Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Skillet Dinner
Busy days should not hold us back from healthy eating, right? Today’s recipe, Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Skillet Dinner is a perfect example of how you can eat healthily, feed the family, and still show up for your daughter’s recital. Who says you can’t have it all?
We love easy, vegan, healthy recipes here at Namely Marly. If you are too, check out my One-Pot Chickpea Curry or my Vegan Taquitos.
Thanks to Uncle Ben’s® for sponsoring today’s post. Their Flavored Grains Long Grain & Wild Fast Cook delivers on the savory flavors. All thoughts /opinions/recipes are my own.
How to Eat Fast, Healthy, and Tasty
Have you heard this old saying: You can have something done fast, good, or cheap, but you can’t have all three?
I think we have the same assumptions about food. At least I have. Because I have often thought: I can have a meal that is healthy, tasty, fast, or cheap, but I can’t have all four. Do you follow me?
Eating healthy has a reputation for taking a long time, costing more money than you’re used to spending, or (let’s be honest here) not tasting very good.
But today’s Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Skillet Dinner recipe breaks the rules!
The Best Skillet Dinner Recipe
Sometimes I hate that moment right before I start fixing dinner. You know the moment. Right? The exact second where you realize: I have to fix dinner and I have no idea what to fix.
You try polling the family and that’s no help whatsoever! And there are those days when you just don’t want to spend an hour in the kitchen (plus then some), fixing the meal, serving the meal, cleaning up after the meal. You get my point.
So, why is this Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Skillet Dinner recipe the answer you’ve been looking for? Because it’s:
- Quick! This Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Skillet Dinner is ready in around 20 minutes!
- One Skillet. That makes cleanup so much easier!
- Healthy. In addition to the healthy wild rice, there are also sweet potatoes and beans. That means we can keep those New Year’s goals on track!
- Accessible. We bought Uncle Ben’s Flavored Grain & Wild Fast Cook at Target.
- Inexpensive. It helps when you’re starting with a small list of ingredients, to begin with, but all in all, this recipe costs less than $10!
This Recipe Needs You
I always feel passionate about my recipes, but I also know this one is missing an important ingredient, you! To make each recipe special for you and your family, you can add a little touch of your own. If you need some help getting started, here are some ways I’d love to play around with this recipe:
- Try chickpeas instead of the Great Northern Beans
- Add some freshly chopped basil before serving
- Do you have any croutons around? Crumble those over the top before serving
- Add about one cup of frozen corn as it’s cooking
- Or, how about adding one cup of frozen peas as it’s cooking? The color contrast between the sweet potatoes and the peas would be gorgeous!
I could go on all day, but hopefully, that’s enough to get you started. We serve this Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Skillet Dinner with a side salad or some steamed broccoli. And if you’d like to make it extra special, add a pitcher of this Hibiscus Green Tea Fruit Punch to the table. That’s another easy recipe that can add a special touch to a weeknight, on-the-go meal.
We love the savory flavors of this Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Skillet Dinner, but it’s also rich in other things, like phytonutrients. Let’s look at the highlights of the nutrition of this recipe.
- Wild rice is a natural source of fiber and we all know how important that is to our microbiome. In addition, wild rice offers other nutrition, such as protein.
- Sweet Potatoes are loaded with Vitamin A. In addition, you’ll receive fiber, protein, a whole host of other vitamins and minerals, and the all-important beta carotene.
- Great Northern Beans are known for their fiber and protein, but I will also add you’ll get a nice addition of iron and potassium as well.
See? I told you this recipe was healthy.
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Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Skillet Dinner
Ingredients
- 6.2 oz box Uncle Ben’s® Long Grain & Wild Rice Fast cook Flavored Grains
- 1 ½ cups Water
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 medium Sweet potato , washed and cut into cubes
- 15 oz Can Northern beans , drained
- 1 cup Vegan mozzarella shreds
Instructions
- Combine the Uncle Ben's rice, water, and olive oil in a skillet. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer.
- While the rice is cooking, place the cubed sweet potatoes in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook for 4 minutes. The sweet potatoes should be tender.
- Add the cooked sweet potato cubes to the simmering rice, along with the beans. Sprinkle the top with the vegan mozzarella shreds. Cover and simmer for 5 – 7 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit covered until the cheese melts.
(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Enjoy!
Thanks to Uncle Ben’s® for sponsoring today’s post. As with everything I do, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Looking to make this for Thanksgiving. Can I make it 2 days ahead of time and warm it on Thursday? Thanks!
Hi William. Great idea! Yes, I would definitely make this ahead of time, then store it in a lidded container in the fridge and reheat prior to dinner on Thursday! Have a great Thanksgiving week!
With the change to Fall I was looking for a recipe that included sweet potatoes. I never thought to add the beans for extra protein. Our family is not vegetarian, but we try to have a few vegetarian dinners a week and this meal seems perfect!
Hi Kayla. Thanks for your comment! So glad you like the inclusion of beans with this recipe. It’s SO good!
I don’t usually comment on recipes but since this doesn’t have any other comments I wanted to at least vouch for it because I was amazed at how tasty it was when it’s so simple.
I used brown rice, seasoned from scratch according to the Uncle Ben’s seasoning list, and the suggested substitution of chickpeas. Oh, and I’m not vegan so I used actual mozzarella. What a combo!
Hi Jay! I’m so glad you liked this. You know what? I felt the same way when I made this? It’s too easy to taste so good! Your substitutions sound perfect!