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Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl

I cannot think of a more appropriate dish to kick off the new year than this healthy, delicious, I-cannot-get-enough-of-it Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl, a.k.a. the Deconstructed Sushi!

Deconstructed Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl with garnishes in the background

I constantly have sushi cravings. CONSTANTLY. The pairing of seasoned sticky rice and crunchy seaweed, with any type of seafood/fish/shellfish/veggie combination, is a match made in heaven. 

I don’t necessarily want to go out for sushi every time I crave for it (translation: spending $$ we don’t need to spend), but making traditional sushi rolls can be a time consuming task. But at the same time, friends, the sushi craving IS REAL.

There is, thankfully, a solution. Enter…Sushi Bowls. These Baked Salmon Sushi Bowls are off the charts delicious. Perfect for delicious deconstructed sushi meal at home.

Deconstructed Sushi Bowls…Sushi Made Easy!

So what does ‘Deconstructed Sushi Bowls’ mean?

Instead of rolling the ingredients up into a sushi roll and then cutting it into pieces, we are simply ‘deconstructing’ the sushi roll, and serving each of the component in a bowl!

Think burrito vs. burrito bowl. Get it get it? 🙂

And if you are looking for another form of deconstructed sushi…check out my Sushi Bake recipe. It’s basically California roll in a sushi casserole form, perfect for serving a bigger crowd. I’m equally obsessed with it!

A bowl of Deconstructed Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl topped with avocados, seaweed, carrots and cucumber

These deconstructed sushi bowls are healthy, so much easier to make than traditional sushi, and just as lovely. 

I cannot claim authenticity to these bowls, but I will claim DELICIOUSNESS.

These deconstructed sushi definitely have key ingredients that makes up the sushi we all know and love, just without the intensely fine slicing of vegetables and the difficult (even though artistic and beautiful) rolling of the sushi.

There are multiple components to the dish, but each component is simple and straight forward to make, and you can make them concurrently.

At the end, you can mix and match, add more or less of, the ingredients to your liking.

Salmon Sushi Bowl

Whenever I make deconstructed sushi bowls at home, I almost always make Baked Salmon Sushi Bowls.

I use baked salmon because raw sushi-grade salmon are just harder to find, and it takes literally a few minutes to bake a salmon and turn it into a satisfying meal.

As you can imagine, we had a lot of these salmon sushi rice bowls for many dinners in my efforts to perfect the recipe for this post.

And it hit the spot for us. Every. Single. Time.

Garnishes for Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl

Let’s Make Deconstructed Salmon Sushi Bowls

Sushi Rice

We are making sushi rice the same way it is made for sushi rolls. Same type of rice, same flavor, same seasoning, same stickiness, and of course, same amazingness.

When buying rice, pick either short grain rice, medium grain rice, or a rice that is labeled “sushi rice”. Traditionally, sushi is made with short grain rice, but medium grain is totally acceptable.

Cook rice with just water in the rice cooker (follow your rice cooker instructions on rice to water ratio) or stove top (2 cups rice; 3 cups water ratio).

While rice is cooking, in a small bowl, add rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Mix until sugar and salt dissolve, pour mixture into rice after it is done cooking but while it is still warm, then mix well.

Salmon

A good source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. And yummy in my tummy. Need I say more?

Grab a piece of salmon, make sure it is completely defrosted and pat dry.

Then all you need is to sprinkle olive oil or vegetable oil, mince garlic, and salt on it, and bake at 425 degrees F for 11-14 minutes, or until done.

Uncooked salmon with seasoning for Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl

The Sauce

THE SAUCE!!!

Pardon me, I was just so excited about this because I am a believer in solid, bring-out-the-dish sauces. And THIS is one of them.

In a small pot, combine water, soy sauce, sugar, and Mirin. The secret here is Mirin. Mirin is a Japanese rice wine with a subtle sweet flavor.

On the bottle of my Kikoman’s “aji-Mirin”, it says “sweet cooking rice seasoning”. It provides that hard-to-put-a-finger-on flavor that is in a lot of Japanese dishes. It is present in ramen, tempura dipping sauce, teriyaki sauces etc. YOU GUYS. Mirin is definitely the secret to this fantastic sauce.

Bring the sauce to a boil, then bring it to low heat and continue cooking for a few minute, or until sauce thickens slightly.

Adding sauce to Deconstructed Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl

Assemble your sushi bowl

In a bowl, add rice, then top with baked salmon, carrots, cucumbers, avocados, and dried seaweed. Garnish with sesame seeds if desire, but is totally optional.

You can definitely switch up the ingredients for the bowls. Use a different fish. Use shrimp instead of fish. Add or substitute with another veggie. Garnish with other items such as spring onions, fried shallots or fried garlic. So many options!

And of course, don’t forget that sauce. That magic sauce with a gorgeous sweet and salty flavor, and an umami quality.

Yep. I actually used the word umami. It is THAT good.

A bowl of Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl

Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl –  you look so good! And taste even better. And happens to be healthy.

I have this feeling you will be sticking around in my life for a long time. 🙂

Perfect for a dinner at home anytime, and save well as leftovers. ENJOY.

More Fish Recipes!

Check out these other salmon favorites of mine on the blog!

More Asian Recipes

DID YOU ENJOY THIS RECIPE? Please comment below and give us a 5-star rating! This will help others find this recipe on Google and Pinterest. We very much appreciate your help! 🤍

A bowl of Baked Salmon Sushi Bowl

Baked Salmon Deconstructed Sushi Bowl

A deconstructed sushi bowl filled with seasoned sushi rice, topped with baked salmon, carrot cucumber, avocado, and crunchy dried seaweed, topped with sweet umami sauce. Perfect homemade meal to satisfy all your sushi cravings!
5 from 10 votes
Print Pin
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: asian, Japanese
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 761kcal
Author: MinShien

Ingredients

Baked Salmon

  • 1 lbs fresh salmon
  • 1 tbsp garlic minced
  • salt

Sushi Rice

  • 2 cups short grain, medium grain or sushi rice
  • 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt

The Sauce

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 4 tbsp soy
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp Mirin

Other

  • 1 cucumber
  • 1-2 cups shredded carrots
  • 2 avocado
  • 1-2 sheets dried seaweed
  • sesame seeds optional

Instructions

Sushi Rice

  • Cook rice and water in rice cooker (follow rice instructions for water to rice ratio)
  • Or, cook rice on stovetop. In a pot with a tight lid, bring to boil rice and water (2 cups rice; ~3 cups water), then reduce heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes. Do not lift open the lid while rice is cooking. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat, and let rice sit for ~10 minutes.
  • While waiting for rice to cook, in a small bowl, mix together rice vinegar, sugar and salt until sugar and salt is dissolved.
  • When rice is ready, “fluff” rice by stirring rice around. Add vinegar, sugar and salt mixture to rice while rice is still warm, and mix well.

Baked Salmon

  • Pre-heat oven at 425 degrees F
  • Pat dry a defrosted salmon. Place salmon on a foil skin side down and lay foil on a baking tray. Lightly drizzle salmon with some vegetable oil, spread minced garlic on the top of the salmon, and sprinkle salt to taste. 
  • Bake salmon for 11-14 minutes, or until done. Time needed will largely depend on the thickness of the salmon. Avoid overcooking salmon.
  • Fork baked salmon into smaller pieces, and removing salmon pieces from skin.

Sauce

  • Combine all sauce ingredients into a small pot. Mix well and then turn on the heat to medium. Bring to boil, then lower heat, and keep boiling for a few minutes, or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.

Create the bowl

  • Prep the rest of the vegetables: Thinly slice cucumber, slice avocados into thin slices, cut up dried seaweed if you bought large sheets of dried seaweeds. If you bought smaller, already-cut-up dried seaweed, you are set on the seaweed front.
  • Add rice to the bowl, then top bowl with small pieces of salmon, slices of shredded carrots, cucumber, dried seaweed, sliced avocados. Garnish with sesame seeds and top with sauce.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Cook rice, salmon and sauce concurrently.

Nutrition

Calories: 761kcal | Carbohydrates: 106g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 407mg | Potassium: 1351mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 5684IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 3mg
Did you make this recipe?Take a pic and tag me at @joyous.apron, or hashtag #joyousapron on Instagram!

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Recipe Rating




14 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    So it happens I have some seaweeds to combine this beauty. Thank you so much for this great idea !

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      You’re so welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it!!

  2. 5 stars
    So good!! Loved the idea of adding a variety of vegetables and textures!

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Thank you!! 🙂

  3. 5 stars
    I have made this recipe numerous times and absolutely LOVE IT! And I’m not even a sushi lover. All I can say is that it is a regular meal in our house – YUM!!

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Yay! Glad you have been enjoying this sushi bowl recipe! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂

  4. How long can the sauce last for?

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      You can keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week!

  5. 5 stars
    Just made this for dinner and my husband is already asking when I am making it again. I added everything but the bagel seasoning on top of everything. Delicious.

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Yum! What a great add! Thanks for sharing and I am so glad you enjoyed this! 🙂

  6. CookingMama says:

    5 stars
    This has become a favorite in our house. I usually make your Honey Soy Glazed Tilapia with it. So good.

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Yum! That sounds amazing! Thank you so much for sharing!

  7. 5 stars
    We just had this for dinner, and it is a five star recipe for sure. I haven’t made sticky rice before, didn’t know it was so easy! For health reasons I recently made changes in what I eat — my diet no longer includes soy. 🙁 For the sauce, I did have rice wine. Instead of soy sauce I used half coconut aminos and half balsamic vinegar. The sugar helped offset the vinegar’s bite. Not quite authentic but still good, I think. The combo of salmon, veggies and the avocado was so tasty. So many flavors and textures!

    1. Joyous Apron says:

      Thanks so much for sharing the soy free substitutes! So happy to hear you enjoyed this! 🙂