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Teriyaki Salmon Rice Bowl with Spinach and Avocado

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Teriyaki salmon rice bowl with spinach & avocado. Tender broiled salmon glazed with homemade teriyaki sauce on a bed of sushi rice, with spinach, sliced avocado and a sprinkling of toasted sesame & nori confetti.

Teriyaki Salmon Rice Bowl with Spinach and Avocado and Sesame-Nori Confetti and chopsticks

I have a thing for rice bowls. There are many delicious rice bowls on Panning The Globe. And though I love them all, I have to say this teriyaki salmon rice bowl is my favorite. As many times as I make this recipe (often!), it’s always a treat.

I also love that this bowl is filled with nutritious ingredients. There’s  Omega-3 fatty acids from the salmon and a good dose of iron & fiber from the spinach.

It has the gestalt of sushi but the salmon is cooked, the nori is toasted and sprinkled on top and everything is drizzled with tasty homemade teriyaki sauce.

Teriyaki Salmon Rice Bowl with Spinach, Avocado and Sesame-Nori Confetti|Panning The Globe

IT’S EASY TO MAKE HOMEMADE TERIYAKI SAUCE

Teriyaki sauce has 5 ingredients:

  • soy sauce,
  • mirin (rice wine)
  • sugar
  • garlic
  • and ginger.

Simmer for ten minutes until slightly thickened and you’ve got delicious homemade teriyaki sauce.

TERIYAKI SALMON

Once the sauce has cooled, set some aside to baste your salmon. Baste the salmon before it goes into the oven and again halfway through cooking time. 

salmon-raw1web

Japan always ranks high for countries with the best longevity. This has been attributed to the fact that their diet is generally low in fat, with fish being the most common form of protein.

The tradition of serving seasonal vegetables with steamed rice, fish and other tasty things from the sea such as nori, has been central to Japanese cuisine for thousands of years.

SESAME-NORI CONFETTI

This sesame-nori confetti is one one of my favorite recipe innovations. It adds great flavor and beauty to this dish.

salmon-nori-sesameweb

MAKE AHEAD TIPS

If you want a quick weeknight teriyaki salmon rice bowl dinner, make the teriyaki sauce and toast the sesame seeds and nori in advance – you can keep both in airtight containers in the fridge for a week or so. The rice and salmon are best cooked fresh.

SUBSTITUTIONS

This is a very adaptable recipe. Eat it hot, cold or at room temp. Try it with different vegetables like sautéed snow peas, sugar snap peas or asparagus (cut on the diagonal into bite-sized pieces). Use tofu, chicken or beef instead of salmon. Make a teriyaki salmon rice bowl with short grain brown rice instead of white, for a big boost in fiber.

I’m sure you can think of lots of other variations – let me know if you come up with something really good!

Teriyaki Salmon Rice bowl with Spinach, Avocado and Sesame Nori Confetti

TWO MORE DELICIOUS JAPANESE RECIPES FROM PANNING THE GLOBE

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Here’s the Teriyaki Salmon Rice Bowl Recipe. If you try this recipe, I hope you’ll come back to leave a star rating and a comment. I’d love to know what you think.

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Teriyaki Salmon Rice Bowl with Spinach & Avocado

Teriyaki Salmon Rice Bowl with Spinach and Avocado | Panning The Globe

★★★★★

5 from 21 reviews

A healthy tasty meal in a bowl – Salmon, spinach and sushi rice with teriyaki sauce – sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and nori.

  • Author: Panning The Globe
  • Prep Time: 45 mins
  • Cook Time: 25 mins
  • Total Time: 1 hour 10 mins
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Lunch, brunch or dinner
  • Method: oven, stovetop
  • Cuisine: Japanese
Scale

Ingredients

  • Salmon:
  • 1 pound salmon fillet cut into 4 thin portions (skin on is fine)
  • Teriyaki Sauce
  • 3/4 cup soy sauce
  • 3/4 cup Mirin (rice wine)
  • 1/2 cup sugar (white or brown)
  • 1 teaspoon finely minced garlic (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon finely minced ginger (optional)
  • Toasted Sesame and Nori:
  • 1 8-inch square sheet of Nori, cut with a scissors into 1-inch strips. Stack the strips and cut crosswise into 1-inch by 1/4-inch confetti.
  • 2 tablespoons of black or white sesame seeds, or a mixture of both
  • Sushi Rice:
  • 2 cups sushi rice (short grain rice)
  • 2/3 cup homemade seasoned rice vinegar (see ingredients below) or you can buy seasoned rice vinegar in the Asian section of your grocery store.
  • 1 cup rice vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • Sautéed Spinach:
  • 20 ounces fresh spinach, washed
  • 1 tablespoon Asian sesame oil
  • Kosher salt
  • Garnish:
  • 1 bunch scallions, washed, trimmed, and sliced crosswise
  • 1 Avocado, peeled, pitted and sliced

Instructions

  1. Make the teriyaki sauce: In a small saucepan bring soy sauce, mirin, sugar, garlic (if using) and ginger (if using) to a gentle boil. Lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
  2. Toasted nori & sesame seeds: Toast nori and sesame seeds in a hot skillet for a minute or two, stirring and tossing constantly just until sesame seeds start to get a little brown. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
  3. Make the sushi rice: Rinse rice several times to remove excess starchy powder: put rice into a large bowl and cover by an inch with water. Swish rice around with your hands. Pour off cloudy water. Repeat 2 or 3 times more. Drain in a fine mesh colander. Cook rice per package directions. (about 2 1/2 cups water per 2 cups rice and a 15 minute simmer, covered) Remove rice from heat and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes.
  4. While rice is cooking, make seasoned rice vinegar: in a small saucepan bring rice vinegar, sugar and salt to a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring, until sugar and salt are dissolved. Set aside. Transfer rice to a large nonmetallic bowl. Measure out 2/3 cup of seasoned rice vinegar and slowly pour it over the rice, while tossing and mixing it. Cover bowl with a cloth and set aside.
  5. Cook the spinach: Heat 1 tablespoons sesame oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add spinach and 2 tablespoons water to the pan. Cover pan and leave it for 2 minutes. Uncover and stir. Spinach will be mostly wilted. Cook, stirring for about a minute more until it is completely wilted. Sprinkle with a pinch or two of salt. Remove from heat.
  6. Cook the salmon: Preheat oven to broil and set the rack 8 inches from the top. Place salmon skin-side down on a foil-lined jellyroll pan. Pour 1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce into a separate small bowl to use for glazing the salmon. Brush salmon with teriyaki sauce and cook for two minutes under the broiler. Pull salmon out of the oven and brush more teriyaki sauce on top. Return to the oven and cook for 1-3 minutes more, to your desired doneness. Better to undercook it slightly as it will continue to cook a bit even after it’s out of the oven. Remove from oven.
  7. Assemble rice bowls: Put rice and spinach in the bottom of a bowl. Lay salmon on top. (skin will peel off easily, if you prefer it skinless) Garnish with avocado slices. Sprinkle with scallions and nori-sesame confetti. Drizzle with teriyaki sauce. Repeat for each bowl.

Notes

Nutrition Note: This recipe makes a generous portion of rice and teriyaki sauce. You will likely have some left over. The nutrition label assumes you will be consuming all the rice and teriyaki sauce. For special diets, calories, carbs and sodium levels can be lowered substantially depending on the amount of rice and sauce you add when assembling the bowls.

Keywords: salmon, teriyaki, rice bowl

[Published April 8, 2014; updated May 15, 2018 – Same delicious recipe with added nutritional information]

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sheryl Rosner

    March 17, 2019 at 8:24 pm

    I made this tonight and it’s actually one of the best dinners I have ever made! No joke – I wouldn’t change a thing. Huge crowd pleaser – already planning my next dinner party around this recipe. Thanks

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  4. hello gorgeous

    September 1, 2018 at 8:26 am

    I made it exactly per the recipe and my husband and I both said it’s one of the best things we’ve ever eaten (and we eat well!). Thank you!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  6. Jessica

    March 29, 2018 at 9:22 pm

    Just got done eating it! My whole family loved it – kids included. Will definitely be faster next time now that I see how it all goes together. Hubby wants this one in the rotation!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  8. Karen

    May 10, 2017 at 9:36 pm

    Oh my, this is one of those rare recipes that tastes even better than it looks, and it looks amazing. The flavors and textures sing together like a glorious sushi roll. I’ve never tried broiling salmon before but I was pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. As suggested I slightly under-cooked the fish and then let it rest, covered, and let the residual heat finish cooking it through. The result was perfectly tender and buttery salmon. I made everything else exactly as written and wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you for this keeper!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

    • Lisa

      May 12, 2017 at 7:46 am

      Karen, I’m so happy to hear that the recipe worked and that you enjoyed it so much. Thank you for taking the time to leave this comment – Made my day!

      Reply

  9. Michelle

    December 27, 2016 at 12:09 pm

    This recipe is a winner! Delicious and I think I could eat it every night for quite awhile before being sick of it. Thanks for sharing!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  10. Alyssa

    October 3, 2016 at 3:29 pm

    This is one of my favorite recipes of all time, not an exaggeration. The teriyaki sauce recipe is delicious, and I love the use of seasoned rice vinegar on the rice (never had that before!) Ridiculously, slap-me-in-the-face delicious. I get angry when I’m eating it because of how good everything about this is. So, thank you 😀

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  13. Alyssa

    August 23, 2016 at 10:45 am

    I didn’t change a thing about this recipe and it turned out fabulously! Well actually, just one thing: the rice. Couldn’t find short grain so I bought medium 0: I’ve never had teriyaki salmon before, only chicken. So so incredibly delicious, this is definitely going to be in my regular meal rotation from now on! Thank you thank you!

    Reply

  15. Nicole Levine

    May 13, 2016 at 7:42 am

    Thank you for this terrific recipe which has become a staple in my household – easy to make, absolutely delicious and beautiful!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  21. Crystal

    January 28, 2016 at 9:43 pm

    Came across this on Pinterest several months ago and finally decided to make it. What was I waiting for?! I used coconut sugar in lieu of white so my teriyaki sauce didn’t thicken, but it still tasted amazing! It was reminiscent of a sushi roll…so yummy! Next time I may omit the spinach and throw in some thinly sliced cucumber sticks for a little crunch. It will certainly be in regular lunch / dinner rotation at our house. Thank you!

    Reply

  24. Donna

    September 26, 2015 at 9:33 am

    I have made this 3 times so far and it is absolutly delicious! The avocado takes it over the top. My daughter is not crazy about salmon, so I used cod for her and I have used shrimp too. Since it was for a quick weeknight dinner, I drizzled a little of a general Tao’s sauce I had in the fridge instead of making the teriyaki. So good, so easy. I also just made regular rice (butter, onion, rice and chicken broth). This is a keeper. I will try the nori sesame seed mix next time. It is so good, there will always be a next time with this dish! Thank you. We love rice bowls!

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  25. Maya

    June 14, 2015 at 10:15 pm

    I made it last week. It was really really nice. I did teriyaki salmon in a frypan. I brushed with the sauce and turned over and cooked. Did not have avocado. Had Miso soup (instant) on the side. Came out pretty good. Will make it again. Thank you for posting this recpie. Kindest regards and wishing you happiness.

    Reply

  26. Lii

    February 23, 2015 at 10:05 am

    I was just scrolling google + and came across a this beautiful plate of food and I immediately started to salivate. I printed the recipe and looks fairly easy to make, but if I do not use the seaweed will it still be as delicious as it looks?

    Reply

  28. Thalia @ butter and brioche

    July 24, 2014 at 1:35 am

    teriyaki and salmon has to be the perfect flavour combination ever.. definitely taking this recipe and idea to recreate in my kitchen this week. love it!

    Reply

  29. Sarah @ SnixyKitchen

    April 22, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    Every time I return from visiting my husband’s family in Texas, I feel completely stuffed and ready for something refreshing like this! I’m a huge fan of avocado + salmon – this bowl is giving me crazy cravings.

    Reply

  30. Carol at Wild Goose Tea

    April 18, 2014 at 7:00 pm

    Dang girl, I forgot how much I love teriyaki on salmon. I am having salmon for Easter dinner. I was planning on a garlic butter treatment, but I am quickly rethinking that decision. The colors in how you presented that salmon with the other items is lovely by the way.

    Reply

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