How to Make a Great Buddha Bowl

Dinner
Written By Danielle

Call it what you like, a grain bowl, a nourish bowl, or a Buddha Bowl, this is my absolute favorite plant-based meal. Buddha Bowls are simple, easy, customizable, and packed with nutrition. If you’ve been joining me on this journey for awhile, you’ll notice that most of my lunches and many of my breakfasts are also Buddha Bowls. To create them, I use the same easy six-step meal formula, which encourages plant diversity, high protein content, a huge amount of veg, and enough variation to keep things interesting.

For those of you who are used to putting protein as the center of your plate, you’ll notice that it is now only one of the many components of your meal. And, even though we call them grain bowls, starch is also not the largest component the bowl. For optimal health and weight maintenance, the star of the show is the produce. Shoot for at least half of your meal to be non-starchy veggies, leafy veggies, and fruit.

Here are some of our favorite options for each of the six meal components:

1. Starch

  • Whole grains - Farro, barley, black or brown rice, quinoa, wheat berries, wild rice, bulgar, millet, etc.

  • Noodles - Rice noodles, whole-grain pasta, soba noodles

  • Tubers - Potatoes or sweet potatoes

2. Protein

  • Tofu, tempeh, edamame, garbanzos, peas, peanuts, lentils, etc.

3. Non-Starchy Veg (and Fruit)

  • Add any veggies and fruit you like, as much as you can cram in your bowl, the more variety the better. These can be steamed, roasted, pressure cooked, grilled on the BBQ, air fried, or served raw. Make your veggies in whatever way you will eat them.

4. Leafy Veg

  • Red and white cabbage, kale, lettuce, micro greens, endive, raddichio, sprouts, bok choy, leafy herbs, etc. Again, if you prefer sautéed spinach over raw, then cook that spinach if it means you will eat it. Your bowl can be composed entirely of cooked veggies or entirely of raw foods. It doesn’t matter a bit. You do you. Just eat those veggies.

5. A Great Sauce

6. Toppings / Flavor and Nutrition Boosters

  • Sesame seeds, peanuts, pepitas, chopped chilis, pickled veggies, fresh herbs like mint or Thai basil, green onions, etc.

If you need a little more inspiration, here are bowls that are on my list to make soon:

Roasted Sunchoke and Barley Bowl with Zaatar Tahini: www.feastingathome.com/roasted-sunchoke-and-barley-bowl/

Bali Bowl with Peanut Tofu: www.feastingathome.com/bali-bowls-with-peanut-tofu/

Sweet Potato Chickpea Bowl:www.minimalistbaker.com/sweet-potato-chickpea-buddha-bowl/

A nutrient-packed Buddha Bowl with Turmeric Tahini Sauce: www.loveandlemons.com/buddha-bowl-recipe/

Miso Mushroom Bowl: www.feastingathome.com/mushroom-rice-bowl-recipe/

Double Broccoli Buddha Bowl with Coconut Green Curry Pesto:www.101cookbooks.com/archives/vibrant-vegan-double-broccoli-buddha-bowl-recipe.html

Green Goddess Bowl: www.feastingathome.com/green-goddess-bowl/

Coconut Rice Bowl with Spring Veggies and Mint: www.feastingathome.com/coconut-rice/

Grilled Summer Grain Bowl with Avocado Mint Dressing: www.yummybeet.com/2014/08/07/endless-summer-buddha-bowls-grilled-peaches-greenest-dressing/

Moroccan Mujadara Bowl: www.feastingathome.com/instant-pot-mujadara/

The thing I particularly love about Buddha Bowls is their simplicity. Apparently, food for Buddha was very simple and low key, and what he ate was often based on the generosity of others. I like to keep this mindset when making my bowls. It doesn’t have to be fancy, gourmet, or even particularly novel or interesting. Plant-centered eating is about consuming real whole foods in abundance with an eye toward nutrient density and plant diversity. That it happens to be totally delicious is just a bonus.

Wishing you excellent health and happy eating!
🌱💕

Danielle
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