Roasted Root Vegetable Buddha Bowls with Maple Cinnamon Tahini Dressing…a.k.a. this blog’s signature Buddha Bowl.
Das Buddha Bowl!
If you’re new to the concept, a Buddha bowl, no sweat! Buddha bowls are basically a macrobiotic bowl of a variety of vegetables – both raw ans cooked.
They typically include a mixture of greens (spinach, kale, beet greens, chard, arugula, etc.), grains (brown, white, wild, or forbidden rice, quinoa, freekeh, etc), beans (black, kidney, chickpeas, etc.) seeds (sunflower, sesame, chia, hemp, etc.), any variety of cooked and raw veggies, and a flipping delicious sauce or dressing.
If you find them at a restaurant, they are typically vegetarian or vegan, though I often add animal protein to mine.
All of the Buddha bowls I’ve had in restaurants have included a mixture of cooked and raw veggies, making them a mecca of color, texture, and flavor. You can also get crazy with sauces and dressings with Buddha bowls – tahini sauce, chimichurri, pesto, curry, peanut sauce, tzatziki, the list goes on and on and on).
In summary, a Buddha bowl is like a freaking freedom bowl of bliss. If you’re a meat eater like me, there’s zero shame in adding animal protein to a Buddha bowl, although by definition, I want to say Buddha bowls are supposed to be vegan…? Fact check, anyone?
I roasted up a sweet potato, parsnips, and golden beets for a trifecta of root-y bliss for these bowls. I had some cooked brown rice and cabbage in my refrigerator, and sunflower seeds in my pantry, so into the bowl they went. Everything got laid down atop fresh spinach and drizzled with bombtastic tahini dressing.
Speaking of…
If there’s only one thing you should take away from this post, let it be the maple cinnamon tahini dressing. It’s spoon-feeding, finger-licking good, and you’ll want to put it on all the things.
They say that I’m a granola cruncher, but I’m not the only one.
#EatTheRainbow.
Roasted Root Vegetable Buddha Bowls with Maple Cinnamon Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet potato chopped into ¼ to ½-inch cubes
- 2 large parsnips peeled and sliced into ¼-inch rounds
- 2 medium golden beets peeled and chopped into wedges
- Grapeseed oil and sea salt for roasting or olive oil
- 10 ounces spinach or greens of choice
- ½ small head cabbage sliced
- 3 cups cooked brown rice
Maple Cinnamon Tahini Dressing:
- 1/3 cup tahini
- ¼ cup water
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Arrange the root vegetables on two large baking sheets in a single layer.
- Drizzle grapeseed (or olive) oil over the vegetables and use your hands to coat them.
- Sprinkle veggies with sea salt and bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until soft and slightly browned (mine took 32 minutes).
- While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the tahini dressing. Add all ingredients for the dressing to a small blender and blend until smooth, thick, and creamy. If dressing is too thick, add a small amount of water or lemon juice.
- Prepare buddha bowls by adding desired amount of spinach, cabbage, and brown rice to large serving bowls. Add desired amount of roasted vegetables and tahini dressing to each bowl. Note: a small amount of tahini dressing goes a long way!
- Serve with sunflower seeds and fresh chopped parsley or cilantro.
Nutrition
I was totally bummed that Ludacris didn’t make a surprise appearance and rap with Missy, like One Minute Man or Gossip Folks style. So, I had to youtube those videos for the memories.
Anyway…this Buddha bowl is my kind of fun. Maple cinnamon tahini all in one, you say?? I need that in my next bowl!
Ahhh I see what you did there. Sooo I shamelessly live off of buddha bowls. At least that’s the better name to call it. To me it’s called open-up-the-fridge-and-throw-random-crap-in-before-it-goes-bad bowl. And I may be bias saying this because I’m lebanese and all but allthetahini please. Maple and tahini are a dreeeeeam.
THIS LOOKS AMAZING! so colourful, and the word buddha caught my eye as well haha- so good job on that. I love using tahini but never thought of using maple syrup and cinnamon. I have a huge sweet tooth so this is going to be really exciting to make. I wish some of the ingredients werent so expensive like golden beets, and pure organic maple syrup. I know this will taste amazing so I will give it a try. Maybe minus the brown rice?
I want this right now! Love everything inside of these bowls, especially the parsnips which I have become slightly obsessed with lately. And that dressing!
I want to DRINK that maple cinnamon tahini dressing!!! This salad is a million times cooler than the Super Bowl, for realz.
This bowl looks heavenly! We made something very similar last week. I’ll have to try this version. The maple tahini sounds incredible!
What a wonderful salad! This cinnamon-maple-tahine dressing must be so delicious!
Oh what I would give to have this for lunch right now! I’m sitting here craving something healthy and delicious and need to go grocery shopping. Jotting down these ingredients!
This Buddha Bowl sounds delicious, although I will be finding a substitute for the parsnips – neither my husband nor I enjoy parsnips, unfortunately. We are also meat-eaters, so I would definitely add some kind of meat or even eggs, to this bowl. Gotta have my protein fix!
Oh my. Screw the fork, I want to shove my face into this bowl like an animal and devour every last bite! And I agree, that dressing is so bombtastic. And boombastic. Like Mr. Lover lover. Mmmm.
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Tahini has been my new favorite obsession lately. + maple and cinnamon (my always obsession) and I’m ready to tackle all of the veggie-filled bowls. The only super bowl worth talking about, obvs.
oh my goodness!! this is gorgeous!!! my kind of veggie bowl!!! love that Maple Cinnamon Tahini Dressing!!! wow, seriously can’t wait to try this! oh and re: the super bowl, I’m a katy perry fan, so loved her half time show. . but yeah loved seeing Missy Elliott and Lenny K!
Thanks, Alice! So happy you like dem bowls. The tahini dressing is absolutely marvelous – I’ve been spoon-feeding it to myself like it’s peanut butter 😉
this looks really healthy!
styleandchocolates
THAT DRESSING! I really just want to lick it off the spoon and maybe eat the bowl second, ok? Also, I had a cat named Buddha so I’m in love with this bowl times a million.
YES to the dressing, YES to you cat named Buddha! Let’s get together and eat all the maple cinnamon tahini dressing…seriously, I’m tempted to bake brownies out of it! 😉
OH MY GOLLY, I adore Buddha Bowls. I actually want bowls practically every night, and one night my boyfriend said, “everything doesn’t have to go in a bowl you know.” True, but all of it together like that , it’s just better in bowls:) And yours look AWESOME!!
I hear ya, sister…I love bowl food so much that I eat food out of bowls that doesn’t need a bowl. Hunk o’ steak bowl? Sign this girl up 😉
Get in my Buddha belly! Also, never thought to put cinnamon in my tahini dressing and now I’m basically going to be doing that everyday for the rest of my life. The end.
Ohhhh my gaaaaaaaaah do da cinnamoooooon! <-Sorry, it's Monday, that's all I've got.