These rainbow chard bowls are a delicious weeknight dinner! With 10 ingredients, they're easy to make, but they pack a punch of flavor.
As a kid, I was obsessed with everything rainbow – my Rainbow Brite doll, a fresh new Crayola 64 pack (with built in sharpener!), and best of all – the rainbow-neon terminal at O’Hare airport. Pure magic. Nowadays, I have a new grownup rainbow obsession: rainbow chard.
Cooking with Rainbow Chard
If you’ve never cooked with rainbow chard before, it has a slightly bitter, earthy taste that I love to pair with sweet, tangy, and nutty accents. Aside from its gorgeous vibrant color, it has a special superpower: it’s kind of two vegetables in one! Not only can you use the chard leaves, but the chard stems are also delicious – they add a lovely crunch to a stir fry, a simple vegetable side dish, or a bowl like this one. Just sauté them for a few minutes before adding the greens to the pan, or pickle them for an extra bright pop.
Rainbow Chard Bowls
These bowls are simple and warm. They put the rainbow chard front and center, so they’re a great way to feature a big bunch of greens from the farmers market. To make them, I cooked some whole wheat orzo and tossed it with a little olive oil, garlic, Dijon, and lemon. (Mustard and chard are a really terrific flavor match). I topped each bowl with a healthy serving of sautéed rainbow chard, a little feta cheese, and some toasted walnuts.
Quick beauty tip: you’ll want to serve these bowls with the ingredients assembled rather than tossed together. (As the colors run together it’s just not the prettiest!).
Rainbow Chard Recipe Variations
These rainbow chard bowls are easy to vary depending on what you have in your pantry. Here are a few ways I like to change them up:
- No orzo on hand? Toss the chard leaves with spaghetti, or assemble the bowls with quinoa or farro.
- Add a handful of golden raisins to each bowl – the pop of sweetness is excellent alongside the earthy Swiss chard!
- Use pine nuts or toasted almonds in place of the walnuts.
- Swap the feta for crumbled soft goat cheese.
- Use a splash of red wine or sherry vinegar instead of the lemon.
Let me know what variations you try!
If you love these rainbow chard bowls…
Try this rice bowl, this poké bowl, this quinoa bowl, or this adzuki bean bowl next!
Rainbow Chard Bowls
- 1 cup uncooked whole wheat orzo
- 1+ tablespoons olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- A few squeezes of lemon
- 1 small bunch of rainbow chard (about 4-5 leaves)
- ⅓ cup feta cheese
- ¼ cup toasted walnuts
- Sea salt and fresh black pepper
- Prep your chard by slicing off the coarse parts of the stems and dicing them. Coarsely chop the greens and set aside.
- Cook orzo in a pot of salted boiling water according to package directions (or about 9 minutes).
- In a medium bowl add 1 tablespoon olive oil, minced garlic, dijon mustard, lemon, salt and pepper. Once your orzo is done cooking, drain it and then add it to this bowl and toss. (the heat of the pasta will gently cook the raw garlic). Taste, adjust seasonings and set aside.
- In a medium skillet, heat a few teaspoons of olive oil, then add the chard stems, salt and pepper. Next, add the chard leaves and toss until just wilted (less than 2 minutes). Finish with a squeeze of lemon and remove from heat.
- Assemble bowls with orzo, chard, feta and toasted walnuts.
Make this vegan by skipping the cheese and topping it with a few capers.
Cutting Board: Calphalon Kitchen Essentials from Target
Knife: Miyabi Birchwood 7″ Santoku
Really, really good! I wasn’t sure about the walnuts, but they really made the dish. Thank you!
This is so good! I’m off wheat right now so I added some roast chickpeas that were roasted with ras-el-hanout ……it was YUMMMY!
Made this last night!
Delicious! Easy! Seriously, could have eaten all of it myself!
Thanks for the Gluten and Dairy Free options!
We used Quinoa and Capers but everything else exact of your Recipe.
This will be our go to every time we buy Rainbow Swiss Chard! (It’s on Sale right now at Whole Foods 3 for $4.50)
I’m so glad you loved it!
This was surprisingly full of delicious flavors. Now for my alterations.
Green chard, Jasmin rice, raisins along with the rest of the recipe. Will definitely make it again.
We received Rainbow Chard in our farm bag last week. Perfect way to get my husband to eat it! I added some cooked chicken to entice him some more. He loved the walnuts and feta. I think I could have even added some more chard. ?
I’m so glad you both loved the chard in this!
Delicious and really tasty.
I’m eating this as we speak and woooow! I love it! I love rainbow chard but get stuck on ideas to use it, I was excited when I found this! It’s a bowl of my favourite things! The Dijon mustard is perfect with the chard! Thanks so much.
oh yay, I’m so glad you’re loving it! Thanks for letting me know!
I made this as part of dinner last night–as a side dish, rather than individual bowls–and LOVED it. I used red quinoa, cashews instead of walnuts, and a larger amount of chard because I happened to have a huge bunch. It was delicious. Even my husband, who isn’t always the biggest fan of vegetables, loved it–and he said his favorite part was the chard (not the cheese or nuts, amazingly). Kudos for a great recipe with an oft-overlooked veggie!
I’m so happy to hear that you both loved it – thanks for commenting!
This was SCRUMPSH!! I just got this colorful chard at the farmers market, but wasn’t sure what to do with it. This recipe came up when I searched, and boy is it a keeper! The stems add a wonderful crunch! Easy and sooooo good, all my faves, nuts, cheese, sautéed greens and pasta. I added a bit of shallot when cooking the greens..my husband (big meat makes the meal guy) also thought it was fantastic. I love lemons too, everything just gets brighter!
Hi Jules – I’m so glad you both loved it!
I made this for me and my vegetarian 11 year old. It was a huge hit! I should have cooked the stems just a little longer, though, for her taste. We receive chard in our CSA often. I have a feeling this recipe will easily become a favorite. Thanks for sharing it!
Hi Amy – I’m so glad it was a hit!
Just made this exactly as described but served withbrown rice be ause i had some cooked already. Great. And saved half for my dinner tomorrow
Love the idea of using brown rice – thanks! SO glad you liked it 🙂
if I could give this recipe 10 stars I would!!! just made it and am in love!!!
We had this for dinner, and it lives up the hype! Huge fan of rainbow chard now.
this looks delicious and beautiful!! yum!
Ooohh, this is so pretty! And the feta makes it all the more enticing!
Ooohh, this is so pretty! And the feta makes it all the more enticing!