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My sister and I just finished eating this most scrumptious salad, we are in food heaven. It tastes even better than it looks! On top of that, it is healthy. No guilt for indulging!! Thanks Lindsay, your great photos enticed us to try this wonderful salad. I will most definitely be making it again and again and again.
Prepare to have your mouth hugged by this creamy, tangy, spicy jalapeño ranch.
In addition to guiding the wonder that is homemade jalapeño ranch straight into your arms today, I am also telling you how much you will enjoy pouring jalapeño ranch (❤) over a garden treasure trove of vegetables arranged in a little Rainbow Veggie Bowl. Names are almost not even worth discussing since Rainbow Veggie Bowls is absolutely the cutest name for a bowl of vegetables ever, but just in case the Rainbow Veggie Bowls brings to mind things like unicorns and My Little Ponies and you’re one of those, like, sensible people who doesn’t like to think about rainbow things, alternative names for this nutrient-packed beautiful food bomb could include Earth bowls, Garden Harvest bowls, Vegetarian Happy Lunch bowls, Ranch Lovers’ bowls, Full for Days bowls, Get Yoself a Healthy Glow bowls.
Whatever you do, don’t call it a salad. This is a BOWL. No messing around – we load up the bowl with tons of amazingly healthy-delicious-filling things, and we eat it like it’s a bowl.
Now let’s think of all the vibrant foods in the world that we could dunk and drizzle and soak in creamy, tangy, spicy jalapeño ranch. Ready, set, go.
I really wish those tomatoes came from my garden but I am a failure of a young adult and, even worse, FOOD BLOGGER, who STILL does not have a garden. I’m sorry, world. I accept the fail.
I hate to be one to throw in the towel before even starting slash make excuses forever, but you guys. Some things are just not meant to be, and growing things is just not in my nature. The basil plant that I bought at the farmer’s market earlier this summer? Within one day of bringing it home – wait though I’m not. even. exaggerating – within ONE DAY, the leaves were turning black. Before being in the care of my murderous plant self just a short 24 hours earlier, it was green and vibrant and strong, but apparently all it takes is a few hours in my TLC to bring out that dark-dying-plant-black color. And yes I would love to water your plants for you while you’re gone.
Our sweet little potted plant of basil eventually found its final resting place after a good four weeks of life. I’m not annoyed at all about this since I bought the biggest possible pot at the farmer’s market expecting it to last for, well, basically forever, like basil plants should. “They’re so easy to grow!” says everyone except me and my dead basil plant.
The basil plant’s final destination became evident when we went to the cabin for two weeks and I might have, ahem, forgotten about it and left it sitting out in the sunny yard. In the middle of July. Woops. But the weird thing is that somewhere in my mind, once I remembered its lonely basil self sitting outside our house with no one to take care of it, I honestly thought it might still survive. Cause, like, rain and stuff, right?
So I didn’t bother to call the neighbors for Basil Backup because I assumed that two weeks soaking up nature completely free from my black thumb might actually do that little guy some good. When we actually did come back, I couldn’t find the plant – it was sitting right in front of me in the yard but it was so pathetically dead that it was literally beyond recognition. RIP basil.
Okay, enough about my lack of growing skills and onto the four easy steps it takes to assemble these Rainbow Veggie Bowl Babies:
So there you have it! A Rainbow Veggie Bowl smothered in Homemade Jalapeño Ranch.
FYI I debated putting ranch dressing on this salad for about two seconds because ranch has that sort of trashy reputation to it, like how I dip French fries in ranch and it’s the best thing my mouth has ever tasted and did I actually just type that outloud? Trashy or not, I had to do it for this bowl.
A fresh, bright, crunchy garden veggie salad with classic ranch is just a thing of beauty, right? Imagine it: chewy farro, earthy lentils, tangy tomatoes, cool, crisp cucumbers, sweet roasted corn piled high, sprinkled with crushed almonds or sunflower seeds, jazzed with a half of an buttery-smooth avocado because FOR THE LOVE, all covered in a blanket of straight up cool, creamy, herb-loaded, and in this case, fiery-mouth-spicy ranch dressing. The crunch factor here is off the charts. When cucumbers, snap peas, tomatoes, and corn are in the bowl, these strong veggie champs can hold their own even with a whole big splash of dressing poured over the top. None of this weaky-wilty greens business – in this salad, I MEAN BOWL, I like my veggies strong.
And the Joy of All Joys for these bowls is that you can use whatever grains, whatever beans, whatever veggies, whatever nuts and seeds, and whatever dressing you want. It’s vegetarian lunch bowl customization 101. It’s Subway and Chipotle meets whatever you have in your fridge.
Or garden.
I’m not jealous at all though seriously.
Rainbow Veggie Bowls with Jalapeño Ranch
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 6 large veggie bowls with dressing 1x
Description
Rainbow Veggie Bowls with Jalapeño Ranch – layers of veggies, nuts, grains, beans, and homemade dressing. So good! A new favorite.
Ingredients
For the Jalapeño Ranch:
- 1 1/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup 2% milk
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dill (see notes)
- 1 handful fresh parsley leaves (about 1/4 cup)
- 1 handful chives (about 1/4 cup)
- 1 jalapeño pepper (see notes)
For the Veggie Bowls:
- 1 cup uncooked farro
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup uncooked sprouted lentils (see notes)
- 1/2 tablespoon butter or oil
- 1 1/2 cups corn kernels cut off the cob
- 1 1/2 cups sliced cherry tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups sliced cucumbers
- 1 1/2 cups snap peas
- 1–2 avocados
- fresh herbs (I used basil)
- nuts or seeds (I used crushed almonds)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pulse all the ingredients for the dressing in a food processor until it reaches your desired consistency.
- Rinse the farro and bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a medium pot. Add the farro and cook for 30 minutes (or according to your package directions). Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, cook the lentils according to package directions.
- In a small skillet, heat the butter or oil and saute any veggies that need to be cooked (in this case, I did just the corn). Season with salt and pepper.
- Build your rainbow veggie bowls: half farro, half lentils on the bottom; arrange veggies in “stripes” on top; add a few avocado slices; sprinkle with herbs, nuts, seeds; drizzle with dressing. These are great to assemble in advance for lunches because none of the veggies get too soggy like a traditional salad. Keep the dressing separate until you’re ready to serve.
Notes
For the jalapeño pepper, I took out about half of the ribs and seeds to control the heat a little bit. If you like spicy, just toss the whole thing in there.
I used a freeze dried dill made by Litehouse that I found in the produce section, so the 1 teaspoon listed in the recipe is for that freeze dried variety specifically. Keep in mind that dried and fresh herbs have different potency – dried dill is three times stronger than fresh dill, and I’m thinking freeze dried is somewhere in the middle, so if you’re using dill from the spice aisle, use a little less than what’s listed here.
I normally don’t use sprouted lentils but I found some at the store that cooked up in 5 minutes! Score.
Serve this hot or cold!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: veggie bowls, jalapeno ranch, healthy bowl recipe
Perfection! So fresh. Thank you.
Made the Bliss Bowls with Sweet Potato Falafel last week and my husband loved the jalapeno ranch so much that he requested this recipe for lunches this week. The crunch factor is major and all the fresh veggies go so well with the dressing. Avocado to top it all off and I’ve been in lunch heaven all week!
So glad to hear that, Lauren!
This looks amazing. I love the recipe layout as well! Nicely done.
Colorful veggies are the best. I try to get as much color on my plate as possible!
Awesome, Vicky!
Hi there, thanks for the recipe. How long would you say the dressing would last in the fridge?
Hi, Kim! I would guess it would stay good at least two weeks. You’ll probably just have to stir or shake it after it’s been sitting for a few days. 🙂
Made this tonight. Excellent summer dinner! Loved it. Will have the leftovers for lunch the next several days.
Had for dinner tonight and it was a hit with the husband… Ranch was perfect and the dish as a whole was awesome… will make again and again with different combinations with the constant being the ranch dressing..
Made a mistake and grabbed the wheatberries instead of the Farro… Good thing I had time to cook….
So glad to hear that, Delores! And I bet it was still good with wheatberries! 🙂
Se podría traducir al español, si no no me interesa. Gracias
Hello, I just answered your survey..I feel like I should of said this is our family’s favorite recipe ever! that and coconut oil granola! i have done them again and again and again. Of course…I also said that i didn’t leave comments…so there ya go…switch that answer for me! 🙂 Thanks for all the great recipes.
How long does the jalapeño ranch last when stored in the fridge?
Although it seldom lasts that long, I’ve had it in the refrig for 5-6 days. I put it on everything veggie and it’s particularly good on Trader Jo’s fresh veggie medley which is raw chopped (mostly root) veggies. Yum.
YUM!!! I made this for dinner this week — love this recipe, especially the dressing! My grocery store didn’t have some of the required ingredients, but love that you can easily substitute in other items. I used quinoa and black beans for my grains and beans. Added a hard boiled-egg and red peppers. I enjoyed it with warm quinoa, beans, and corn, but cold leftovers taste great, too! Shared this with my mom and sister. So delish.
Hard boiled egg! Great idea!
“Did I just type that out loud?” lol. This is some beautiful, simple food presented in a way that I will remember! Thank you.
I’m currently heating up my fat kid lasagna but now this is what I’m craving. Who knew??
P.S. I’m not a big fan of farro, I think its something texture wise. This bowl might be good enough for it not to matter, but any suggestion on what to swap out?
Yeah, I’d go for something like quinoa or brown rice!
Great Superfoods meal!! I’d replace white vinegar with apple cider vinegar and butter with coconut oil for 100% superfoods meal!! Great pictures!!
Your gardening story made me laugh! I finally have balcony space to grow an herb garden, but I’m scared, lol!
This salad looks wonderful! I’m a fan of anything with avocado on it, and I love all the crunchy veggies. Looks like a perfect lunch to me!
Still my biggest problem as a new vegan is salad dressing. It all looks wonderful until you get to the dressing and then I’m unhappy. 🙁
Make an herb vinaigrette! Oil, vinegar, honey, herbs, garlic…
Oh,I am so sick of vinaigrette. So sick of them that I don’t even look fondly on salads anymore. 🙁
Yummers!
This is definitely going on an upcoming meal plan. An absolutely fantastic meal! And so healthy!
Thanks Francesca! Hope you like it!
I’m always killing basil too :/ I think it’s because its eternally raining here, or damp, and the little fella needs heat, or at least, dry. Bowls like this are so comforting – and those colors!
My sister and I just finished eating this most scrumptious salad, we are in food heaven. It tastes even better than it looks! On top of that, it is healthy. No guilt for indulging!! Thanks Lindsay, your great photos enticed us to try this wonderful salad. I will most definitely be making it again and again and again.
So glad to hear that Jan! 🙂
I made this dressing and it is delicious, but mine is thinner than yours looks in your pictures. I was just wondering if your dressing had a thinner consistency as well?
No, mine was pretty thick. It might depend on what kind of yogurt you were using?
Best pictures ever… especially the dark one with the strainer of tomatoes… wow. (You know how I detest tomatoes, so that’s really saying something!) The 1-4 steps are so fun! You keep upping your own game, lady.
Thanks Jammy! Gotta keep things interesting round this old house. 😉
I just love love LOVE this recipe! Simple and pretty but also healthy and filling. Thanks for the idea!
I just made this and it was SO GOOD. I used couscous for my grains and a bag of mixed nuts. I’ll be making this a lot. Also added a little feta cheese on top.
FETA. Great idea.
Looks delicious! Just curious how you get your nutritional info? I don’t see how that could possibly have only 314 calories– at least not the way it is pictured… the avocado alone would have at least 150 calories and then with the dressing, corn, farro, nuts, oil, and lentils it seems like it would be a much higher calorie count.
Hi Catherine, I use a nutrition label generator that we have on Food Blogger Pro which draws from the same database used by large companies like Whole Foods. While I did picture this with a half of an avocado, the recipe is written to include less than that (more like 100 calories). Same with the farro and lentils – if you break it down to the actual amount that will end up on each serving it will be about 150 calories. Also, the dressing is pretty light with the nonfat yogurt as the base. If you want to cross check anything, I’ve also used Calorie Count and that seems to be pretty accurate!