Sweet Potato & Tofu Buddha Bowl

This sweet potato and tofu Buddha bowl is one of my family’s favorite weeknight meals. It’s quick, easy, you can use what you have, and my kids love it. You can see why it’s a weekly staple!

This sweet potato and tofu Buddha bowl is also a super healthy meal and incredibly delicious. The foundation of this grain bowl is brown rice, but you could certainly use quinoa instead. One of the best parts of Buddha bowls is the flexibility with ingredients. You can swap a yellow bell pepper for red, switch up purple cabbage for green, you get the idea. This is a great, whatever is left in the fridge kind of night meal.

Perfect Kid Food

Nourishing Buddha bowls make great meals for kids. We serve this buffet style. I hand my kids a bowl with rice and tofu, and they get to choose their toppings. I really don’t care what they choose because everything is healthy, but they get to make their own choices. This gives them a sense of control over what they put into their bodies, and you wouldn’t believe how much they eat. One caveat: this only works when kids are used to eating fruits and veggies and know that they can’t skip dinner and get “yummier” processed snacks instead. Help your kids make healthy food decisions!

What is a Buddha Bowl?

Buddha bowl is actually a new term, according to The Veganary, “in 2013, in her book Meatless, Martha Stewart coined the term ‘Buddha Bowl’ for what had been called until then hippie bowls, macro bowls or just plain grain bowls”. Who knew? Thanks, Martha!

However they got their name, I love the idea of a whole meal in a bowl where all the flavors are combined with a simple sauce. Plus buddha bowls are super simple to make, the hardest part is cooking the rice. Seriously! I do like to use an air fryer to cook both the sweet potato and tofu. You could also cook them on the stove, but note that the cooking time will be about double for the sweet potato. Otherwise the rest of the ingredients are raw and just need to be chopped up, easy peasy!

The Secret Sauce

I like to eat my sweet potato and tofu buddha bowl with homemade vegan satay peanut sauce, but my husband and kids just keep it simple and eat it with only tamari (soy sauce). You do you, that’s what’s so great about these bowls! This easy peanut sauce recipe is quick to make in a blender. I do like my peanut sauce less sweet than most. This recipe has a hint of sweet but it is definitely not anywhere near as sweet as what you’d find in a restaurant. You can always add more maple syrup if you prefer.

Now let’s get buddha bowling! Sounds like a fun game doesn’t it?

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Sweet Potato and Tofu Buddha Bowl

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This sweet potato and tofu buddha bowl is loaded with veggies, air-fried tofu, brown rice, and a yummy peanut sauce. It’s a delicious and nutritious whole meal made in under 30 minutes!

• Author: Erica
• Prep Time: 8
• Cook Time: 22
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings 1x
• Category: Plant based
• Method: Air-fryer
• Cuisine: Healthy
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups of brown rice
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into chunks
• 14oz pack of extra firm tofu, pressed and cubed
• 1 tablespoon tamari (gluten free soy sauce)
• 1 yellow, orange, or red bell pepper
• 1 cucumber
• 1 fresh mango, peeled and chopped into chunks (frozen ok)
• Purple cabbage, shredded
• 2 avocados, sliced
• 2 cups vegan satay peanut sauce

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Instructions

1. Cook the rice according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
2. While the rice is cooking, put the sweet potato in the air fryer. Cook the sweet potato for about 11 minutes at 400 degrees in the air fryer.
3. While the rice and sweet potatos are cooking, chop up the rest of the rest of the veggies: bell pepper, cucumber, mango, purple cabbage, and avocados.
4. Once the sweet potato is cooked, remove it from the air fryer and then cook the tofu in the air fryer. Toss the tofu with a little tamari before adding it to the air fryer. Cook the tofu for 11 minutes at 400 degrees.
5. Assemble the bowls! Start with some rice, then add sweet potato, tofu, bell pepper, cucumber, mango, purple cabbage, and avocado. Drizzle the peanut sauce on top. Dinner’s ready!

Notes

Make extra! This is great as leftovers.