Mediterranean Buddha Bowl
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A Mediterranean Buddha bowl packed with fresh veggies, roasted chickpeas and savory flavors. Perfect for a quick lunch or light dinner and easily customizable to one’s liking.
Enjoy Mediterranean flavors on your plate whether you are at home or in your office!
What is a Buddha bowl?
It’s a bowl packed with raw or roasted vegetables, greens, beans, grain and anything that is good for you. You can top your bowl with seeds, nuts and serve it with or without a dressing.
I call it a simple lunch. A leftover lunch idea. You get yourself a bowl and fill it with fresh or roasted ingredients. Add a good dressing or sauce and you are good to go!
How to make a Mediterranean Buddha bowl
Gather the ingredients.
Prepare all kitchen tools and utensils:
- Vegetable peeler.
- Skillet/frying pan – To roast the chickpeas.
- Measuring spoons and cups – Or a scale. That being said. This is a recipe for a Buddha bowl. You don’t really need to measure anything out.
- Small saucepan – So you can cook the couscous.
- Food processor – This is for the tahini dressing. Now, this is only needed when your tahini paste is hard to work with. Using a food processor is an advantage. You will get a smooth sauce without any effort.
- Two serving bowls + forks.
- Cutting board and knife.
The important thing when cooking is to plan the prep as efficiently as possible. Here, we start with pan-roasting the chickpeas. It literally takes about 7 minutes. But be careful because when on high heat, the chickpea starts popping and bursting. If you see this happening, reduce the heat to low.
Then, put couscous cooking. The one I buy takes 4 minutes to cook.
The next thing to do is prepare the rest of the ingredients: Shave the carrot, slice avocado, crumble the Feta cheese and chop cilantro.
The last thing to do is pan-roast the pine nuts. Don’t omit this step. It only takes 2 minutes!
I love serving this with lemon tahini dressing. It does elevate this quick lunch and makes it extra tasty.
You can find all the ingredients and step-by-step instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Why make a Mediterranean bowl?
- Easy lunch
- Quick preparation
- Customizable – make it to your liking
- It’s good for you
Possible substitutions and variations
- Green onion
- Pickled red onion
- Romaine lettuce instead of arugula
- Olives or olive tapenade
- Roasted sweet potato wedges – If you want to go an extra mile and don’t mind spending a little longer in the kitchen.
- Hummus – Have you tried roasted beet hummus? It has a vibrant color and earthy taste.
Serving suggestions
Why not serve this with homemade sweet potato flatbread? Pita or garlic naan bread are also delicious options.
Or, pair this Mediterranean-style Buddha bowl with a light soup. Try vegetable soup or roasted carrot soup!
What is the best sauce/dip?
My favorite is definitely lemon tahini sauce. It has a ton of flavor and pairs so well with this recipe. You can also try tzatziki or red pesto.
What is typical Mediterranean food?
It can be anything from Greek salad to hummus, baba ganoush to steamed mussels or grilled fish. Mediterranean cuisine includes dishes from countries along the Mediterranean Sea such as Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey or France.
More easy lunch recipes:
Mediterranean Buddha Bowl
Ingredients
Buddha bowl:
- ½ cup couscous (90 grams)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (30 grams), see note 1
- 1 cup chickpeas (cooked) 180 grams
- 1 teaspoon paprika (see note 2)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 lemon (divided), see note 3
- 2 carrots (medium)
- 1 avocado (ripe), see note 4
- cilantro (handful or to taste), see note 5
- 3 ounces Feta or to taste (90 grams)
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts or to taste
- arugula to taste
Tahini dressing:
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh)
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (see note 6)
- ¼ cup tahini paste
- ¼ cup water (see note 7)
- fresh cilantro to taste
Instructions
For Buddha bowl:
- Cook the couscous according to the package instructions. When ready set aside.
- In a large skillet/frying pan, melt the butter. Add chickpeas, paprika and salt. Mix well. Reduce heat to medium-low and roast for about 5 minutes before adding juice from ½ lemon. Cook for a further 2 minutes. Note: If the chickpeas start popping/bursting, reduce the heat again.
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel and shave the carrot. Cut the avocado in half, remove the stone and skin. Slice each half thinly. Finely slice cilantro and crumble the Feta cheese.
- In a skillet/frying pan, dry-toast pine nuts on medium-high heat for about 2 minutes tossing them once or twice. Set aside.
Tahini dressing:
- Transfer all the ingredients to a food processor. Process for about 30 seconds or until smooth and creamy.
- Divide all the ingredients between 2 bowls and enjoy with tahini dressing.
Notes
- You can use salted butter as well. If you do, omit the salt or reduce its quantity.
- I used sweet (regular) paprika but you can use smoked paprika as well.
- The quantity of lemon juice will depend on how juicy the lemon is. Count with ½ lemon for the chickpea and rest for the tahini dressing. If the lemon is not juicy enough, you might need slightly more.
- Use 1 large or 2 small avocados. Or, as many as you like. One medium is also plenty for 2 people.
- I like to add a lot of cilantro, but this is completely optional. If you don’t like this herb, use fresh flat-leaf parsley instead. Don’t substitute with dried herbs.
- Extra virgin olive oil is the best option here. If you don’t have one on hand, you can use regular olive oil, but don’t substitute with other oils.
- You might add more water, if the dressing is too thick to your liking.
- This recipe is easily customizable. You can use any ingredients you like. For more ideas or different sauce options/toppings check the post above this recipe card.
That looks delicious!
Thank you! :)
That’s a nice looking Buddha bowl! I actually have a Buddha bowl post all set up for next week too. It’s the time of year for healthy eating! I like your addition of the buckwheat – that grain doesn’t get enough love. And I adore spiced chickpeas, so that would be perfect for me. :)
Thank you, Annemarie! I must check out your Buddha bowl so :)! Yeah, I am a huge chickpea fan so I put it literally everywhere (well, this does not mean it works everywhere, haha)!