Indian Rice Bowls

These Indian Rice Bowls are flavorful, delicious, filling, and easy to assemble. Made with steamed rice, juicy and tender tandoori chicken bites, fresh spring mix salad, and a drizzle of a refreshing yogurt sauce, these bowls have it all — grains, protein, and veggies.

Plus, this wholesome and complete meal is relatively quick to prep and takes just 30 minutes of cook time to make. Leftovers store well too, so they’re great for meal prep lunches for a few days after.

Why You'll Love Indian Rice Bowls

• The tandoori chicken marinade. These Indian rice bowls are topped with delicious, juicy, and tender tandoori chicken bites loaded with flavor from a simple marinade including curry powder, paprika, cumin, garlic and ginger. You can also add some cayenne pepper powder for extra heat. Plus, it only takes an hour to marinate!
• The homemade yogurt sauce. These tandoori chicken bowls are topped with a drizzle of homemade yogurt sauce that gets inspiration from Tzatziki Sauce with dill, lemon juice, and garlic. Its a refreshing contrast to the tandoori spices — they go so well together.
• It’s easy to assemble. These Indian chicken bowls are so easy to assemble, and you can coordinate and make sure all the items are ready at the same time. Plus, it’s a great way to use up any leftover rice or salad from the fridge, and also saves you prep time.

Ingredient Notes

To make these delicious Indian Rice Bowls, you will need the following ingredients (full measurements in recipe card below):

• chicken - we used boneless skinless chicken breasts, but you can also use boneless chicken thighs if you prefer.
• tandoori seasoning - made simple with paprika, curry powder (or garam masala), ground cumin, garlic powder, ginger powder, salt, and pepper. You can also make it spicy with a pinch of cayenne powder or red pepper powder.
• plain yogurt - we love using our easy Homemade Yogurt.
• tomato paste - adds flavor and color.
• vegetable oil
• Basmati rice - cooked in water with salt. You can also substitute with any white rice that you’d like.
• spring mix salad - tossed together with salad greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta.
• balsamic salad dressing - a simple dressing made with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
• yogurt sauce - this sauce is perfect for dipping or drizzling. You’ll need plain yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, dill, salt, and pepper. Alternatively, serve these chicken pieces with Tzatziki Sauce.

You will also need measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, medium cooking pot, and an oven or air fryer (if cooking the chicken in the air fryer).

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How to Make the Best Indian Rice Bowls

There are 4 components in these tandoori chicken bowls — chicken, rice, salad, and sauce.

First, let’s make the chicken.

1. Prepare chicken. Cut the chicken breasts into 1-inch thick pieces and set aside in a large mixing bowl or Ziploc bag.
2. Make marinade. Add paprika, curry powder, cumin, garlic powder, ginger powder, salt, and pepper. Rub the seasoning all over the chicken pieces to coat it evenly. Stir in yogurt, tomato paste, and oil. Toss well until evenly coated.
3. Marinate the chicken. Cover the bowl with plastic cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or overnight for the best results).
4. Cook. You can cook the chicken in the air fryer or in the oven.
   • To air fry: Transfer the cubed chicken to the air fryer basket in a single layer in the air fryer basket. Spray with some cooking oil spray. Air fry at 350F for 13-15 minutes until golden brown and fully cooked through. The internal temperature for the chicken should reach 165F as read on a meat thermometer.
   • To bake in the oven: You can also bake the chicken tandoori bites in a preheated oven at 450F for 16- 18 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked through.

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Next, let’s make rice.

Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water until water is clear, then drain well in a large fine-mesh sieve.

Cook rice over the stove, in a rice cooker, or in a pressure cooker.

1. On the stove: In a medium cooking pot, add rice, water and salt. Bring it to boil over medium heat, about 5 minutes. Close the lid and reduce heat to low. Let the rice simmer for 15 minutes until tender and the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and let the cooked rice rest for another 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve warm.
2. In the rice cooker: Add rice and cold water in 1:1.5 ratio in the rice cooker (for 2 cups of rice, you need 3 cups of water). Turn on the power and start cooking in the rice cooker. It typically takes about 15-20 minutes. The rice cooker will automatically switch to 'keep warm' setting. Let the cooked rice rest for another 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.
3. In the instant pot: Add rice and cold water in 1:1 ratio in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker (for 2 cups of rice, you need 2 cups of water). Switch the instant pot to pressure cooking mode on manual High and seal the lid (the steam release knob must be turned to the sealed position). Cook for 3 minutes. Once the time is up, let the instant pot slowly release the pressure for 10 minutes and then quickly release the remaining pressure by turning the steam release valve to the venting position. Fluff with a fork.

Now, it’s the salad’s turn.

• In a medium mixing bowl, combine spring mix salad greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

Lastly, the yogurt sauce.

Make the yogurt sauce by whisking together yogurt, oil, lemon juice, garlic, dill, salt, and pepper in a small mixing bowl until smooth. Refrigerate the sauce until ready to use.

How to Assemble Chicken Rice Bowls

These bowls are so easy to assemble. Divide the rice, salad, and chicken into 4 shallow bowls or pasta bowls. I like to put the rice on half the bowl, some salad on a quarter of the bowl, and top with chicken on the remaining quarter.

Then, add a drizzle of the yogurt sauce on top and serve.

Chicken Rice Bowl Variations

The best part of this recipe is that you can switch up the components.

• Instead of Steamed Rice, try these rice bowls with a Rice Pilaf with Carrots or with Garlic Naan Bread.
• Instead of the spring mix salad, add a Persian Shirazi Salad, Creamy Cucumber Salad, or Garden Salad to these rice bowls.
• Add extra veggies such as Honey Roasted Carrots, Roasted Cauliflower, or Sautéed Garlic Green Beas.

More Indian Chicken Recipes

• Tandoori Chicken Drumsticks
• Tandoori Chicken Skewers
• Indian Butter Chicken
• Sheet Pan Curry Chicken and Vegetables
• One Pot Coconut Curry Chicken and Rice
• Butter Chicken Pizza

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