This vegetarian plant-based protein bowl is made with store-bought black beans patty, paired with vegetables - broccoli, Brussel sprouts, spinach, carrots and cooked barley.
With more time on hand, you can always make your own bean patty/cake e.g. Black Bean Potato Patty/Cake.
Happy 2026 and we hope your 2026 has been off to a great start!
The new year starts off with this healthy nutritious vegetarian/meatless bowl meal nicely balanced with a variety of cooked vegetables, roasted chickpeas/garbanzo beans, and black rice.
This is a vegetarian version of Shishito Peppers Protein Bowl, substituting chicken with tofu.
They are many ways to make delicious tofu including Chimichurri Tofu, Korean Spicy Tofu, or Chilled Tofu, Five-Spice Marinated Tofu. Instead of tofu, you can also use Tofu Sheets/Yuba - another great meatless high-protein option. Yuba/Fresh Tofu Sheets Salad is one of my favorite ways to enjoy yuba/fresh tofu sheets
If you going for a simple, no-frills tofu recipe, a little salt, black pepper and garlic powder also goes a long way.
These bowl-meals are usually built in a few steps which include preparing the vegetables as the base and portioning the protein.
Protein feature in today's bowl is tempeh, and hard-boiled eggs (discover this Rapid Egg Cooker) paired with vegetable base that includes steamed broccolini, red cabbage, mushrooms (check this multipurpose Stainless Steel Steamer)
Adapted from Oven-Style Ratatouille Roast, this Easy Sheet-Pan Vegetables, alike this Sheet-Pan Beans, Veggies and Sausage, cooks eggplants, tomatoes and bell peppers altogether to make a healthy vegetarian eggplant side-dish.
This side-dish component can be paired with grilled/oven-roasted tofu (recipe: Chimichurri Tofu) and steamed vegetables as a low-carb vegetarian meal, or customized to another low-carb protein meal (with chicken instead of tofu, for example).
Besides baked tempeh and incorporating tempeh in protein bowls, I have also made one-pot vegetarian protein stew with tempeh, beans and lentils. A warm hearty stew is welcoming especially during the cold winter months, so I am following cold-weather food (foot)steps and making Tempeh Soup with Moringa Leaves.
Not my favorite way to enjoy tempeh (preferred it baked like this Oven-Baked Tempeh) but when it's cold outside, a one-pot soup with everything including tempeh (and warmth, of course) is all I want! More importantly, this is a fuss-free way to prepare and cook a protein-loaded low-carb vegetarian meal, also absolutely easy to a filling and nutritious meal.
Besides bitter melon and eggplant, okra is another vegetable that falls under the "Love-it-or-Hate-it" list. Quite different from bitter melon which some dislike due to its bitter taste, it is the texture of okra (likewise for eggplant) that puts some people off - mushy eggplant, slimy okra. I am fine with that.
Steamed okra, beets, kale, broccolini, red bell peppers, snap peas, topped with apple
While okra performs well in a stew- or braise-like dish e.g. Pumpkin, Green Bean, Okra Stew, I also enjoy 5-minute steamed okra in warm salad bowls.
For those opting for low-carb meals (no pasta or grains of any kind), this Vegetarian Mapo Tofu suffice as meatless protein entree anytime you want a meatfree protein bowl.
There are many possibilities to healthy, delicious protein bowls, only limited by imagination. Going beyond traditional pairing of Chinese Soy-Braise Eggs and Tofu with steamed rice or putting together Roast Chicken Quinoa Bowl, Smoked Salmon Quinoa Bowl, the journey today is East Meets West Soy-Braise Eggs, Mushrooms, Tofu Protein Steamed Veggies Bowl.
As a short-cut, I am using store-bought Chinese five-spice tofu nuggets, "borrowing" its braising liquid and flavors to cook with home-prepped hard-boiled eggs, store-bought firm tofu and fresh shiitake mushrooms.
This oven-"fried" meatless mince is like "meat-sauce" without the sauce, without the meat. Besides making Vegetarian Mapo Tofu, this meatless mince versatility can easily be extended to make such balanced meatless meals.
A batch of oven-"fried" mince is "blank canvas" for other stir-fries too; or tossed with pasta (above) or mixed in with quinoa (below), then served with vegetables as a complete meal.
You can always make your own vegetarian meatless mince (Vegetarian Simmered "Meat" Sauce) from scratch with diced mushrooms and tofu. It is definitely healthier and taste more naturally delicious than store-bought plant-based mince which wins on convenience but end of the day, still partially processed.
Besides Stuffed Yuba Rolls, Flat-Sheets Yuba Salad and Tofu Knots in plant-based soy protein bowls, store-bought marinated tofu are easy protein add-ons to the same bowls.
On a separate occasion, fresh tofu-beancurd skin/yuba were stuffed with enoki mushrooms to make Mushroom-Stuffed Tofu-Skin Yuba Rolls, perfect for this veggie bowl.
For vegetarians, omit the shredded chicken as the tofu skin rolls would suffice as plant-protein source. You can also make Yuba Salad which is much simpler compared to oven-baked rolls. I have actually made yuba salad many times, improving (and "perfecting") each time.
Fresh tofu skins/ yuba are available in flat-sheets; they also sometimes manifest as tofu knots, like these pretty knots in Tofu Skin/ Yuba Knots Veggies Bowl.
Besides easy recipes e.g. Yuba Salad and Braised Yuba, these fresh tofu skin/yuba knots are often served as shabu-shabu style hotpot item - meaning they can be simply blanched before consumption, and enjoyed at their best natural soy flavors.
When planning for large batch fried-eggs or frittatas, turn to the muffin tin: Muffin-Style Baked Eggs with Turkey Breast, Muffin-Style Baked Eggs, Veggie-Egg Frittatas. Of course, the good'ol baking tray/sheet pan can do the same batch-cooking job like how this Chive Frittata was made. Honestly, the muffin tin only makes the eggs look a little prettier and cuter as individual servings.
Short on eggs? Or just not making too many? Turn to the oven-friendly mini ramekin. These mini ramekin eggs are good-sized and shaped to fill your breakfast English muffin (McDonald's style Egg Mcmuffin). Enjoy them for breakfast or healthy snacks.
They are also easy protein add-ons to bowl-meals or workout meal.
Following this autumn-worthy Winter Squash and Apples Chicken Salad Bowl , let us continue autumn footsteps with a light and refreshing salad with antioxidants-packed persimmons and pomegranate.
Round-shaped Fuyu persimmons are preferred for this salad as they are sweeter and able to maintain a little firmness and crispness when ripe; compared to the elongated Hachiya persimmon which needs to be absolutely ripe to be sweet (soft when gently pressed on the exterior, sometimes to the extent of being mushy when ripened).
Pillars of the dry pantry, beans is a great source of plant-protein, fiber, essential vitamins and minerals. Raw and bought in bulk, they are super budget-friendly. Canned and cooked, they can be used straight out of the can, particularly time-saving when building healthy and nutritious vegetarian veggie bowls.
Pinto Beans Veggie (Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrot) Bowl
My pantry stocks a variety of canned beans or lentils including chickpea/garbanzo beans, black beans, navy beans, pinto beans, red kidney beans, even black soybeans.
Cruise through summer with this super easy, fresh and flavorful Tomatoes, Kale, Brussel Sprouts and Almonds Salad, especially when you have lost your cooking mojo in the scorching summer heat.
Still think it's a chore? Think no further. Get your favorite store-bought salad blend (mine's from Trader Joes) and make this Cruciferous Crunch Salad with Almonds and Apples.
Store-bought packaged salad blends is amazing meal-prep hack to save time and effort when preparing these grain bowl/ veggie bowl workout meals. This is also a chance to pamper oneself when there is no need to be behind the kitchen counter for prolonged periods slicing/shredding vegetables, and able to go straight to assembling these bowl-meals.
My favorite package salad blend is the Trader Joes Cruciferous Crunch Collection of shredded kale, brussel sprouts, broccoli, green cabbage and red cabbage.
Homecooks (like myself) who are still using kitchen knife to slice and dice vegetables (we have no other gadgets like this Multi-Blade Adjustable Mandoline Slicer, Cutter, Shredded for shredding, slicing, dicing etc. ) will probably agree that especially for vegetables, this part of meal-prep is the hard-core.
All said, store-bought bagged salads do not come cheap (and I am still a budget-conscious meal-planner, hoping to stretch the dollar as far as it goes), so cheat-days for convenient, no-fuss meal-prep, are saved for times when a mental and physical break from these tedious kitchen chores is much needed.
This assorted vegetables pasta/noodle salad bowl is a great summer option when you want something light yet able to fill in protein, the meatless way. When I use protein-based pasta/noodles (e.g. Explore Cuisine Bean Pasta), I prefer to make the entire dish vegetarian - allowing the plant-based protein to take center-stage.
Today, this Greens and Bean-Pasta Noodle Salad Bowl, is made with greens variety- broccoli, green beans and leafy kale. The vegetables are totally interchangeable, depending on what you have, so feel free to get creative.
Vegetarian option
Other vegetarian meatless recipes made with Explore Cuisine Bean Pasta:
Edamame and Mung Bean Fettuccine Veggie Salad Bowl
Gluten-Free Bean Pasta with (more) Beans and Veggies
Bean Pasta with Vegetarian Tofu Curry
With more antioxidants and protein than other beans, black soybean (the black variety of soybeans) is powerhouse plant-based protein, great for making nutritionally balanced vegetarian veggie bowl-meals or grain bowl-meals.
