Teriyaki Salmon Bowl.
Teriyaki salmon served overtop brown rice with cucumber, edamame, avocado, seaweed salad, scallions and pickled ginger. This healthy salmon rice bowl is savory, sweet and satisfying – and makes the perfect “meal in a bowl” for lunch or dinner.
Gotta love a good “meal in a bowl.”
We love meals in a bowl. There’s something about having all of your favorite ingredients (salmon, avocado, seaweed salad, ginger … oh my!) and textures piled together and topped with an umami-rich sweet and sour teryiyaki sauce. I could eat these salmon bowls every single day.
If you love teriyaki salmon and Asian flavors, you are going to love this bowl too.
We’ve been on an air fryer kick recently, so I’ve chosen to cook this teriyaki salmon in the air fryer (in fact, I have a whole post about teriyaki salmon in the air fryer because we love it so much), but you could just as easily grill it. If you do have an air fryer though, this is a great time to pull it out of hibernation. The air fryer is going to make the salmon crispy on the outside, but perfectly cooked, tender and flaky on the inside – your salmon will not be dried out, as long as you keep an eye on the cooking time.
INGREDIENTS:
To make this salmon bowl, you’ll need:
- Fresh (or, if frozen, thawed) salmon filets (wild or farmed, your choice), skin on
- Teriyaki sauce (store bought or homemade – we use homemade here, recipe is included below)
- Brown or white rice
- Cucumber
- Edamame (soybeans)
- Avocado
- Seaweed salad – skip the imported stuff and try our favorite from Atlantic Sea Farms. Their kelp (seaweed) is grown, harvested and processed in Maine. And it’s never dyed and never dried.
- Pickled ginger – we love this organic ginger from The Ginger People. It’s one of the few pickled gingers that is not dyed – it’s the color ginger should be – yellowish/tan.
- Scallions
- Black sesame seeds (optional)
- Lime (for serving)
Above are the ingredients for the salmon bowl. Feel free to sub in/out your favorite veggies and grains.
And here are the salmon filets marinating in the homemade teriyaki sauce.
Let’s talk about how to make these rice bowls!
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS:
- Make the quick teriyaki marinade/sauce on the stovetop. Let cool slightly.
- Reserve 1/4 of the teriyaki sauce, you’ll use that for drizzling on the bowls. Pour the remaining 3/4 of the sauce into a ziplock bag. Add the salmon; make sure the marinade is covering the salmon. Marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature. Unlike other proteins, fish and shellfish need a minimum amount of time to marinate – their texture begins to suffer with longer marinate times.
- Preheat the air fryer to 390 degrees.
- Spray or wipe the air fryer with high heat cooking oil. We use avocado oil.
- Add the salmon filets to the air fryer basket, skin side down.
- Cook salmon for 5-6 minutes or until desired doneness. Cooking time will vary depending on thickness of the filets. Salmon will flake easily with a fork when cooked through.
- Assemble bowls by placing brown rice at the bottom of each bowl. Lay the salmon filet on top of the rice. Then add cucumber slices, edamame, avocado slices, seaweed salad and pickled ginger. Sprinkle the bowls with scallions and black sesame seeds. Serve bowls with lime wedges and the reserved teriyaki sauce.
RECIPE FAQS:
Can you substitute another protein for the salmon?
Absolutely! If you like shrimp, that would be a tasty choice here. Or, if you’re looking for a non-seafood option, tofu or chicken would be great substitutes.
Can you grill the salmon instead of air frying?
Yes! If you don’t have an air fryer, you can grill the salmon and the recipe will be just as good, the salmon will just have a different texture – the air fryer makes the salmon more crisp on the outside. I recommend cooking the salmon over medium/medium high heat. To prevent the teriyaki sauce from burning, you can place the salmon on a piece of tinfoil, skin side down, and place onto the grill. You don’t need to flip the salmon. Check for doneness at around 8 minutes. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of the filets.
What kind of salmon should you use? Farmed or wild?
Use whichever you prefer! Neither is better or worse than the other, they just have different flavor profiles, so cook the one your family likes best. Wild salmon is stronger in flavor, farmed salmon is more mild. Also, farmed salmon is fattier than wild salmon, so will have a richer mouthfeel and is more forgiving when it comes to overcooking. My kids prefer farmed salmon because of its milder flavor, but we eat both.
As far as sustainability goes, fish farming has come a long way and most (not all) farmed fish are a sustainable choice. Ask your fishmonger or grocery store fish counter about their sustainability policies and do your own research on the fish farms they supply their fish from. A great resource to determine if a species you are interested in is a sustainable choices is Seafood Watch. Just type in the species of fish/seafood, and it’ll tell you whether it’s a best choice/certified sustainable/good alternative/avoid.
MORE SALMON RECIPES:
If you love salmon like we do, here are a few more great recipes:
NUTRITION BENEFITS of these Teriyaki Salmon Bowls:
These teriyaki salmon bowls are packed with nutrition.
- Salmon is rich in brain and heart health promoting omega-3 fatty acids, as well as Vitamin D, protein, vitamins and minerals.
- Avocados are rich in heart smart monounsaturated fats and can help boost the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients like Vitamins D, E, A and K.
- The fermented seaweed salad contains gut health promoting probiotics, iodine (important for thyroid health and metabolism) and provides 2 grams of fiber (per 2 ounce serving), important for digestive health.
- Brown rice is rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals.
- Edamame is rich in protein, fiber, iron, calcium, folate, Vitamin C and Vitamin K.
Teriyaki Salmon Bowl
Equipment
- 1 air fryer or grill
- 1 small saucepan
Ingredients
For the teriyaki sauce
- 1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup mirin (sweetened sake)
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger about 1 1-inch finger ginger, minced
Salmon
- 1 1/2 pounds salmon filet skin on, cut into 4 equal sized pieces
For assembly
- 3 cups cooked brown rice or sub white
- 1 English cucumber thinly sliced
- 2 cups shelled edamame cooked
- 1 avocado thinly sliced
- 1 cup seaweed salad we use Atlantic Sea Farms
- 4 scallions green parts only, sliced
- Pickled ginger
For serving
- Black sesame seeds
- 1 Lime cut into wedges
Instructions
- Whisk soy sauce, mirin, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger and garlic together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly.
- Add ¾ of the sauce to a sealable zip lock bag. Add the salmon and make sure the filets are covered in marinade. Set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- Pour the remaining ¼ marinade into a small serving bowl to be used as a drizzle on the final dish.
- Preheat air fryer to 390 degrees. Or preheat your grill to high heat and clean and oil the grates.
- Wipe or spray your air fryer basket with high heat cooking oil.
- Remove filets from marinade (discard marinade). Shake off any excess marinade. Place fish in air fryer, making sure not to have the filets touching each other. Or, place fish on foil, then onto the grill (reduce grill heat to medium).
- Cook salmon for 5-6 minutes, or until desired doneness. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your salmon filets and the variation in air fryers. Safe internal temperature for salmon is 145 degrees, but pull out of air fryer at 140, as the temperature will continue to rise. Or, if you prefer your salmon rosy in the center, pull it out at 125-130, as measured in the thickest part of the filet. If you are grilling, time will be closer to 8-10 minutes, depending on filet thickness. No need to flip the salmon with either cooking method.
- Assemble bowls by dividing rice among 4 bowls. Add salmon, cucumber, edamame, avocado, seaweed salad, scallions and pickled ginger equally to the bowls.
- Sprinkle bowls with black sesame seeds. Serve with lime wedges and reserved teriyaki sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
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