Rainbow Bowl With Tahini Sauce
A rainbow bowl is a nourishing bowl with colorful veggies that resemble the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow veggie bowls are the perfect way to add more vegetables to your weekly meals.
Looking for more bowls? Try my shrimp poke bowl, salmon rice bowl, or buffalo chicken rice bowl.
What You’ll Love About This Recipe
Ingredients
To make a rainbow Buddha bowl, choose from any of the following ingredients:
- The base (optional) – choose one of the following: cooked brown rice, white rice, black rice, quinoa, noodles, or leafy greens.
- Red – choose one of the following: red pepper, cherry tomatoes, beets, or radishes.
- Orange – choose one of the following: roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash or pumpkin, or orange bell pepper.
- Yellow – choose one of the following: golden beets, yellow cherry tomatoes, yellow bell pepper, summer squash, skillet blackened corn, gold potatoes,
- Green – choose one of the following: cucumber, zucchini, green beans, sugar snap peas, green onions, avocado, fresh basil leaves, cilantro, or fresh dill.
- Blue/indigo/violet – choose one of the following: purple cabbage (also referred to as red cabbage), purple sweet potatoes, eggplant, purple carrots, purple cauliflower, or olives.
- Tahini lime sauce – olive oil, tahini, nutritional yeast, lime juice, dijon mustard, raw honey, kosher salt, black pepper, and cold water.
How to Make A Rainbow Bowl: Step By Step
Here are some quick visual instructions. The full instructions and ingredient list will be in the printable recipe card below!
1. Make the dressing. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Add more water as needed to thin the sauce until you reach your desired consistency. Season to taste with kosher salt.
2. Assemble the bowls. Assemble the bowls with your colorful ingredients and drizzle the sauce over the top.
Helpful Tips
- Reduce the cost. Use many of the same ingredients as other meals in your weekly plan to reduce costs. Because you’ll be eating the vegetables with a different sauce, it won’t taste like you’re eating the same thing over and over.
- Switch up the sauce. Other sauces that would be delicious are peanut sauce, spicy cashew dressing, creamy lemon miso dressing, or sun dried tomato vinaigrette.
Quick Tip: Use a variety of vegetables – a mix of roasted and fresh veggies for the best texture.
Storage
Store the vegetables and sauce in separate airtight containers until ready to serve. Consume within 5 days.
Make It Your Way: Substitutions & Variations
Please remember that recipes are just a starting point.
How can you make this rainbow bowl recipe using what you already have? Here are some ideas…
- No lime juice? – use lemon juice.
- No nutritional yeast? – use 2 tablespoons of reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari for a similar umami flavor.
- No honey? – use maple syrup.
- Add protein – such as tofu strips, jammy eggs, edamame, cooked sausage, or chicken to make it more filling.
- Add a crispy topping – such as pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, baked crispy chickpeas, crispy quinoa, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Rainbow bowl is any kind of grain bowl with a variety of vegetables, some type of protein, and a sauce.
Rainbow bowls go by many names such as Buddha bowls, macro bowls, nourish bowls, dragon bowls, etc. Balance is a key Buddhist concept and because these types of bowls present a balanced meal, that’s where the name comes from.
More Bowls
I hope you love this Rainbow Bowl! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment & a star rating so I know how you liked it!
Rainbow Bowl With Tahini Sauce
Ingredients
Rainbow Bowl
- 3 cups cooked rice, quinoa, or leafy greens
- 1 ½ cups red vegetables see notes below for ideas
- 1 ½ cups orange vegetables see notes below for ideas
- 1 ½ cups yellow vegetables see notes below for ideas
- 1 ½ cups green vegetables see notes below for ideas
- 1 ½ cups purple vegetables see notes below for ideas
- cooked protein of choice edamame, jammy eggs, cooked sausage, chicken, or tofu
Tahini Sauce
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup tahini
- ¼ cup lime juice
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons raw honey
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons cold water plus more as needed to thin
- kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Prep. Cut the vegetables into bite size pieces if they aren't already.
- Make the dressing. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time as needed to thin the sauce until your desired consistency is reached. Season to taste with kosher salt and more freshly cracked black pepper as needed.
- Assemble the bowls. Divide the vegetables, cooked grain or greens, and protein of choice between 4 bowls. Pour the dressing over and toss to combine.
Lindsey, these recipes look so good. Once I get over the pancreatic infection I’m dealing with now, I’m going to try these recipes. Thank you😍. Carol Gamell