Easy Teriyaki Salmon Bowls — 🍣🍚🥑🥕Flaky pieces of salmon are coated in a SIMPLE yet FLAVORFUL homemade teriyaki sauce and served over a bed of rice! The bowls are loaded with carrots, cucumber, avocado, and edamame and then drizzled with EVEN MORE teriyaki sauce! Salmon bowls are the perfect meal-in-one with protein, carbs, and vegetables served altogether!
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Easy Rice Bowls with Salmon
The homemade teriyaki sauce is the MVP🏅of these Asian-inspired salmon and rice bowls. You use some of it to marinate pieces of salmon with before baking it. And then the rest of the sauce simmers for just a few minutes on the stove to thicken it up before you drizzle that savory, unami teriyaki goodness all over everything in your bowl.
It’s so easy to make and is bursting with sweet and tangy flavor from the soy sauce, honey, rice vinegar, ginger, and garlic. Still not convinced and want to use bottled store bought sauce? Read the FAQs below for more info.
You’ll be shocked when you take your first bite of the juicy and Asian-inspired teriyaki salmon. It only sits in the marinade for 30 minutes, but it tastes like it’s been bathing in the stuff for hours!
The teriyaki glazed salmon is spooned over a fragrant bed of jasmine rice and then topped with crisp veggies like carrots and cucumber, hearty shelled edamame, creamy avocado slices, nutty sesame seeds, and fresh green onion are the perfect finishing touches for these rice bowls.
And because I couldn’t resist, I drizzled extra teriyaki sauce over the assembled bowls just before serving. I can’t get enough of this sticky-sweet sauce!
Teriyaki salmon bowls are incredibly filling, yet taste light and fresh. It’s an easy meal-in-one that covers all your bases with a great source of protein, carbs, and veggies in a single dish – or bowl in this case!
Love In-A-Bowl Style Recipes?
If you love these teriyaki salmon and rice bowls, you need to make these 30-Minute Chicken Poke Bowls next! The chicken is coated in a sweet and savory sauce that tastes very similar to the teriyaki used in this recipe.
My Roast Sweet Potato and Chickpea Buddha Bowls recipe is a vegetarian spin on popular ‘buddha bowls’ and this has a warm cozy feel to it from the sweet potatoes.
Buffalo Chicken Bowls with rice, black beans, tomatoes, avocado and more are a family favorite and so easy!
Chicken Egg Roll in a Bowl is like devouring your favorite Asian-inspired egg roll but in a deconstructed, bowl format. Super simple to make and better-than-takeout!
Mexican Black Bean and Sweet Potato Bowls are also vegetarian but have Mexican-inspired ingredients and flavors without being spicy.
Indian food lovers will appreciate my Chicken Shawarma Bowls which bring all the flavors of your fave Indian restaurant to your home with chickpeas, juicy chicken, and more.
Ingredients for Teriyaki Salmon Rice Bowls
The teriyaki glazed salmon bowls have a few simple components: the teriyaki sauce, the salmon, the veggies, and the rice.
For the homemade teriyaki sauce:
- Soy sauce – I use low sodium; use tamari if you need a gluten-free option
- Brown sugar – either light or dark brown sugar
- Rice vinegar – also called ‘rice wine vinegar’
- Honey
- Ginger – fresh is preferred, but ground ginger also works
- Garlic
- Toasted sesame oil – If you have a sesame allergy, replace with a neutral oil (like vegetable oil)
- Salt
- Crushed red pepper flakes – sometimes called red pepper flakes or red chili flakes, or use black pepper
- Cornstarch
For the bowls:
- Salmon – See FAQs below for more info
- Rice – I used jasmine rice, but cauliflower rice, basmati, or even sushi rice can also be used
- Shelled edamame – not the kind still in pods (fun in a restaurant, not so fun in a bowl)
- Avocado
- Carrots
- Cucumber
- Sesame seeds
- Green onions (scallions)
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Teriyaki Salmon Bowls
The trick to keeping the hands-on prep time for this recipe under 30 minutes is to make all of the remaining ingredients while the salmon sits in the teriyaki marinade. Multi-tasking is your best friend in this recipe!
This is an overview of the recipe. Consult the recipe card for full details.
- Marinate the salmon: Cut the salmon into cubes and pat dry; transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the homemade teriyaki sauce ingredients.
- Pour approximately 3 to 4 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce over the salmon cubes and reserve the remainder. Let the salmon marinate for at least 30 minutes.
- Bake the salmon: Transfer the salmon bites to a non-stick foil-lined baking sheet for easy cleanup. Bake in a preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the salmon is completely cooked through.
- Make the teriyaki sauce: Pour the remaining teriyaki sauce into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Want to use store bought? See FAQs.
- Pour a cornstarch slurry (equal parts cornstarch and water) into the teriyaki sauce. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened and looks glossy.
- Assemble the salmon bowls: Divide the cooked rice between four shallow bowls. Top with the baked teriyaki salmon, edamame, carrots, cucumber, and sliced avocados. Drizzle with additional teriyaki sauce. I also have a Best Bowls guide if you’re interested in my faves.
- Garnish your salmon teriyaki bowls with sesame seeds and green onions, then dig in!
Recipe FAQs
I typically buy a side of salmon which is essentially a large filet of salmon. It’s more cost effective than buying individual filets – and especially if the filets are center cuts – which they charge the highest premium for. If I am serving a plated dinner to guests, I will spring for individual salmon fillets, but if I am cutting it up anyway like in this recipe, go with the most cost-effective option, ounce for ounce, is my advice.
If you’re buying your salmon from the seafood counter, ask them to remove the skin for you. It’s easy enough to do at home, but this will save you time and ensure you don’t accidentally cut off any of that delicious (and pricey!) fresh salmon.
There are many, many types of salmon from wild caught, farm-raised, and on it goes. Buy what you’re comfortable with and makes sense for your needs.
Yes! If using frozen salmon, thaw it overnight in the fridge and then pat with clean paper towels to remove any excess moisture that’s accumulated on the surface. Then, proceed with the recipe as written.
Yes. In fact, I have a very similar recipe which uses chicken rather than salmon and I recommend following my 30-Minute Chicken Bowls recipe. The sauce is very similar and you can alternate the add-ins (carrots, cucumbers, avocado, etc.) to your liking.
Adding additional vegetables like blanched broccoli, snowpeas, bell pepper, beans, and more is a great way to customize the recipe to your liking.
Yes, you can replace the fresh ginger and garlic with ground. Use about 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and about 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger if you don’t have fresh. However, fresh garlic and ginger are the gold stars here for the best-tasting teriyaki sauce.
If your teriyaki sauce is too runny, mix an additional 1 teaspoon of cornstarch with 1 teaspoon of water and then stir it into the sauce. If the teriyaki sauce has thickened up too much, add a splash of water to the pan.
Yes but… I don’t see too much point to really use store bought since you’re already making a marinade for the salmon which in essence is homemade teriyaki sauce.
I would still make the marinade, but halve the quantities, to marinate the salmon. (In theory I suppose you could use 100% store bought teriyaki sauce, both for the marinade and drizzling over the finished dish, but it’s your call. Flavors will not be the same at all.)
The time/energy savings will come in when you don’t need to simmer any sauce on the stove with cornstarch to thicken it up for drizzling and serving. You’re saving about 3-5 minutes here, give or take. You crack open a bottle of store bought instead, and use that.
Yes, the salmon can be cooked in an air fryer! Salmon filets typically need to air fry for roughly 8 minutes at 400ºF, but since this recipe uses cubed salmon pieces the total cook time will be less than that. I don’t have extensive experience in air frying salmon, so I can’t be more specific than that.
What to Serve with Teriyaki Salmon Bowls
Storage and Reheating Instructions
In the fridge: Let leftovers cool before storing in airtight containers. You can make this as a meal prep type recipe, noting things can become a bit soggier (cucumbers especially) when everything is stored in one container, but I see this as an acceptable tradeoff.
To reheat: I take leftovers out of the fridge about 30 minutes before I plan to consume and eat it that way rather than reheating, especially if everything is stored together because I don’t like warmed avocado nor cucumbers.
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Easy Teriyaki Salmon Bowls
Equipment
- 1 piece of Reynolds Nonstick Foil optional but I highly recommend this particular product, much better than any other foil
Ingredients
Teriyaki Sauce
- ½ cup soy sauce, lite or reduced sodium recommended
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, plus more to taste if desired
- 1 or 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger, or 1/2 teaspoon dried ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or taste (I prefer more for a bit more spiciness)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
Salmon
- 1 ½ pounds salmon, skin removed and cut into 1-inch cubes (read blog post FAQs for more salmon info)
Bowl Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked jasmine rice, or your favorite rice
- 1 cup shelled edamame, cooked
- 1 cup English cucumber, sliced (peeled if desired if using regular cucumber)
- 1 cup carrots, julienned (use bagged shredded carrots to save time)
- 1 medium ripe Hass avocado, sliced or cubed
- 1 to 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions, for garnishing and to taste
- 1 to 2 teaspoons sesame seeds, for garnishing and to taste
Instructions
- Teriyaki Sauce – Add all the ingredients to a medium bowl, and whisk to combine. Set aside momentarily.
- Salmon – Optionally (but highly recommended), line a baking tray with non-stick foil and generously coat it with cooking spray; set aside.
- Cube the salmon into 1-inch chunks, place them into a large bowl, and drizzle about 3 to 4 tablespoons of the teriyaki sauce, mix well with a spoon or clean hands, cover, and refrigerate to marinate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours. Reserve the rest of the teriyaki sauce for simmering.
- Preheat your oven to 400F while the salmon marinates (if marinating longer than 30 minutes, you don't need to preheat your oven until you're ready to bake the salmon of course).
- Bake the salmon for about 9-12 minutes, or as needed (perhaps up to 15 minutes). Baking Tips – It depends on the exact size of the pieces of salmon, your oven's heat output, and how well done you like your salmon but I prefer mine medium to medium-rare (not too pink, but definitely not overcooked) so keep an eye on it and start checking at 8 minutes. These are small, bite-sized pieces of fish which cook quickly. It could take longer (even up to 15-ish minutes) but cook until done, whatever that means for you, in your oven. Allow salmon to rest on the baking sheet until it's ready to be placed in the bowls.
- Simmer the Reserved Teriyaki Sauce – To a small saute pan, add the remaining teriyaki sauce. Separately in a small bowl or cup, add the cornstarch + water and stir to dissolve and combine (this is called a slurry) and now add the slurry to the pan with the teriyaki sauce, heat over medium or medium-high, whisking nearly constantly for about 3 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Tips – Sauce will always appear more runny and thin when it's in a hot pan than when it's cooled. So even if it doesn't look particularly thick at 3 minutes, simmer for another couple minutes, and that should be plenty. You can keep the sauce in the pan, off the heat, while the salmon bakes and you get to work on the bowl ingredients.
- Bowl Ingredients – Important Tip – While the salmon is marinating and then baking, you must work on preparing these ingredients or things won't finish at the same time.
- If you're cooking rice from scratch, do it now. However…Tip – I am a huge fan of precooked rice in packets that require just 90 seconds in the microwave because they save so much time and energy. (see link above). Cook your rice how you like it best, and use whatever type of rice you'd like, of course.
- Boil the edamame and drain it. Tip – I put frozen shelled edamame straight from the freezer into a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup, top with water, cover with plastic wrap, and microwave it for about 5 minutes on high, or until done, then drain or just fish out with a slotted spoon. You can boil it on the stovetop but I find the microwave method much faster and easier.
- Bowl Assembly – Evenly divide the cooked rice, cooked and drained edamame, cucumbers, carrots, and avocado between 4 bowls (or meal prep containers).
- Evenly divide the cooked salmon to each bowl, evenly garnish with green onions and sesame seeds to taste, and evenly drizzle the simmered teriyaki sauce, and serve.
- Storage – Extra bowls will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can reheat if you want gently in the microwave, however the cucumbers will get warm unless you store those separately. Or just remove from the fridge 30 mins or so before you plan to eat your leftovers and let them come to room temp. Technically, leftovers will also keep airtight in the freezer for up to 3 months, noting that upon thawing/freezing/reheating, the texture of all ingredients will change, especially the cucumbers. Any extra simmered teriyaki sauce will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 7-10 days.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I like to add some peanuts, mango, and corn. I also use brown rice. This recipe was delicious. No left overs. My kids ate everything so fast, everything was fine. Everything!
Thanks for letting me know that this was a winner, no leftovers, and your kids loved it too! That’s awesome and the mango + peanuts sound awesome and right up my alley too!