Zucchini, tomatoes, and kale combine with rice in this easy dump & bake veggie rice casserole. This vegetarian bake is great for weeknight dinners and requires just 15 minutes of active time!
I have so many dump & bake vegetarian casseroles on the blog at this point, but I'm still coming up with new ideas because I love them as much as you all seem to! This Rice Veggie Bake is the perfect combination of seasoned rice, fresh vegetables, and fresh flavor.
It features zucchini, grape tomatoes, and kale as the main vegetables, but feel free to make this casserole your own by using different vegetables.
The main flavors here come from fresh ginger and garlic alongside spicy Calabrian chilis (optional but recommended) and salty feta. This is like a lower prep version of my tofu rice bake.
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Ingredient notes
- White rice: Medium or long grain white rice work best. I have not tested this with white rice.
- Grape tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes also work. I recommend slicing the tomatoes in half because hot cherry tomatoes bursting in your mouth can be unpleasant!
- Kale: I use about ⅓ of a bunch of curly kale, or 4 cups. Chop it into small, bite-sized pieces or buy pre-chopped kale.
- Zucchini: Just one medium zucchini is all you need. Yellow squash also works.
- White beans: I use great northern beans but cannellini, small white beans, or chickpeas also work.
- Ginger and garlic: Don't skip the fresh ginger as its flavor is the backbone of this dish. I like to grate ginger and garlic on a microplane. This turns it into a paste and distributes it throughout the casserole better than if it were just minced.
- Vegetable broth: I use Better than Bouillon dissolved into water, but any variety works.
- Calabrian chilis: This is optional but recommended. These are spicy chilis and the oil is great drizzled on the finished veggie rice bake. A little (1 tablespoon chopped) goes a long way. This is the brand of Calabrian chilis that I use. Use leftovers in this red pepper orzo.
Step-by-step photos
- Add all ingredients, except for the kale and feta, to the 9x13-inch baking dish. Stir to combine. Top with the kale, then drizzle with a small amount of oil.
- Cover tightly with a lid and bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes, or until the rice is completely cooked. The kale should be wilted.
- Stir the rice casserole. Top with feta, then return to the oven to bake for another 5-10 minutes, uncovered. The veggie bake is ready when the feta is melted.
Variations and swaps
- An equal amount of quinoa can be used in place of white rice.
- Brown rice does not work as a direct swap because it requires additional liquid and bake time, which both can affect the texture of the veggies. I recommend trying a dump & bake designed for brown rice, like this vegetarian taco casserole.
- Other veggies: Yellow squash, bell pepper, mushrooms, peas, and broccoli florets are all great additions or swaps.
- Frozen veggies: I recommend cooking frozen vegetables before adding them to the bake because adding frozen vegetables increases cook time, and they turn mushy much more quickly than fresh vegetables. Add them at the same time as the feta.
- If using spinach in place of kale, I recommend stirring it into the rice bake when you add the feta because it cooks much more quickly than kale.
- Dairy-free option: I also tested this recipe with Follow Your Heart vegan feta. I prefer the flavor of the feta cold to melted, but it does melt well and it's still a great swap if you're dairy-free.
Top tips
- If your baking dish doesn't have a lid, simply cover the dish tightly with foil. An upside-down sheet pan also works, but isn't as foolproof because if it's not airtight it can release some steam.
- Make sure to place the kale on top of the rice instead of stirring it into the bake. When I first tested this casserole, I stirred the kale into the other ingredients and it made it so that some of the rice didn't cook because the kale takes up so much space.
- Rinse the rice well under cool, running water. This keeps it from becoming gummy or sticky during the baking process.
- The rice should be completely baked before removing the lid. If the rice is still hard or not completely tender, add 5 minutes covered bake time and repeat as needed.
Storage and prep tips
This rice bake can easily be prepped in advance. Just add all of the ingredients, except for the broth, rice, and kale to a baking dish. Cover and refrigerate for up to 48 hours. When you're ready to cook the casserole, simply rinse the rice and add it to the dish with the vegetable broth.
Leftover veggie rice casserole is best within 3-4 days.
To reheat in the oven, cover tightly with a lid or foil and bake at 325F for 25-30 minutes.
More dump & bake casseroles
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Recipe
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Veggie Rice Bake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups long grain white rice rinsed well
- 15 ounce can great northern beans drained and rinsed
- 1 medium zucchini sliced into quarters
- 3 cloves garlic grated (or minced)
- 1 inch ginger grated (or minced)
- 1 pint grape tomatoes sliced in half
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped Calabrian chilis see note #1
- 1 medium shallot diced
- 2 ¼ cup vegetable broth
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 cups shredded kale
- cooking oil to taste
- 1 cup crumbled feta
- 1 medium lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- To a 9x13-inch baking dish, add the rice, beans, zucchini, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, chilis, shallot, vegetable broth, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Top the rice with the kale. Drizzle with a little bit of oil. Don't stir the kale into the rice, just spread it on top.
- Cover tightly with a lid, foil, or an upside down baking sheet. Bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through.
- Stir everything together. Top with the feta. Return to the oven and cooked uncovered for 5 minutes, or until the feta is melted.
- Remove from the oven and garnish with zest from the lemon. Serve each portion with a lemon wedge. Enjoy!
Notes
- Calabrian chilis: This is optional but recommended. These are spicy chilis and the oil is great drizzled on the finished veggie rice bake. A little (1 tablespoon chopped) goes a long way. This is the brand of Calabrian chilis that I use.
- Rice: Medium grain also works. Brown rice does not work as a direct swap in this recipe because it requires additional liquid and cook time.
- Other veggies: Yellow squash, bell pepper, mushrooms, peas, and broccoli florets are all great additions or swaps.
- If using spinach in place of kale, I recommend stirring it into the rice bake when you add the feta because it cooks much more quickly than kale.
- Best within 3-4 days. Reheat in the microwave or cover tightly and reheat at 325F for 25-30 minutes in the oven.
- Want to speed up the cooking time? Simmer all liquids on the stove before adding them to the casserole dish. Check the rice at 20 minutes, adding additional time as needed.
Tamara Benefiel says
I’m genuinely impressed! I’ve never found a dump-and-bake recipe with such great flavor that also uses real, unprocessed ingredients. I followed the recipe exactly as written — even tracked down the proper chiles — and they added fantastic depth. I used just 1 tablespoon, and the heat was perfect.
This is the first recipe I’ve tried from this blog, and now that I see the quality, I’m planning to work my way through all the dump-and-bake recipes. If they’re anything like this one, I’m in for a treat! Here’s to simplifying dinner and keeping it healthy!
Cassidy Reeser, MS, RD says
First off, welcome to my blog! I'm so happy to hear that you loved the recipe! As you can probably tell, there's a lot more dump & bake recipes on here. Since you liked these flavors, I'd recommend the Sun-Dried Tomato Orzo Bake or the Balsamic Tofu Rice Bake for something with similar fresh ingredients and flavors. Enjoy!!
Sheri Ferla says
I had to change this a little bit because I went looking for a casserole using potatoes and vegetables. I layered it and used what you said but I added broccoli and cauliflower and I didn't have those chilis. Want to try it with the chilis! It was delicious I put the potatoes, chopped up, in the bottom and cooked them by themselves for about 30 minutes, stirring them halfway and then the kale etc.. Very versatel and it was delicious!!
Cassidy Reeser says
Thanks for the review! The potatoes sound like a great addition.
Ace says
I'm cooking this now and it is taking forever to cook the rice. I realized what the problem is after I started. I've made your no-bake quinoa recipes (which are quite good), and they have you preheat the broth before putting it in. This step is not mentioned in this recipe. It might be a good idea to add it here as I have been cooking my rice for 60 minutes and it still is quite hard.
Ace says
This recipe ended up coming out well, but the time to cook the rice was off. I realized from your other no-boil recipes that the recipe doesn't mention to heat the broth before adding it. It might be helpful to add this to the recipe so they fall into the same trap that I did.
Cassidy Reeser, MS, RD says
Hi! I'm curious what type of rice you used? I've noticed others have issues with rice cook time but my long grain white rice is pretty much always done in <45 minutes (including the uncovered cooking time here). Adding the boiling water first will definitely speed up the cooking time, I'm planning to go through and add that to the notes on all of these recipes. Thanks!
Stephanie says
Hi,
Love this recipe but wound up with so much left over. Can you freeze leftovers?
Thank you,
Stephanie
Cassidy Reeser, MS, RD says
Yes, leftovers for this freeze well. I would either freeze in individual portions so that you can quickly reheat in the microwave, or freeze all in one and let it thaw overnight in the fridge.
Jenreed says
This was fantastic! I used spinach instead of kale and I used mozzarella instead of feta. I think the chilies really did the trick. Thanks for this recipe!
Cassidy Reeser says
Thanks so much for the review! I agree that the chilies shouldn't be skipped!
Kennedy says
My partner and I love making these bakes at the beginning of the week so we can have them as they are or as a base to different meals throughly the work week. We ended up doing half rice and half quinoa to boost the protein content. Substituted asparagus for the zucchini since my partner is not the biggest fan of zucchini and it worked great. We didn’t have chilis on hand but had some sun-dried tomatoes and were able to use the oil from that in the dish! Ended up having to bake it for 10 minutes longer than the intended 25-30 minutes the recipe called for to help absorb some remaining liquid and help the quinoa cook more.
Cassidy Reeser, MS, RD says
Those are great substitutes and I love the quinoa-rice blend idea, I'll have to try that out! Thanks for the review!
jacquie says
This looks yummy but it makes too much for 1 person. that is my "issue" with casseroles in the size that they typically are - just too big. do you have any that are smaller size? though i know that is problematic due to the can of bean and if split in half would still have the problem with the remaining beans.
I would appreciate any suggestions.
Cassidy Reeser says
What I would do is cut everything in half and keep the beans the same, which would just make the dish a bit higher protein but not affect the cooking process in any way. I would cook this smaller size in an 8x8-inch dish.
I've also had readers make these 9x13-inch recipes in two 8x8-inch dishes and freeze one for later.
That being said, I'll have to come up with some smaller size recipes!