A fresh and fun way to eat vegetables and all sorts of goodness, this Buddha bowl is full of nutritious ingredients.
To get even more savoury vegetables, try our Puff Pastry Tomato Tart!
In my quest for healthy lunch options, I’ve eaten far too many that leave me feeling hungry shortly after I finish my meal. That’s why discovering Buddha bowls was such a godsend!
These bowls are not just tasty and nutritious, when made right they can be properly filling. Pick the right mix of fresh, savoury, flavoursome ingredients and with just a bit of assembly you have a stunning lunch!
Famously, these bowls look just as good as they taste. So let’s get creative with our Buddha bowl and make something worthy of our Instagram feed!
What is a buddha bowl?
A buddha bowl is a one-pot meal that includes a potpourri of fresh and filling ingredients. What ingredients? It almost doesn’t matter!
The standard expectation for a buddha bowl is that it will contain a mixture of fresh vegetables, plant protein and grains. There is no rigid definition, though, so the main idea is simply to use whatever you happen to have on hand without letting anything dominate.
With a mixture of one-bite flavours and textures, it is a fun way to have a diverse meal that also happens to be incredibly photogenic.
What to add to your bowl
Since there is no rule about what goes into a Buddha bowl, you can feel free to be as creative as you wish and choose whatever will make you happy.
That said, the best Buddha bowls have plenty of vegetables, grains for bulk plus added protein. Next we need to mix up the textures, which is why both cooked and raw vegetables are often included.
For grains I used a combination of brown and basmati rice from a packet for convenience. Any whole grain can be used, such as quinoa or bulgar.
Although the roasted squash takes a bit longer to make, it really is a remarkable addition to this dish. My pro tip is to make it in advance, with extra to add use for other meals like Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese.
I bring it together with a tasty garlic tahini dressing and sprinkle seeds or nuts for an added punch.
The assembly of the Buddha bowl is the easy part, and takes but a moment. The longer step is to prepare the ingredients, although this can easily be done in advance.
Lemon tahini dressing
Tahini dressing is popular in my house and similar to one that I’ve used before with Roasted Aubergine. Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds and brings a pleasant nuttiness to any dish it touches.
This dressing combines tahini paste with lemon juice and then one grated garlic clove. When these three ingredients are added together, the paste is quite thick.
Because we want to be able to pour it over the Buddha bowl, we need to add water until it is the right consistency. Do this one tablespoon at a time so that it doesn’t become too soupy.
To finish it off we only need salt. Add salt until you get the taste you want.
The quantity for this recipe is quite small as this is only for two portion. It can be a good idea to make more and leave it in the fridge for use at a later date.
More one-pan meals
Vegan Buddha Bowl
A fresh and fun way to eat vegetables and all sorts of goodness.
Ingredients
- 40g / 1.5oz rice, uncooked (I used a mixture of brown and basmati)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 50g / 1.2 cup cavolo nero/kale
- 1 clove garlic
- 90g / ½ cup edamame beans
- 1 avocado
- 1 carrot in ribbons
- Chilli flakes
- 1 tablespoon seeds/nuts/hemp seeds
For the Lemon Tahini Dressing
- 2 tablespoon tahini
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- Salt to taste
For the Roasted Butternut Squash
- 200g / ¼ butternut squash, cubed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt
Instructions
- To make roasted butternut squash, preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Peel, cut and deseed the butternut squash. Cut one quarter into 2 inch cubes and reserve the rest for later use. Toss the squash with the mixture of salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder and the olive oil. Roast in the preheated oven on a large and rimmed baking sheet for 40-45 minutes or until tender and golden.
- Sauté cavolo nero/kale with garlic and chilli flakes for 5 minutes in 1 tablespoon oil and water with a lid on.
- Make the tahini dressing by adding tahini paste and lemon juice to a small bowl and stirring until thick, then add grated clove of garlic. Add small amounts of water a tablespoon at a time until a pourable consistency, then salt to taste.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 882Total Fat: 66gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 47gCholesterol: 50mgSodium: 1629mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 15gSugar: 7gProtein: 36g
Your recipe calls for garlic in 2 different steps, but you don’t mention how many cloves are needed. Please update.
Thank you for pointing that out. The recipe has been updated.