Buddha Bowls: 4 easy, delicious ideas
Buddha bowls are a fast, easy way to make a colourful, delicious and nutritious veggie meal the whole family can enjoy.
Use your favourite vegetables and either blanch, boil, steam them, or throw them in the bowl raw. It’s good to consider different textures and flavours when choosing vegetables, the crunch of fresh capsicum is perfect with the creaminess of avocado, and broccoli florets are a different texture entirely. Buddha bowls are also a great way to use up leftover vegetables. For example, if you’ve bought a whole cauliflower and have half leftover, grate some cauliflower for a raw rice base, or blanch some florets.
For the dressings, a failsafe mix of mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar and lemon juice works. Alternatively, a dollop of hommus, tzatziki (or any dip really!), or a squeeze of citrus can bring all the ingredients together.
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- Base: choose either black rice, or brown rice and baby spinach as your base
- Protein: add a protein such as honey-soy tofu, salmon fillet, chicken breast topped with dukkah
- Vegetables: choose at least three such as cabbage, radish, broccoli, green beans, avocado, sweet potato, yellow capsicum
Here are four simple combinations with suggested dressings:
Asian inspired red cabbage Buddha Bowl
- Base: Black rice
- Protein: Honey soy marinated tofu
- Vegetables: purple cabbage (finely sliced, raw), edamame (packet, boiled from frozen), radish (finely sliced, raw)
- Dressing: Soy sauce, optional
Salmon and green vegetables Buddha Bowl
- Base: Brown rice and baby spinach
- Protein: Salmon fillet, pan-fried and topped with dukkah
- Vegetables: Broccoli florets (blanched), green beans (raw), avocado slices
- Dressing: lemon wedge, squeezed
Homestyle chicken Buddha Bowl
- Base: Brown rice and baby spinach
- Protein: Chicken breast, pan-fried, topped with dukkah
- Vegetables: sweet potato, cut in 1cm discs, coated in olive oil and baked, broccoli florets, blanched, yellow capsicum, sliced finely, raw, avocado cut into chunky pieces
- Dressing: apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and mayonnaise.
Vegetarian Buddha Bowl
- Base: Brown rice and baby spinach
- Vegetables: yellow capsicum (chunky pieces, raw) red cabbage (finely sliced raw), cherry tomatoes halved, radish cut into ¼ wedges, cucumber cut into ¼ circles, mushrooms cut into ¼ wedges
- Dressing: apple cider vinegar, lemon juice and mayonnaise (alternatively you can you use hommus, tzatziki or beetroot dip, or a splash of citrus)
