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

You’ll be rewarded with dinner and a newfound habit of topping every soup, salad, and grain bowl in sight with crispy cheese. —The Bon Appétit Staff, Bon Appetit Magazine, 6 Feb. 2026

Unless you grill romaine (a trendy way to enjoy Caesar salad these days), this lettuce is most often enjoyed in salads or on sandwiches, grain bowls, and tacos. —Christina Manian, Health, 6 Feb. 2026

The menu features thoughtful dishes like yellowfin tuna melts, steak and eggs, grain bowls, and seasonal smoothies. —Susan Stapleton, Des Moines Register, 1 Feb. 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

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