If you enjoy the flavors of the Mediterranean, then you will absolutely love this easy-to-make rice bake! It’s filled with beautiful colors, flavors, and briny goodness, that’s all plant-based.

I tested this recipe the first time a couple of weeks ago, and made it with things I already had on hand, or waiting for me in my pantry! Even though I’m a pickle hater (specifically cucumber pickles), I LOVE other briny foods like olives, artichoke hearts, pickled onions, capers, etc. So, here I’ve used many of those ingredients and combined them with some shelf-stable items for a convenient dinner great for weeknights or meal prepping.

Although most of the ingredients can be found on a shelf, I did include some fresh lemon (’tis citrus season after all!) and some chard from my garden. It’s been a while since I’ve even been able to include garden pics in blog posts, after moving to Las Vegas (can you believe it’s been 4 years?), but I’ve finally got a thriving garden. Though, in the photos you can see that it’s definitely winter time since some of the beds are sparse. If you’ve missed garden updates, I have a whole highlight on my instagram.

Also, I miss sharing personal photos on here with y’all! When I go back to older posts, I love that they document occasions, family, pets that have passed on, and all of that good stuff. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to add some pictures of our cat Misu being a dingbat. If you’re like, “where the hell did Misu come from?” I have a video on “how to steal a cat” that vaguely describes what happened. 😉

ANYWAY, after making this dump-and-bake style casserole again for measurements and photos, I was reminded of just how GOOD it is. It’s basically like if you turned antipasto salad into a rice bake? Sans animal products, of course. And it’s pretty flexible too, though the most important thing is making sure whatever grain you’re using is cooked thoroughly.

Substitutions & Tips:

• Short grain brown rice – you can also use another grain that has a similar cooking time to brown rice (when cooked on the stove, for example). So, wild rice would need more time to bake, but long grain white rice could work, etc.
• Canned white beans – if you have cooked beans from scratch, you will need 1 1/2 cups. You can also use chickpeas instead of white beans, if you prefer (but I like the creaminess of white beans).
• Canned diced tomatoes – again, you can use roughly 1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes, with all of their liquid, if you have tomatoes you want to use up! If the tomatoes aren’t the juiciest, add 1/4 cup of water with them to help cook the rice.
• Olives – I used half green castelvetrano olives & half kalamata olives here, but you can use your favorite olives.
• Vegan chicken broth – vegetable broth works fine here if you don’t have vegan chicken bouillon in stores near you. ALSO, as mentioned in the ingredients and directions, make sure that your broth is hot, because it shortens your cooking time.
• Swiss chard – I used this because I have plenty in my garden and it has a subtly savory flavor, but spinach, arugula, kale, or even collards, could all work here. If you need another chard recipe try out my Swiss Chard Almond Sauce!
• Red onion – shallots, yellow, or white onion will also work, though red onions have a slightly sweeter/spicy flavor.
• Lemon – make sure to zest the lemon BEFORE you cut it and juice it. It will be much easier.
• Low-waste tip – instead of covering the casserole dish with foil like I’ve done in the past, this time I covered it with a baking sheet to keep the moisture in!

If you love easy-to-make casseroles, check out these other recipes!

• Chipotle Brown Rice Bake
• No-Boil Broccoli Pasta Bake
• Autumn Squash Wild Rice Bake