This Spicy Salmon Bowl is fresh and delicious! It has all my favorite things: spicy salmon, fluffy rice, creamy avocado, and pickled cucumber, red onion, and cabbage.
This is one of my favorite seafood meals to make and probably my favorite salmon recipe. It involves salmon, pickled veggies, avocado, and rice. Add everything to the bowl and mix it up. It's fresh, spicy, tangy, creamy, and crunchy.
If you’re having trouble with salmon, check out my post on 5 Ways to Cook Salmon for help!
It has everything I love:
- Quick pickled cucumbers, cabbage, and red onions (honestly one of the best things ever)
- Spicy salmon baked in the oven with a simple 2 ingredient sauce
- Fluffy rice
- Avocado
This recipe was inspired by the Salmon Larb Coconut Rice Bowls in the What's Gaby Cooking: Eat What You Want: 125 Recipes for a Real-Life cookbook. The bowls were so flavorful I had to make my own simpler version for the blog.
Jump to:
What you need to make these Spicy Salmon Bowl
Salmon: I used fresh Salmon fillet that was about 12 oz
Rice Vinegar: Rice Vinegar is sweet and slightly sour. I liked it more than white vinegar, which has a harsh and sour flavor
Sambal Oelek: a spicy chili paste you should be able to find in the Asian food section of your grocery store
Soy Sauce: adds salt and umami to the salmon
Garlic: adds flavor
Small Cucumbers: super crunchy
Red Onion: adds tang
Napa Cabbage: gives the bowl some crunch
White Rice: base of the salmon bowl
Avocado: Extra topping for the bowl
Substitutions and Variations
More Heat: If you want to add even more spice, try making a spicy mayo to add on top. Mix 1 part mayo and 1 part sambal oelek together. Top your salmon rice bowl with it for an extra kick.
Swapping Samal Olek: If you can't find sambal oelek at your grocery store, swap it out for Sriracha. Sriracha is sweeter but will make a good substitute.
Rice: I used plain white rice in this bowl, but jasmine rice or coconut rice would also be delicious!
How to Store
You can store the rice and salmon together, but you'll want to store the pickled vegetables and avocado separately. Cooked rice doesn't last too long in the fridge before it starts to dry out, about 2 days. The salmon and pickled vegetables will last about 3 days.
When you are ready to eat the leftovers, warm up the fish and rice, then top with the pickled vegetables and avocado.
Do you have questions?
sambal oelek is an Indonesian chili paste made of chili peppers, vinegar, water, and salt
Spicy Mayo: Mix 2 tablespoons of mayo with 2 tablespoons of sambal oelek (or siracha). Top your salmon rice bowl with it for an extra kick.
Tips and Tricks
The pickled vegetables can be made a day ahead and refrigerated.
Don't feel like chopping up cabbage? Swap out the 1 cup of cabbage for 1 cup of cole slaw mix (without the dressing, obviously)
How to pick the perfect avocado
If the avocado is...
- Firm and green – 3-5 days till ripe
- Slightly firm and green/purple- 1-2 days till ripe
- Soft and dark purple- ready to eat
- Squishy and black- over ripe
I hope you love this Spicy Salmon Bowl recipe! If you make it leave a comment! You can also share a photo on Instagram and tag #meganvskitchen. Enjoy!
Spicy Salmon Bowl
Ingredients
Quick Pickled Veggies:
- 2 cups Napa cabbage thinly sliced
- 2 mini cucumbers thinly sliced
- ¼ red onion diced
- 3 tablespoon rice vinegar or rice wine vinegar
- Pinch of salt
Spicy Salmon:
- 2 tablespoons of sambal oelek
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 12 oz salmon fillets
- 2 cloves garlic sliced
Spicy Salmon Bowls:
- Spicy Salmon
- Pickled Veggies
- 4 cups cooked rice
- 1 Avocado diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- To make the pickled veggies: In a large bowl mix together all the ingredients for the pickled veggies. Toss the veggies every 5-10 minutes to make sure the vinegar is coating them.
- To make the salmon: line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Place salmon on top of the foil and pat dry with a paper towel. Mix together the sambal oelek and soy sauce in a small bowl. Spread the mixture over the salmon. Top with sliced garlic. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the salmon is fork-tender.
- To assemble the bowls: add cooked rice, pickled vegetables, spicy salmon, and avocado to the bowl. Top with spicy mayo if you desire ( instructions for it are below).
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is an estimate and may vary based on the ingredients used.
Recipe adapted from What's Gaby Cooking: Eat What You Want: 125 Recipes for Real Life Salmon Larb Coconut Rice bowls.
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