Roasted brussels sprouts, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cabbage meet earthy braised beans and your favorite burrito in these Mexican Roasted Veggie Bowls with Beer Beans. Adapted from Love Real Food by Kathryne Taylor.
I've been a fan of Kathryne's vegetarian blog Cookie + Kate for as long as I can remember. Last year, I had the pleasure of testing a few recipes for her long-awaited debut cookbook Love Real Food: More Than 100 Feel-Good Vegetarian Favorites to Delight the Senses and Nourish the Body. After making the Mexican Roasted Veggie Bowl with Beer Beans, it was pretty much all I wanted to eat. I counted down the days until the book came out so that I could share the recipe.
Like all of Kathryne's recipes, these roasted veggie bowls have been meticulously tested. They're effortlessly vegetarian, loaded with protein, and though simple to put together and foolproof, they pack enough interest to warrant making them for dinner every night. Just pop a bunch of veggies in the oven, toss with oil and spice, and while they do their thing, saute some onions and garlic, add some cooked beans and a pour of mild beer, and let them simmer. Then pile everything into bowls with your toppings of choice. The original recipe uses sweet peppers instead of the brussels sprouts I added here, and lettuce instead of red cabbage slaw, but all iterations are divine.
Start with cooked pinto beans, and you can have these on the table in about an hour. Or if you remember in time, you can soak dried beans of any type overnight and cook them up the next day. I found these pretty heirloom Rio Zape beans at my co-op. They taste like pintos crossed with black beans – creamy but with an earthy chocolateyness that melds beautifully with the beer. The beer adds big flavor to these brothy beans. Roasted root vegetables soak up the broth, and a few choice toppings – lettuce or cabbage, avocado, cilantro, and pumpkin seeds – add a burst of freshness and crunch.
Like all of Kathryne's recipes, these roasted veggie bowls manage to be completely healthy while also filling you up. Love Real Rood is overflowing with recipes like this. There are satisfying salads, badass breakfasts, hearty soups, low-maintenance mains, and sweet treats that still pack a nutritional punch. I especially appreciate her section Five Steps to an Epic Salad, which includes tips on how to optimize your greens (preferably organic, dry leaves so the dressing can coat the leaves), use contrasting textures to add interest, and improvise with a theme (say, your favorite dish in salad form).
While Love Real Food isn't 100% gluten-free, Kathryne includes footnotes at the end of every recipe for GF substitutions as well as suggestions for other dietary restrictions such as dairy-free, vegan, and egg-free. I was thrilled to see that many of her dessert recipes are naturally GF, such as the dark cherry almond crisp made with oats and almond meal in the topping. I'm all over that.
Other recipes I have my eye on are:
- Roasted Cauliflower Kale Spaghetti with Toasted Almonds
- Mango Lassi Smoothie Bowl with Toasted Coconut Muesli
- Tahini Kale Caesar Salad with Whole-Grain Croutons
- Butternut Squash Chipotle Chili
- Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup
- Green Goddess Hummus
- Avocado Spinach Artichoke Dip
- Vegan Banana Pecan Date Shakes
Kathryne gathers flavors from around the world, creating recipes that feel fresh and unique, but also friendly and familiar. They're the beautifully distressed new pair of jeans you just slipped on but feel like you've owned for a year; the friend you just met but feel like you knew in a past life. If Kathryne's recipe creating prowess weren't enough, she also styles and shoots all her images herself. Her images make you want to dive right into the food, and there's a photo for every recipe. I love how the photos manage to feel artistic but also completely accessible at the same time.
I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of Love Real Food, and whipping up a batch of roasted veggie bowl goodness, ASAP.
More Bowl Recipes:
- Sweet Potato Breakfast Bowl with Eggs & Greens (vegan option)
- Vegan Poke Bowls with Marinated Beets
- Fall Brown Rice Veggie Bowls with Crispy Tofu, Roasted Squash, and Miso Butter
- Hibiscus Berry Smoothie Bowls {gluten-free, vegan}
*Thanks for reading! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make these roasted veggie bowls, I’d love to see! Tag me on Instagram @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.*
Mexican Roasted Veggie Bowls with Beer Beans
Print Recipe Pin RecipeIngredients
Beer Beans:
- 3 cups cooked beans (see headnote for cooking instructions, or use two 15-ounce cans or jars of cooked pinto beans, drained)
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 large cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¾ cup (175 ml) Mexican beer or mild lager or pilsner (gluten-free if needed)
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (plus more for garnish)
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lime juice, plus lime wedges for serving
Roasted Veggies:
- 10 ounces (280 g) Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
- 1 pound (450 g) sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 12 ounces (340 g) small potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 large red onion, peeled and cut into ½ - inch thick wedges
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- fine sea salt
Toppings:
- 2 cups slivered red cabbage
- juice from ½ a lime
- fine sea salt
- handful cilantro leaves
- red salsa
- crumbled cheese such as feta or cotija
- avocado chunks or guacamole
- toasted pumpkin seeds
- tortilla chips or warm corn tortillas
Instructions
Make the beans:
- In a medium saucepan, warm the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion, garlic, salt, chili, and cumin and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is tender, 4-6 minutes. Add the cooked beans and the beer. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to maintain a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender and the broth has condensed a bit, 15-18 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Season to taste with additional salt if you feel the beans need it.
Meanwhile, make the roasted veggies:
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425ºF. Place the prepared Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and onions on a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with the cumin, chili powder, cayenne, and a few big pinches of salt. Toss the veggies to coat them in the oil and spices, keeping the Brussels sprouts separate (they will cook more quickly). Roast the vegetables in the oven until golden and tender, 15-20 minutes for the Brussels sprouts and 30-40 minutes for the rest, flipping the vegetables once or twice to cook evenly.
Make the bowls:
- In a medium bowl, toss the cabbage with the lime juice, cilantro, and a few pinches of salt. Divide the beans and veggies among 4 bowls and top with the cabbage, salsa, cheese, avocado, and toasted pumpkin seeds and serve with lime wedges and chips or tortillas on the side.
Notes
Nutrition
Rachel @Clean Eating for the Non-Hippie says
This is a gorgeous bowl - and I love me some beans!! Can't wait to make it.
Alanna says
Aw, thank you Rachel! Let me know how you like it. :)
Kate says
Alanna, thank you so much for your kind words about the book. I'm blushing over here! I'm so glad you loved this recipe, and I hope to make your rendition with fancy beans and Brussels soon. Looks so good!!
Alanna says
Thank you Kate! Hugest congratulations on your gorgeous book - it's a gem!
Kelsey @ Appeasing a Food Geek says
So gorgeous! Love the sound of this one. Thanks for sharing! I've had my eye on that book. xoxo
Alanna says
Thanks Kelsey! The book is highly recommended!
Asha Shivakumar says
What an absolutely beautiful bowl it is!!!! Love the colors and adore how you write.
Love La brea bakery.
xx
Alanna says
Aw, thank you lovely!
Daniel says
what's the red salsa on the bowls? recipe? or store bought?
and where are the bowls from/who made them? i really like 'em.
Alanna says
The bowls are from MMClay here in San Francisco - I love her ceramics! The salsa is Papalote, also made here in SF. (Here's a recipe for a copycat version: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/papalote-stylee-salsa-50051791)
Antonia says
This bowl looks delicious! Im so gonna try this out.
Alanna says
Aw thanks! Let me know how you like it. :)
Tea says
This recipe just hit the spot as lunch on a cloudy and windy autumn day. I happened to have the veggies as per the original recipe's suggestion, so I used that.
By themselves I felt I didn't really 'get' the beans, as the bitterness from the beer felt a bit strange to me, but as an overall combination, of both textures and flavors, it was great. I like both your and Kathryne's blogs very much.
I would just like to point out that the measurements provided for the beer are off, as 3/4cup is *half* of the 355ml given as the metric equivalent. I'm from Europe, and in recipes we go mostly by grams and milliliters, and just as I was about to measure it, I noticed the discrepancy. I used the smaller amount, of course. I hope this helps someone else not over-beer their beans, and ruin an otherwise lovely meal!
Alanna says
Yikes, thank you for catching that - updated! I'm so glad you liked the recipe in spite of the bitterness from the beer and my conversion mistake. Thanks a bunch for the kind words, I'm clearly a big Kathryn fan myself!
What kind of beer did you use here? You can absolutely use veggie broth instead of beer if it's more to your taste. Or if you cook your own beans, you can use the broth from the beans instead :)
Tea says
I used a local craft beer called "American pale ale" and figured I could roll with it. I don't drink alcohol (but do *eat* it :); your Irish coffee ice cream being a recent favorite on the boozy theme), so I don't know much about it, but did look up the difference between lagers and ales and the website said that lagers are mistakenly thought in the US as being weaker in flavor, but in reality the difference between them has nothing to do with the final flavor, but with the way they brew them.
Thanks for your suggestions, but next time I make this, I'll definitely use beer again. Even though I wouldn't prepare the beans like this to enjoy by themselves, in the final combination I felt they gave the dish much character.
I thought it might be cool to mention that I have slices of your pumpkin psyllium loaf (via Love and Lemons) in my freezer as we speak. It probably feels kinda special to know your recipes (and words in your posts) are being enjoyed on the other side of the world, all the way in Croatia :).
All the best!
Alanna says
Aw that does make me happy!! I'm so glad you're enjoying the recipes. And I'm glad you liked the flavor of the beer beans in the finished bowls too. :)
Tea says
I just made (and enjoyed!) this again. I had a wheat beer on hand so used that and it worked beautifully, making the beans enjoyable all by themselves as well; I guess wheat beer is mild/less bitter..
So as I came here to wholeheartedly recommend using wheat beer in this meal (and express my appreciation for this recipe again), as I scrolled past the recipe I realized that in my folder where I copy pasted your recipe, I had the version before you made the correction, and in my hazy-brained ways, I used the metric amount this time, i.e. *double* what I was supposed to. I literally tripped myself over the very typo that I came here last time to prevent other people doing! My god... :)
For a second I thought it weird that my beans were literally swimming in beer, but I just shrugged it off. And it was *still* delicious. It's easy when you have idiot-proof recipes :).
Alanna says
Awwww hahaha, that's totally something I would do. I'm glad the beans were still delicious, extra beer and all! Thanks so much for trying the recipe and for the sweet note. :)
Ashleigh says
Rio zape beans are my absolute favorite. Thanks to a fellow Rancho Gordo Bean Club member, I have discovered your site and a trove of glorious recipes that I cannot wait to cook! Cookie & Kate is a favorite of mine, and now I'm so happy to have found Bojon Gourmet!
Alanna says
I'm so glad you found your way here! Please thank your fellow bean club member for spreading the love. I make Katherine's beer beans all the time! Love her recipes too. :)