It’s now March and after a few months of winter it appears I’m going crazy. Why? Well, you can now add roasted cauliflower to my list of strange-but-true late winter food cravings. Weird, I know. Cauliflower has never been high on my list of comfort food vegetables, but for some reason I just couldn’t get the idea of a creamy roasted cauliflower recipe out of my mind. So I made a creamy cashew-based lemon tahini sauce and mixed it with roasted chickpeas, cauliflower, and broccoli. Doesn’t that just sound dreamy?
I may have just lost half of you, but hear me out; if you’ve never been a fan of cauliflower (or broccoli) this just might be the recipe that changes your mind. It turned my husband into a believer and I hope it does for you too.
To make this simple dish a meal, I roasted some chickpeas to go along with it. The roasted chickpeas add a nice crunch to this mix and of course pair so well with the creamy sauce. Eric has recently discovered that the texture of roasted chickpeas is so much better than unroasted. So guess what we’ve been doing a lot lately? Yup, roasting chickpeas. This dish would also be wonderful served over a bed of grains if you are feeling so inclined. I planned on serving this with millet, proceeded to forget about it on the stove, and scorched the heck out of it. Figures.
The temperature is slowly climbing here in Southern Ontario and like many of you, we’re anxiously awaiting spring’s arrival. In the meantime, I’ll be celebrating “springing forward” on March 10th which will mean daylight until just after 7pm. Major progress!!
Roasted Buddha Bowl
Yield
3 to 4 servings
Soak time
8 hours
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
If you think you’re not a fan of cauliflower or broccoli, this might just be the recipe that changes your mind. Roasted to perfection and served with an addictive (seriously, addictive) cashew-based garlic lemon tahini sauce, these veggies get downright dreamy. The addition of roasted chickpeas boosts the dish to a full-blown meal, and lends it a delightful crunch, too. I love serving it on a bed of warm quinoa. Pro tip: The dressing recipe makes only half a cup (125 mL), so if you’re someone who likes a lot of dressing with your bowls (or even a versatile dressing for workweek lunches!), I recommend doubling it.
Ingredients
For the bowl:
- 1 large head broccoli, chopped (5 to 6 cups/325g to 390g)
- 1 large head cauliflower, chopped (5 to 6 cups/400g to 480g)
- 1 (14-ounce/398 mL) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon (20 mL) olive oil
- Fine sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Cooked grains (such as quinoa) (optional)
For the dressing:
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) tahini
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup (20 g) nutritional yeast
- 6 tablespoons (90 mL) water, or more if needed
Directions
- Soak cashews in a bowl of water overnight or for at least 8 hours. For a quick-soak method, pour boiling water over the cashews and let sit in the bowl for at least 45 minutes. Drain.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the chopped broccoli and cauliflower onto one baking sheet. (If it doesn’t all fit on one, you can add some onto the second sheet.) Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil and toss until coated. Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Place into the oven.
- Place a tea towel on the counter and spread out the drained chickpeas. Fold the sides of the towel over the chickpeas to cover, and roll the chickpeas around until dry. Transfer chickpeas onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon oil and roll around the chickpeas with your hands until they are fully coated. Sprinkle with salt and place into the oven.
- Roast the broccoli, cauliflower, and chickpeas for 25 to 30 minutes, until the broccoli and cauliflower are lightly browned and the chickpeas are golden. (At the halfway mark you can give the chickpea pan a gentle shake to roll them around in the pan.)
- Meanwhile, add all of the dressing ingredients into a blender and blend on high speed until smooth. If you are cooking grains, such as quinoa, cook them now, too.
- Plate the cooked grains (if using), and top with the roasted broccoli, cauliflower, and chickpeas. Drizzle on a generous amount of dressing. Season with salt and pepper, and any desired spices (I like to add smoked paprika and/or cayenne pepper, too).
- If you have leftover dressing, it will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge in a sealed container. The dressing will thicken as it sits (especially when chilled), so you can add more water to thin out as necessary, or simply allow it to come to room temperature before serving. Any leftover grains, chickpeas, and veggies will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a few days. I tend to reheat them in a skillet with some oil over medium heat.
Tip:
Need a nut-free dressing? Try this Lemon Tahini dressing on for size.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
The first time I made this dish I was so hungry (and the dish was so tasty!) I ate almost the entire dish straight from the mixing bowl with a fork. My camera wasn’t quick enough for me this time! That’s when I came up with the name Buddha Bowl because I was rocking a Buhhda-like belly the rest of the day. Note to self: if you eat an entire head of cauliflower in one sitting you will pay the consequences. Carry on.
I made this last night and it was delicious. Only change I made was to substitute hummus for tahini, simply because I didn’t have the latter. Excellent dish.
I made this for dinner last night. It was amazing! The whole family loved it!
Tried this last weekend as a side-dish (no grains) and my while gang LOVED it! It was surprisingly filling, but surprisingly delicious. Especially the cheeze sauce, which I used a double portion of :P
Oh yeah! I discovered this blog only recently, so taking a page from The Doctor I have been doing a little Time Traveling, discovering things I had missed. I totally understand the roasted cauliflower craving – I just had it a couple days ago. Happily my local farm stand was able to supply me with a beautiful head. I proceeded to roast it along with some thickly sliced red onion and a head of garlic. Bliss! Now I have to try this! My love of broccoli goes deep – I particularly like a rough-chopped raw salad like I made a couple days ago, which came out like a weird green second cousin of a Waldorf salad – I ate it for three days and never got bored! Now I must give this version of broccoli a shot. Roasting changes it into a whole new veggie, and with my cauliflower and then adding the chickpeas… Heaven ;-)
I just made this for my family, 4 giant thumbs up! Including from my 3 yr old and 1 yr old who were begging me for more veggies!! Sending a giant cyber hug your way for getting my boys to happily eat their veggies AND ask for more :)
Can I freeze the broccoli/cauliflower in serving size bags after preparing?
I made this for dinner tonight and almost cried it was so good.
Love your blog! It has inspired me to cook again after falling off the wagon!
I made this last night and it was so good! My first experience with nutritional yeast and I was delighted with the results. In fact I loved the sauce so much I made up another double batch today just to have on hand! I’m hoping to find more delicious recipes like this one to make my transition to vegan an easy one. :)
Just made this and my husband and I loved it! Makes a great weekday meal with leftovers for lunch!
I can’t wait to try this out. In fact I’m going to make it this weekend.
My 4yo son loves broccoli, to the point that he will try and eat it raw. As soon as the bags hit the kitchen floor he is straight in there tearing open the bag to get at it.
In fact now I say that out loud as it were it does sound a little weird.lol
Perhaps we should have him checked out…
Dave.
I’ve had this recipe bookmarked since the day it was posted, but I never seem to get around to making it because everything looks so good except for the sauce.
Because I hate tahini. I’ve tried it so many times, and the only time I don’t hate it is when it’s in store bought hummus. Whenever I try to use even the smallest amount in anything that I make, it tastes horrible. Would leaving it out completely negate the purpose of making that sauce? Is there a different sauce you could recommend?
Thanks!
When I make the sauce I add avocado instead of cashews. When I add a whole avocado, a bit more lemon and extra water to thin it out to the consistancy I like you can’t even taste the tahini. It’s still sooo good! If I were you I would use it just maybe half of it instead of a whole tbs. You should really try this dish. It is worth playing around with a bit.
You could just replace it with whatever nut butter you have on hand. I imagine almond or cashew would work well. Really, I’m sure any seed or nut butter you prefer would be totally fine.
Since finding this recipe two months ago I have made this every week at least twice. It is soooooo good!!!!! I put 1/2 an avocado in instead of cashews so need more water for the consistancy I like but other than that I stick to the recipe. Just finished my second bowl this week and I want another! Thanks for your blog. I love how your recipes have evolved over the years.
Thank you for your recipes! I have recently had to go vegan and gluten-free for health purposes and have been floundering a bit with what to make. Everything I’ve tried from your site has been wonderful. I made this bowl tonight and it was AMAZING! If I hadn’t made it with quinoa and felt completely stuffed, I could’ve eaten the whole bowl. Thank you again!
I was looking for an ‘antidote’ to all of the heavy holiday eating we have been doing, and luckily I had all the ingredients for the buddha bowl on hand. I just made it, and it is AWESOME. Thank you for another delicious, satisfying, healthy recipe! Happy New Year!
This looks yummy! I’m not a big fan of Tahini – could I leave it out or replace it with something else? Thoughts? Thank you!
I just made this tonight .. you are actually amazing Angela thank you!!
any good replacements for nutritional yeast? I meal planned for the week but missed this ingredient. =( and I’m making it tonight!
I was wondering what type of cashews you use in this recipe, it doesn’t specify. I would guess raw because you have to soak them. I bought “roasted” and am soaking them now. Wondering if I even need to because they’re already roasted? Also, I bought Bragg’s nutritional yeast “seasoning”. The ingredients seem the same as normal nutritional yeast, I’m just thrown off because it says “seasoning”. I’m new to these vegan type ingredients, and just was wondering if you could help me understand. Thank you!!
So I made this recipe 2 nights ago for dinner & my husband & I thoroughly enjoyed! Only comment on it is re: leftovers. We reheated the leftovers tonight & it tasted really funny! Has anyone else had this experience? Maybe if I don’t put the dressing on the leftovers? It had a really strong/pungent taste that wasn’t very pleasant. If others have also experienced this, might be worthwhile to add a note about storing the leftover veggies/dressing separately?
This was so yummy!! I used adzuki beans and I would probably try a lot of different sauces with this. Very easy and delicious!