This easy Buddha Bowl recipe is healthy, flavorful, and easy to adapt! It's made with whole grains, roasted vegetables, falafel, and topped with a delicious Jalapeño Ranch dressing.
Want to try more “bowl” recipes? Try my Spring Roll Bowl, Bulgogi Bowl, Fajita Bowl, or my Harvest Bowl!
Why I love this meal:
- Healthy – This Buddha bowl recipe is fresh, flavorful, and so tasty! It's truly clean eating at its finest. It's vegetarian by nature and can be made vegan by leaving off the cheese.
- Meal Prep – This entire meal can be made ahead of time, making a great choice for meal prepping servings for lunch for the week.
- Adaptable – This is a great opportunity to use up any leftover veggies in your fridge and tailor to your liking. See my adaptation ideas below.
Why is it called a Buddha Bowl?
There are different theories as to why it's called a Buddha Bowl, but the name fits because it's a balanced meal full of nourishing and healthy grains, veggies, and protein.
How to Make a Buddha Bowl:
Roast Sweet Potatoes: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Add sweet potatoes to a sheet pan and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes, until tender, tossing once while cooking.
Cook Quinoa according to package instructions. Combine all dressing ingredients in the food processor to make buddha bowl dressing.
Assemble: Layer bowls with cooked quinoa, arugula, sweet potato, tomato, avocado, falafel or chicken, feta then nuts. Top homemade buddha bowl with dressing. For other topping ideas, check out the variations below.
Make Ahead Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Make this entire meal ahead of time without the dressing and keep layered in a container in the fridge. Serve dressing on the side.
Recipe Variations:
- Add Beans: Garbanzo beans or black beans would be great additions.
- Other Protein Ideas: Instead of falafel, try grilled fish, shrimp, salmon, chicken, crispy tofu, or a hard-boiled egg.
- Cheese: Swap out the feta for gorgonzola, goat cheese, or blue cheese.
- Nuts: Walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews, pine nuts, or pistachios are all great!
- Add Seeds: Sesame seeds, pepitas or chia seeds.
- Buddha Bowl Sauce: You could also use Teriyaki Sauce, Ranch Dressing, a simple vinaigrette, or tzatziki sauce.
More Popular “Bowl” recipes:
- Poke Bowl
- Hawaiian Bowls
- Bulgogi Bowls
- Fajita Bowls
- Harvest Bowls
- Chicken Shawarma Bowls
- Caribbean Jerk Chicken Bowls
- Korean Ground Beef Bowls
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Recipe
Buddha Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups quinoa , brown rice, couscous, or cauliflower rice
- 5 cups baby spinach leaves , or arugula
- 2 sweet potatoes , peeled and chopped
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 avocado , peeled, seeded and sliced
- 1 Roma tomatoes , chopped
- 12 Falafel balls* or 2 grilled chicken breasts, salmon, or other protein
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, pine nuts or pistachios etc
Jalapeño Ranch Dressing:
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 small fresh jalapeño pepper , ribs and seeds removed
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried dill weed
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- salt , to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Add sweet potatoes to a sheet pan and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes, until tender, tossing once while cooking.
- Cook quinoa according to package instructions.
- Layer bowls with cooked quinoa, arugula, sweet potato, tomato, avocado, falafel or chicken, feta and nuts. Top with dressing.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe February 2020. Updated January 2022 and January 2023.
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It would be less work if I didn’t prep tofu, but this dish is totally worth whatever you must do.
This recipe was soo delicious! Absolutely will be making this again.
These Buddha bowls are everything! Falafel is a great vegetarian option 👍 Thanks for sharing!