This salmon bowl recipe is a sponsored collaboration with Mizkan and the Forward Influence Network. However, all thoughts and opinions are my own.
This wasabi salmon bowl is a tantalizing combination of the sweet, spicy, and umami flavors that embody Japanese cuisine. It’s easy to make at home and so delicious it rivals any dish you’d find in a restaurant! This salmon bowl recipe is a sponsored collaboration with Mizkan and the Forward Influence Network.
What’s the one product we can’t go without when making Japanese dishes? The answer is simple: Mizkan Natural Rice Vinegar. Not only do we use Mizkan Natural Rice Vinegar in our Japanese inspired dishes, we use it in a lot of other recipes too! I especially love the mild flavor of Mizkan Natural Rice Vinegar for salad dressing — and with zero fat and no calories it’s guilt-free! Mizkan also makes a delicious Mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine), which is my husband’s secret trick for cooking vegetables that our kids love to eat! Mizkan makes cooking and enjoying authentic Japanese recipes at home easily accessible.
Salmon Rice Bowl with Wasabi Mayo
This Asian salmon bowl is crazy flavorful and so delicious it always leaves me wanting more! It is one of my favorite meals of ALL time, so I don’t know what took me so long to get the recipe up on the blog!
Better late than never, right?
Not only does it taste amazing, but this wasabi salmon bowl is gorgeous too. Just look at all those bright colors!
Oh, and I must also mention that it only takes about 30 minutes to make from start to finish!
If you’ve wanted to try making Japanese cuisine at home, these easy salmon bowls are a great way to start! Keep reading for all of our “top secret” prep tips and our go-to ingredients to create authentic Japanese inspired flavors in your own kitchen!
What You Need to Make Asian Salmon Bowls
- Salmon filets — Our favorite protein that’s easy to cook (really!) and a good source of omega-3s.
- Sushi rice — This Japanese sticky rice has a delicious hint of sweet and salty flavor and is the perfect pairing for our Asian salmon bowls!
- Mizkan Natural Rice Vinegar — A crucial ingredient for making both our sushi rice AND our wasabi mayo.
- Nori — Thin sheets of seaweed used to make sushi rolls.
- Pickled ginger — A common sushi accompaniment, ginger is a must for our bowl!
- Avocado — Adds a creamy element to our dish, as well as good fats.
- Chopped cashews — Our favorite nuts, cashews add a fun little crunch to the dish.
- Mayonnaise — The base for our wasabi mayo sauce.
- Sugar — Used in both our sushi rice seasoning and the wasabi mayo.
- Salt
- Lemon juice
How to Make Wasabi Salmon Bowls
There are four parts to our salmon bowls:
- Salmon
- Sushi rice
- Wasabi mayo
- The fixin’s (veggies, ginger, etc.)
How to Make Perfect Sushi Rice
Because it takes the longest to cook, you’ll want to start making sushi rice first. Cook according to package directions, either in a rice maker or stovetop. We make the recommended amount on the rice package, usually around 1 1/2 to 2 cups of dry rice.
Essential to sushi rice is a vinegar seasoning mixture — it gives sushi rice that irresistible sweet and salty flavor.
Every sushi chef has their own proprietary recipe and often keep their exact ratios a secret. However, after quite a bit of trial and error, we’ve come up with a recipe that we love:
- 1/2 cup Mizkan Natural Rice Vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon salt
Heat this mixture in a small saucepan, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve completely.
When sushi rice is done cooking, transfer it to a large mixing bowl and allow it to cool enough to handle. Then you’ll add the vinegar mixture to your rice and stir it together until all the liquid is absorbed. Your rice should be sticky, but not wet.
Choosing the right vinegar is important when making sushi rice, and rice vinegar is the traditional choice. Mizkan is the #1 Rice Vinegar Brand in Japan* — you can’t beat that for authentic flavor! Fortunately for us, it’s now available in the United States in retailers such as Walmart.
Click here to find out where to buy Mizkan vinegars and sauces in your area.
*INTAGE SRI. Rice Vinegar Accumulated Sale Revenue 2014 – 2018.
Next, Cook the Salmon
We usually start on the salmon while the rice is cooking. That way everything finishes around the same time!
We season our salmon lightly with salt, pepper, and sesame seeds to allow the flavor of the salmon to shine through.
My husband has a foolproof method to cook salmon on the stovetop. Here’s a quick breakdown of that technique:
- Heat sauté pan over medium heat. When pan is hot, add 1-2 Tablespoons coconut oil to grease the pan.
- Place salmon in the pan, skin side down.
- When salmon is cooked halfway through, flip so that the skin side faces up. You’ll see a distinct line in the middle of the salmon when it’s time to flip – about 5-7 minutes of cooking time.
- Cover pan, remove from heat, and allow salmon to steam for 10 minutes for perfect medium doneness.
How to Make Wasabi Mayo
Whisk together wasabi mayo ingredients in a small mixing bowl until well combined. For easier drizzling, we like to put our wasabi mayo in a small squeeze bottle, but you can use a spoon too.
Layer Your Salmon Bowls
Once all your components are cooked, it’s time to build your salmon bowls!
We start with 1/3 – 1/2 cup sushi rice in each bowl. Then we place a salmon filet right in the middle (be sure to remove the skin before serving).
Finally we top with some of our favorite sushi accompaniments like pickled ginger, avocado, nori strips, and chopped cashews and a generous drizzle of our homemade wasabi mayo.
Wasabi Salmon Bowl Recipe (Printable Copy)
This wasabi salmon bowl is a tantalizing combination of the sweet, spicy, and umami flavors that embody Japanese cuisine. It's easy to make at home and so delicious it rivals any dish you'd find in a restaurant!
- 2 salmon filets 6-8oz each
- 1 sheet nori thinly sliced
- 1 avocado chopped or sliced
- 6-10 pieces pickled ginger
- 2 Tablespoons cashews chopped
- 1 1/2 cups sushi rice uncooked
- 2 cups water
- 1/2 cup Mizkan rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Mizkan rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon wasabi
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
Cook rice according to package directions.
- In a small saucepan, combine Mizkan rice vinegar, sugar, and salt.
- Heat over medium, stirring occasionally, until sugar and salt are completely dissolved.
Remove from heat and pour vinegar mixture over cooled sushi rice in large mixing bowl.
Stir until vinegar mixture is evenly soaked into the sushi rice. Rice should be sticky, but not wet.
Lightly season salmon with salt, pepper, and sesame seeds (optional).
Heat sauté pan over medium heat. When pan is hot, add 1-2 Tablespoons coconut oil to grease the pan. Place salmon in pan, skin side down.
When salmon is cooked halfway through, flip so the skin side faces up. You will see a distinct line in the middle of the salmon when it's time - about 5-7 minutes.
Cover pan, remove from heat, and allow salmon to steam in pan for 10 minutes (for medium doneness).
Whisk together wasabi mayo ingredients in a small mixing bowl until well combined.
Layer your salmon bowls with about 1/3 cup sushi rice, one salmon filet, a pinch of ginger, half an avocado, nori strips, cashews, and finish with a drizzle of wasabi mayo.
Note: Nutrition information is a rough estimate only; actual values will vary based on the exact ingredients used and amount of recipe prepared.
Pin our Salmon Sushi Rice Bowls on Pinterest:
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Last updated on January 21st, 2020 at 12:59 pm
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