The classic combination of salmon and avocado come together on a bed of rice, while a homemade sweet and sticky teriyaki sauce brings together this simple 20 minute meal. This is one of my favourite easy and healthy lunch or dinner recipes to put together.
Rice bowls are one of my favourite easy meals. They are super simple, starting with a bed of rice, adding a protein, something green and finally a quality sauce. You can literally use hundreds of different combinations to make a delicious rice bowl, but this combination of teriyaki salmon and avocado has to be my favourite.
This recipe was inspired by a local Japanese restaurant that does a similar combination of flavours with a seared salmon. Because making seared salmon at home would involve a blow torch and a lot more skill, I decided to try something a little more simple and bake my salmon and serve it flaked.
This takes any fuss out of cooking the salmon as it doesn’t matter if you slightly overcook it, it’s still going to be delicious when flaked and coated with that teriyaki sauce.
The other thing that makes this bowl different to anything I’d made myself previously is the addition of the kewpie mayo on the rice. It turns this meal into a bowl form of my favourite sushi flavours and I just can’t get enough.
How to make homemade teriyaki sauce
Teriyaki is a sweet and tangy sauce that has bold savoury flavours from its base of soy sauce and mirin. Mirin is a sweet rice wine that is low-alcohol so can be found at most supermarkets, and gives the main flavour to the teriyaki sauce.
As a substitute you can use a dry sherry and a pinch of sugar. I’ve used both options and if you can get mirin, the flavour of the finished sauce is just that bit better!
This version of teriyaki sauce also bumps up the flavour with the addition of garlic, ginger, honey and sesame oil.
To make the sauce you want to add all the ingredients into a small saucepan and bring it to the boil. By adding a little cornflour (cornstarch if you are in the US) mixed with water to the sauce, you’ll end up with a thick and glossy sauce.
If you wanted to use this sauce as a marinade instead, you could also leave out the cornflour, but for this recipe, we want the nice thick sauce.
Bring the sauce to boil and turn down the heat and let it simmer for just a few minutes until it has thickened – it really doesn’t take long. Take off the heat and pour into a jar.
The sauce yields enough for 4 bowls. I’ve written the recipe as if you only are making 2 bowls at a time (for me that’s perfect when making lunch for just my husband and I) so just keep the sauce in a jar in the fridge for up to a month. When you want to make this again, the recipe is even easier as the sauce is ready to go!
How to make the salmon and avocado bowls
To make this recipe in 20 minutes, you’ll need to pay attention to the order of things.
First, start by putting on your rice to cook. I like to do this in a rice cooker for ease, but choose what is best for you! If you are using frozen salmon fillets for this meal, set them in a bowl of water to defrost.
Next, make your teriyaki sauce and preheat the oven. Line a baking tray with baking paper, lay down your salmon fillets and spoon over a little of the teriyaki sauce. Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on how thick your fillets are until just cooked through.
While the salmon is cooking, slice up your avocado. Once the rice is cooked, spoon it into your bowls for serving and top with a drizzle of kewpie mayo and teriyaki sauce.
Add the avocado to the bowl. Once your salmon is cooked, gently break it apart with a fork and place that into your bowl. Drizzle over a little more teriyaki sauce on top of the salmon and top everything with some toasted sesame seeds.
My Top Tips!
I like to use frozen salmon fillets for this meal. Something that I try and always have in my freezer is frozen salmon as it makes the perfect easy, healthy meal without too much planning. To defrost the salmon you just want to place the fillet which will be in a vacuum sealed bag into a bowl of just warm, not hot, water and let sit for about 10 minutes until the salmon has defrosted.
Make the teriyaki sauce ahead of time and just keep it in the fridge for when you want to make these bowls. You can also make a double batch as it lasts for ages and can be used in so many different dishes!
The kewpie mayo is essential in this dish. It turns the bowl into a sushi style bowl and the creaminess with the rice really takes everything to the next level, do not miss it!
If you don’t have avocado I’ve substituted it with lightly steamed broccoli. It’s not quite as good as the avo but still delicious and will do in a pinch if you can’t get good avos.
For a veggie option, you can substitute the salmon with tofu. Mix some of the teriyaki sauce with cubed, firm tofu and bake until the edges are golden and crispy.
If you do make this recipe, please be sure to leave a comment and rating below! And tag any of your creations on Instagram with #eightforestlane as I would love to see.
Teriyaki Salmon and Avocado Rice Bowls
Ingredients
For the Teriyaki Sauce:
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon fresh ginger minced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 tablespoons mirin or dry sherry
- ¼ cup water mixed with 3 teaspoons cornflour
For the bowls:
- 2 fillets salmon
- 3 cups cooked white rice
- Japanese kewpie mayo
- 1 avocado sliced
- toasted sesame seeds optional to serve
Instructions
- Make the teriyaki sauce. Combine all of the sauce ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and let simmer for 2-3 minutes until the sauce has thickened, making sure to stir it regularly. Set aside and make the rice for serving.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a tray with baking paper. Place the salmon fillets on the tray and spoon over some of the teriyaki sauce over the top of each. Bake the salmon for approximately 10 minutes or until just cooked through. Using a fork, gently break up the salmon and mix through the sauce remaining on the tray.
- Serve by splitting the cooked white rice between two bowls, and drizzle over some kewpie mayo and some of the teriyaki sauce. Place half a sliced avocado on top, along with the flaked salmon. Finish with a little more teriyaki sauce over the salmon and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.
Notes
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
More bowl recipes:
Vegan Spiced Chickpea + Veggie Bowls
Teriyaki Buddha Bowls
Roasted Vegetable Bowls with Green Goddess Sauce
Honey Soy Chicken
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