These healthy Mexican Buddha Bowls will quickly become your next favorite easy meal to prep! By roasting sweet mini peppers, sweet potatoes, and corn, these veggie-loaded bowls are packed with so much nutrition, color, and flavor. Add in seasoned pinto beans for a vegetarian protein and the most delicious cilantro-lime ranch dressing, and you’ll be set with the tastiest bowl perfect for lunch or dinner!
Thank you to Pure Flavor for sponsoring this post.
Mexican Buddha Bowls with Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing
Want to eat more veggies? This bowl will help you do that! The star of the bowl comes from those cute rounds of Pure Flavor® Aurora Bites Mini Sweet Peppers.
Packed with the perfect crunch and sweet flavor, they are SO good on their own. My kids and I couldn’t stop munching on them. That’s what you want with veggies, right?
For our healthy Mexican-style buddha bowls, we are slicing the mini sweet peppers into rounds to retain their shape.
I also think this helps them to roast more quickly, and visually they look amazing.
We eat with our eyes first, right?
What is a buddha bowl?
A buddha bowl comes with many different names – nourish bowls, power bowls, hippie bowls, macro bowls, and more.
There is no one recipe for the buddha bowls, but simply a great idea behind them.
Build a balanced and healthy bowl with nutritious ingredients.
A bowl that includes vegetables, meat or plant proteins, carbohydrates, and fat. And of course, flavor!
Always a must and super easy with this Mexican bowl!
What makes Mexican buddha bowls a healthy choice?
Let’s break down all the goodness in these bowls, shall we?
Pure Flavor® Aurora Bites Mini Sweet Peppers – bell pepper is high in vitamin C and packed with a sweet and delicious crunch
Roasted Sweet Potatoes – a complex carbohydrate are also rich in vitamin C and vitamin B6
Roasted Sweet Corn – not only does corn add more sweetness, but it’s high in fiber
Seasoned Pinto Beans – our vegetarian protein option seasoned with dried oregano
Avocado – full of healthy fats, fiber, folate, and so much more!
Green Onion – green onions are a wonderfully mild onion and full of vitamin K and vitamin C
Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing – this delicious sauce uses my kefir ranch dressing as the base, and ups the flavor to marry perfectly with these bowls. A great way to get some extra probiotics in with this kefir-based sauce!
Simple ingredients you’ll need to make vegetarian mexican buddha bowls
Scroll down to view the full recipe card below for the full ingredients list, nutrition facts, and step-by-step instructions.
- sweet potatoes
- avocado oil
- sea salt
- pepper
- garlic granules
- Pure Flavor® Aurora Bites Mini Sweet Peppers
- frozen corn
- pinto beans
- dried oregano
- avocado
- green onion
- avocado oil mayonnaise
- plain whole-milk kefir
- extra virgin olive oil
- dried chives
- dried parsley
- dried dill
- lime
- fresh cilantro
How to make healthy Mexican Buddha bowls
Step 1: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Step 2: Add the diced sweet potato cubes, 2 tsp avocado oil, ½ tsp sea salt, pepper, and garlic granules to the baking sheet, and mix to combine. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through, and until the sweet potatoes are crispy. Set aside.
Step 3: To the other lined baking sheet, add the sliced sweet peppers and corn. Add the remaining 1 tsp avocado oil and ½ tsp sea salt. Toss to combine then bake for 15 minutes, until the peppers and corn are softened. Set aside.
Step 4: Heat rinsed pinto beans in a small pot over low heat with the oregano. When warm and saucy, set aside.
Step 5: To make the cilantro lime ranch dressing, combine all the mayonnaise, kefir, olive oil, chives, parsley, granulated garlic, dill, sea salt, pepper, lime juice and cilantro in a blender, and blend until smooth.
Step 6: Build your Mexican Buddha Bowls by adding roasted sweet potato, roasted peppers, roasted corn, oregano pinto beans, avocado, and green onion into bowls. Drizzle with cilantro lime ranch dressing and enjoy!
How to meal prep this vegetarian meal
These bowls make a great meal prep lunch and pack well to take on the go!
Once you’ve prepped the cilantro lime dressing, made the roasted vegetables, and set aside your beans, you can meal prep this recipe!
In a small airtight container, add the dressing to set aside. In individual containers, add the rest of the ingredients. You can prep 4-5 healthy meals to take on the go!
Since this recipe is delicious warmed, served at room temperature, or even chilled, enjoy it however you need to on the go!
Substitutions
Below you’ll find a list of substitutions that will work well in this Mexican Buddha bowl recipe.
If you try something different out, please leave a comment below letting us all know how it turned out!
Sweet potatoes – You can roast other root vegetables in place of sweet potatoes. Try yams, carrots, parsnips, and regular potatoes. For a non-vegetable starch, brown rice or other whole grains make a great base for this meal!
Corn – Try cauliflower rice in place of roasted corn!
Bell peppers – Mini pepper or large bell peppers both work here. Other great raw vegetables include purple cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and kale. Have extra veggies around? Add them onto your roasting pan and enjoy them with this meal!
Pinto beans – You can use black beans, white cannellini beans, garbanzo beans, or lentils cooked with taco seasoning. If you have leftover chicken or pork carnitas around, use those for aa non-vegetarian option to add in! Another idea – make it a tofu buddha bowl by roasting tofu to use.
Kefir – Plain yogurt, dairy or non-dairy will work in place of the kefir. Thin it out with a water.
Avocado oil mayonnaise – If you want to make this a vegan Mexican Buddha bowl, be sure to use a plant based mayo and swap the kefir substitution above. You can also use soup cream in place of the mayo.
Green onion – Try red onion, shallots or fresh chives in place of green onion.
Love healthy recipes? Try one of these as well!
- Lamb Meatball Bowls with Avocado-Cilantro Sauce
- Salad Roll Shrimp Bowls with Peanut Dressing
- Tuna Sushi Bowls
- Greek salmon buddha bowls
- Smoked Salmon Corn Cabbage Bowls with Avocado Lime Crema
- Falafel wrap with goat cheese yogurt sauce
- Sautéed fajita veggies recipe
Mexican Buddha Bowls with Cilantro Lime Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet potatoes diced
- 3 tsp avocado oil divided
- 1 tsp sea salt divided
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic granules
- 3 cups Pure Flavor® Aurora Bites Mini Sweet Peppers, sliced into rounds
- 2 cups frozen corn
- 1 can pinto beans drained and rinsed
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 avocado diced
- 1/4 cup green onion diced
Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing Ingredients
- 1/2 cup avocado oil mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup plain whole-milk kefir
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp dried chives
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- 1/4 tsp dried dill
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- 1 lime juiced
- 1/2 cup cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add the diced sweet potato cubes, 2 tsp avocado oil, ½ tsp sea salt, pepper, and garlic granules to the baking sheet, and mix to combine. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through, and until the sweet potatoes are crispy. Set aside.
- To the other lined baking sheet, add the sliced sweet peppers and corn. Add the remaining 1 tsp avocado oil and ½ tsp sea salt. Toss to combine then bake for 15 minutes, until the peppers and corn are softened. Set aside.
- Heat rinsed pinto beans in a small pot over low heat with the oregano. When warm and saucy, set aside.
- To make the cilantro lime ranch dressing, combine all the mayonnaise, kefir, olive oil, chives, parsley, granulated garlic, dill, sea salt, pepper, lime juice and cilantro in a blender, and blend until smooth.
- Build your Mexican Buddha Bowls by adding roasted sweet potato, roasted peppers, roasted corn, oregano pinto beans, avocado, and green onion into bowls. Drizzle with cilantro lime ranch dressing and enjoy!
Nutrition
If you try this Mexican Buddha bowl recipe, I’d love it if you left a star rating and comment below letting me know how it turned out!
XO
Heather
Originally published January 2021. Updated August 2023.
