This is one of my favorite quick, savory breakfasts and I’ve made about a hundred versions of it. It’s going to seem gross or weird to a lot of you, but I LOVE it. Plus, I got so many questions about it when I used a picture of a similar version for this soft boiled egg post, that I knew at least some people would be interested. :)
The basic formula is rice, greens, a soft boiled egg, and a splash of hot sauce. You can use different types of rice, different seasonings, different types of sautéed greens, and even different kinds of fat. My favorite combination is jasmine rice (white or brown), virgin coconut oil, jerk seasoning, and spinach. The coconut oil is absolutely magical in this breakfast bowl, but for the SNAP challenge, I used butter to save a few pennies. I love this Mccormick jerk seasoning, but can’t find it at my usual grocery store, so I made the seasoned rice instead, to hopefully make up for it. So, here is the SNAP version of my favorite savory breakfast, packed with fiber, greens, and a deliciously creamy soft boiled egg. (directions for making a soft boiled egg here)
Spinach Rice Breakfast Bowls
Servings 1 bowlIngredients
- 1/2 cup cooked seasoned rice ($0.11)
- 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach ($0.16)
- 1/2 Tbsp butter ($0.08)
- 1 large egg ($0.21)
- pinch of salt and pepper ($0.03)
- splash of hot sauce ($0.05)
Instructions
- Place one inch of water in a small sauce pan. Bring it up to a boil over high heat with the lid on top. Once it reaches a full boil, add the egg in the pot, replace the lid, and let boil/steam in the shallow water for exactly six minutes. After six minutes, pour out the hot water, rinse with cool water, then peel immediately.
- While the egg is cooking, add 1/2 cup of precooked seasoned rice to a bowl along with 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach. Microwave on high until heated through (about two minutes, stirring once half way through). Season the spinach and rice with butter and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Once the egg is cooked and peeled, add it to the bowl with the spinach rice, drizzle hot sauce over top, and eat.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
See my full tutorial and video on how to soft boil an egg here.
How to Make Spinach Rice Breakfast Bowls – Step by Step Photos
Begin by bringing one inch of water to a full boil in a small pot. Once it begins to boil, add the egg, cover the pot, and let it boil/steam for exactly six minutes. After six minutes, pour out the hot water, and rinse with cool water. Peel the egg immediately.
While the egg is cooking, add 1/2 cup of precooked seasoned rice to a bowl along with 1/2 cup of frozen, chopped spinach. Microwave on high for about two minutes (stirring once half way through), or until the rice and spinach are hot.
Once the rice and spinach are fully heated, season with 1/2 Tbsp butter (or virgin coconut oil) and a pinch of salt and pepper. You can experiment with adding extra herbs here. Sometimes I add a little thyme and red pepper flakes.
Finally, add the cooked and peeled soft-boiled egg and drizzle with hot sauce (I use sriracha! Woo!). And that’s one of my all time favorite breakfasts! (yes, I’m a little unusual)
Thank you for this recipe. I came upon your site when I was looking for a savory breakfast that would use up some leftover rice. As I struggle to eat healthy, I like that this helps get a serving of vegetables in at breakfast.
I make this dish regularly now. Sometimes adding a little ground sausage or bacon, if I happen to have them. Today I made it with black forbidden rice which gave it an even richer flavor.
Looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
Delicious, filling, and so so easy! I made this for the first time this morning, adding a cup of broccoli as well, and this is definitely going to become one of my go-to breakfasts.
I made this with barley, your creamed spinach recipe I had around, and chipolata Tabasco… SO yummy and filling!
Would this work with frozen broccoli?
Yes, I actually do this quite often with broccoli. :)
I feel like this would have worked a lot better had I used a microwave. Since I don’t have one, I opted to boil the rice on the stove and then steam the veggies in the rice after it was done cooking.
Also, I just could NOT get these eggs to peel! I don’t care as much about it when I have hard boiled eggs since they usually get chopped anyway, but when there’s a delicate yolk, it becomes an issue. Do you have any tips for easy peeling?
Surprisingly, I really haven’t had problems peeling them, so I haven’t had to test any egg peeling tricks. :/
I saw on Buzzfeed that sprinkling some baking soda into the pot helps with peeling eggs, but that was in reference to hard boiled. It may work with soft as well, I don’t know from experience. Just thought I’d put that out there in case it works. Also, if/when I try it out myself, I will share my findings.
I used to have a lot of issues peeling eggs but have found if you run them under running cold water (not put into the pot but hold them in your hand and run them under the coldest water under the stream from the tap) it makes it a lot easier. Also do this immediately after removing them from the heat
It’s kind of like a poor man’s Bibimbap! Love it! Your soft boiled egg method is the best too!
This is so easy and amazing! I love mixing in leftover veggie/chick pea curry or taco seasoned shredded chicken. Some kind of runny yolk egg is necessary for extra deliciousness (and my body loves the protein.)
Wow. This one made me raise an eyebrow initially, but I wound up with some leftover rice and thought “what the heck”. It’s actually delicious! My brain keeps insisting that it shouldn’t but my mouth doesn’t care.
Beth, I will never doubt again.
Yum! I love overeasy eggs over fried rice so I cooked the egg overeasy and used a combination of brown rice and white rice mixed together. This was very tasty and filling. The sriracha adds a nice kick.
This is great. Trying it for a healthy lunch alternative to my regular sandwich, and loving it. I don’t have hot sauce, so I tried it with barbecue sauce. No regrets. Works wonderfully! I also cooked the rice in part water, part vegetable broth to add some extra flavour. I’ll be having this regularly. :)
Awesome and Weight Watchers friendly! There is so much that I want to say about this dish I just really love it. I pretty much always have rice cooked and in my fridge because I keep needing it for this and other recipes on this site. Softboiled eggs are my new best friends! Beth is right, they are just all kinds of yummy. And to top it all off this and many other recipes on this site are Weight Watchers friendly because they are so darn healthy! Beth, I can’t thank you enough for what you share here. It has been hard to find recipes that are healthy and budget friendly, so often if they are healthy they use a lot of expensive, perishable ingredients, if they are budget friendly they are often loaded with fat, sugar and salt! You are awesome!!!
I just made this and this came out great!!! I used fresh spinach however and I added some baby onions and cilantro!! It was so cheap and simple and I will be making it in the future. I didn’t use hot sauce instead I added homemade salsa verde I already had in my fridge! But thank you Beth!! As a student you’re website really helps out :).
I *finally* made this for brunch this morning after meaning to for ages, and I wish I’d done it before, because this is going to change my poor college breakfast from now on. :D I added a little fresh sage, basil and sweet marjoram (from pots on my windowsill), and it was absolutely delicious. Even if it hadn’t been, the smell of the seasoned rice cooking would’ve made it worth it. :)
This is so delicious! I made it for dinner because I happened to have everything the recipe called for and it came out amazing! Rich and filling. Truthfully, I have never made a soft boiled egg before, I have always been cautious off it because uncooked egg whites are gross… I was surprised the egg came out so picture perfect and tasty being boiled in only a half inch of water, but IT DID! Put that over the rice and spinach, heaven. Thank you for all of your amazing recipes, I plan on regularly making this one.
I just made this for lunch after the gym. SO. GOOD. I’ve been making the seasoned rice often enough to always have some extra in the freezer, which makes this meal super easy to whip together!
Just tried this recipe for the first time and it was delicious! I had it for dinner instead of breakfast, but who cares? I’ve certainly had pancakes for dinner before. I added a second egg to be a little more substantial, but it was wonderful. This is definitely going to be a regular in my cooking repertoire. Thanks so much for sharing it!!