Salmon Bowl

This Salmon Bowl is the easy way to enjoy all the flavors of a California Roll in a fraction of the time! You get a healthy bowl of cauliflower rice or brown rice layered with so many delicious sushi flavors and textures.

These Deconstructed Sushi Bowls are made with a base of light fluffy riced cauliflower and topped with buttery cooked salmon nuggets, crunchy vegetables, and a drizzle of spicy DIY Sriracha Mayo.

This delicious and healthy recipe comes to us from the fun new cookbook Mostly Plant-Based: 100 Delicious Plant-Forward Recipes Using 10 Ingredients or Less by Mia Syn, MS, RDN. I was given a copy of this book for review by the publisher, but all my thoughts and opinions are my own.

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Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.

What is a Sushi Bowl?

First, I thought I’d dive into (pun intended) what a sushi bowl is and isn’t.

They’re basically deconstructed sushi rolls, with a rice or grain base, seafood, and fresh vegetables. Then, they’re usually finished off with a small amount of sauce, in this case, spicy mayo.

These bowls are light, healthy, and delicious, with a great mix of flavors and textures. For more bowl inspiration, check out my Chimichurri Bowls as well.

For these, the fish is cooked. Sushi doesn’t have to be raw. Go to most any sushi restaurant and you’ll probably find a cooked sushi roll section on their menu. If you’re looking for a raw poke bowl recipe, take a look at this one.

But, since I know so many people get touchy feel-y about what things are called, I decided to call this a Salmon Bowl to help avoid any hurt feelings.

These bowls are a great way to increase the amount of veggies you get in a day. And, they’re very customizable! Love avocado? Add in some extra. Not a fan of cauliflower rice? Use brown rice or even quinoa as a whole grain base.

You’ll be serving these bowls every chance you get! And apparently deconstructed salmon sushi bowls have been popular on tiktok! Well, if tik tok says it’s good, you just gotta give it a go!

Easy to make

This Spicy salmon sushi bowl recipe is the easiest way to satisfy a sushi craving at home!

Customize and fill your bowl with flavorful fixings like sliced avocado, nori, and spicy mayo on top of seasoned rice or better yet, cauliflower rice!

There’s no need to track down sushi grade salmon for this bowl either. Just grab some good quality salmon, or really any fish or your choice. For the photos I used King Salmon in my bowls.

Then, cube, season, and cook the salmon pieces in under 10 minutes. I have air fryer directions and stove top directions for cooking the salmon. These will taste so much better than restaurant bought sushi bowls.

And, no tedious cutting and rolling for sushi rolls, just chop up the ingredients, toss them all in, drizzle on some sauce, and boom, Easy salmon bowl dinner is served!

These kind of remind me of my California Roll Sandwich too.

Mostly Plant-Based

I just love reading nutrition books. I mean, not only does Mia Syn give you 100 recipes in this book, but there’s a 21-day meal plan as well and lots of great information that will help you learn why this style of eating is good for you!

This registered dietician helps you say goodbye to yo-yo dieting, and unlocks the secrets to eating for health, longevity, and weight management. These are realistic and sustainable ways to feel your best without having to exclude animal-based foods. 

I really like her approach to eating, as she offers customizable suggestions to all her recipes, full-color photos of the foods, and doesn’t require that you exclude meat and dairy from your days.

She’s encouraging and flexible in her plant-forward approach to eating.

Instead of ruling out entire food groups, this book encourages eating more plant-based foods and fewer animal foods, putting vegetables, fruits, and whole grains at the center of your plate. You can still enjoy meat, eggs, and dairy with some meals, or even with every meal; the focus is on controlling portions of these foods so that they serve as enhancements rather than being the stars of the show. This flexibility makes it easy to adhere to and much more sustainable than other, more restrictive dietary approaches.

I really enjoyed this book. And it’s chock for of great information as well as yummy recipes. Next up, I’ll be trying the Savory Zucchini Waffle Minis and the plant bacon from the book.

How to make

The full printable recipe ingredients and instructions are available in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. You can find important tips and tricks in the post.

Skip the take out and make your own bowls at home, you’ll be glad you did!

Prepare rice:

Time saving tip: buy already prepared riced cauliflower in bags in the produce section.

If using cauliflower, pour 1 tablespoon oil into a skillet and sauté the cauliflower for 1 minute. Cover with a lid to let the cauliflower steam and become tender, 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If using cooked brown rice, season it with salt and pepper.

While the rice steams, prepare the salmon.

Salmon:

Cut salmon into 1-inch chunks, pat the salmon dry with paper towels, and season with salt & pepper.

Be careful not to cut the chunks too small. The fish will shrink as it cooks, and if the nuggets are too small, they may fall apart while you’re cooking them.

Salmon Skin:

Salmon skin is usually considered safe to eat.

The skin contains the same minerals and nutrients as the salmon, which may be an excellent addition to your diet. You will want to consider the source and quality of the fish when deciding to eat the skin or not.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the skin, but I find the skin easiest to remove after the salmon has cooked.

You can also have the fish monger or butcher remove the skin.

Cooking salmon nuggets on the stove top:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Working in two or three batches, add the salmon to the skillet in a single layer and sear for 15 to 20 seconds per side, until all sides are golden and crisp and the internal temperature has reached 125° F to 130° F, about 3 minutes total per batch.

Air fryer salmon nuggets:

Preheat the air fryer to 350° F.

Place the cubed salmon on top of a small piece of parchment paper or a parchment liner. Drizzle a tablespoon of oil over the salmon cubes, and lightly toss to coat.

I love these {affiliate link} parchment paper liners!

Place the salmon on top of the parchment paper in the air fryer and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the internal temperature has reached 125° F to 130° F. Cooking time may vary slightly depending on this thickness of the salmon and the brand of air fryer.

Assemble the bowls:

Divide the rice between two bowls and top each with half of the salmon, carrots, cucumbers, avocado, and soy sauce.

To make sure these are gluten free, if desired, use gf soy sauce, tamari sauce, or liquid aminos

Time saving tip: use pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store.

Seedless cucumbers such as Persian or English style cucumbers are the best choice for these bowls, but really any cucumber will be great.

Divide any add-ins you may be using between the bowls.

Make the spicy mayo:

Combine the mayonnaise and Sriracha sauce in a small bowl.

Drizzle the sauce over the bowls, and top with the roasted seaweed.

Roasted seaweed notes:

Adding the dried seaweed makes these bowls into the fun sushi bowls that they are. And the flavor is great.

You’ll find nori snacks or seaweed snacks in the Asian aisle of well-stocked grocery stores. These are smaller pieces of nori, rather than full sized sheets that you’d use for rolling sushi.

Grab about four of these smaller pieces and use them. If all you can find is the larger pieces, use ½ of one of these larger sheets.

Changes to the recipe

These sushi bowls are delicious just as the recipe is written, but you can totally change up the ingredients to customize them to your tastes, or change with the seasonal produce.

If you’re wondering what vegetables go well with salmon, well, in my opinion, just about any!

Other add in options for these bowls are sweet potato, avocado, green onions, pickled ginger, sliced radishes, sesame seeds, diced mango, furikake, green beans, asparagus, cabbage (especially thinly sliced napa cabbage), leafy greens, or pineapple.  

Toss on my cucumber & onion salad.

You could steam the carrots before adding them to the bowls.

Switch up the proteins you use in the bowls. Try shrimp, tempeh, crab, smoked salmon, or tilapia. Use multiple proteins as well. And, this is a great way to use up leftovers.

Swap the base for another whole grain like bulgur, quinoa, red rice, black rice, or farro.

Lighten the calories in the sauce by using light mayo.

Different sauces will be fun to try as well. Drizzle on some Tamarind Cashew Dipping Sauce, Plum Chile Sauce, or Teriyaki sauce.

Toss on some fun toppings such as crispy onions, wasabi, furikake, or sliced jalapenos.

Can this be made ahead of time?

These bowls are best when served immediately. However, there are meal prep tips you can use.

The veggies can all be sliced and chopped ahead of time and stored separately. That is, except the avocado; they’re best when sliced at the last minute.

The spicy mayo can be made a couple days in advance.

Store any leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

I think these would be a really fun appetizer at a party too! Make little salmon sushi cups using small or disposable cups, add the fillings, and sauce.

More Favorite Grain Bowls

If you love this Deconstructed Spicy Sushi Bowl recipe, try one of these other yummy bowls as well: Winter Grain Bowls, Asian Fusion Bowl, Quinoa Breakfast Bowl, and Shrimp & Mexican Corn Bowl.

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