This Poke Bowl Recipe is the perfect fresh and healthy meal! A twist on the Hawaiian classic, made with veggies, crispy salmon or tofu, & brown rice – perfect for meal prep!
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Poke Bowl Recipe
Fresh, healthy food is so good for both the body and the soul. This Poke Bowl recipe has been one of our favourites for a long time! After being inspired by a build-your-own-poke food truck while on vacation, we quickly added this meal idea to our monthly dinner rotation. If you’ve never had the pleasure of enjoying one, trust us – you’re going to LOVE them!
What is a Poke Bowl?
A poke bowl is a traditionally Hawaiian meal, often made with sushi-grade raw fish like salmon or tuna, that includes some kind of grain (usually rice), fresh raw vegetables, and even some fruit like mango or pineapple.
Hawaiian Poke Bowl
Because the classic Hawaiian flavours are sweet and savoury, you can expect a poke bowl to incorporate salty seafood, savoury veggies, and sweetened sushi rice with a sweet-ish sauce like teriyaki or a soy sauce-based sauce with rice vinegar, ginger, garlic and sesame oil.
Less traditional poke bowls often include a mayonnaise based sauce like a garlic aioli or a spicy mayonnaise made with sriracha.
Poke Bowls – the BEST Healthy meal prep recipe!
There are two main reasons we LOVE this poke bowl recipe:
- It’s SO easy to customize these poke bowls to your family’s tastes or preferences. We have young children who love this dish, so we only serve them with cooked or smoked salmon, shrimp, or tofu (no raw fish in our house!). If you’re vegan, making a plant-based bowl is SO easy with tofu, edamame, grains and veggies.
- The components can be prepped in advance and stored in airtight containers in the fridge until you’re ready to enjoy! This way, everyone can build their own poke bowl and you can even build an extra bowl or two in airtight containers and keep them in the fridge for take-to-work lunches.
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Kitchen items needed for this recipe
To make this recipe at home, it’s a good idea to have most of these items on hand (affiliate links):
- an air fryer for cooking the salmon, shrimp, or tofu – we like this Air Fryer and this Air Fryer
- a rice cooker or a pot for cooking the rice or grain
- a pair of tongs
- a vegetable peeler
- a sharp knife for chopping
- a sturdy chopping board
- a julienne peeler
- a mandoline slicer
- prep bowls
- large bowls for serving
- chopsticks
- good quality storage containers for meal prep
Poke Bowl Ingredients
To make your own bowls at home, here’s a list of ingredients you could include (choose what YOU like):
- white, brown or sushi rice
- zucchini noodles
- mixed greens
- quinoa
- edamame
- corn
- grated or thinly sliced carrots
- sliced red onions
- sliced radishes
- pickled jalapeños
- pickled ginger
- sliced cucumbers
- crispy chickpeas
- thinly sliced green or red cabbage
- sliced avocado
- mango chunks
- pineapple chunks
- tofu
- ahi tuna
- crispy calamari
- cooked shrimp
- salmon
- green onions
- sesame seeds
- nori (seaweed)
- spicy mayo
- teriyaki sauce
How to Make a Poke Bowl
Time needed: 30 minutes
Follow these steps to make this recipe!
- Select your ingredients.
Choose the ingredients you want to include in your poke bowls. For best results and for easy prep and clean up, choose one grain, one protein, and 4-5 veggies/fruits.
- Prepare all the components.
Get your grain on to cook, and cook the salmon, tofu, or shrimp in a pan on the stove or in the air fryer while you chop the veggies and fruit.
- Assemble your bowls.
Start with one grain portion, add one protein portion, and then top with your choice of veggies.
- Don’t forget the sauce!
Add a simple spicy mayonnaise (that’s our favourite go-to Poke Bowl sauce), buy a simple teriyaki barbecue sauce, or make our basic poke sauce (included in the recipe below).
Can I make a vegan poke bowl?
Yes! Simply opt for a vegan protein like tofu or edamame, and stick to plant-based add-ins like grains, veggies, and a vegan non-mayo-based sauce.
Are poke bowls healthy?
Yes! They are a delicious and healthy meal made with lean protein, healthy fat, tons of veggies, and whole grains. They make a great balanced meal that’s both tasty and nutritious.
How to pronounce poke bowl
Poke bowl is pronounced “po-kay” bowl.
Are poke bowls gluten-free?
Yes! To make your poke bowls gluten free simply replace any soy sauce with gluten-free soy sauce and choose gluten-free grain (like rice) and un-battered fish or other protein that may contain flour.
Can I enjoy this recipe even if I don’t like fish?
Yes! Add some shredded chicken or even crispy chicken instead of seafood, or stick with tofu for a vegan option.
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do! Let us know in the comments below, what’s your favourite healthy ingredient that you’d include in this recipe? We’d love to know!
Looking for more delicious recipes like this one? You’ll LOVE these:
Watch the video below to see exactly how we make this recipe. You can find many more deliciously simple recipe videos on our YouTube channel!
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Poke Bowls
Recipe: Equipment
Recipe: Ingredients
- 4 salmon filets
- 1 block firm tofu
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice yields about 3 cups cooked
- 1 avocado chopped
- 8 radishes thinly sliced
- 1 long English cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 ½ cups purple cabbage or coleslaw mix
- 2 medium carrots cut or sliced in ribbons, or cut julienne
- 1 mango chopped
- Pickled Ginger optional
For the basic poke sauce:
- 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
For the spicy mayonnaise sauce:
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 3 teaspoons Sriracha (or add more, according to your tastes)
For serving:
- sesame seeds
- chopped green onions
Recipe: Instructions
For the salmon or tofu:
- We serve this recipe with either salmon OR tofu as the protein. Follow our Air Fryer Salmon Bites recipe to make the salmon bites and our Air Fryer Crispy Tofu recipe to make the crispy tofu.
For the poke bowls:
- Add the 1 cup of brown rice to a pot or rice cooker with 3 cups of water (option: we like to cook brown rice with 1 1/2 cups of water and 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock, for added flavour)
- While the protein and rice are cooking, slice and chop all the vegetables and fruit. Set aside.
- Whisk together the ingredients for the poke sauce and/or the spicy mayonnaise.
To assemble:
- Divide the cooked rice between 4 bowls, and divide the cooked salmon (or tofu) between the 4 bowls too.
- Top with the veggies and fruit as you prefer.
- Drizzle some of the poke sauce and/or the spicy mayo sauce over each bowl (as you prefer).
- Top with sesame seeds and chopped green onions.
Recipe: Notes
Here’s a list of ingredients you may want to try in your homemade poke bowls:
- white, brown or sushi rice
- zucchini noodles
- mixed greens
- quinoa
- edamame
- corn
- grated or thinly sliced carrots
- sliced red onions
- sliced radishes
- pickled jalapeños
- pickled ginger
- sliced cucumbers
- crispy chickpeas
- thinly sliced green or red cabbage
- sliced avocado
- mango chunks
- pineapple chunks
- tofu
- ahi tuna
- crispy calamari
- cooked shrimp
- salmon
- green onions
- sesame seeds
- nori (seaweed)
- spicy mayo
- teriyaki sauce
- poke sauce
Recipe: Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
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Thank you for this recipe! I had a poke bowl on my honeymoon and have been craving it ever since. I always thought it was too intricate for me to attempt, but with your recipe I managed to surprise my husband for our anniversary! I will try more of your recipes ☺️
That is awesome! Thank you for your feedback and happy anniversary!