A delightfully refreshing and seasonal dish, this vegan-friendly spring vegetable buddha bowl is packed with seasonal veggies, tofu and a minty creamy cashew dressing. A delightfully refreshing and seasonal dish, this vegan-friendly spring vegetable buddha bowl is packed with seasonal veggies, tofu and a minty creamy cashew dressing. I like Buddha bowls. The concept is simple and customizable. Choose a grain base. Add veggies of choice. Add tofu, beans, lentils, etc. Some nuts, seeds or avo for good measure. And top with a sauce. Always with a sauce. I created a fall seasonal Buddha bowl last year complete with apples, kale and butternut squash and it was so popular that Buzzfeed featured it in their Buddha bowl recipe round-up! So I figured why not create a spring version of the Buddha bowl to celebrate the bounty of spring produce that’s available right now.

Oh, Spring. We love you for your strawberries, rhubarb, radishes, asparagus, artichokes, sugar snap peas, watercress and so much more. This bowl is an ode to you. You and your moderate 50-60 degree weather. You and your flowers in bloom. Buds on trees. Blades of green shooting up from the ground. Gosh, after months of winter, I just can’t. get. enough. Spring Vegetable Buddha BowlYou can give a shout-out to spring too by making this dish. Steve and I are traveling a TON this month. In fact, I counted the nights that the two of us are home together and I got six. SIX nights together. Good thing we had three weeks together in Asia leading up to this craziness! Since Steve’s been away the last couple weeks traveling for work, I’ve been making bowls for myself and eating up the leftovers for lunch during the week. This was one of those bowls.

It came in perfect handy this week as I’m gearing up for three weeks of more or less straight travel and have lots of work to do, packing and getting things in order before I jet off. Where am I heading? First to Turks & Caicos with my family. My Dad beat cancer earlier this year and so this trip is to celebrate him kicking cancer’s ass and it happens to fall on Mother’s Day weekend so of course celebrating our awesome momma too. Then I go straight to NYC for an immersion event at Stone Barns Center. Yes Stone Barns as in Blue Hill. As in Dan Barber. As in #11 restaurant in the world. Can you tell I’m just a weeee bit excited?? This place has been on my bucket list the past few years after watching Barber on Chef’s Table. More to come on that immersion event soon! Then I come home for a couple nights and jet off to NOLA for Today’s Dietitian Symposium. Come home for a couple nights and head off once again for Buffalo to visit my….NEPHEW!!! Yes, I’m an Auntie as of last Friday and couldn’t be more in love and excited to meet the little guy. And then it’s June. Bye, May, it’s been real. 🙂Spring Vegetable Buddha Bowl (vegan)You best believe I’m going to be relying on all the grain and protein-packed bowls to get me through the next few weeks of craziness. You can of course follow along with my travels on IG with stories or #TFDTravels.

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Vegan Spring Buddha Bowl with Minty Cashew Dressing


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  • Yield: Serves 3-4 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the bowl:

  • 1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed
  • 1 bunch radishes, stems removed and radishes halved
  • 8 ounces sugar snap peas
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup dry quinoa
  • 14 ounce package extra-firm tofu, drained and pressed, cut into 3/4-inch slices
  • 1 tablespoon sweet white miso paste
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons honey or sugar

For the dressing:

  • 1 cup cashews, soaked in 3 cups water for at least two hours
  • 1 tablespoon chopped mint
  • 1 tablespoon minced shallot (about 1/2 shallot)
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 1 clove garlic)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Spread out asparagus, radishes and snap peas on the two baking sheets. Toss with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
  2. Roast vegetables in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until tender.
  3. Meanwhile, cook quinoa according to package directions.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together miso, soy sauce, rice vinegar and honey until combined. Add tofu to bowl and toss to coat with marinade. Let sit in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  5. Place tofu onto one of the parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 30 minutes, flipping over halfway through.
  6. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add tofu in two batches, cooking for 3-5 minutes on each side or until golden-brown.
  7. To assemble, divide the quinoa evenly between bowls and top with asparagus, radishes, sugar snap peas and tofu. Drizzle cashew dressing over top.

For the dressing:

  1. In a Vitamix or high-speed blender, add soaked cashews, mint, shallot, garlic, olive oil, water and salt. Blend until smooth and creamy. Drizzle over bowls.

What spring produce can you just not get enough of this year?

You May Also

For more spring-inspired eats, check out my other recipes below!


Asparagus and Brie Grilled Cheese with Arugula Pesto

Strawberry Chia Jam


Spring Grain Salad with Fava and Fennel

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18 Comments

  1. education

    honey is not vegan fyi

    some vegans will accept it if it’s from a farm that uses humane methods of harvest but traditional harvesting is not vegan, and it’s not always easy to find out if a brand is vegan

    • thank you for sharing! i know honey is an ingredient that vegans have differing opinions about but i’ve updated the recipe ingredients to include honey or sugar.

  2. Brittany

    Not a big fan of radishes, is there anything you can recommend as a substitute ?

    • You could add any veggie you want! Cucumbers would add a nice crunch! Or, to stick with the spring seasonal theme, you could add peas or mushrooms 🙂

  3. This is so fresh and spring!

  4. This looks delicious! I have some extra-firm tofu in my refrigerator that never got used as I intended … now I have new inspiration!

  5. This is absolutely gorgeous Kara! I’ve been loving all these spring vegetables lately too!

  6. Gorgeous, this bowl looks so tasty! I haven’t made tofu in a while, but now I’m craving it! I’ll have to grab some asparagus and radishes at the farmers’ market tomorrow for this!

  7. Love everything about this meal. You incorporated so many of my favorite flavors! I can’t wait to try it! 🙂

  8. Oh my goodness! First of all, this bowl looks AMAZING! And second, I am DYING of jealousy! Stone Barns Center?! Have the most amazing time!

  9. This is seriously everything I need right now!! Those radishes!? YES!!!