Imagine enjoying this for lunch: a big healthy buddha bowl with a slightly sweet mango coconut brown rice, sesame roasted sweet potatoes & broccoli, and topped off with an orange sesame almond butter dressing. Yeahhhhh, you’re so down.
So, we’re in the middle of packing up all of our dishes and just realized I have nothing left to eat off of. As in I literally scarfed down yesterday’s lunch with my hands. When you’re in the privacy of your own home, what does hot sauce all over your hands matter anyway?
Now, if you want to be a little fancier then me and show off how delicious you can make your lunch, you should 100% try these beautiful buddha bowls that I’ve created in partnership with my grocery delivery service friends at Peapod.
First you might be wondering, what the hell is a buddha bowl? I was curious too so I took myself on a Google discovery mission (aka just searched on the internets). Here’s what I’ve come up with: Buddha bowls are nourishing foods filled in a bowl that resembles a Buddha belly. Most of the time buddha bowls are vegan or vegetarian, contain a grain and veggies then finished with a sweet or spicy dressing.
Sign me up!
You may have noticed that I’ve been posting more vegan recipes lately. It isn’t because I’m turning vegan, but rather that I appreciate a plant-based diet very much. I love fueling my body with vegetarian-based, nutritious foods and finding vegan sources of protein (outside of soy!).
In our home, we try and eat vegetarian and/or vegan at least twice a week. I’ll admit that it’s lovely having a boyfriend who is willing to try anything I put in front of him. He even ate my lentil meatloaf with a smile on his face. Heh.
MEAL PREPPIN’ LIKE A BOSS.
Meal prep is life changing. It just requires a little time between meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking. However all the time is worth it, especially when it helps you achieve a healthier lifestyle or enables you to stick to your food-related goals.
A buddha bowl is wonderful for meal prep. You can make everything one evening, then pack it in individual containers and reheat throughout the week for lunch. If you’re feeling like you need a boost of protein, add 1/2 cup of black beans or 4 oz of grilled chicken breast.
Okay, hope you LOVE this buddha bowl as much as I did. Oh and that almond butter dressing can easily be made into a peanut butter dressing. Just sayin’. xo!
If you make these, I’d love to see your creation — simply upload a pic to Instagram and tag #ambitiouskitchen!
More healthy meal prep recipes to try:
Kung Pao Chickpea & Brussels Sprouts Stir-Fry
One Pan Thai Coconut Yellow Curry Chicken & Rice
Better Than Chipotle DIY Chicken Burrito Bowls
Vegan Macadamia Coconut Tofu Bowls
Thai Peanut Coconut Cauliflower Chickpea Curry
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Vegan Sweet Potato Buddha Bowls with Almond Butter Dressing
Ingredients
- For the roasted veggies:
- 1 large head of broccoli, cut into florets
- 2 medium to large sweet potatoes, diced into small cubes
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (or olive oil)
- Salt and pepper
- For the mango coconut rice:
- 2 teaspoons unrefined coconut oil
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk or almond coconut milk (from the carton)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
- 1 large ripe mango, diced
- For the almond butter dressing:
- 1/4 cup natural creamy almond butter
- 3-4 tablespoons fresh orange juice, to thin
- 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (or melted coconut oil or olive oil)
- To garnish: Fresh green onions, cilantro and/or toasted sesame seeds.
Instructions
- To make the brown rice: Place a medium pot over medium high heat and add in coconut oil and brown rice. Toast rice with the coconut oil for 5 minutes; stirring frequently to toast the rice and infused the coconut oil flavor in.
- After 5 minutes add in water and coconut milk and bring mixture to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, remove heat, stir with a fork and fluff rice, then recover and let stand for 10 more minutes. Once done, stir in mango and season with a little bit of salt.
- While the rice is cooking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper OR generously grease with olive oil. Set aside.
- Place diced sweet potatoes in a bowl and microwave for 3-4 minutes to help pre-cook them.
- Place broccoli florets, sweet potato cubes minced garlic on baking sheet. Drizzle sesame oil over the top of the veggies and toss to combine. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender, stirring veggies & potatoes halfway through.
- While the veggies roast: make the dressing by whisking together almond butter, orange juice, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar and sesame oil. Taste and adjust as you see fit.
- To assemble the bowls or do meal prep: Add about 3/4 cup of rice to each bowl/container then top with roasted veggies (distribute evenly) and about 1 1/2 tablespoons of the dressing. Top with green onions, cilantro and toasted sesame seeds, if desired. Serves 4.
Nutrition
This recipe is in partnership with Peapod, a brand I trust. Thanks for supporting brands that help make this site possible! You can see more of my recipes on FromthePod.com.
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Sarah Fennel // Broma Bakery
50 comments
LOVE Buddha Bowls! These look awesome. That almond butter dressing though…YES.
BOWLS BOWLS BOWLS.
Ohh this sounds absolutely delicious!
I still haven’t gotten on the buddha bowl train but I definitely need to start!
I totally agree that meal prepping can change your life. I always eat way healthier when I have healthy choices prepped and waiting for me. This buddha bowl looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it! Good luck with all that packing.
I love Buddha bowls because they’re so easy and customizeable! Meal prepping Buddha bowls could not be a better and more convenient idea! Sweet potatoes with an almond butter dressing sounds amazing!
I love Buddha Bowls! I think if my family sits down to one more thing resembling a buddha bowl there may be a mutiny, but what they don’t realize is that I love Buddha bowls because they are so customizable! Almost everyone in our house is a member of the picky eaters club, so a meal that allows them to add only the things they want is a giant WIN! The wonders of coconut rice is something I only recently discovered. Your addition of Mango is pretty brilliant. Will try very very soon! Yummmmmm!
I’m going to try to make this. My question was 1) should it frozen with the dressing already drizzled on top? and if so 2) what’s the best way to reheat this from a frozen state? Should it just be refrigerated instead?
I just made this and followed your directions to a “t”. While the taste was wonderful, there were a few things that were “off”. First of all, the broccoli roasts a lot quicker than the sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes were still hard after 30 minutes, but the broccoli was starting to brown. I had to cook the sweet potatoes another 10 minutes. By this time, the broccoli was a bit burned. Secondly, the almond butter sauce was as thick as paste! The liquid called for (the orange juice, maple syrup, apple cider vinegar & sesame oil) were not enough to thin the almond butter. I ended up opening a can of coconut milk and using that to thin out the sauce. I also want to point out to anyone interested in making this dish, that it requires a lot of prep work. Give yourself plenty of time to make this dish!
Oh no! Did you slice your sweet potatoes small enough? It always takes around 20 minutes for me, but the trick is to make sure the pan isn’t overcrowded with veggies. Also I use a natural super runny almond butter — I wonder if that’s why it wasn’t as thin? Anyway sorry that it took so long! I will make again and investigate. 🙂
I just made this and while the taste was very yummy, there are a few things I have to point out. First of all, this dish takes a lot of prep work. Make sure you give yourself enough time! Secondly, the broccoli roasts a lot quicker than the sweet potatoes. The potatoes were still hard after 30 min. I had to cook the veggies another 10 min and then the broccoli was a little burned. Next time, I will roast the sweet potatoes first for 10 min., then add the broccoli. Also, the sauce at the end was impossibly thick, even with the liquid added. I don’t know how in the world your almond butter thinned out with this little bit of liquid. I opened up a can of coconut milk and added that a little at a time (probably ended up using about 1/8 cup) to thin the almond butter concoction out. Turned out, it tasted wonderful with the coconut milk!
I made this and it came out perfect. This is such a delicious recipe! I cut the sweet potato into small cubes so that it could cook at the same speed as the broccoli. I think one of the tricks is to give the veggies a stir a few times as they’re baking. I only had a thick almond butter at home so I microwaved it for about 30 seconds and it came out nice and creamy. My almond butter also had honey it is so I skipped the maple syrup. Yummy!!
Amazing recipe! I subbed in honey for the maple syrup. The combo of the mango, coconut rice and roasted veggies (plus the sauce!!) was so nourishing. Will definitely make again soon.
So good! I made it with Lee’s leftover coconut quinoa and it was delicious. I make this every few weeks and it’s always good!
YUM! This recipe has such a variety of flavours going on! Mango sticky rice—YUM. Roasted sweet potato and broccoli with garlic—YUM! (Yes, you need to dice the potatoes into very small cubes!) And the dressing—well, I can’t have almonds, so I used sunflower butter (also, it was the only nut butter in my cupboard), but it still worked well! I added a splash of gluten-free soy sauce and touch of sriracha—and, you guessed it, YUM! I won’t mind eating this for a few days in a row. And I will most certainly make it again! Thanks!
The only thing I would do different with this recipe is either use a different sauce or skip the sauce altogether. I did not like the almond butter orange juice combination at all. For me, all I could taste was the orange juice which took away from the rest of the dish. Other than that, the buddha bowl wasn’t bad.
That was absolutely amazingly delicious! I made it as soon as I read the recipe and have just eaten a bowl, a buddha bowl hehe of it 😉
Will be on list of must haves in the fridge from now on 🙂
Thank you SO much for sharing.
Amazing! It’s one of my favorite meal preps. Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Made this last night. Recently going vegetarian and having a meat eating boyfriend that will thankfully eat anything I put in front of him, we were looking for something a little different. And that dressing was it!!! I never ever would have put those ingredients together but wow.. I am happy I did! Cheers.
So glad you both enjoyed! It’s a great (and surprising) combo!
I added some vegan mayo to the dressing- yum.
Made a big batch and prepped all our lunches for the week.
Oo interesting combo! Perfect for weekday lunches 🙂
I made this for the first time tonight. It was delicious and even my meat-loving hubby enjoyed it. I found the tip of pre-cooking the sweet potatoes helped everything to be finished at the same time. This was an easy recipe to make and had maximum flavor. Thanks!
Can I ask why you specify to use coconut milk in the carton? What’s the difference between the stuff in the carton vs. the can?
Coconut milk from a can tends to be thicker than in a carton, especially if you get the full-fat kind.
Another winner! <— Not a shocker 🙂
This was perfect for meal prepping. Prepped several dishes yesterday and this was for lunch today. I really loved the flavors. Hubby even called to say that he really enjoyed it…….he usually “reports” on his lunch when he gets home. I had no issues with the sweet potatoes not being done – just be sure to par-cook before roasting with the broccoli. If you do not want to use a microwave (not really my thing), just put the diced sweet potatoes in the oven first for about 20-25 mins, then add the broccoli.
At first I was unsure of how the dressing would be – the orange juice kind of made me nervous. I squeezed the juice from an orange (as opposed to purchased OJ) and it was perfect! It needed that acidity and complemented with the sweetness of the mango, but did not overpower. I am tempted to make more of the drizzle, but I would totally eat it all, it is that good.
I’m so happy you guys both loved this one! Great tip on the sweet potatoes 🙂 That dressing is delicious on SO many things!
Made this – fabulous. I followed your recipe exactly and thought it was quick and easy. I will say that I used a very creamy almond butter and I stirred it up with a fork to get that really yummy creamy consistency. Thank you for the recipe!
So happy to hear that! Perfect for meal prep.
WOW! I made this as a meal prep for lunch this week and am so excited about how it came out. I used pineapple instead of mango (mangos weren’t ripe enough/not in season at the grocery store right now). I cooked the sweet potatoes and broccoli on separate trays, the sweet potatoes took me about 35 minutes to cook and I took the broccoli out at 20 minutes. I also doubled the recipe for the dressing, might have been a little bit aggressive, but bottled it up and have it for the week for other toppings! It’s super delicious!
Amazing! Love this one for meal prep, and pineapple sounds delicious.
Love this recipe! I add ginger in with the sweet potatoes and broccoli to roast in the oven. Plus I take some liberties with the almond butter dressing adding more sesame oil because I love the flavor! Keep the delicious recipes coming!
That sounds delicious! Glad you love this one. Plenty more delicious recipes to come!
Looks yummy! Any substitutes for the almond butter sauce? I have a but allergy but would love to find an alternative!
I’d suggest using tahini or cashew butter, or trying this sauce – yum!
very good
Glad you enjoyed!
I just made this for a meal prep and I love it! I forgot to add the mango, but I don’t think you need it. Thanks for a great bowl.
Delicious! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I enjoyed this and give it a 7/10. The only changes I made was to add 0.5 tsp of Liquid Soy Seasoning and a shot of hot sauce.
Glad you liked it!
This is quite possibly my new favourite dish. It is incredibly flavourful. I used froz n mangos chunks and coconut milk from a carton to keep the fat content a little lower. The dressing…🤤
Seriously thank you, thank you!! ♥️
Oh and substituted the brown rice for basmati out of necessity. Just lovely!
Amazing! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
This recipe was so delicious!! All the flavors came so perfectly together. I feel like I could eat that rice with anything- fish, other veggies etc. The almond butter sauce was also so GOOD!! I added in a bit more orange juice in since I loved the flavor of it. Will definitely make again!!
Absolutely! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 glad you enjoyed!
This is in regular rotation at our house, we all love it! Thanks for a great recipe.
Yay!! So happy you guys love it, Michelle!
I made this recipe for my family and was worried my plant-based flavor profile wouldn’t fit their palates. It was a total hit! The only thing I’d do next time is double the recipe, as it wasn’t quite enough for our family of four.
I’m SO glad they all loved it — yay! Good to know about the amount & great call to double it 🙂