Chickpea Buddha Bowl

This chickpea buddha bowl is packed with wholesome real food and finished with a golden honey turmeric sauce. 

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Chickpea Buddha Bowl

What is a Buddha bowl?

According to Wikipedia, a Buddha bowl is “a vegetarian meal, served on a single bowl or high-rimmed plate, which consists of small portions of several foods, served cold. These may include whole grains such as quinoa or brown rice, plant proteins such as chickpeas or tofu, and vegetables.” Generally the finished bowls are arranged artfully rather than tossed like a salad. 

The name Buddha may have originated for several reasons:

1. due to the balanced nutrition of the bowl’s contents, 
2. because the Buddha himself gathering food donations from villagers in a big bowl,
3. or because the bowl rounded with ingredients resembles the belly of Budai, who was a Chinese monk often confused with the Buddha (I didn’t know this!) 

When I think of the first time I had something like a Buddha bowl, I think of the Harmony Bowl at a café called The Laughing Seed in Asheville, NC. It had brown rice, beans, tofu, and a delicious sauce. I remember it being so warming and delicious! And I loved that it was plant-based. 

Packed with plant-based nutrition

You can get really creative with your Buddha bowl and feature any plant under the sun. Think about your macros when you build a bowl: a grain-based carbohydrate (rice, quinoa), a plant-based protein source (beans, tofu, tempeh, edamame) and lots of antioxidants to go with (greens, sweet potatoes, spices, radish, sprouts, peppers, cucumbers and more). While the general rule is to serve cold, and you can, I liked a mix of warm and chilled ingredients in my bowl! This bowl is gluten-free (and vegan if you use an alternative to honey). 

Serve your Buddha bowls for lunch (prep day is key!) or on Meatless Monday. Or any day when you need the power of plants in your lunch or dinner recipes!

Chickpea Buddha Bowl Recipe

Ingredients

The main ingredients in this bowl are as follows (plus the sauce!)

• Quinoa – you can also use brown rice
• Extra firm organic tofu – I like extra firm for easiest cutting.
• Sweet potato
• Chickpeas – canned or cooked from scratch
• Cucumber – or other chilled vegetable, like carrot or zucchini ribbons
• Arugula – or other green, sprouts are pretty to add too
• Red bell pepper – sliced thin. Cabbage works well too. 
• Sesame seeds – a mix of black and white

For the sauce:

• Tahini
• Lemon juice
• Warm water
• Honey – to make this a vegan Buddha bowl, use an alternative sweetener
• Turmeric
• Garlic

Instructions

This recipe has a few steps to it, but they are all simple steps and are easy to do in advance on prep day or as you’re doing daily routine chores. Most of the recipe time is hands off. To save time, prepare quinoa in a rice cooker. And roast your potatoes, tofu, and beans the morning of.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare quinoa in a rice cooker or on the stove top.

Prep and marinate tofu

Drain tofu and pat dry with a kitchen cloth. Press out as much liquid as you can without breaking the block. Cut tofu into 1 inch cubes and toss in bowl with tamari and sesame oil. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.

Prep and dry chickpeas

Drain and rinse chickpeas and gently remove skins. Dry thoroughly with a kitchen cloth. This step takes a while, but removing the skins will make the roasted chickpeas extra crunchy. It’s also quite soothing, almost meditative : ) 

Prep sweet potato

Cube sweet potato into similar-sized pieces.

Roast sweet potato, chickpeas and tofu

Arrange chickpeas and sweet potato on a baking sheet and season with olive oil, spice blend, salt and pepper. Arrange tofu on a separate smaller baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put both baking sheets in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Stir everything. Roast for 15 more minutes, 25 to 30 minutes total, until chickpeas are crispy, sweet potatoes are cooked through and the edges of tofu are brown.

Make sauce

During the time while your other components are baking, make the sauce by combining ingredients in a bowl and whisking together. You can use a blender or food processor, but a whisk should do it if you mince the garlic first. This sauce builds off a simple tahini dressing recipe where you’ll thin with warm water until you get to your desired consistency. Add a little more honey if you’d like. 

Assemble bowls

Assemble the bowls with ingredients arranged in sections. For each bowl, use about half a cup each of quinoa, arugula, roasted sweet potato, and tofu. Top with a scant quarter cup chickpeas, cucumbers and red peppers.

Finish with sauce and garnish with sesame seeds.

Drizzle sauce on top. Garnish with sesames. 

Chickpea Buddha Bowl Variations

I have some more Buddha bowl variations coming your way later this spring! Until then, here are some ideas on how to change up this bowl: 

Roasted Squash Buddha Bowl

Swap out the sweet potato for any of your favorite squashes in the autumn – butternut, acorn, kabocha. 

Chickpea and Broccoli Buddha Bowl

Roast broccoli instead of sweet potato to lighten up the carbohydrates and add more green.

Herby Chickpea Buddha Bowl

Instead of chili powder and paprika, swap your spices for dried herbs like parsley and thyme. Add chilled plain yogurt on top to complement the herbs. 

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5 from 1 vote

Chickpea Buddha Bowl

This buddha bowl is packed with warm roasted chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and tofu and topped with veggies and a honey turmeric sauce.

Course Dinner, Lunch, prep day, Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword buddha bowl, chickpeas, prep day, quinoa, sweet potato, tofu

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups quinoa cooked
• 1 block extra firm organic tofu
• 2 tbsp tamari
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 cup cucumber sliced
• 2 cups arugula
• 1 red bell pepper chopped
• Sesame seeds for garnish
• Salt and pepper

Spice Blend

• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/8 tsp cayenne

Honey Turmeric Sauce

• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup warm water to thin out
• 2 tsp honey
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 clove of garlic grated or minced
• Salt + pepper

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Prepare quinoa in a rice cooker or on the stove top.
• Drain tofu and pat dry with a kitchen cloth. Press out as much liquid as you can without breaking the block.
• Cut tofu into 1 inch cubes and toss in bowl with tamari and sesame oil. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.
• Drain and rinse chickpeas and gently remove skins. Dry thoroughly with a kitchen cloth.
• Cube sweet potato into similar size pieces.
• Arrange chickpeas and sweet potato on a baking sheet and season with olive oil, spice blend, salt and pepper. Arrange tofu on a separate smaller baking sheet lined with parchment.
• Put both baking sheets in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Stir everything. Roast for 15 more minutes, 25-30 minutes total, until chickpeas are crispy, sweet potatoes are cooked through and the edges of tofu are brown.
• During baking, make sauce by combining ingredients in a bowl and whisking together.
• Assemble bowls with ingredients arranged in sections. For each bowl, use about half a cup each of quinoa, arugula, sweet potato, and tofu. Top with a scant quarter cup chickpeas, cucumbers and red peppers.
• Drizzle sauce on top. Garnish with sesame seeds.