Rice is a good place to start if you’re looking for healthy, balanced recipes – it’s packed full of nutrients and minerals and provides fantastic quick-release fuel to power you through the day.

From a recipe standpoint, rice is phenomenally easy to work with. It has a mild flavour that carries other ingredients really well and it ties together classic dishes all over the world – from the Far East to the Americas, Africa and Europe. It has a reputation for being tricky to cook, but it’s really just a case of sticking to a method and mastering it (though having a good kitchen timer helps too). Check out our how to cook rice guide for some useful hints and tips.

Whether you’re after something quick and healthy for a mid-week meal or you’re meal-prepping for your workouts, these four recipes are a great jump-off point into the world of healthy rice recipes. Give them a go and check out our full collection of rice recipes here.

Brown rice is a great, nutrient-rich grain that can form the backbone of a good healthy meal; the grains themselves have the bran layer and cereal germ still attached, meaning they take longer to cook but a pleasant texture when eaten. They also release their energy more slowly than polished white rice, keeping you fuller for longer throughout the day.

Joey O’Hare uses brown rice for this delicious vegan tofu-fried rice – after cooking the rice she fries it with onion, garlic, ginger and chilli before adding spices, tamari, vegetables and silken tofu to the mix. A great recipe if you want something quick, easy and naturally vegan. The kimchi served alongside the rice is packed with beneficial gut bacteria, too.

Nasi goreng is a classic Indonesian breakfast dish – one of the great comfort food dishes of the world – where rice is stir-fried in a flavourful paste and served with a variety of toppings. Joey O’Hare’s version switches the usual jasmine rice for wild rice, which has a much higher nutritional value. She fries the rice gently with onion, garlic, ginger and mushrooms and serves with smacked cucumber, charred cabbage, fried egg, peanuts, spring onions and lime.

Peter Joseph’s Keralan coconut rice is a brilliant, versatile recipe to have in your back pocket – it’s fantastic as part of a big vegetarian spread but equally tasty on its own. It may look simple, but a combination of whole and ground spices, dried chillies, coconut, curry leaves and shallots gives the rice a powerful aroma and flavour, and you can mix any vegetables of your choice through it for an easy meal. Perfect for getting your five-a-day in and the coconut milk contains plenty of healthy fats.

Anna Hansen’s rice salad is a symphony of flavours – sweet honey-roast pears and pomegranate seeds, crispy kale, a rich lemon and tahini cream, cauliflower roasted with saffron and cinnamon and a bitter, earthy zhoug paste. Tying everything together is basmati and wild rice, which she cooks with cinnamon and saffron before serving the whole lot in a bountiful heap.