Salmon Poke Bowls with Orange-Sesame Sauce

Salmon Poke Bowls are the ideal meal—easy to make, filled with Hawaiian and Asian flavors, hearty yet healthy, and downright stunning. Everything you need is piled into one bowl; whole grain brown rice, lean heart-healthy protein, veggies, and a variety of seasonings and sauces. It may look like spring in a bowl, but I’m here to tell you, this is a year-round kind of meal. 

How to make salmon poke bowls

The process of making poke bowls at home is very simple. Most of the cooking happens in the prep of the ingredients, after that, it’s all about assembly. 

Because it comes down to assembly, it's important to have a game plan for preparing the components (if you want to make this efficient af). Here’s my prep schedule. 

1. Get the rice cooking.
2. Whisk together the sauce for the salmon in a big bowl. 
3. Dice the salmon then add to the sauce; toss to combine, cover and chill for 30 minutes. 
4. Thinly slice the cucumber and onion, then combine in a large bowl. 
5. Bring the pickling liquid to a boil on the stove top; pour over cucumber mixture and let rest for 15 minutes.
6. Cook the edamame in now empty saucepan; drain and set aside.
7. Slice the radishes and set aside. 
8. Slice the avocado and set aside.
9. Drain the salmon, and transfer the marinade to now empty saucepan. 
10. Bring marinade to a boil and cook it until it’s thick an syrupy, about 5 minutes.
11. Whisk together mayo and chili garlic sauce, if using. 

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How to build a poke bowl

There's no right or wrong way to assemble a poke bowl, but if you’re looking for a photo-worthy bowl, here is how to assemble: 

1. Start by dividing the brown rice between your bowls. Create an even layer in the bottom of each bowl, slightly mounding some of the rice off to one side. 
2. Divide the salmon between bowls, mounding off to one side. 
3. Divide the edamame between bowls, mounding along a different side of the bowl. 
4. Fan a few slices of avocado and nestle them in between ingredients or along the sides of the bowl.
5. Fan the radish and pickled cucumber in the same way you did the avocado. 
6. Bunch together some of the pickled onion and the pickled ginger and use those to fill in the “holes” of your bowl. 
7. Drizzle the reduced sauce over the salmon and dollop the mayo sauce over the rice. 
8. Sprinkle everything with sesame seeds and some furikake. 

Salmon poke bowl with spicy mayo 

Spicy mayo is a great addition to, well, everything, but especially poke bowls. It’s made with only two ingredients, but somehow the combination is pure magic. This simple sauce adds the right amount of creaminess to the bowls that you can’t get from anything else. It's a great addition but totally optional.

For this recipe I call for avocado mayo because I love the flavor, you can use whatever mayo you have on hand. 

Using raw salmon 

Any meal that features raw salmon can feel a little intimidating. Although it shouldn’t be scary, there are a few things to keep in mind when eating raw fish to keep you safe. 

First off, when choosing the salmon you’re going to use for a poke bowl, look for wild-caught salmon that has been labeled as “previously frozen.” This label means that the fish has been frozen to below -4-degrees fahrenheit, which according to FDA guidelines, is a sufficient temperature to kill parasites. 

I recommend buying salmon that’s still frozen as opposed to picking up some from the seafood case (unless you have a great seafood market with a lot of turn over). There’s no telling how long the fish has been thawed at the counter, but when you choose frozen you know that it’s never been thawed and it’s been handled correctly. 

The best and safest way to thaw frozen salmon is to let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Depending on size, the salmon will need 12–24 hours, sometimes 36 hours, in the refrigerator before it’s fully thawed. 

Can I cook the salmon?

Yes! Cooked salmon is delicious in poke bowls! 

I recommend following the recipe instructions through the simmering and reducing of the sauce. Then heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high. Add salmon and cook 2 minutes, add the reduced sauce and continue to cook 2 minutes more, or until salmon is cooked through and a thermometer inserted in the centers registers 145-degrees fahrenheit. 

What is furikake?

Furikake hails from Japan and is a mixed seasoning most often used for topping rice. It comes in a range of flavors including nori komi furikake (featuring seaweed), wasabi furikake (featuring wasabi), and salmon furikake (featuring dried salmon crumbs), to name a few. The seasoning can feature sesame seeds, dried egg, and bonito flakes. 

It may look and sound like fish food but it adds a wonderful savory flavor to poke bowls and rice. You can find furikake at your local International or Asian market, as well as on Amazon. 

Make sure to tag me @ZESTFULKITCHEN ON INSTAGRAM or comment below if you make these salmon poke bowls!

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