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 is the real deal. It’s budget-friendly, healthy, and will have your taste buds doing a happy dance. 

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

If you like to meal prep in advance, this crispy rice bowl recipe is a great option to add to your regular rotation. 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 & How To Make It

There are a few components to this recipe so we’ll break it down by each component and I’ll tell you the shortcuts I took to save some time.

For The Blackened Chicken

• Boneless Chicken Breasts – this is the main protein source for this bowl, which will help you stay satiated 
• Olive Oil – known for its anti-inflammatory properties, this oil is packed with monounsaturated fats that can lower inflammation and help you absorb certain fat-soluble vitamins
• Smoked Paprika
• Thyme
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Black Pepper
• Oregano
• Cayenne Pepper
• Salt – I used sea salt, but traditional iodized salt also works well

Directions To Make The Blackened Chicken:

1. Mix the dry spices together in a small 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. (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

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 have about 4g of added sugar per tablespoon
• Maple Syrup
• Minced Garlic
• Sesame Oil
• Lime Juice 
• Water
• Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• Powdered Ginger
• Salt

Directions To Make The Spicy Cashew Dressing:

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

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
• 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
• Roasted Almonds – I skipped the roasting part and simply used slivered almonds, and they worked out great
• Puffed Rice Cereal – plain old Rice Krispies work well here!
• Warm Wild Rice – this is different from the original 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

Directions To Make 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
3. Last, add the cooked chicken and the spicy cashew dressing. Enjoy!

Variations & Substitutions

• Substitute the chicken for shrimp or tofu 
• Use spinach, kale, or another leafy green instead of arugula
• 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
• More flavor? Add a drizzle of soy sauce 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!)
• Add more raw vegetables such as red onion, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, or broccoli

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