These Sheet Pan Buddha Bowls with Turmeric Tahini Dressing are a delicious vegan lunch idea that can be made almost all on one pan!
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – any neutral oil such as canola or sunflower oil will work here.
- Sweet potato – butternut squash or acorn squash would be good in here or you can use regular potatoes.
- Beets – sub in another root vegetable instead of the beets like carrots or parsnips.
- Chickpeas – any canned legume will work here, such as canned lentils, kidney beans, black beans, etc.
- Chili powder – you can leave this out if you don’t have any on hand.
- Kale – feel free to use any type of greens you'd like, like spinach or Swiss chard.
- Quinoa – rice or any other type of grain will work in this recipe, or you can just leave it out altogether and add another veggie to the sheet pan.
- Avocado – you can leave this out if you don't have one on hand.
- Tahini – sunflower butter or almond butter will work in place of the tahini.
- Lemon juice – you need a little hit of something acidic in this dressing, so feel free to use white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
- Turmeric – you can use fresh grated turmeric or dried turmeric. Curry powder will change the flavour, but it would work as a sub in.
- Garlic – fresh minced or jarred garlic is best but garlic powder will work in a pinch.
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How to make a buddha bowl
- Roast the sweet potatoes, beets and chickpeas.
- Cook the quinoa.
- Make the turmeric tahini dressing.
- Chop up the kale.
- Assemble your bowls and enjoy!
Can buddha bowls have meat?
Technically, buddha bowls are about balancing the food you eat and trying to cram as many healthy ingredients into one bowl as possible. There is no one right or wrong way to make a bowl like this, and you are free to add meat or chicken if you'd like. Typically, most buddha bowls are vegetarian in order to keep things simple, but there are no hard and fast rules.
Here are some of my favourite protein options:
- Baked chicken breast
- Sliced steak
- Marinated tofu
- Ground turkey
- Ground beef
Frequently Asked Questions
Buddha bowls are made up of grains, veggies, protein, dressing and toppings like seeds or nuts. You can mix up the ingredients to whatever you have on hand, but generally, you should have at least one type of each of these components.
This recipe has 535 calories per serving. It’s super healthy and packed with nutrients so you’ll stay full long after you’ve finished eating.
You can usually find tahini in the condiments aisle near where the peanut butter is kept. If you can’t find it there, check the international foods aisle.
I like to make my buddha bowls in an airtight glass meal prep container. The 30 oz. size is usually the perfect size for an individual serving! You can pick up the bowls I use here.
Storing and reheating
You can store assembled bowls in the fridge for up to 5 days. I recommend storing the dressing and avocado separately. For any sliced or open avocado, I add a bit of lemon juice to prevent it from browning. It's best if you only use the amount of avocado you need and try to preserve the rest or just not slice open the avocado until you go to eat the bowls. You can reheat the bowls sans avocado for 1-2 minutes in the microwave.
Freezing the quinoa
Unfortunately, there aren't very many components of this bowl that you can freeze, but you can freeze the cooked quinoa for up to 3 months. Simply store the cooked quinoa in glass containers and defrost in the fridge when ready to use.
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More buddha bowl recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on storing the leftovers.
- Freeze the quinoa in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months.
- If you’re in need of a Y peeler, here’s the one that I use.
Sheet Pan Buddha Bowls with Turmeric Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium-sized sweet potato, cut into cubes
- 2 beets, skinned and cubed
- 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup kale, chopped
- 1/2 cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup water
- 1 avocado, sliced
Turmeric Tahini Dressing
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp turmeric fresh or dried
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 F. On a large sheet pan, add sweet potatoes, beets and chickpeas. Toss all ingredients with olive oil and season with salt. Rub chickpeas with chili powder then roast in oven for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add quinoa and water to a rice cooker or a pot on the stove and cook. Mix all ingredients for turmeric tahini dressing together in a food processor, Magic Bullet or blender.
- Chop kale so it's ready to go once the bowls are done cooking.
- Add all ingredients to the bowls, then top with tahini turmeric sauce. Serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Rebecca says
Is there an error with the dressing? Mine was like… water. Seems like a lot of water vs tahin
Taylor Stinson says
There is no error – this can vary depending on how thick or runny your tahini is. If you just skimmed the tahini from the top you may get a runnier dressing. You should always ensure you have mixed your tahini well so that the oils and thick buttery part is completely combined and this should ensure the correct consistency.
Bev says
Looks lovely I’m going to make this week for myself and my newly turned vegan son. Was wondering about the addition of black pepper to the turmeric-tahini dressing. I have been advised to always add black pepper when using turmeric to make it bio available..I shouldn’t think adding it to this dressing would take away from the flavour do you? Im going to add it and try anyway 😊
Taylor Stinson says
Hi Bev – black pepper would be a great addition! Feel free to use it.
Amy says
In the oven now! Doubled the recipe for meal prep this week 🙂 thank you for the free recipe!
Tiffany says
Tried this recipe for myself and my non-vegan boyfriend. We both were nervous about it but it was sooooo good! Even he loved it! Definitely will be making this again very soon.
Taylor Stinson says
So happy you enjoyed it Tiffany 🙂
Mel says
This was sooooo good. I didn’t have sweet potato or beet so I subbed regular potato and some zucchini, but I think this recipe would work with pretty much anything.
Kate says
Omg! This recipe was amazing!!! My 10 year old son loved it too. Thank you for your free recipes!
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you liked it Kate!! 🙂 Thank you!
Kristine Reighard says
My beets took a little longer to cook and I added lemon to the dressing (just my personal preference, in hummus too) but that said, this is fantastic! Thank you for sharing!
Taylor Stinson says
Ooooh the lemon sounds like a fantastic addition to the dressing! Thanks for sharing Kristine, so glad you liked it!
Noah says
Great job, but why so many pictures of the same pictures? Makes for endless scrolling before the recipe shows up.
Taylor Stinson says
Hey Noah…in order for me to provide free recipes, I need to earn an income. I will often post similar variations of different pictures in order to make my posts long enough to be helpful for readers but also to earn ad impressions. Many food blogs do this. The scrolling enables me to gather ad impressions, which provides me with income. I know it can seem frustrating to scroll for about a minute or so, but you are helping a small business owner support herself financially and in turn you are getting something for free 🙂
Jessica says
Are the beets/sweet potato uncooked or boiled before roasting?
Taylor Stinson says
They are both uncooked before roasting 🙂