TikTok-Inspired Salmon Rice Bowl Recipe

If you haven't been living under a rock, you have seen Tik-Tok personality Emily Mariko whip up the now-famous, simple salmon rice bowl out of leftover salmon and rice. Hailed as an easy, homemade sushi bowl, the resulting viral recipe was easy, delicious, and a great way to add new life to your leftovers. But, food blogger Ksenia Prints of At the Immigrant's Table has a few other additions to make standout salmon rice bowls.

First off, along with a couple of extra ingredients, our bowl gets drizzled with a homemade kewpie mayonnaise sauce, which adds a touch of sweetness and freshness. Also, we shred seaweed sheets into bite-sized, thin chips that we like to pile on in the center of the bowls. They add umami and a bit of crunch to our bowl, and saves us the hassle of wrapping the seaweed around the filling like little homemade sushi rolls. Read on to see how we make this TikTok-inspired salmon rice bowl recipe. 

To make this dish, you will need cooked salmon filets, cooked rice, mayonnaise, rice vinegar, sugar, sriracha, avocado, soy sauce. You will also need an ice cube to reheat the rice. The following ingredients are optional, but will add a lot of flavor to your dish, and take it to another level: kimchi, a squeeze of wasabi, and snack-sized, roasted seaweed sheets.

Flake the salmon with a fork in a microwave-safe bowl, until it breaks into bite-sized pieces. Add the rice on top of the salmon. Add 1 ice cube in the center of the rice, cover with parchment paper, and microwave for 2 to 2 ½ minutes. Discard the remaining ice and parchment paper.

The reason for this seemingly bizarre ice cube step is that, instead of the microwave's heat drying out the rice, the ice cube steams it, and returns some moisture back into the rice. 

Prepare your own homemade spicy kewpie mayo sauce by mixing the mayonnaise with rice vinegar, sugar, and sriracha in a small bowl. The original TikTok recipe does not call for this flavorful mayonnaise mixture, but we find that it adds a lot more flavor than just using sriracha and mayo. Top the rice and salmon with the soy sauce, spicy mayo, and more sriracha, if desired. Mix to combine.

Optionally, slice the seaweed sheets into thin strips. You can also leave them whole, if you prefer. Top the dish with diced avocado, optional kimchi, and optional wasabi paste. Pile the thinly-sliced seaweed sheets in the middle of the bowl, and enjoy. 

If you have any leftovers, they will keep in an airtight container for 2 days, though the avocado will not keep well, so we suggest only adding as much avocado as you can eat in one sitting.