grain bowl

noun

plural grain bowls

: a dish typically consisting of an individual portion of a cooked grain (such as rice, quinoa, or farro) served in a bowl with accompaniments such as vegetables, beans, meat or fish, and sauce

Like many cooks I know, I don't always follow recipes for grain bowls at home. Instead, I tend to use up what I have in the fridge and pantry, mixing and matching, figuring out how to make odds and ends delicious.

—Tejal Rao

Arrange, don't mix. Part of a grain bowl's appeal is the visual distinctiveness of its various parts—toss it all together, and it's no longer eye candy.

—Carrie Dennett

Examples of grain bowl in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Add almonds to salads, grain bowls, or stir-fries. —Merve Ceylan, Health, 28 Jan. 2026

Add chia seeds to salads, grain bowls, or a serving of fruit for a boost of fiber and nutrients, suggests Landry. —Olivia McIntosh, Martha Stewart, 18 Jan. 2026

Eat them as chips for a snack or break them into small pieces and sprinkle them on a salad, grain bowl, or low-fat yogurt with fruit. —Nancy Lebrun, Verywell Health, 17 Jan. 2026

Burlingame is now home to a new location of the fast-casual restaurant chain Sweetgreen, serving up salads and grain bowls for customers looking for vegetable-forward, health-conscious fare. —Kate Bradshaw, Mercury News, 2 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

2000, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for grain bowl

• bankroll
• bedroll
• borehole
• cajole
• catchpole
• charcoal
• condole
• control
• dipole
• downhole
• enroll
• extol