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These Sushi Poke Bowls are a nutritious, fresh, colorful, and delicious crowd favorite! They’re packed with veggies, fresh sushi-grade fish, Instant Pot sticky rice, a delicious marinade, and an easy spicy mayo drizzle.
Assemble these bowls right away or prepare everything ahead of time for an easy meal prep option!
Easy Poke Bowl Recipe with Salmon or Tuna
Create the best poke bowl bar with these Sushi Poke Bowls. They are a beautiful and tasty combination of all the best fresh, crunchy veggies, homemade sticky rice, marinated onion, cucumber, and fresh fish.
I love this recipe because it’s not only delicious and easy to make, but it’s also customizable! You can make it just the way you like it, OR you can let your family assemble their own so they can build their perfect poke bowl.
The big bonus? The longer you marinate the fish and the veggies, the better the flavor! You can prep pretty much all of the ingredients up to 2 days in advance for a ready-to-go meal.
All you have left to do after that is assemble and enjoy!
What is a Poke Bowl?
Poke is diced raw fish served as an appetizer or main course. It’s a popular entree native to Hawaiian cuisine.
A poke bowl is a rice bowl featuring raw fish as a topping, usually along with plenty of fresh veggies!
Ingredients Needed
- Sticky Rice: You can easily make sticky rice with just water, sushi rice, rice vinegar, and sea salt.
- Marinade: The marinade for the fish and the veggies consists of a simple blend of coconut aminos, fish sauce, rice vinegar, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, chili sauce, toasted sesame oil, and optional chili flakes for some spice.
- Cucumber Salad: We marinate sliced cucumber and sliced red onion for a delicious combination of flavors and textures.
- Sushi Grade Fish: I’ve used both salmon and tuna with delicious results either way. Use your favorite; just make sure it’s sushi-grade!
- Spicy Mayo: A super easy combination of mayonnaise and Sriracha!
Topping Ideas
Customize your poke bowls with all the best toppings! Here are some of my favorites:
- Diced mango
- Sliced avocado
- Sesame seeds
- Toasted nori
- Scallions
- Cooked edamame
- Sliced carrot
- Fried shallots (see below for instructions!)
- Sliced red chili
How to a Make Poke Sushi Bowl
- Marinate the fish/veggies: Mix all of the marinade ingredients together in a medium bowl. Pour half of the marinade into a smaller bowl, then add the fish to one bowl and the sliced red onion and cucumber to another. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours (or longer if you have time!).
- Make the sticky rice: See the instructions below!
- Assemble and serve: Prep the toppings of your choice, then assemble your poke bowls. I start with rice, top that with fish, then pile on all of the toppings—finished, of course, with the spicy mayo!
Sticky Rice
- Rinse the rice: Add the rice to a strainer and rinse with cold water until the water runs clear.
- Combine all ingredients: In your instant pot, combine the rice with water, salt, and vinegar. Mix well.
- Cook: Add the lid to the instant pot and cook on manual pressure for 9 minutes. Once cooked, quick release the pressure, give the rice a stir, and it’s ready to go!
Fried Onions
Fried onions are one of my favorite ways to add a little bit of crunch and extra flavor to this poke bowl recipe!
They’re a really easy way to take this recipe to the next level. Here’s how to make them:
- Place 1/4 cup of avocado oil into a saucepan, then bring to frying temperature on the stove.
- Place thinly sliced shallots into the oil, then fry until light brown.
- Use a slotted spoon to carefully scoop the fried shallots onto a paper towel-lined plate. Cool completely, then sprinkle over your poke bowls!
Where Can I Find Sushi-Grade Fish?
I like to get mine at the local fish market for the best quality, but you can find sushi-grade fish at most higher-end or specialty grocery stores.
Sushi-grade fish is often flash-frozen to kill parasites and is specifically intended for raw consumption. Do not serve this recipe using fish that isn’t sushi-grade!
Disclaimer: Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness, especially if you have certain medical conditions.
Serving Suggestions
Poke bowls are satisfying and filling as-is—no side dishes required! However, if you are feeling ambitious and want a little something extra, here are some sides that would pair deliciously with this recipe:
Tips and Notes
- The longer you marinate, the better! I recommend a minimum of 4 hours to marinate your fish and veggies. This gives them plenty of time to really soak in the flavors of the marinade. For even better flavor,
- Rinse the rice. The rice is plenty sticky without the excess starch. I recommend giving it a good rinse before cooking for the best texture.
How to Prep Ahead of Time
As I said, many of these ingredients can be prepped in advance to make assembly super easy later on!
- Sticky Rice: The instant pot sticky rice can be prepared, cooled, and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Marinated Veggies/Fish: Prepare the marinade, split it into two bowls, then let the veggies and the fish marinate (covered in the fridge) for up to 2 days. The flavor will get better and better!
- Toppings: Many of the fresh veggie toppings can be diced, sliced, cooked, etc. and stored in the fridge for 2-3 days.
- Fried Onions: The fried shallots can be cooked, cooked, then stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
How to Store
Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
I don’t recommend keeping it past the 2-day mark since this recipe includes raw fish!
More Seafood Recipes You’ll Love
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- 3-Ingredient Dijon Salmon (In 10 Minutes!)
- Tequila Lime Shrimp
Watch the Video!
Easy Poke Bowls at Home
Ingredients
Sticky Rice:
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 2 cups sushi rice rinsed until the water comes out clear
- 3 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Marinade for the Sushi Grade Fish, Cucumber, and Onion:
- 1/2 cup coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
- 2 teaspoons grated garlic
- 2 teaspoons chili sauce
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- Optional: pinch chili flakes
- 1 cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 red onion thinly sliced
- 1 lb sushi grade salmon or tuna
Spicy Mayo:
- 2 tablespoons good quality mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha more to taste
Toppings:
- Mango diced
- 1 Avocado thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup toasted Nori thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup scallions thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup Edamame steamed or frozen and defrosted
- Carrots sliced thin
- 1 shallot sliced thin and pan-fried in avocado oil
- 1 red chili sliced
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix the marinade ingredients until well blended. Pour half the marinade in another small mixing bowl. Add tuna or salmon to one bowl and red onion and cucumber to the other. Mix well so that the fish and vegetables are well coated. Cover each bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. The more both marinate, the more flavorful the poke bowl will be. We recommend marinating these overnight!
- Make the sticky rice: Rinse your rice. Place in the insert of your Instant Pot. Add water, salt, and vinegar. Toss and close the lid. Set the valve to sealing. Set manual to 9 minutes. Quick release and mix.
- Chop all garnishes and set side. Assemble and enjoy.
I would love to use the knives for fresh summer salads and prepping veggies for the grill.
I would love to try these knives on raw meat.
My one “good” knife is my prize kitchen possession. What I wouldn’t give to have a real set of actual good knives!
Love this!
adding these to my meal plan this week. Will be substituting cauliflower for the rice for me, but will still do the stove top version of rice for the kids. Has anyone done sushi caulirice before?
I’d love kitchen knives!! Thank you for the chance Lexi!
I do a lot of cooking with my electic pressure cooker. My current knives are so dull! These would make food prep much faster and safer!
Inspired to chop, dice and slice . New knives and a soon to be new kitchen!
Let me at em!
I just need some knives.
I just need a good set of knives!
I’m most excited to use a new knife set for julienning veggies and fruits. It’s one of my fav techniques that requires a fab knife.
Omgosh, I’ve never owned a real knife set! I think I’m most excited to use these knives to slice tomatoes without completely shredding them, lol. Cutting through hard veggies, like sweet potatoes and butternut squash, would also be awesome. My knives aren’t up for the job, and so I end up hacking off chunks, rather than being able to actually cut straight through. But yeah, now that we’re making our way into summer, and I’m thinking about fresh tomatoes, it would be super awesome to be able to slice through a tomato!
Would love vome new knives!
New knives are ALWAYS a good thing!! Thanks for the giveaway!
If I could have back the money I’ve spent on “good” knives throughout the past 35 years, I could have these knives instead and rather than having to throw them away~ I could leave them, the kamikotoknives, as a legacy to my children as an example of good things in life which enhance clean cooking and clean lives. Choices in life do matter and carry consequences…. so much better to make them gloriously count!
I would love to cook like a professional and I know these knifes would start me on this path.
Im going to Japan in a couple of months and I’ve already noted the name of these knives so if I don’t win then hopefully I can talk my husband into letting me buy one..or a few.
I would love to give these a try with our next meal prep. They look fantastic!
I am most excited to use a new knife set for cutting veggies and fruit!! Thanks for the chance to win some awesome knives.
I am most excited to use the knives to create all my vegetarian meals. Having good knives to cut through hard squashes like butternut and pumpkin, and also thinly dice and julienne veggies sounds like a dream come true.