This nourishing buddha bowl recipe with green tahini sauce makes for a healthy, well-balanced meal, naturally vegan and gluten-free. It features some roasted potatoes, chickpeas, fresh vegetables and seeds, combined all together in one single bowl.
Buddha bowl is one of my favorite dish to prepare for a quick vegetarian lunch. Versatile, nutritious, and beautiful, there’s something in this mighty bowl for just about everyone. Plus, it’s the kind of dish that is just perfect for meal prep and batch cooking. Get all your ingredients ready before the week start (sliced and/or roasted vegetables, cooked ingredients), then mix and match them for each day of the week and serve with different dressing each day. Easy, right?
But wait, what’s a buddha bowl?
Buddha bowl is a healthy well-balanced plant-based meal (often vegan), usually consisting of a portion of grains (quinoa, rice…), plant-based protein (chickpeas, tofu…), roasted and raw vegetables. To finish it all, we usually complete with a nutritious and tasty dressing.
If you’re not familiar with it yet, I invite you to check my Spicy Chickpea and Sweet Potato Buddha Bowl recipe, in which I break down the idea of the buddha bowl. It’s also a perfect bonus recipe if you’re looking for more buddha bowls to prepare in the future.
Ingredients for this nourishing buddha bowl:
- Roasted potatoes. I used small yukon potatoes, halved and roasted with some spices. Delicious!
- Chickpeas. This is the main source of vegetable protein in this bowl.
- Fresh baby spinach. Spinach packs high amounts of carotenoids, vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid, iron, and calcium. Feel free to replace with massaged green kale if you wish.
- Red cabbage. Great source of folate, cabbage also contains vitamin C, which helps protect our cells by acting as an antioxidant.
- Avocado. It’s an excellent source of healthy fats and various important nutrients.
- Seeds. I used various seeds in this buddha bowl, such as pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame.
And what about quinoa ? Note that most buddha bowl recipes usually call for a portion of grains, such as quinoa or wild rice. I chose not to use any in this version, but feel free to add a portion of quinoa if you wish. If doing so, I recommend 1 cup (180g) uncooked quinoa, that you can easily prepare following the package instructions or this recipe.
About the green tahini sauce
I serve this nourishing buddha bowl with a simple green tahini sauce. I call it “green” tahini sauce because you have two options here: you can either make it with fresh cilantro or with fresh basil leaves. The idea is simple: simply place all the ingredients altogether in a blender or food processor and mix until creamy, adding more water as you go until you get the desired texture.
This green tahini sauce will last up to 5 days in the fridge, stored in a jar. Believe me, you’re going to want to use it on everything! And if you’re not into Tahini, my vegan green goddess dressing is great too!
More veggie nourishing bowls & salads:
- Spiced Chickpea Sweet Potato Buddha Bowl
- Thai Peanut Sweet Potato Salad
- Avocado Raspberry Quinoa Salad
- French Beet Lentil Salad
- Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad
- Roasted Turmeric Delicata Squash Quinoa Bowl
- Asian Tofu-Broccoli Bowl (served warm)
- Pineapple Tofu Rice Bowl (served warm)
- Vegetarian Cauliflower Burrito Bowl
Got some extra chickpeas to use? Check out these 25+ vegetarian chickpea recipe ideas for even more inspiration!
PrintNourishing Buddha Bowl with Green Tahini Sauce
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Savory
- Diet: Vegan
This nourishing buddha bowl recipe with green tahini sauce makes for a healthy, well-balanced meal, naturally vegan and gluten-free.
Ingredients
For the buddha bowl:
- 1–2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ pound (225g) small yukon potatoes, halved
- 1 15-ounce can (425g) chickpeas, drained and dried
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 avocado, halved and sliced
- 1 cup (100g) red cabbage, shredded
- 1 cup (225g) fresh baby spinach
- 2–3 Tablespoons seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame…)
- Bonus ingredient: 1 cup uncooked quinoa*
For the green tahini sauce:
- ¼ cup (65g) tahini
- 2 Tablespoons water, or more as needed
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup chopped cilantro or basil leaves
- ¼ small shallot, minced
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add halved potatoes and cook until softened, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.
- Add drained and dried chickpeas and cook for 2 additional minutes, shaking the pan regularly. Stir in half of the paprika, half of the chili powder and a pinch of salt.
- Meanwhile, prepare the green tahini sauce in a food processor or blender by mixing all the ingredients together, until desired consistency (feel free to add more water as you go if the dressing is too thick). Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
- Assemble the buddha bowls* dividing in each bowl the roasted halved potatoes, chickpeas, red cabbage, avocado halves, and spinach. Sprinkle with seeds all over and serve along with the green tahini sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
* Unlike most buddha bowls, this recipe doesn’t call for quinoa as I find it very satisfying the way it is. That being said, you can totally add a portion of quinoa if you wish. Just use 1 cup (180g) uncooked quinoa and cook according package instructions before adding to the bottom of the bowl.
Did you make this recipe?
Lastly, if you make this Nourishing Buddha Bowl with Green Tahini Sauce, be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Thank you and enjoy!
Helene
Bonjour Del,
Une amie m’a fait découvrir ton blog le weekend dernier et je suis déjà fan! J ai fais le no knead bread et ton buddha bowl, les deux sont une vraie réussite! Depuis ma petite cuisine j’ai l’impression de confectioner de bons petits plats grace a toi!
Merci a toi de partager toutes ces belles créations, bonne continuation!
Hélène,
Vancouver, BC
Delphine Fortin
Bonjour Hélène! Je suis ravie de te compter parmi nous ici, et ravie que le blog te plaise! Merci beaucoup pour ton retour et peut être à bientôt à Vancouver qui sait 🙂 Bien à toi. Del