My Buddha Bowl with Turmeric Tahini Sauce is a delicious, vibrant, plant-based dish that's packed with nutritious ingredients!
Thank you to READ salads for sponsoring this blog post!
As much as I love the holidays, I usually need a break from all of the decadent meals of the season. So in these weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, I like to cook a lot of lighter dishes. I tend to gravitate towards recipes that incorporate lots of nutritious vegetables and don’t leave me feeling tired and stuffed afterwards.
Did you know that, according to the Washington Post, 22.8 million Americans are flexitarian? That means they primarily eat a vegetarian diet but enjoy meat occasionally. Whether you’re a vegetarian, flexitarian, or just someone looking to eat more delicious plant-based meals, my Buddha Bowl with Turmeric Tahini Sauce is for you! I created this dish to celebrate “READ Flexitarian Favorites” week using READ 4-Bean salad.
A Buddha bowl is a nutritious dish typically made with a base of whole grains that’s topped with a variety of vegetables and other toppings like nuts, seeds and sauces. When I make Buddha bowls, I like to use a variety of vegetables- starchy, leafy greens, cooked, raw, pickled, anything. Get creative! Vary the color and texture of your ingredients to keep your bowl interesting. It’s a great way to incorporate all of the produce in your fridge!
For my Buddha Bowl with Turmeric Tahini Sauce I use a mixture of quinoa and brown rice but you can use any whole grain you like such as farro, bulgur, sorghum or millet. To the bowl, I add sweet potatoes that I roast with savory spices like cumin and coriander. And to add a pop of flavor, I use READ 4-bean salad. Made with green beans, wax beans, kidney beans and chickpeas in a vinegar-based tangy-sweet dressing, it’s the perfect addition to these bowls to add a pop of flavor!
READ 3-Bean and 4-Bean Salads are ready to eat just as they are, chilled or at room temperature. They’re nice straight out of the can as a side dish but are also great recipe starters to be used in salads soups, wraps, casseroles and more. Both are gluten free and contain no fat, saturated fat, trans fat or cholesterol. The 3-Bean salad is also available in convenient, ready-to-eat, single serve cups, which are perfect for a quick snack or lunch. READ Salads can be found in the canned vegetable aisle of your grocery store.
To balance out the sweet potatoes and tangy bean salad in my Buddha bowl, I also add tender baby spinach leaves and colorful purple cabbage, which adds a delightful crunch. And of course, no Buddha bowl would be complete without a few slices of creamy avocado for some richness and healthy fat to keep you feeling full and satisfied.
To top it all off, I make a simple sauce made with tahini (sesame paste) and turmeric. Turmeric is an ancient spice long prized for its culinary uses as well as its medicinal properties. It has numerous health benefits including powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. It also gives the sauce a lovely yellow color.
Recipe
Buddha Bowl with Turmeric Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
Buddha Bowl:
- 2 large sweet potatoes peeled and diced
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 cups cooked quinoa, brown rice or other whole grain
- 1 can (15 oz) READ Classic 4-Bean salad, drained
- 2 cups shredded purple cabbage
- 2 cups baby spinach
- 1 avocado sliced
- Cilantro leaves for garnish
Turmeric Tahini Sauce:
- ¼ cup tahini
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ clove garlic grated
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ cup warm water
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Toss the sweet potatoes with the olive oil, cumin, coriander and salt. Roast in the oven until tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven.
- To make the sauce, mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- To assemble the bowls, divide the quinoa among four bowls. Top with equal portions of roasted sweet potatoes. Top each bowl with some 4-bean salad, cabbage, spinach, avocado and cilantro. Drizzle some sauce on top. Serve extra sauce on the side.
artchee says
This looks like one complete meal. You have enough protein and fiber in it. Hmm, I'm just not sure if it suits my taste but not everyone is like me. :0)
Edye says
chickpea salads!
Jillian Too says
I like Mediterranean chickpea bowls with tahini sauce.
Linda says
My favorite flexitarian dish is cinnamon squash soup.
Tim says
Pizza would be my favorite. We make homemade pizza a few times a week, and pepperoni is one meat item that we include, even though my wife does not eat meat. She makes an exception for pepperoni!!! I did not know there was a classification for a vegetarian that made exceptions. She eats eggs too, but those are generally incorporated into baking recipes,
Elle says
My favorite flexitarian dish is grilled veggies with some balsamic marinade with grilled salmon.
url says
Yummy! I love bean salad and I would definitely add the new Turmeric-Tahini sauce to top it up,
Looks so colorful and delicious. Thanks.
Annette says
My favorite flexitarian dish is Tuscan Vegetable Soup.
Tamra Phelps says
I like making spaghetti sauce with lots of veggies, like mushrooms or water chestnuts, rather than meat, sometimes. It depends on my mood, lol.
Cathi Crismon says
Well... I'm a cheating vegan (I occasionally have organic cheese and yogurt) so all I can say is my favorite dish at this moment is your Buddha Bowl with the delicious Tumeric tahini sauce! I can't wait to make it!!
Hope Hill says
I like all the various options in rice bowls, ramen bowls, etc. I do also love lentil dishes.