10 Rainbow Vegetable and Savory Rainbow Recipes
Rainbow recipes aren’t just for rainbow desserts. You can also make a savory recipe worthy of your favorite unicorn with a variety of rainbow vegetables.
Whether you’re celebrating Pride or simply wanting to add color to your meals, adding a colorful rainbow of veggies can brighten up any occasion. In this roundup post, you’ll discover all the savory rainbow recipes that are as delicious as they are eye-catching.
Vegetables by color
You can create a veggie rainbow either by using the vegetables, raw or cooked, or by using vegetables as food dyes. Here’s are some suggestions for color options:
- Red: bell peppers, tomatoes, red carrots, radishes, beets
- Orange: carrots, peppers, tomatoes sweet potatoes and squash, orange cauliflower
- Yellow: corn, yellow bell peppers, tomatoes, yellow carrots, summer squash, beets
- Green: spinach and other greens, avocado, broccoli, zucchini, cucumber, peas or edamame, celery
- Blue: Blue corn (though I can never find it) or purple potatoes can appear blue-ish. Just check out my rainbow pizza below!
- Purple: purple sweet potato, purple cauliflower or carrots, red cabbage, radishes, purple peas (raw), or chive blossoms
Why blue foods are rare
Few vegetables or grains naturally exhibit a blue hue, with blue corn and certain types of potatoes being exceptions. This rarity makes blue foods stand out, but also means they might not always be included in the savory rainbow recipes below unless you mess around with acid-base chemistry.
Impact of cooking on vegetable colors
One of the challenges in making rainbow veggie recipes is that some vegetables will lose their vibrant colors when cooked. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve made a rainbow recipe only to find that my roasted eggplant turned brown or my purple peas became green!
You might be able to retain color in your cooked veggies by blanching them or adding a bit of acid like lemon juice or vinegar. If the color is critical, you might do a test of your vegetable to see how it turns out, like the pink-purple cauliflower that I broiled and boiled.
The savory rainbow recipes
Go simple with a rainbow veggie tray. Pick your favorite veggies you can find and arrange them in rainbow order with your favorite dip like this red kidney bean hummus or golden beet dip.
Take it one step further and make a rainbow salad or grain bowl. Top mixed greens or grains with a variety rainbow vegetables for dinner in a bowl.
Or roll them up and make rainbow rolls and wraps. Use colorful vegetables like avocado, cucumber, bell peppers, and purple cabbage to create stunning rolls.
You can also cook your rainbow veggies if you’re careful about colors. Make rainbow veggie skewers by threading red, orange, yellow, green, and purple vegetables onto skewers. Grill or roast for a colorful and healthy side dish.
Take it a step further with a rainbow pizza. Top a pizza crust with red sauce, then arrange toppings in colorful sections—red tomatoes; red, orange, and yellow bell peppers; poblano peppers; and thinly sliced purple potatoes.
You can make other savory rainbow veggie dishes like pastas and tacos by mixing a variety of colorful vegetables into the dish. Personally, I’d love to see that rainbow pasta dish made with rainbow farfalle!
These savory rainbow recipes are perfect for adding color and fun to dinnertime. I personally love experimenting to see if I can turn every meal into a rainbow.
I hope you found something in this list of rainbow vegetable recipes and other rainbow foods to make your life a little more colorful and delicious. Don’t forget to share your rainbow creations with me on your favorite social media platform or in my Facebook group!
Bored with the recipes you’ve been cooking and baking lately? Get inspiration here:
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