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This millet rice recipe is made with seasonal Spring asparagus and a delicious vegan lemon butter sauce, giving it a vibrant and delicious taste.
Is Millet Healthier Than Rice?
Millet packs much more nutrition than regular brown (or white) rice.
- Millet is used like a grain but it is technically a seed. This makes it naturally gluten-free.
- It is the most alkaline of all grains.
- It has a lot more fiber than brown rice and has been used to help with sugar cravings.
- Millet has an abundance of minerals like magnesium, potassium, zinc, and calcium.
Check out this awesome resource (Good Grains: What Is Millet) to learn more about the history and benefits of millet.
How To Eat Millet Rice?
- As a hearty main dish for lunch or dinner.
- Serve as a side dish with some Lemon Tofu!
Millet can be found in your local store in the bulk section or rice aisle, the intentional ethic store, or you can order it online here.
How To Make This Millet Rice Recipe:
*Please read detailed and printable recipe card below for full ingredients and instructions.
Cooking Millet Rice & Making Lemon Sauce
- Simmer your millet rice for 20 minutes until liquid is fully absorbed. (Photos 1 & 2)
- Next, add your seasonings and squeeze the fresh lemon juice into your melted vegan butter. Mix well until fully combined. (Photos 3 & 4)
Cook Asparagus
- Snap off the woody edges (the part where the asparagus starts to turn white). You can also use a knife to cut the bottoms off. Both methods are shown below. (Photo 1 & 2)
- Chop the rest of your asparagus into pieces and boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to ice-cold water to stop cooking and drain. (Photo 3 & 4)
Assemble Your Dish
- Add half your lemon garlic butter sauce to a heated pan. (Photo 1)
- Then add your white beans, tomatoes, millet, and asparagus to the pan and pour the remaining lemon garlic sauce over the pan. (Photo 2 & 3)
- Stir as if you are cooking stir fry for a few minutes until fully heated through. (Photo 4)
SUBSTITUTION, COOK, AND STORAGE TIPS:
- Be sure to soak your millet. Soaking your millet helps release enzyme inhibitors and make it easier to digest and absorb nutrients.
- Soaked grains like millet cook faster so DO NOT OVERCOOK or will end up with a porridge consistency.
- If you don't like asparagus, you can use broccoli instead.
- Either White Northern Beans or Navy White Beans will work.
- Storage. This millet rice recipe DOES NOT FREEZE well. However, it will store it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. DO NOT store at room temperature.
HOW DOES THIS RECIPE HELP WITH VEGAN WEIGHT GAIN?
This millet rice recipe has 46 grams of “Curvy Carbohydrates” and 9 grams of plant-based protein per serving.
This meal is the perfect post-workout meal. After strength training, immediately consuming healthy complex carbs and protein is essential to help rebuild torn down muscles for growth. (Remember muscles equal curves).
HOW DOES THIS RECIPE HELP WITH VEGAN WEIGHT LOSS?
You could easily make this recipe apart of your vegan weight loss plan by:
- Lower the portion serving from 4 to 6 servings.
- Omit the butter and replace it with broth.
- Omit the white beans and replace it with mushrooms or your favorite vegetable!
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT THIS RECIPE
I did try the millet recipe and it too was awesome and so quick and easy. I can’t wait to try your other recipes! - Kelly Macaulay
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Lemon Millet Rice Recipe with Asparagus
Ingredients
Millet
- 1 cup dry millet note 1
- 2 cups vegetable broth (or water)
Vegan Lemon Butter Sauce
- ½ cup vegan butter
- 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ -1 teaspoon sea salt
Asparagus
- 1 pound fresh asparagus note 2
- 2 cups water
- 2-4 cups water, additional optional; please read instructions
- ice cubes optional; please read instructions
Other Ingredients
- 3 small Roma tomatoes (or any type of tomatoes you like)
- 1 16 ounce can white nothern beans, drained note 3
- handful chopped parsley optional; for garnish
Instructions
Cook Your Millet
- Soak your millet for an hour or overnight. Drain and rinse.
- Bring 2 cups of vegetable broth (or water) to a boil in a large pot. Once the broth starts to boil, add your rinsed and soaked millet to pot and lower to a simmer
- Cooked covered for about 20 minutes until grain absorbs the most of the broth and water.
- Once done, remove from heat and allow millet to sit covered for about 10 minutes to allow millet to fully absorb the liquid.
- After millet sits, fluff it with a fork and set aside.
Vegan Lemon Butter Sauce
- Grab your vegan butter and melt in microwave or in a small sauce pan over low heat.
- Transfer melt butter into a small bowl and add lemon juice, garlic powder, and sea salt. Mix together until fully combined and set aside.
Cook Your Asparagus
- Grab your fresh asparagus and rinse well.
- Then bend to snap off the the woody end of the asparagus or cut those off. (Please refer to video below or photos above for demonstration).
- After snapping off the woody ends, cut the rest of your asparagus into small pieces. (Please refer to video below or photos above for demonstration).
- Grab a large pot or skillet and bring 2 cups of water to a boil over high heat.
- Grab a large bowl and fill with COLD water adding a few ice cubes. (This is optional step for if you desire to stop you asparagus from loosing too much of it's green color from being boiled.)
- Add chopped asparagus to your pot and boil for about 2 to 3 minutes just enough to get tender.
- Then immediately turn off heat and transfer you asparagus to the cold ice water. This stops the asparagus from overcooking, keeping it's bright green color. (You can skip this step if you like and simply remove you asparagus from boiled water and drain on a paper towel in a separate bowl.)
Putting It All Together
- Rinse and chop your tomatoes leaving them on your cutting board.
- Next open your can beans, drain in a colander, and rinse the liquid off it was packed in.
- Grab a large skillet over medium high heat.
- Add (in this order) half lemon garlic sauce, beans, tomatoes, millet and lastly asparagus.
- Next pour the rest of the lemon garlic sauce over the ingredients and kinda toss and stir in your skillet until sauce fully covers all of the ingredients for about 3 to 4 minutes.
- Remove from heat, garnish with chopped parsley (optional), and serve immediately. This dish can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. It DOES NOT freeze well.
Video
Notes
- MILLET. Remember to SOAK YOUR MILLET to make for easier digestion and better absorption of nutrients. If you can't find millet, use quinoa instead!
- ASPARAGUS. If you really hate asparagus you can substitute with broccoli or your favorite vegetable
- BEANS. I highly recommend white Northern Beans for it's nutty texture but this recipe will work with any bean. Chickpeas pairs well with millet! If beans aren't your thing you may omit it from this recipe.
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published on April 19, 2018, but was republished with new photos, step by step instructions, tips, and a video April 5, 2019.
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Janet T
This is a hit! Very rich flavor and satisfying! Medical restrictions only allow black eyed peas for legumes so I substituted them for the Northern beans which worked great!. I also used a butter/olive oil spread and still had a wonderful buttery taste. And I added 2 tablespoons of preserved lemon, diced. It really complimented the ingredients. We will be making this regularly!!!
Gina Marie
So glad you enjoyed it!
Allison
My husband and I are in love with this recipe. It works well in the instant pot too!
Gina Marie
Awesome! And that's good to know it works in an instant pot I will be sure to add that to the recipe! Thank you for the feedback!
Jo
Can I have the whole skillet please?! So so yum, the flavors are perfect spring time flavors and I love how healthy but completely delicious this millet rice looks!
Daniela
Yum! This post really inspired me to play with millet more! And you in process shots are awesome :). Thanks so much for sharing!
Saima
Never made millet rice but the recipe looks amazing! So colourful and vibrant that I was lingering over the pictures for the longest time!
Anne Lawton
I love using millet in place of rice and this recipe is just perfect with asparagus and that vegan lemon butter sauce is amazing!
Lori | The Kitchen Whisperer
Huh, I never thought to try millet as a substitute for rice! This really looks scrumptious and not too hard to make! I could see how this could easily be adapted to use other veggies too! Great job!
Denise
What an amazing recipe! This could be perfect for Easter dinner! Thank you for sharing it.
Carrie | Clean Eating Kitchen
Millet is such a great substitute for rice! This looks like such a fresh and flavorful dish, perfect for Spring!
Gina Marie
Thank you Carrie!
Dan from Platter Talk
Confession time; I may have heard of millet rice but I can't say that I was familiar with its uses or nutritional profile. What a gorgeous and healthy celebration of spring you have created with this bright and flavorful recipe! Very nicely done!
Gina Marie
Thank you Dan!
Tammy
This looks so good! What a hearty and wholesome dish to make. The lemon butter sauce is fabulous!
Gina Marie
Thank you! The lemon butter sauce really makes this dish!
Jessica {Cooking my Dreams}
I never tried millet but recently I've been trying different grains and millet will certainly be next! It's asparagus season so I always look for more recipes to use them as much as possible as this recipe looks delicious! š
Gina Marie
Thank you Jessica! Once you try it it will become one of your favs!
Gloria | Homemade & Yummy
What a great alternative to rice. Hearty and delicious. I think the asparagus pairs well. I could make a meal of this all on it's own. Love trying different grains.
Gina Marie
The asparagus really makes this dish! Thanks Gloria!
Katie
I love this recipe!!! I included it in a roundup of April produce, if you'd like to check it out & share it! š I love your blog!!
https://sweetvegtable.com/april-produce-16-fresh-vegetarian-recipes/
Thanks, Katie
Gina Marie
Thank you so much!!