Building... BOWLS! Protein bowls, smoothie bowls, burrito bowls… easy to serve and customize, bowls are on trend and growing. Check out the building blocks of putting a craveable bowl on your menu.
Start with a Base or Theme All good bowls start with a base of greens or a starch, think grains or roasted sweet potatoes. The base can fit the theme or be a neutral flavor that goes with anything. We love a falafel bowl, burrito bowl, curry or buddha bowl. Another way to pick a theme is to take a classic dish or cuisine and simply serve it in a bowl! For example, think of all the ingredients you might find in a pita wrap or BLT sandwich, but instead serve them over greens or grains. Protein The next building block of a great bowl is protein. If you have a bowl bar, but no theme, just be sure to offer a vegetarian (think beans, falafel, crispy chickpeas, seasoned edamame, lentil patties or baked tofu) and meat option. The meat option can be as simple as chicken tenders, pulled roast chicken, or leftover meatballs from spaghetti day. Hard boiled eggs and diced lunch meats can also be an easy option that you can hold cold. Make it Colorful! Part of the appeal of a bowl is giving diners the autonomy to customize it and make it look
beautiful to their taste buds. If you’re offering taco or burrito bowls, add intrigue and color with tomatoes, charred corn, scallions and a great salsa. Pickled onions, dried cherries, olives, radishes or a carrot slaw can pack the vitamins and also add great color. Top if Off Finally, offer dressings, sauces, salsa, crumbles of cheeses or scoops of hummus to finish a bowl. Give it a Second Life Bowl bars are the perfect way to use up sauces, veggies or grains from a previous day. If taco bowls are on the menu, offer the usual salsa for a sauce, but don’t be afraid to throw a leftover BBQ sauce on there too. Eaters will create delicious combos like BBQ pork taco bowls. (Yum!) So what do you think? What combos make for a great bowl offering on your foodservice menu? We’ve been really into pizza salads lately! Start with a bowl of greens, top it with diced tomatoes, slices of pepperoni, shredded mozzarella cheese and a drizzle of balsamic with a slice of garlic bread on the size, in lieu of a crust.
Graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Annelise has spent her career making sure food sounds appetizing on paper, looks good in pictures and tastes amazing when you order it. Her day-to-day consists of working as Marketing Manager at Ready Foods to connect food service operators with ready-to-use kitchen solutions that are easy to incorporate into a kitchen flow and bring great flavor to menu items. Her favorite hot lunch in elementary school was always nacho day. Ready Foods Annelise McAuliffe Soares
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