzle the olive oil over as well, then stir to combine.
    5. Taste for seasoning, and add salt and pepper as needed.
    Did you make this recipe?
    Tag @sarastinykitchn on instagram and hashtag it #sarastinykitchen



    « Lemony Olive Orzo
    Pickled Corn »

    Reader Interactions

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I'm Sara! I’m a photographer, a recipe developer, and a blogger, but beneath it all, I’m just your average home cook.  I’m busy and I don’t always have time to spend hours in the kitchen.  I share quick, easy, and delicious meals that your family will love as much as mine does.  I taught myself to cook by trial and error.  Come along with me and I’ll help you get there too – hopefully with a little less “error” than I had!

    More about me →

    Never Miss A New Recipe

    Recent Recipes

    • Mocha Cold Brew
    • Air Fryer Tomatoes
    • Chocolate Chip Cookies without Brown Sugar
    • Raw Carrot Salad

    Chocolate

    • Raspberry and White Chocolate Loaf Cake
    • Chocolate Rice Krispies Treats
    • Mocha Ice Cream Cupcakes
    • Flourless Fudgy Chocolate Cookies

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Media Kit

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2021 on the Sara's Tiny Kitchen