Macro Veggie Bowl

A vibrant turmeric tahini sauce is the star of this delicious veggie bowl! It adds a pop of bright flavor to the mix of fresh vegetables, rice, and beans.

Veggie Bowl

When we lived in Austin, I headed to a macrobiotic restaurant called Casa de Luz whenever I craved a nourishing, cleansing veggie bowl like this one. Instead of offering a menu, it serves one rotating meal that always contains a grain, a legume, blanched greens, steamed vegetables, a pickled vegetable, and a delicious sauce. It may sound limiting, but I’ve honestly had some of the best sauce and vegetable pairings of my life there. If you’re ever in Austin, make sure you check it out!

Inspired by years of enjoying delicious, nourishing meals at Casa de Luz, I used the macrobiotic template to develop a veggie bowl of my own. It’s a totally gluten-free and plant-based recipe, but it doesn’t taste at all like “health food.” A vibrant turmeric tahini sauce fills it with bold flavor, and a scoop of sauerkraut gives it a delicious tangy pop. Make it whenever you’re craving something energizing, satisfying, and absolutely delicious.

Veggie Bowl Recipe Ingredients

My Veggie Bowl Recipe Ingredients

As I mentioned above, I used Caza de Luz’s template to build this healthy veggie bowl. Here’s what I chose for each macrobiotic category:

  • A delicious sauce – For my at-home “casa bowl,” I used an amazing turmeric tahini sauce! It’s my favorite type of creamy sauce in that it doesn’t require a blender, so you can stir it together in no time. You’ll love it on this veggie bowl, but it tastes great on just about everything else, too!
  • Steamed vegetables – I steamed carrots, broccoli, and kale until they were tender and vibrant.
  • A legume – I went out of my comfort zone and gave mung beans a try. Compared with other dried beans, they cook up in no time!
  • A grainBrown rice was my pick.
  • A pickled vegetable – Sauerkraut! I love Bubbies.

For a final finishing touch, I went rogue and added some raw radishes to my veggie bowl. You could skip them if you like, but they add delicious crunch and peppery flavor to this recipe.

These components all keep nicely in the fridge if you want to meal prep them for lunch or dinner during the week. And an extra tip – be careful with the turmeric sauce in your kitchen! I love its bright color, but it can easily stain things yellow.

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

Chopped broccoli, carrots, and watermelon radish on a cutting board

Veggie Bowl Recipe Variations

This recipe is fantastic as-written, but feel free to change it up! Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Let me know what variations you try!

Macro veggie bowl recipe

More Favorite Bowl Recipes

If you love this macro veggie bowl, try one of these delicious recipes next:

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Macro Veggie Bowl

rate this recipe:
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4
Prep these simple components ahead of time to pack this healthy veggie bowl for lunch, or make it for an easy weeknight dinner!

Ingredients

  • 1 watermelon radish or 2 red radishes
  • squeeze of lemon
  • 1 uncooked cup sprouted mung beans or cooked lentils
  • 6 small or 3 medium carrots, steamed
  • 1 small head broccoli florets, steamed
  • 8 kale leaves, chopped
  • 2 cups

    brown rice or quinoa

  • ¾ cup  sauerkraut or other fermented veggie
  • 2 tablespoons sesame seeds or hemp seeds
  • microgreens, optional
  • Sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Turmeric Tahini

  • 1

    tablespoon

    extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 tablespoon tahini
  • 1/2 tablespoon water
  • 1/2 garlic clove, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Instructions

  • Make the sauce. In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, water, garlic, turmeric, and generous pinches of salt and pepper. Set aside.
  • Thinly slice the radish (this is best done on a mandolin), and toss the slices with a squeeze of lemon. Set aside.
  • Cook the mung beans in boiling salted water according to package directions, or until tender. Drain.
  • In a steamer basket over a pot of simmering water, steam the carrots, covered, until just tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove and set aside. Next steam the broccoli until tender but still bright green, 4 to 5 minutes. Lastly, steam the kale until just tender, 30 seconds to 1 minute.
  • Assemble individual bowls with the brown rice, mung beans, carrots, broccoli, kale, sauerkraut, sesame seeds and microgreens, if using. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the Turmeric Tahini Sauce.

7 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it)




  1. Bai
    09.26.2022

    5 stars
    I made this because your pictures always look so pretty and it was so good! I shouldn’t be surprised, I’ve yet to try one of your recipes I haven’t loved. I was honestly a bit worried how it would turn out since I’m not the biggest turmeric fan, but the dressing made it have a much warmer and more “comfort food” taste than I’d expected! I wish I had more leftovers, it was a great fall dish to make you feel all warm and cozy, while being much healthier than typical comfort food!

  2. Jessica
    08.30.2022

    5 stars
    I loved this recipe, and was happy and surprised that my meat-loving husband loved it, as well. I did pile on the kimchi (my fermented veggie of choice), but still thought the sauce was delicious (albeit light) on its own. I saved a lot of time by piling the steaming veggies on top of each other depending on how long they needed to cook (carrots first, then broccoli with 5 minutes remaining, kale the last minute). I made a big batch for lunch throughout the week. Definitely a keeper

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.02.2022

      I’m so glad you both enjoyed it!

  3. Erica
    08.27.2022

    I made this but had to do a few substitutions, quinoa instead of rice and black beans instead of mung bean sprouts. The sauce tasted bland so I tried to make it better with some nutritional yeast and maple syrup. It tasted like throw up 🤣
    So I made a new tahini sauce the next day with sesame seed oil in it which combined with the kale in the recipe it somehow made the whole dish taste like the smell of weed😂😭
    Bottom line, sometimes experimenting doesn’t go well. I’ve made a lot of your dishes and they were great! Thx for the recipes! I will probably leave this one alone tho hehe

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.28.2022

      oh man, I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this sauce like I did. You might like this tahini sauce with sesame, it’s balanced differently (a tad sweet which neutralizes the tahini and the sesame oil adds flavor): https://www.loveandlemons.com/sesame-ginger-dressing/

      Hope that helps 🙂

  4. Olivia
    01.31.2022

    5 stars
    We made this last night and it wasn’t hard, but man did it take a long time, even with two people cooking.

    Wonderful flavor, but I think it needed our addition of tzatziki sauce.

  5. Sarah
    10.15.2020

    5 stars
    Yay! This is absolutely one of my favorite recipes to make. It’s so vibrant and lovely, too. Thank you for putting it back up!
    I tell everyone I know to make your recipes. They’ve made me LOVE flavorful, healthy food, and love cooking.
    You’re a master Jeanine!

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.