This is my new favorite salad. Or rice-and-vegetable-medley or side-salad-that’s-really-a-main-dish or whatever it should be called, I’m loving it.
If this doesn’t get you excited about eating your vegetables and brown rice and tempeh, nothing will.
It’s so good that you may choose tempeh over homemade Twinkies.
Well, you may. I may still have the Twinkies for dessert.
I used a pre-chopped vegetable mix, which saved time, but it would be the perfect recipe to clean out the odds and ends that are lingering in your vegetable drawer.
Or if you over-buy fresh produce or have a garden that’s exploding all of a sudden with fresh vegetables (zucchini comes to mind), toss any of it in here. There is not one vegetable that I can’t see working in here. Okay, maybe not habenero chiles but aside from those, I’d toss it in.
The oranges gave this dish some pop without dominating the flavor.
I used an ample amount of cumin, which is one dominant flavor in taco seasoning mix. If you like the way taco seasoning mix and tacos taste, this recipe is for you.
The recipe turned out to be a Trader Joe’s special. I didn’t set out for it to be that way, but I picked up the veggie mix and then realized that all the other items I chose to incorporate in the recipe were from TJ’s.
Gotta love a bargain vegan meal.
Let’s get cooking:
Sautee cubed tempeh in olive oil for a minute and toss into a bowl.
Warm the rice with a drizzle of olive oil and toss that into the bowl.
Sautee and season the veggies and toss them into the bowl.
Slice the oranges and toss them into the bowl.
Lots of bowl tossing and not much time passing.
About 10 minutes from start to finish.
Whisk up the marinade with orange juice, balsamic, and seasonings.
Pour it over everything that’s in the bowl and toss.
I first made this salad first using half packages of everything shown; half the package of rice, tempeh, and the veggie mix, thinking there’s no way we’d want more than 4 cups of this salad at once. But it was so good that a day later, I made it again.
Skylar kept saying, “Mommy I want more of that rice stuff.” And I said, you know what honey, so do I.
So I made the other half of everything in the packages and stunk up my house a couple days in a row with the smell of sauteeing cabbage and broccoli. Delicious.
This is great served warm from the pan, but don’t fear that leftovers will be soggy or somehow not as good.
Ironically, I preferred the leftovers a day later, un-warmed and eaten from the little plastic food storage container I had stored it in in the refrigerator. Cool salads are great for summer and the marinade fully absorbed into the rice and the flavors married.
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Orange Ginger Tempeh and Brown Rice Salad with Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Orange Ginger Tempeh and Brown Rice Salad
- ¼ cup olive oil, divided into multiple uses
- ¾ cup tempeh, diced in small cubes
- 1 ½ cups pre-cooked brown rice
- 3 ½ to 4 cups diced vegetable medley, red cabbage, green cabbage, broccoli, carrots, radishes, jicama, green bell peppers, celery
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- generous sprinkling of salt and pepper, to taste
- optional spices and seasonings, curry, garlic, onion powder, 21 Salute, Mrs. Dash, etc.
- 1 orange, halved
Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette
- juice from half of 1 orange, about 3 tablespoons
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon cumin, or to taste
- pinch salt and pepper, to taste
- pinch sugar, optional and to taste
Instructions
- Orange Ginger Tempeh and Brown Rice Salad – To a large non-stick skillet, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, add the tempeh and sear it over medium-high heat, flipping as needed. Searing will take about 2 minutes. Add tempeh to a large mixing bowl and set aside.
- To the skillet (you don’t have to wash it), add 1 tablespoon olive oil and over medium-high heat warm the rice, stirring as needed. Warming will take about 2 minutes.
- Add the rice to the mixing bowl with the tempeh and set aside.
- To the skillet (you don’t have to wash it), add 2 tablespoons olive oil, add the vegetables, and sprinkle with ginger, cumin, salt and pepper, optional seasonings. Stir to evenly coat the vegetables. Cook over medium to medium high, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until softened but not mushy.
- Add the cooked vegetables to the mixing bowl with the rice and tempeh.
- Slice half the orange into bite-sized pieces and add to the mixing bowl.
- Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette – Over a small bowl, squeeze the juice from the orange halve. Add the remaining dressing ingredients and whisk to combine. ( I prefer more robustly seasoned food and if you don’t, scale back to 1/2 teaspoon each ginger and cumin. Alternately, add other or additional seasonings, to taste.)
- Pour dressing over the contents in the mixing bowl, tossing gently to combine. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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What are your favorite warm or cool salads, “side salads”, stir frys, or one-skillet meals?
I use the word salad loosely. Many people think of a salad as cold iceberg lettuce and ranch dressing, but I think anything that’s tossed with an ample amount of vegetables, eight to be exact in this recipe, constitutes a salad.
All the salads, stir frys, and sides shown above are some of mine, but I’d love to hear yours. Link it up.
all the bright colors in these photos – I am in heaven just staring at them, Averie. You make tempeh… usually dull and boring in photos really come to life!
I like the addition of cumin here… have never paired that with tempeh before. And ya know what? I’m no vegetarian (I don’t eat red meat though – it skeeves me out) but I LOVE tempeh and it’s so easy to cook and enjoy. I need to eat more of it, I always forget how much I love it.
The only way to do tempeh and brown rice is with lots of COLOR :)
I love this! And I love the colors of it! They say eat the rainbow…..
I still haven’t found a stir fry sauce recipe I like, so I haven’t had it in years. I like any salads, side salads, and stir fries as long as fruit is not involved anywhere (yup, not even tomatoes). Fruit has it’s place, and it ain’t in my salad! ;)
Love this one Averie!! And I totally have bowl envy…SO darn cute!!
Anthropologie! Just got it and it was only like $10 bucks, cheap for them!
LOVE all the color in this salad. SO perfect!
Eating the rainbow is a beautiful thing :)
These all look so healthy! I’ve never tried tempeh before, but I love cold pasta salads filled with vegetables for summer.
This is cold pasta salad without the pasta (if you want to serve it cold…or warm)…and tempeh is so easy! Try it!
wow, this is amazing! Love adding fruits to my salads too, it really gives it a delicious tuch!
Your pictures are simply amazing, looove all the beautiful colors!! (:
thanks for the compliments!
I too would pick tempeh over homemade twinkies! Especially in such a bright and vibrant salad combination. Love it!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Nearest TJ’s is about 2 hours away. I usually have to get a lot of things from iherb when I order my supplements.
Orange balsamic vinaigrette sounds amazing. I actually just did a cross-border TJ’s shop and snagged their new Balsamic Glaze. Can’t wait to try that out, maybe I’ll top this with an extra drizzle of glaze!
I saw that glaze there but figured I can make my own for pennies so didn’t bother but I want to try it. LMK how you like it!
I so love your meal recipes! What a gorgeous dish this is.
I love all the colors in this beautiful salad and the orange balsamic vinaigrette sounds fantastic!
Definitely looks like a main dish to me! Delicious!
Amazing pictures! I am making this salad for sure!
Ok keep me posted if you try it!
gorgeous colors! I know I owe you an email back btw! Will try today for sure! :)
oh my gosh that looks SOO delicious! and such an easy weeknight meal! TJ’s is the best:) thanks for sharing!