These roasted root vegetable and chickpea bowls with umami-rich nutritional yeast dressing are bound to make you feel grounded, nourished, and energized all winter long!

A few years ago, when I lived in Victoria, a friend introduced me to this life-changing dressing made with nutritional yeast, garlic, tamari, apple cider vinegar, oil, and hemp. Inspired by the dressing served at Hollyhock retreat centre on Cortes Island, it’s bursting with umami flavour, tanginess, saltiness, and B vitamins. My friend’s version replaced half of the oil in the original with hemp hearts to boost the protein and overall macro and micronutrient profile. It’s become one of my go-to dressings that I use regularly on salads and bowls. As a matter of fact, I have shared the recipe in a post from way back in 2019… but it was high time I revived it in a different format with slightly better photography. 😉

The winter is a great time to incorporate grounding and nourishing root vegetables into our diets, so I decided to create some simple roasted root vegetable and chickpea bowls with steamed greens to cover with this magical nutritional yeast dressing. I chose potatoes, beets, and carrots, but feel free to replace the potatoes with sweet potato or winter squash if you so desire.

ingredients you’ll need for these bowls

For the nutritional yeast dressing: Nutritional yeast, water, tamari, apple cider vinegar, garlic, hemp, extra virgin olive oil or cold-pressed sunflower oil, maple syrup, and freshly ground black pepper.
For the roasted root vegetables: Potatoes, beets, carrots, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
For the chickpeas: Extra virgin olive oil, chickpeas, sea salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder.
Plus some broccoli or kale to steam.

how to make these bowls

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the diced potatoes in a medium bowl and drizzle with ½ a tablespoon of the oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and toss to coat. Transfer in an even layer onto one half of one of the baking sheets. Repeat this process with the beets, placing them on the other half of the baking sheet that you have the potatoes on. Repeat with the carrots as well, but spread them out in an even layer on the second baking sheet.
Roast the beets and potatoes for 34-40 minutes, or until fork-tender and browned. Roast the carrots for 15-20 minutes, or until fork-tender. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Meanwhile, make the nutritional yeast dressing: Combine the nutritional yeast, water, tamari, apple cider vinegar, garlic, hemp, oil, and maple syrup in an upright blender. Start on low speed and gradually increase to high. Blend until smooth. Transfer into a jar or container and cover until ready to serve.
Finally, make the crispy skillet-fried chickpeas. Warm the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chickpeas. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and somewhat crispy, 8-10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. Cook for a couple more minutes and remove from the heat. At the same time, steam the broccoli or kale in a pot fitted with a steamer.
To serve, portion out desired amounts of roasted root vegetables, broccoli or greens, and chickpeas into bowls and drizzle with the dressing.
The dressing makes a lot more than you’ll need for the bowls, but it keeps in the fridge for ages, and comes in handy when you need a healthy salad dressing.

more bowl recipes

I hope that you love these roasted root vegetable and chickpea bowls with nutritional yeast dressing! If you make them, let me know how you enjoyed them by leaving a comment and rating below the post. And if you share a photo to Instagram, tag @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen.

Enjoy!