I am a hardcore sushi bowl fan because sushi bowls are the ultimate culinary mashup of flavors and textures – wrapped up in one big, happy bowl of food.
Sushi bowls (or ‘deconstructed sushi’) are a similarly styled bowl o’ eats – with all the elements of good ‘ol sushi, but a smorgasbord of sushi ingredients messily dumped from a bowl.
Imagine if you took the traditional sushi characteristics of a warm (deliciously tangy) bed of sushi rice, and smothered it in a colorful sprinkling of fresh, sashimi-grade fish, sliced thinly in longer strips to melt in your mouth when you bite into it. All in a bowl.
I think I like sushi bowls because it’s easy to make it look like sushi, but really any way you want it to be.
You can always add extra … umm … extras. Like, as long as your base is rice, you can add extra avocado so it’s creamier – more cucumber so it’s crunchier – more pickled ginger so it’s sweeter – shredded nori so it has an extra ocean hint.
You can also throw in some hot spicy mayo or sesame seeds. Or maybe some soy sauce or some ponzu for umami.
Sushi bowls are not only super-satisfying, but it’s a fun way to mix different ingredients – ranging from the traditional Japanese ingredients to some random exotic extras of your choosing.
Making sushi bowls at home is a great way to combine the complex flavors and textures of sushi while also messing it up – to make it your way – whether it’s traditional sushi ingredients, modern fusion flavors, or a combination of both.
The 13 Best sushi bowls and recipes
1. Chirashi Bowl
I have a soft spot for chirashi bowls of Japanese cuisine. Colorful, delicious, and wonderfully textural, I feel that they provide a memorable culinary experience.
Like a nest of sushi rice, seasoned with an appropriate amount of vinegar, upheld by a fish, a vegetable, and other garnishes, colored with various herbs, and scattered with roe and sesame seeds. I enjoy the combination of flavors and an exuberant collage of colurs, and appreciate a dish that offers all these at once.
Chirashi Bowl Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups sushi rice
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Assorted sashimi-grade fish (tuna, salmon, yellowtail)
Toppings (cucumber, avocado, pickled ginger, sesame seeds, nori strips)
Instructions
Sushi Rice 1. Rinse 2 cups sushi rice well under cold water, until the water runs clear.
2. Put 1 ½ cups of water in and cook in the rice cooker.
3. When the rice is done, let it sit for about 15 min.
4. Place the rice into a sushi tray.
5. With wet hands, spread the sushi rice out evenly on the tray.
Season Rice: When cooked, transfer to a large bowl and mix with 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt and allow to cool.
Cut fish: While the rice cools, portion the selection of sashimi-quality fish into bites.
Topping prep: Very thinly slice cucumber and avocado. Chop other garnishes (pickled ginger, sesame seeds, nori strips, etc) if necessary.
Assemble Bowl: split the sushi rice into serving bowls. Top evenly with sliced sashimi and assorted veggies.
To serve: Sprinkle with sesame seeds and nori and serve with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger. Eat immediately.
2. Poke Bowl
There’s nothing I love more than finding new new things to eat and my most favorite dishes of all time are called poke bowls (pronounced poh-keh, for those of you who don’t know what it is.)
They’re a fusion of what was originally a traditional Hawaiian dish with modern Western tastes into a unique masterpiece of culinary art.
The best thing about this dish is the freshness and quality of its ingredients: succulent and silky slices of raw fish over a generous pile of vegetables with a variety of sauces drizzled over the top.
What really makes it such a special experience is that you have no idea what you’re going to get, as you build the bowl yourself to your own personal taste, and it can be as healthy as you want it to be. Whether it’s for lunch or dinner, you just can’t fail with a poke bowl.
Ingredients
1 cup sushi rice
200g fresh sashimi-grade tuna, cubed
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Cook sushi rice according to package instructions, then let it cool.
In a bowl, mix soy sauce and sesame oil.
Add the cubed tuna to the soy sauce mixture and marinate for 10-15 minutes.
Place the cooked sushi rice in a serving bowl.
Top with marinated tuna, diced avocado, and toasted sesame seeds.
Optional: Garnish with sliced green onions and/or nori strips.
Serve immediately.
3. Tekka Don
This pristine piece of Tekka Don is a personal favorite amongst Japanese fare. With its thin slices of raw tuna laying on a bed of Japanese seasoned sushi rice, it is a combination of subtle flavors and textures infused into one single bite.
I enjoy how the slight acidity of the rice contrasts with the buttery taste of the meat. From the well-seasoned sushi rice to the freshness of the fish being served, everything comes together perfectly to make an unforgettable meal.
Each component complements each other, making it not only fulfilling but also incredibly refreshing. It is a must-have for any sushi lover.
Ingredients
200g sashimi-grade tuna, thinly sliced
2 cups cooked sushi rice, cooled
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon wasabi paste (optional)
1/2 sheet nori, thinly sliced
Instructions
Make the Sushi Rice: Cook 2 cups of sushi rice according to package directions, then let it cool…
Make the marinade: In a small bowl, beat together soy sauce, mirin and, if using, wasabi paste.
Prepare the snapper: Pat the snapper dry and season with salt and pepper.
Pan-fry the snapper: Heat the Olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Cook the fish until golden brown on both sides and just opaque, about 3 minutes per side.
Serve: Remove the fish from the pan and arrange on a serving platter. Spoon over the marinade and top with the shredded daikon.
Marinated Tuna: Slice the tuna sashimi very thinly and marinate in the soy mixture for 10-15 minutes.
Assemble Rice: Divide the cooled sushi rice equally into serving bowls.
Layer more rice, then Tuna: Pack each bowl. Make layers of rice and top with marinated tuna.
Garnish: Sprinkle thinly sliced nori over the top of the tuna and serve immediately.
4. Unagi Don
There is something about the dark, slightly sweet, deeply savory flavors of eel over the fluffy glutinousness of rice that is rich and soul-soothing, but also works the other way around the palate and doesn’t allow the other elements of the dish to overwhelm.
Eel is glistening with its glaze of slightly sweet, teriyaki-like sauce.
It is delicately silky but wholesome, with curling edges, against the fluffy rice, aromatic with seasonings, which binds softly with the eel and holds together.
Recipe for Unagi Don:
Ingredients
2 cups cooked Japanese rice
2 grilled unagi (eel) fillets
1/4 cup unagi sauce (store-bought or homemade)
2 tbsp sliced green onions
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Pickled ginger (optional)
Instructions
Prepare the Japanese rice according to package instructions and keep it warm.
Heat in oven at 350°F (175°C) for 5-7 minutes. Taking the sign off the door of my freezer brought about a strange sense of loss and disconnection from a culture that I’ve recently departed from.
While the unagi is heating, warm the unagi sauce in a small saucepan to just until slightly thickened.
Place the warm rice into two bowls, creating a bed for the unagi.
Lay an unagi fillet on top of each bowl of rice, and top with the warmed unagi sauce.
Garnish with sliced green onions, toasted sesame seeds, and pickled ginger (optional).
Serve immediately. Enjoy your delicious Unagi Don!
5. Sake Don
One of my favorite dishes has become a favorite due, in part, to its simplicity and flavor.
I’m thinking of sitting down to enjoy a bowl of properly seasoned sushi rice topped with thick, juicy slices of salmon sashimi. This dish is tasty, nutritious, filling and allows me to experience levels of haptic pleasure that both feed me and make me feel healthy at the same time.
Recipe for Sake Don, a delicious salmon sushi bowl.
1. One packet of seasoning 2.
Two cups of rice 3. Two cups of water 4.
Two pieces of fresh salmon 5. Two tablespoons of mayonnaise 6.
Two tablespoons of curry powder 7. One quarter cup of sliced green onions 8.
Half a cup of edamame (soy beans) 9. Chopped parsley 10.
Four strips of carrot 11. Half a cup of sliced red peppers 12.
Half a cucumber 13. ¼ teaspoon of pepper 14.
Salt, to taste 15. Sesame seeds, to garish
Ingredients
200g fresh salmon, thinly sliced
2 cups sushi rice, cooked
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon wasabi (optional)
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
Instructions
Prepare your sushi rice according to packet instructions.
(Check our recipe for it below.)
Let it cool to room temperature.
In a small bowl, mix soy sauce, mirin, and wasabi to create a marinade.
Lay the salmon fillets from the slicer on a sheet pan, brush the pieces lightly with marinade, and put that in the fridge.
Place the cooled sushi rice into serving bowls.
Top the rice with the marinated salmon slices.
Garnish with sliced green onions and serve immediately.
Enjoy your Sake Don!
6. Negitoro Don
Have you heard this one before? I can’t get enough of this bowl of goodness!
Once you try it once, you’ll be just like me, addicted to the bold flavors and freshness of what I believe has to be one my absolute favorite dishes of all time. The minced fatty tuna.
The chopped green onions. The well-seasoned rice.
All mixed together and cooked in its own way in a bowl. What’s your pleasure?
Mine is the contrast of the creamy texture of the tuna and the slight crunch of the onions, I absolutely love it. I can have it for lunch or for dinner and it captivates my mind and senses like nothing else.
Ingredients
200g toro (fatty tuna), finely chopped
2 cups cooked sushi rice
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp wasabi paste
Nori (seaweed) strips, for garnish
Instructions
Prepare the sushi rice according to your preferred method and let it cool slightly.
Place the cooked sushi rice evenly into serving bowls.
Mix the finely chopped toro with soy sauce in a bowl.
Spread the toro mixture over the top of the sushi rice in each bowl.
Sprinkle the finely chopped green onions over the toro.
Garnish with nori and a dollop of wasabi paste for each bowl.
Serve immediately. Adapted from East by West: Rediscovering Traditional
Ingredients
for Contemporary Cuisine (Ten Speed Press, 2009) by Jody Eddy.
7. Kaisen Don
There is little in life more intriguing or delicious than Kaisen Don. For those unfamiliar with the Japanese most beloved meal, kaisen don means (as you might expect) ‘seafood bowl’.
This median of raw fish and seafood is laid out delicately among chunks of finely cut, seasoned rice, in a visual spectacle that will have waistlines thankful for the almost negligible fat content of the dish.
One of my favorite things about it is the sheer variety as you munch through your meal, from slices of golden, salty tuna to delicate scallops and sweet shrimp.
Every mouthful is something different. I love the way that, as you move from one to another, the freshness of the seafood brings out the tang of the rice vinegar, and its clean, clear identity is picked up and enhanced by the depth of soy sauce.
The texture, too, changes – this is almost paradigmatic of Japanese cuisine as a whole, with its delicate simplicity and balanced flavors.
Kaisen Don Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups sushi rice
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
200g assorted sashimi-grade seafood (e.g., tuna, salmon, scallops, shrimp)
1 sheet nori, sliced thinly
Instructions
Cook Rice: Cook rice according to package directions. Mix together rice vinegar, sugar, and salt; fold into warm rice to cool to room temperature.
Prepare Toppings: Slice sashimi-grade seafood into bite-size pieces.
Assemble Bowl: Place a generous amount of sushi rice in a bowl.
Add Seafood: Arrange the assorted sashimi pieces on top of the rice.
Garnish: Sprinkle thinly sliced nori over the top.
Serve: Optionally, serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger on the side.
8. Ikura Don
You can really taste the quality of the ingredient, and the combination of rice and fish roe makes for a simple way of expressing the essence of Japanese cuisine. I can be transported there whenever I eat it.
Ingredients
2 cups sushi rice, cooked
1 cup water
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh ikura (salmon roe)
Instructions
Rinse sushi rice under cold water until the water runs clear.
Cook the rice with 1 cup of water in a rice cooker.
Pour rice vinegar into a small saucepan. Add sugar and salt, and heat over low flame until dissolved.
Let it cool.
Remove the cooked rice to a large bowl, fold in the vinegar mixture to the rice with a wooden paddle, and let cool to room temperature.
Place portions of seasoned rice into individual bowls.
Top each bowl with a generous amount of ikura.
Serve immediately.
9. Hamachi Don
I could write about any dish in the vast repertoire of Japanese cuisine, and this is one of my favorites. There are so many things I love about this dish – the high-quality, naturally raised ingredients, the craftsmanship that goes into preparing it… I love the subtle buttery flavor of this particular fish, and the way it interacts with well-seasoned sushi-meshi.
Ingredients
200g fresh Hamachi (yellowtail), thinly sliced
2 cups cooked sushi rice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon wasabi
Chopped scallions and sesame seeds (for garnish)
Instructions
Arrange the hot sushi rice evenly in two bowls.
Neatly layer the thinly sliced Hamachi over the rice.
In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, mirin, and wasabi until well combined.
Drizzle the soy sauce mixture over the Hamachi and rice.
Garnish with chopped scallions and sesame seeds.
Serve immediately and enjoy.
10. Ebi Don
Among the indulgent Japanese comfort foods, Ebi Don sums up the best. This combination of battered and deep-fried shrimp fished out of fluffy white rice with savory sauce and lush green scallions accents the best of ‘umami’ with a hint of textural diversity.
The rice is cooked to fluffy perfection, providing a good base for the crisply battered morsels. While this is a delightful recipe clean as it is with a light drizzle of the umami-rich sauce and the accent of fresh scallions, it is an endorsement for Japanese cuisine that keeps it simple and harmonize the best tastes.
Ebi Don Recipe.
Ingredients
6 large shrimp (ebi), peeled and deveined
2 cups cooked sushi rice
2 tablespoons tempura batter mix
1/2 cup cold water
1 cup vegetable oil (for frying)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pan or fryer to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix tempura batter mix with cold water until smooth.
Dip each shrimp into the tempura batter, ensuring they are fully coated.
Fry the shrimp in the hot oil until golden brown and crispy, 2-3 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
Then put a scoop of cooked sushi rice in each bowl and place the fried shrimp on top.
Drizzle soy sauce over the shrimp and rice.
Serve immediately.
11. Spicy Tuna Poke Bowl
I think there’s nothing more delicious than fresh tuna (mackerel, instead, is a very good alternative) marinated in a spicy sauce and covered with a medley of other flavors and textures I like: crunchy vegetables, soft avocado, sesame seeds, all atop fluffy white rice.
It’s probably one of the most satisfying meals for me, and rich in spice, sweetness and umami. I’m feeling good and satisfied after eating it, literally.
Spicy Tuna Poke Bowl Recipe
Ingredients
1 pound sushi-grade tuna, cubed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sriracha
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 avocado, diced
2 cups cooked sushi rice
Instructions
Prepare Tuna:
Put the cubed tuna into a bowl with the soy sauce, sriracha, and sesame oil and toss gently to coat.
Assemble Bowl:
Divide the cooked sushi rice into serving bowls.
Add Tuna:
Spoon the seasoned tuna over the sushi rice.
Top with Avocado:
Add diced avocado to each bowl.
Garnish:
Optional garnishes can include sesame seeds, chopped green onions, and seaweed salad.
Serve Immediately:
Serve the poke bowl immediately for the freshest taste.
12. Salmon Avocado Bowl
It’s one of those particularly satisfying combinations of fresh, nutrient-dense ingredients.
Well, that would be my salmon and avocado. I love ’em together because for me, they just make sense.
The fatty richness of the salmon combines beautifully with the creaminess of the avocado in a dish that’s nourishing and luxurious at the same time. If I’m in the mood for something satisfyingly healthy, this always delivers.
Salmon Avocado Bowl Recipe:
Ingredients
1 cup sushi rice
200g fresh salmon, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 ripe avocado, sliced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Instructions
Prepare the sushi rice according to the package directions, then mix in the rice vinegar and let it cool slightly.
Arrange the cooked sushi rice in a bowl as the base.
Top the rice with the salmon pieces and avocado slices.
Drizzle soy sauce over the salmon and avocado.
Sprinkle sesame seeds on top for added flavor and a bit of crunch.
Serve immediately and enjoy your Salmon Avocado Bowl!
13. Mixed Sashimi Bowl
A bowl of sashimi – assorted slices of fresh fish – nestled on a bed of sushi rice, with just a smidgen of wasabi and a sprinkle of soy: pure, uncomplicated, highly sophisticated, and no fuss.
Not a meal for every day, but then after all, dipped in soy and wasabi and the sight, smell, touch and taste of fresh, delicate, silky fish, it could be breakfast.
Ingredients
1 cup sushi rice
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
200g assorted sashimi-grade fish (e.g., tuna, salmon, yellowtail)
1 avocado, sliced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 sheet nori (seaweed), sliced into thin strips
Instructions
Cook sushi rice as directed on the package, and let it cool. Combine it with the rice vinegar.
Slice the sashimi-grade fish into bite-sized pieces.
Arrange the sushi rice in a bowl.
Top with the assorted sashimi-grade fish and avocado slices.
Drizzle soy sauce over the top.
Garnish with nori strips and serve immediately.
