Salmon Sushi Bowl Recipe

These Salmon Sushi Bowls are built with soy butter rice, smoked salmon, sriracha mayo, pickled ginger and seaweed, so every single bite is an actual flavor explosion. Great for meal prep lunches!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Big O’ Smokehouse. All opinions are 100% my own.

This Salmon Sushi Bowl Is Honestly My Ideal Meal

In an ideal world, every night would be sushi night for my daughter and I. And we’re not picky. Sure, we love a high-end sushi experience, but we’ll also eat grocery store sushi and airport sushi. We even had sushi in San Sebastian, Spain last year (we were more so there for the pintxos bars, but it wasn’t bad).

But my husband is out here insisting we eat other types of food occasionally. I know, I know. So I’ve found a workaround to that and now I just have sushi for lunch and don’t offer him any. But by sushi for lunch, I mean this Salmon Sushi Bowl recipe.

It has all of the flavors I love (and in fact, I can add as much pickled ginger as I want, so even better), in an easy to put together, completely portable meal.

The two biggest secret weapons here are the soy butter rice (which you’ve seen us use before for our Salmon With Mango Salsa) and high quality smoked salmon fillets. Other than the rice, there’s really no cooking necessary. It’s more of an assembly situation!

Smoked Salmon Sushi Bowl Ingredients

A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.

• sushi rice – this is a little splurge we make at the grocery store to make the best sushi bowls possible. You can find uncooked white short-grain sushi rice with the other rice options at the store. It can be a bit more expensive, but it’s worth it for that authentic sushi rice flavor. You can also sub jasmine rice or basmati rice if your store doesn’t have sushi rice.
• unsalted butter – to give the rice a creamy, sort of indulgent flavor.
• soy sauce – adds savory, umami flavor to the rice.
• smoked salmon – the star of the dish! Choose a high quality smoked salmon to provide rich, smoky and savory flavor. We like a hot smoked salmon more than a cold-smoked or cured (lox style) salmon for this recipe. Big O’ Smokehouse Classic Smoked Salmon Fillets are absolutely perfect here. It’s super convenient – just open the package and flake it into your bowls.
• mayonnaise – the creamy base for the sriracha mayo.
• sriracha – brings the spicy heat to the mayo.
• rice vinegar – adds a bit of tanginess to the sriracha mayo.
• avocado – all our favorite sushi rolls have avocado in them, so they’re key for us in these sushi bowls, too.
• cucumber – adds a bit of crunch and freshness to this deconstructed sushi bowl. An English cucumber works best here.
• edamame – often a side dish FOR sushi, but let’s just throw them right into this smoked salmon sushi bowl. Carrots or scallions work here, too!
• pickled ginger – I could eat a whole jar at a single meal. You decide how much is right for you.
• seaweed – to replicate the nori wrap that provides structure to many sushi rolls, we’re going to use roasted seaweed snacks. One small package will be plenty for all 4 bowls. You can also use regular nori sheets if you have them – just cut them into small pieces.
• sesame seeds – white or black, whatever you’ve got!

How to Make Salmon Sushi Bowls

1. RICE. Prepare the rice according to package directions, and then stir in the butter and soy sauce.

2. SRIRACHA MAYO. Whisk together the mayonnaise, vinegar and sriracha. Add a bit of water to make the mixture a drizzly consistency, if needed.

3. ASSEMBLE. Build the bowls by dividing the rice, salmon, avocados, cucumber, edamame and ginger between them. Drizzle with the sriracha mayo and sprinkle with the crumbled seaweed snacks and sesame seeds.

Sushi Bowl Variations

• SPICY – Add extra sriracha to the sriracha mayo, or simply squirt straight sriracha over your bowl to make it spicier! You can also serve this with a side of wasabi.
• MANGO – A little bit of diced mango is really nice here. It hits all of those sweet and savory notes!
• CAULI RICE – Try this sushi bowl recipe with cauliflower rice in place of the sushi rice.

Salmon Sushi Bowl Storage (Meal Prep Option)

If you eat these salmon sushi bowls right after you prep all of the ingredients, you’re going to have nice warm rice with room temp salmon and veggies, and it’s going to all come together really nicely.

However, if you want to make this for meal prep, I have a few suggestions. Because eating cold soy butter rice really isn’t the best it can possibly be. But no worries, it’s easy:

• For meal prep, I recommend 4 small avocados instead of 2 large, so that you can take an entire avocado in your lunchbox and eat the whole thing.
• Prep all of the ingredients as instructed below, but when you get to Step 3, skip the avocados, cucumber, sriracha mayo and seaweed snacks, for now. Build the bowls with the rice, salmon, edamame, ginger and sesame seeds.
• Package the cucumber, sriracha mayo and seaweed snacks in small containers or zip top bags and store them in the fridge alongside the rice bowls (which are in airtight containers) until you’re ready to pack them in your lunchbox.
• Pack an avocado and paring knife in your lunchbox if you are able to.
• When ready to eat, microwave the rice bowl 30 to 45 seconds or so. You’re not looking for a really piping HOT dish here, you’re just trying to take the chill off. Lukewarm is fine here. Better than fine.
• Top the rice bowl with the cucumber, spicy mayo and seaweed snacks. Slice up the avocado and add to your bowl. Time to eat!