RECIPE | DIY Salmon Poke Bowls

Ok, first things first. What is poke?

Poke is a raw fish salad that’s traditionally served as an appetizer in Hawaiin cuisine.

You may have had some poke places start popping up in your city in the last year. I know Dallas has had about 5 that i’m aware of and they are all pretty good! If you follow me on instagram though, you probably have seen what my favorite place is…

Anyway, I decided to try and make my own version at home because poke bowls are so fresh and use so many wholesome ingredients.

I first tested out this recipe almost a year ago with some girlfriends who came over to watch the Bachelor. They loved it and have started making for their own families and so I thought it would be good to share with all of you, too!

There are a few little tricks to this recipe, but overall it is really pretty easy!

The first trick is with the fish. Honestly, I’m a little intimidated to make raw fish at home, but maybe that will come in a later edition of this recipe. For this one, I use salmon!

The key with preparing the salmon for your poke bowl is to get a salmon fillet with the skin still on one side, and then take your knife through the fish to cube it, but don’t cut all the way through the skin. See the picture below for a close-up reference.

You want the salmon fillet to remain intact when you bake it, but the cubes will allow the sauces and seasonings to soak into the fish, and make it really easy to get cubes of salmon once it is cooked.

Then you’re going to pop your salmon (covered) into the oven at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until the salmon is cooked to your liking. I prefer mine to have a light pink center and cooked just about all the way through.

Meanwhile, as you wait for the salmon, you can get started on the other ingredients! Like the zucchini noodles…

The zucchini noodles are my FAVORITE part of this recipe. They add a really great texture to the bowl and flavor because the zucchini noodles really soak in the Trader Joes Thai Sweet Chili sauce.

The noodles take about 7-8 minutes to make and all you need for them is a little sesame oil and the Trader Joe’s Thai Sweet Chili sauce.

The rest of the recipe below is how I like to make it, but the nice thing is that you can take this recipe and try out different ingredients to make it your own!

Oh, and this recipe is gluten free as long as you leave out the crispy onion strings! You can also make it a paleo approved or Whole30 approved recipe by removing the Trader Joe’s Thai Sweet Chili Sauce and using my substitution trick below as a way to flavor your ingredients!

Recipe Servings // 4

Macro Breakdown // 413 cals | 8.3g fat | 51g carbs | 38g protein

I N G R E D I E N T S //

• 1 lb. fresh salmon (ask the butcher to cut you 4oz. fillets to make portion sizes easy)
• 1/2 cup Trader Joe’s Thai Sweet Chili sauce
• 3 tbls. Sesame Oil
• 4 zucchinis (I use my at-home spiralizer because I get more bang for my buck this way, but the pre-spiralized noodles are great too!)
• 2 16oz. bags of riced cauliflower (I use the fresh pre-prepped riced cauliflower from Trader Joes because I think it gives off the least amount of water in the pan. The frozen pre-prepped version works too, but sometimes it is a bit too watery for me)
• Toppings: shredded carrots, Trader Joe’s shelled edamame, black sesame seeds, crispy onion strings, cucumber, green onion
• Other Topping ideas: chopped mango, tomatoes, chopped seaweed, avocado, mushrooms, julienned celery, water chestnuts, kale
• Whole30 & Paleo approved seasoning substitution for the Thai Sweet Chili sauce is Yai’s Thai Almond Sauce! I have seen a lot of blogs use this sauce and it looks delicious. I will post a product review of this soon, but for now, I haven’t yet taste-tested.

I N S T R U C T I O N S //

1. Pre-heat your oven at 375 for the salmon.
2. Grab your salmon fillets and lay them out and make two slices down the middle with a knife, but remember what I said above! You don’t want to cut all the way through the skin because you’ll want your salmon to remain intact while in the oven to prevent it from drying. Then you can make a few cuts across the filet to make cube-like pieces on your salmon filet. Check out the photos above for reference.
3. Next, you’ll want to take 1 tbls. of the sesame oil and brush it on the 4 fillets.
4. Then add half the measurement (1/4 cup) of the Thai Sweet Chili sauce and brush on the 4 fillets.
5. Now cover your glass baking dish and the fillets with foil and pop in your oven to bake for 35 minutes. (Pro-tip: you know salmon is done when it easily flakes off the skin)
6. While your salmon cooks, you can start prepping all the other bowl ingredients, beginning with the zucchini noodles. Spiraliz all your zucchinis or add your pre-spiralized Veggie & Co. noodles to a bowl and toss with the remaining sesame oil (2 tbls.) and remaining Thai Sweet Chili sauce (1/4 cup) until evenly coated.
7. Pre-heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add your coated zucchini noodles in and sauté for 7-10 minutes depending on how al-dente you prefer them.
8. Now you can prep all your other ingredients, which shouldn’t take much time at all!
   • heat your cauliflower rice in the microwave or in a skillet over med-high heat. I like to use the skillet and add in a little coconut oil + Coconut Secret Coconut Aminos  seasoning sauce to give the rice great flavor
   • steam your edamame and season with a little sea salt
   • julienne your veggies or buy pre-prepped versions of carrots or celery
   • chop up some seaweed sheets to sprinkle on top
9. Once everything is done and ready to go, I like to lay out all the other toppings I have for everyone to add to their bowls. It’s so fun when guests or even if it’s just my fiance and I to customize our bowls just the way we like them.

Now you’re ready to prep your DIY Salmon Poke Bowl. The best part of this recipe for me is that everyone I make this for is able to customize their bowl to their liking.

Hope you enjoy this recipe. I can’t wait to hear what you all think and even better I can’t wait for you to share it with your loved ones.

xoxo Ashley