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
Its really my best choice blog.
Thanks.
I actually want bowls practically every night, and one night my boyfriend said, “everything doesn’t have to go in a bowl you know.
Very good and interesting i try this very soon
This looks amazing!!! Will certainly be trying this out this week! Thank you for sharing.
You got it! Hope you enjoy!
Wow, really, I can’t get over that delicious taste! So simple and yet – sooo great. Thank you for this recipe – it’s a real keeper. Pinnnnnnned! 🙂
This look ls delicious! How many bowls does this recipe make? Thanks!
Looks so good! Cannot wait to try this! I linked to this when I did a meal plan on my blog!
Made this last night, and it was delicious, especially that tahini sauce! It is very filling, and I love that I can feel good about the nutritional value of my dinner. Thanks so much for posting this!
Now THIS is my kind of Super Bowl. I am thrilled to report that I have all of the necessary ingredients for this beautiful bowl in my fridge right now (because I know you were so concerned) and I am definitely making this, and possibly bathing in the dressing, over the weekend!
So I ended up making a play on this for a side dish and ended up just eating the sauce with a spoon. SO GOOD!!!
I absolutely adore this. Especially when I’m flying solo for the evening!
Heck yeah! It’s definitely an awesome meatless meal for us ladies!
Absolutely gorgeous & delish!
Who needs Friday cocktails when you have this dressing..am I right?! I am SO into this. I would like the superbowl a lot more if it involved mass amounts of this.
That dressing sounds like it would be fantastic on just about anything. Including just a spoon be jammed into my mouth. 😉
Real talk: I ate most of the dressing via spoon. Oops 😉 In retrospect, I should have made a uuuuuuge batch of it to keep more of it on hand for alllll my drizzling needs 😉
@Julia, Haha same here! I can’t help but east the dressing alone! Ava from https://www.positivityandme.com/
You had me at maple cinnamon dressing. Don’t know if I’m going to make the whole bowl but I will definitely try that dressing!
As I was reading the laundry list of everything that went into this Buddha Bowl, I was like “yes. yes. okay, I want it. yes. OMG YES. FEED IT TO ME NOW” The end.
1. Just this morning I had to create a new pinterest board dedicated to bowls because the internet is full of ALL THE BOWLS right now and it’s awesome.
2. I want to literally drink that maple cinnamon tahini dressing. Should we do some shots?
3. I also want to steal that fork. Should I ever come to your house, consider yourself forewarned.