These Roasted Chickpea Quinoa Bowls with Sesame Ginger Dressing are perfect for vegan meal prepping or a healthy & filling dinner.
There is something about a bowl of veggies and grains topped off with a delicious dressing that I can never get enough of. Bowls like these are what I eat on a daily basis. They are easy to adapt to what you have on hand and they are perfect for meal prepping.
This bowl is especially tasty because of the sesame ginger dressing. When it is mixed with the crispy veggies, spicy chickpeas and flavor-packed quinoa it just brings the whole thing together.
So, let's talk about How to Make Quinoa
It seems pretty straight forward. Rinse it, boil it in water, done. But there are some pointers I want to give you to take your quinoa to the next level.
- Is rinsing quinoa necessary? The short answer, yes. The reason you rinse quinoa before cooking it is to remove the outer layer, which is called saponin. If you don't rinse this outer layer off, your quinoa can have a soapy flavor. That is no good. So, give it a quick rinse and avoid a funky taste.
- Should you cook quinoa in water? I would give this a hard NO. While the instructions on the package will probably tell you to cook your quinoa in water, I ALWAYS cook mine in broth. It gives it so...much...more...flavor! You can use veggie broth, or my personal favorite, Vegan Chicken Bouillon.
- How long should you cook quinoa? The instructions usually tell you to bring your water (or broth) to a boil and then cook it for 10-15 minutes. I usually end up cooking mine closer to 20-25 minutes. I don't want any "crunch" in my quinoa, and I find 15 minutes just isn't enough time. But keep an eye on it while you're cooking, and adjust the time based on how quickly your liquid evaporates and quinoa is cooked through.
Other than the quinoa, the only thing you actually have to cook for this recipe is the chickpeas. And those are super simple - add the chickpeas, olive oil and some seasonings to a baking sheet. Roast them for 20 minutes and BAM...they're ready to go.
While your quinoa and chickpeas are cooking, whip up your dressing by mixing everything together in a bowl and prep your veggies.
Once you have everything done, divide the ingredients between 4 bowls and drizzle with dressing.
Want to make these bowls for meal prep?
Divide everything between 4 containers (reserving the dressing on the side) and place in the fridge. I would just eat the bowls as a cold dish (rather than reheating the quinoa and chickpeas). They will still be equally as tasty and super easy to eat on the go.
TSV TIP: I always put my homemade dressings in mason jars, like these. And you can find the plastic lids I use here.
Need more vegan bowl inspo? Check out these recipes:
Roasted Chickpea Quinoa Bowls with Sesame Ginger Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa dry
- 2 cups broth*
- 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- salt & pepper to taste
- ¼ cup tahini
- 3 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce plus more to taste
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ tablespoon ginger minced
- ½ tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- ½ tablespoon sugar plus more to taste**
- warm water as needed
- sriracha optional
- 4 cups mixed greens
- 2 cups red cabbage shredded
- 2 avocados sliced
- black sesame seeds optional
- jalapeño and cilantro for topping, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add dry quinoa to a fine mesh strainer and rinse under cold water for 30 seconds. Strain and add quinoa to a pot. Add broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover and simmer until the water is absorbed (approx. 15-25 minutes).***
- Add chickpeas, olive oil, garlic powder, chili powder, paprika and a pinch of salt & pepper to the baking sheet. Toss to coat evenly and roast in the oven for 20 minutes (flipping halfway).
- To make the dressing, add the tahini, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and rice wine vinegar to a bowl and stir to combine. Add sugar and a splash of hot water to the bowl and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed - if you want it spicy add the sriracha. Add more water to thin it out. Set aside.
- To assemble add quinoa, mixed greens, cabbage, chickpeas and avocado to each bowl. Top with sesame seeds, jalapeño and cilantro. Drizzle with dressing and eat.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Kristin
Another winner!!!!! Thank you for giving me hope when it come to cooking vegan! Always racking my brain about what to do for dinners and your recipes are an immense help!
Rene
Awesome! So glad you're getting plenty of dinner inspo!
Bree
Just made this for dinner! The chickpeas are BOMB!!! Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe 🙂
Rene
So glad you liked it Bree! I've never met a seasoned chickpea I didn't like 🙂
K. Martin
so. much. OIL! I love the ideas of these vegan recipes, but every time I see oil being added here and there, it just turns me OFF. Extra oil serves exactly ZERO purpose in our diet, and we get what we need through the whole, raw foods we eat, especially via so many nuts and avocados. Why can't somebody figure out how to make these recipes oil-free?
Rene
I personally don't follow an oil-free diet. And to me 3 tbsp of oil in a recipe that serves 4 (or more) is not a lot. But if you follow an oil-free diet feel free to omit it or swap it for something else. Easy peasy 🙂
Tammy
There are only 3 tbsps of oil in this recipe. Which,personally, I don't think is all that much. You can certainly adapt this recipe to use less (a spritzer works great for roasting) or omit and use water or broth.
Maggie
@K. Martin, it's easy for YOU to figure out how to make these recipes oil-free! Don't stress -- just leave it out. Remember that vegan is not equal to WFPB, so when you visit a vegan blog outside of the WFPB ecosystem, you may have to do some adjusting. I've been eating a McDougall/Gregor-style WFPB diet for years -- and where there's oil in a recipe, I just leave it out. Instead of doing the chickpeas in the oven, I would coat with the seasonings and spices suggested here, and then put them in an air fryer without any oil. Toss them around in the air fryer at the half-way point. They'll come out terrific, and get crispy without the need for the any oil at all!
Maggie
Tonight I tried it without coating the chickpeas with oil -- I can confirm that it works great! If you use canned, do not rinse them if you are going to do this oil-free -- you want to keep that aquafaba around the chickpeas, to hold the spices and generate a crispy coating. I used the air fryer instead of the oven, and they came out with a nice crisp coating. The dressing is fabulous!