Rainbow Buddha Bowl With Quinoa (Printable)

A vibrant nourishing bowl with fluffy quinoa, colorful fresh vegetables, chickpeas, and creamy tahini dressing for a wholesome satisfying meal.

# What You Need:

→ Grains

01 - 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
02 - 2 cups water
03 - 1/2 teaspoon salt

→ Protein

04 - 1 cup cooked chickpeas, drained

→ Vegetables

05 - 1 cup red cabbage, thinly sliced
06 - 1 cup carrots, julienned
07 - 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
08 - 1 cup yellow bell pepper, sliced
09 - 1 cup cucumber, sliced
10 - 1 cup fresh baby spinach

→ Healthy Fats and Toppings

11 - 1 ripe avocado, sliced
12 - 2 tablespoons toasted pumpkin seeds
13 - 2 tablespoons sesame seeds

→ Dressing

14 - 3 tablespoons tahini
15 - 2 tablespoons lemon juice
16 - 1 tablespoon maple syrup
17 - 2 tablespoons water, plus more as needed
18 - 1 clove garlic, minced
19 - Salt and black pepper to taste

# How-To Steps:

01 - Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add rinsed quinoa and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes until water is absorbed. Remove from heat, let rest 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
02 - While quinoa cooks, slice red cabbage thinly, julienne carrots, halve cherry tomatoes, slice bell pepper and cucumber into uniform pieces, and slice avocado.
03 - In a small bowl, whisk together tahini, lemon juice, maple syrup, minced garlic, 2 tablespoons water, salt, and black pepper until smooth. Gradually add more water as needed to achieve desired consistency.
04 - Divide cooked quinoa evenly among 4 bowls. Arrange chickpeas, red cabbage, carrots, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, spinach, and avocado in colorful sections on top of quinoa.
05 - Drizzle each bowl with tahini dressing. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds over top. Serve immediately.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • It's a puzzle you actually want to solve, where every bite hits different depending on what vegetables you catch.
  • You can make it once and eat it four times without getting bored because the flavors shift with each component.
  • The tahini dressing is so good you'll find yourself drizzling it on literally everything else you cook.
  • It's forgiving enough that you can swap vegetables based on what's in your fridge without losing the magic.
02 -
  • If your quinoa turns out gummy, you either didn't rinse it well enough or you cooked it too long, keep the lid on during cooking so steam does the work instead of you stirring it constantly.
  • The avocado is the only thing that will betray you if you're not paying attention, slice it at the last possible moment or toss it with a squeeze of lemon juice to keep it from browning.
  • Make the dressing first while the quinoa is cooking so it has time to meld and deepen in flavor, it's even better if you let it sit for ten minutes.
03 -
  • Toast your sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds in a dry pan for just two minutes before assembling, this unlocks a nuttiness that makes people ask what you did differently.
  • Use the best lemon you can find because you can really taste it in the dressing, a mealy supermarket lemon will let you down.
  • If tahini seems too expensive, try Middle Eastern grocery stores where it's often a quarter of the price and twice as fresh.
Go Back