One Pan Vegan Spinach Rice Recipe (2024)

Quick and Easy Spinach Rice made in one pan with peas, mushrooms and tomatoes. This is the perfect vegan side dish or main course meal.

Don’t you wish that you could own a robot whose sole responsibility was to wash the dishes?

I HATE washing dishes and it shows! Given all the recipe testing I do, I have a sky high pile of dirty dishes in the sink

So, I am starting to love one pan meals again, like this Spinach rice!

Tips for making this one pot rice

• Be sure to rinse the rice before adding to the pan
• If you have time, remove the bottom stems from the baby spinach leaves. I didn’t have time, so, I left them on
• Add frozen baby peas to the pan without thawing them. The cooking process will thaw and cook them at the same time
• After adding all the ingredients, cover and cook the spinach rice on medium heat from 30 minutes
• If you have a small pan (like mine, lol), add water in 2 parts. Add the second part about 20 minutes into the cooking process
• Make sure the Roma tomatoes are firm. Soft tomatoes will make the rice soggy
• Garnish the spinach rice with fresh lemon juice and cilantro. I didn’t do that for this recipe, but, I should have done it
• If you are not a fan of sweet coconut, you can omit it. You can substitute coconut palm sugar or brown sugar instead
• Transfer the cooked spinach rice to meal planning containers and enjoy it all week
• I wanted to make this extra spicy, but, I know that many of you are not fans of spicy food. If you are a fan, add about 3 chopped and de-seeded Thai chili

Recipe inspiration

I was surfing around Washington Post’s website looking at some of their amazing recipes. In the past, I have gotten good co*cktail recipes from their site and I love their style.

One recipe that struck me was their Stir-fried Peas and Spinach recipe. I took one look at their recipe and thought to myself, “How delicious would that be with rice!!!”

So, I borrowed some of their ingredients, put rice, mushrooms and tomatoes along with spices and voila!

This recipe is made for four people and its perfect vegan weeknight dinner recipe. If you have leftover spinach rice, do what I did. I put it into a Mexican quesadilla recipe.

Ingredients to add

• Bell Peppers
• Zucchini
• Butternut Squash Zoodles (make Souvlaki with leftover zoodles)
• Use Orzo instead of rice
• Carrots
• Crumbled Feta Cheese
• Chickpeas (If I had leftover chickpeas after making my Roasted Chickpeas, I would have loved to use it in this spinach rice recipe
• Coconut Milk (To make it creamy)
• Add a peanut seasoning like I did in peanut rice.

Can I make it in Instant Pot or slow cooker

Yes, you can absolutely make this spinach rice in the Instant Pot or in the slow cooker. The idea behind my recipe is that there is very little clean up involved

Since the Instant pot and slow cooker make clean up a breeze, this recipe would be perfect for it

For the slow cooker, I think it would take about 4-5 hours to make and in the instant pot, choose the rice option and add about 5 more minutes of cooking time. The Mushrooms need a little more cook time in the pressure cooker, in my opinion

I have a mushroom wild rice recipe that I made in the pressure cooker. Check it out for tips and tricks to make it in the pressure cooker

Can i freeze it?

No, I don’t recommend freezing this spinach rice once you have cooked it. I find that it looses all its subtle flavors when you re-cook it.

However, refrigerating it is perfect because this rice will be good for about a week. Put it in my favorite (affiliate link) meal prep containers and enjoy it all week.

I also put pita bread and pickled vegetables or pickled tomatoes on the side. Its sooo good!!

Can I use frozen spinach?

I haven’t experimented with frozen spinach in this recipe, but, I would think that it would be ok to use it. What I can say for sure is that you should thaw it and squeeze out ALL the water from it before adding it to the pan.

Also, make sure you wash the spinach after thawing. I have noticed brown dirt when I squeeze frozen spinach. So, I make it a point to wash it thoroughly before adding it to the pan.

If you have a (affiliate link) cheese cloth, place the washed frozen spinach in it and wrap it tightly. Place a heavy object on it to squeeze out all the moisture.

Spinach and mushrooms are a match made in heaven

I am a huge fan of the spinach and mushroom combo! I don’t know why it tastes so good, especially in one pan recipes.

Check out some of my favorite Spinach and Mushroom recipes. Which one is your favorite?

• Vegan Penne Pasta
• Stuffed Persimmons
• Mini Crunchwraps
• Vegetable Enchilada Casserole
• Vegetarian Lasagna