Spring Nourish Bowl with Lemon Tahini
If you’re craving something fresh, nourishing, and truly satisfying, this spring nourish bowl with lemon tahini is one of my favorite meals this time of year.
It’s made with simple whole food plant-based ingredients—quinoa, roasted vegetables, chickpeas, fresh greens—and finished with a creamy, bright lemon tahini sauce that brings everything together.
This is the kind of meal that feels light, but still grounding. And it’s incredibly flexible, so you can adapt it based on what you have on hand.
Why I Love This Bowl
This is one of those meals I come back to again and again, especially in the spring.
It’s DELICIOUS, and:
- colorful and full of texture
- satisfying without feeling heavy
- easy to prepare in components (perfect for meal prep)
- adaptable to whatever vegetables are in season
And once you have a simple sauce like this lemon tahini in your rotation, you can use it in so many different ways.
🎥 Watch the Video
👇 Click to watch the video on YouTube and then return here to reference the recipe.
📥 Download the Printable Recipe
👉 Click here to go to the recipe download page. Print it out and lock it into your binder of favorite recipes!
🥣 Ingredients
This recipe makes two generous nourish bowls.
For the bowls:
- 2 cups cooked quinoa
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 6 to 8 cups of mixed vegetables, chopped into bite-sized pieces (broccoli, carrots, radishes, beets, peas)
- 2 handfuls fresh arugula
- 2 tsp sesame seeds or sunflower seeds (or to taste)
- 2 green onions (scallions), sliced
- A handful of fresh parsley leaves, chopped (optional)
- 2 handfuls of fresh microgreens (optional)
For the lemon tahini sauce:
- ¼ cup tahini
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest (or more, if you love that lemon flavor)
- 1 teaspoon miso paste
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 to 2 teaspoons date syrup
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 2 Tbsp water (add more as needed to thin)
🍋 Instructions
1. Cook the quinoa
Prepare quinoa according to package instructions, or use pre-cooked quinoa for convenience. You can do this in advance to save time on a busy weeknight.
2. Roast the vegetables and chickpeas
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a baking sheet (or two) with parchment.
Arrange the vegetables and chickpeas on the baking sheet. I recommend keeping each type of vegetable in its own section, separate from the others.
If you're roasting beets, there's a strong likelihood they'll bleed into the other veggies. If that's going to bother you, you can keep them on a separate baking sheet instead.
Flip the vegetables with a spatula after about 20 minutes, so they will roast evenly. Return them to the oven to continue cooking.
Roast until tender and lightly caramelized, removing smaller or quicker-cooking vegetables as they finish cooking. This is why I recommend keeping each veggie separate on the pan; it's much easier to remove them as they finish roasting this way.
For example, broccoli florets will likely soften and begin to brown after 20 to 25 minutes.
Fresh peas will be done around the 30 minute mark.
You'll need to leave the beets, carrots, and radishes in the oven for up to 45 minutes before they become knife-tender (meaning the tip of a sharp knife will pierce them easily).
For extra texture, allow the chickpeas to roast a bit longer so they become golden and crispy.
👉 Tip: For extra flavor, consider tossing the chickpeas with some salt and garlic powder before roasting.
3. Make the lemon tahini sauce
Add all sauce ingredients to a small blender or bowl.
Blend or whisk until smooth. A small blender like a NutriBullet (affiliate link) is perfect for this task and emulsifies the sauce really quickly.
Taste and adjust as needed:
- Add more tahini to make it creamier
- Add more soy sauce or miso paste to boost the saltiness
- More lemon juice and/or zest will amplify the lemon flavor
- Add water gradually until the sauce is pourable but still slightly thick
4. Assemble the bowl
Add quinoa to a bowl, then layer with roasted vegetables, chickpeas, and fresh arugula. I like to alternate colors to make the bowl even prettier. Don't fuss too much, though! The veggies are so pretty by themselves that you really can't go wrong here.
Drizzle generously with lemon tahini sauce.
Finish with your favorite toppings: sesame or sunflower seeds, fresh herbs like parsley or basil, sliced green onions (scallions), and a handful of microgreens are all great choices.
Serve and enjoy!
💚 A Simple Approach to Nourishing Meals
This kind of bowl is less about following a strict recipe and more about building a flexible, balanced meal with what you have.
A grain, legumes, a variety of vegetables, something fresh, and a flavorful sauce—that’s often all you need.
