How To Make A Buddha Bowl + 6 Buddha Bowl Dressings

Solve your dinnertime stress by learning how to make a Buddha bowl! Buddha bowls are nutritious bowls loaded with nutrients, fuel, and flavor. Build your own Buddha bowl in just seven easy steps and have a new creation each night of the week! Plus, top your creations with one of my favorite Buddha Bowl Dressings.

In the last year, I have become obsessed with random bowl creations. Honestly, they just keep mealtime simple. Plus, they use up what you've already got in your kitchen which means less waste!

Typically, these bowls are vegan by nature. However, that doesn't mean you can't top it with whatever you like. The steps in this blog post teach you how to make a Buddha Bowl but the options are endless!

If there’s one thing I’ve noticed in my random creation period, it’s that these healthy bowls have cropped up just about everywhere! You can find vegan bowls on most restaurant menus now. And almost every cookbook has one. I love them for a few reasons:

• Buddha bowls are simple – use what you have in the fridge

• They’re loaded with nutrients

• You can easily customize them

Honestly, learning how to make Buddha bowls made everything so much easier for me! For the last few years and especially after reading Chris Beat Cancer's new book, the biggest goal when it comes to my meals is to make them as nutrient-dense as possible.

Basically, I ask how I can make this healthier?

Below you'll find the seven steps to follow when it comes to building your own Buddha bowl. Remember- there is no perfect system! Thus, follow the steps, top it with a new Budda bowl dressing each time and you're good to go.

 

Step One: The Base

Every tasty bowl starts with a good base! Personally, we cycle through three main bases:

• rice (you can get fancy and flavor your rice too. Garlic parsley is one of my favorites!)

• soba noodles

• Cauliflower rice

Other noodles work as well but then you're really just making pasta  😛

 

Step Two: Choose Two Roasted Veggies

This is one part of the biggest component of an awesome vegan Buddha bowl recipe. Roasted veggies add a ton of flavor (these sesame roasted veggies are perfect to use in a Buddha bowl recipe!), give a nice cool to warm contrast, and make the bowl heartier in the winter.

Sometimes I think we live off roasted veggies. Mostly, I use whatever we have in the fridge:

• roasted broccoli

• cauliflower

• beets

• carrots

• candied Brussels Sprouts.

Normally, I roast up veggies at least once a week to literally just keep in the fridge, so there’s always some on hand! Likewise, roasted sweet potatoes add a yummy, sweet flavor to the bowl also!

Pick two vegetables, roast them with some oil and sea salt and you're good to go!

Step Three: Choose One Raw Veg

The second biggest part of the healthy bowl recipe is raw veggies. In the summertime, I do more raw than roasted because it’s refreshing but honestly, it’s your bowl so pick and choose what you like!

This step is also totally optionally. You can easily build a Buddha bowl with only warm veggies. I just personally love having both. When it comes to choosing a raw vegetable the possibilities are endless:

• shredded carrots, beets or radishes

• sliced cucumber

• pickled red onion

• massaged kale or spinach

• sprouts

• kimchi

Simply use up what you have in the fridge, it all works!

 

Step Four: Add Something Crunchy

When building a Buddha bowl, you’ll need to up your crunch game.

Throwing something crunchy into the bowl gives it awesome texture. Roasted chickpeas (either regular or salt and vinegar ones for a punch) are easily my favorites (all that fun fiber with the crunch!).

However, opting for seeds is a great option too. Pumpkin seeds, toasted pecans, and sunflower seeds all give a great crunch.

Step Five: Healthy Fat

I am SO glad we are getting out of the ridiculous low fat/no fat craze. Fats (when you choose healthy ones!!) are crucial to our bodies. Plus, fats make everything taste that much better.

Many of the fats listed below also fall into the crunch category. Don't think you need one of each. The whole point of these bowls is not to stress!

Choose one of the following if you like, but it's not crucial:

• sliced avocado

• any and all nuts (cashews and pecans toasted are perfection)

• hemp hearts

 

Buddha Bowl Dressings

This is a fun one and where you get to make your bowl truly different each time. The dressing truly makes the dish.

I have a few staple Buddha bowl dressing recipes I opt for and just rotate through (five ingredients or less!) them as shown below. These Buddha bowl dressings are very light and mostly refreshing.

However, I've also included a few of my favorite creamy options.

Creamy Buddha Bowl Dressing

• Creamy tahini dressing from Nora Cooks

• Almond butter balsamic dressing from Fitmittenkitchen

• Thai peanut dressing from Closet Cooking

 

Step Seven (Optional): Probiotics

Not everyone thinks of this when learning how to make a Buddha bowl, but you should!

Probiotics are an awesome way to keep your immune system high and give your gut some love. If you want to boost your gut health start adding one of the probiotics below to your Buddha bowl recipes:

• fermented salsa

• kimchi

• sauerkraut

• fermented fruit

Don’t forget to pin these steps on How To Make a Buddha Bowl

But What About The Protein?

Traditionally, Buddha bowl recipes are plant-based, vegan bowls (thus, no meat). Thus, I leave the protein in your hands. While you can easily add an animal protein or a fried/hard-boiled egg to your Buddha bowl, it's up to you.

Add in maple-glazed tempeh, or simple fried tofu is an option also. Edamame, quinoa, lentils, and beans are great plant-based options too!

Keep in mind though, that using a combination of everything above, you will be taking in plant-based protein. Quinoa, hemp hearts, seeds, and avocados all have protein in them. So, even if you omit a direct source like tempeh, you're not completely devoid.

 

See how easy it is to build a Buddha bowl? Seven steps and you’re set with a tasty, freakishly healthy, simple bowl recipe.

Keep your days simple, fresh, and full of awesome flavor by adding in a homemade, every changing Buddha Bowl! Honestly, these tasty, vegan bowls are amazing because they’re so simple and unique to your personal tastes. Whip one up and then let me know what your favorite combinations are!