Sweetgreen Crispy Rice Bowl (Healthy Copycat Recipe)

If you’re a fan of the Sweetgreen crispy rice bowl, you’re going to love this copycat recipe! It includes blackened chicken on top of arugula and warm wild rice with a spicy cashew dressing.

Why You’ll Love This Sweetgreen Crispy Rice Bowl Recipe

This copycat Sweetgreen crispy rice bowl recipe is the real deal. It’s budget-friendly, healthy, and will have your taste buds doing a happy dance. 

With 11 grams of fiber, 42 grams of protein, and plenty of healthy fats, this is a balanced lunch or dinner option with all the natural ingredients you love to keep you feeling full for hours. 

The colorful veggies pack in the antioxidants too. This recipe is a great source of anti-inflammatory nutrients that can help lower inflammation – which is key if you have PCOS or any other chronic disease. 

If you like to meal prep in advance, this crispy rice bowl recipe is a great option to add to your regular rotation. Just prep each individual serving into meal prep containers at the beginning of the week. Then you’re good to go for the rest of the week. The flavor combinations are anything but boring and will make it so that you look forward to eating this meal every day for lunch!

Ingredients You’ll Need

This recipe uses simple ingredients that you can find at any grocery store. Here’s what you’ll need.

For The Blackened Chicken

• Boneless Chicken Breasts – this is the main protein source for this bowl, which will help you stay satiated. If you don’t have chicken breasts, you can swap in chicken thighs. Or save time by using pre-cooked rotisserie chicken!

• Olive Oil – known for its anti-inflammatory properties, this oil is my personal favorite to cook with. It’s packed with monounsaturated fats that can lower inflammation and help you absorb certain fat-soluble vitamins. Avocado oil is another great option for cooking too!

• Spices – to season your chicken, you’ll need smoked paprika, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, oregano, cayenne pepper and salt. I used sea salt but traditional table salt or any type of salt you prefer works fine. 

For The Spicy Cashew Dressing

• Cashew Butter – you could make your own cashew butter in a food processor but I’m all about easy shortcuts so I just use pre-made cashew butter. 

• Rice Vinegar – I used an unseasoned rice vinegar which has no added sugar compared to a seasoned rice vinegar which usually has about 4g of added sugar per tablespoon.

• Maple Syrup

• Minced Garlic

• Sesame Oil

• Lime Juice 

• Water

• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

• Powdered Ginger

• Salt

For The Crispy Rice Bowl

• Raw carrots – I used pre-shredded carrots to save some time on peeling and chopping carrots.

• Red cabbage – red cabbage is pretty easy to chop and shred pretty quickly, however, you can take a shortcut and purchase pre-shredded cabbage if you prefer.

• Cucumber – chop these into whichever shape you prefer – I usually just do cucumber rounds or half circles.

• Fresh Cilantro – fresh cilantro seriously increases the flavor of any meal in my opinion. I know some people do not like cilantro so just omit it if that’s your preference.

• Almonds – the original recipe uses roasted almonds but I skipped the roasting part and simply used slivered almonds. They worked out great!

• Puffed Rice Cereal – plain old Rice Krispies work well here!

• Warm Wild Rice – this is different from the original Sweetgreen recipe, but I used a 90 second rice packet that was a mix of long grain and wild rice. This is a huge time saver and definitely a worthwhile and easy shortcut to make this recipe go a little faster.

• Arugula – another leafy green such as kale or spinach could work well here also.

• Lime – a fresh lime squeeze gives this a nice, zesty flavor.

How To Make This Sweetgreen Copycat Recipe

While there does seem to be a lot of ingredients for this recipe, it’s really pretty simple to make this Sweetgreen Crispy Rice Bowl. Here’s how you’re going to make it. 

Step One: Make The Blackened Chicken.

1. First, mix the dry spices together in a small mixing bowl.
2. Slice each chicken breast lengthwise to make thin sliced chicken.
3. Use ½ tbsp of the olive oil to rub each chicken breast and evenly rub the dry spices onto the chicken breasts.
4. Heat the remaining 1.5 tbsp olive oil in a pan over medium heat.
5. Cook chicken until it is very golden brown (almost black) on each side. Approximately 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through or the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165F. (Save any leftover oil and seasonings in the pan for the crispy rice).
6. Remove from heat and cover with a loose aluminum foil tent for 10 minutes.

Step Two: Make the Spicy Cashew Dressing

1. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

Step 3: Cook The Puffed Rice + Assemble the Crispy Rice Bowl

1. Using the leftover oil and spices in the pan from your blackened chicken, put the puffed rice cereal into the pan over medium heat and stir occasionally until crisp, approximately 3-5 minutes.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients and give it a squeeze of half a lime. Garnish with a pretty lime wedge and extra chopped cashews if desired.
3. Last, add the cooked chicken and the spicy cashew dressing. Enjoy!

How To Store + Heat Leftovers

Store any leftover salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. If you want the chicken and wild rice to be warm, I’d store them separate from the fresh veggies. That way, you can reheat the chicken and wild rice then add it to the cold salad when you want to eat it. 

Store dressing separately to prevent everything from getting too soggy or wilted.

Variations & Substitutions

• Substitute the chicken for shrimp or tofu 
• Not a fan of the bed of arugula? Use another type of leafy greens such as spinach or kale 
• No cashew butter? Use any type of nut butter you prefer
• Allergy to tree nuts? Substitute the cashew butter for sunflower seed butter and omit the almonds
• Substitute a crispy quinoa instead of the crispy puffed rice
• More flavor? Add a drizzle of soy sauce or coconut aminos to the pan before heating up the puffed rice cereal to make crispy rice
• Want more protein? Substitute the puffed rice cereal for parmesan crisps (great source of protein and calcium!)
• Chop some unsalted cashews and sprinkle on top for more healthy fats
• Substitute brown rice or white rice instead of the wild rice
• Add more raw vegetables such as red onion, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, or broccoli

Other Easy Recipes You’ll Love

Fall Kale Salad With Butternut Squash, Apples, and Pepitas

Easy + Healthy Taco Salad Recipe

High Protein Mexican Tuna Salad

Dense Bean Salad with Honey Dijon Vinaigrette

If you make this Sweetgreen Crispy Rice Bowl recipe, please consider leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ star rating and review at the end of this blog post. This is incredibly helpful to me, my small business, and to other readers!