This is one of those perfect dinners that’s as easy as it is crave-worthy! Salmon bites tossed in creamy bang bang sauce, fluffy rice, and a fresh Asian-inspired cucumber salad.
It’s a quick but memorable dinner that will leave you licking your plate. And as a dietitian, I designed this recipe to be balanced and nutrient-dense too.
You’ll also love my Greek salmon bowls, air fryer salmon bites, and hot honey salmon bites.
Recipe Highlights
- Seriously flavor-packed: This simple dinner is shockingly delicious from the perfect blend of creamy bang bang sauce, fresh salad, and starchy rice.
- Nutrient-dense: Salmon contains omega-3 fats, while the rice and salad bring energizing carbs and micronutrients to your plate.
- Super easy: Although you’ll prep a few different elements for these bang bang salmon bowls, each one is super simple and quick. You’ll also repeat ingredients throughout, so you won’t be looking at a super long shopping list.
Key Ingredients And Swaps
- Salmon: Any kind of salmon works — just make sure the skin and bones have been removed to keep prep easy. Frozen salmon works fine, but you’ll need to fully de-frost it before tossing with the marinade.
- Rice: I like plain white rice, but you can swap it for any grain like brown rice, quinoa, or even your favorite noodle.
- Soy sauce: We’ll use soy sauce in the salmon, bang bang sauce, and cucumber salad. You can use low sodium if preferred. If you need a gluten-free swap, try tamari instead.
- Thai sweet chili sauce: This is how we get that delicious sweet-and-savory balance in the bang bang sauce! Brands in the Asian aisle of the grocery store are tastier and less expensive, but you can use any sweet chili sauce you can find.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients list and detailed recipe.
How To Make Bang Bang Salmon Bowls
Step 1: Toss cubed salmon in marinade, and get your rice cooking. Set aside.
Step 2: Whisk bang bang sauce in a large bowl — we’ll toss the cooked salmon bites in this later.
Step 3: Prep cucumber salad and set aside.
Step 4: Bake salmon bites for 10 minutes at 425 F. Broil if desired.
Step 5: Toss cooked salmon bites in bang bang sauce.
Step 6: Assemble bowls with bang bang salmon bites, cooked rice, and cucumber salad. Enjoy!
Miranda’s Tips
Tips From My Test Kitchen
- Broil your salmon. If you have a few extra minutes, broiling your salmon bites for 1-3 minutes adds some delicious browning and texture.
- But don’t over-cook your salmon! You want your salmon bites to be tender and flakey. Keep a close eye on them, and make sure you don’t over-cook them or they will be tough and dry.
- Use the extra dressing. Your cucumber salad will probably have a little extra dressing at the bottom of the bowl. Pour this over your salad and rice when serving for extra flavor.
Meal Prep Instructions
Make your rice, salmon bites, and cucumber salad as instructed. Store your rice and salmon in the same container, and keep the cucumber salad separate until right before serving. Keep everything in the fridge for up to three days.
To serve. microwave your rice and salmon until just warmed through. Add your cucumber salad to the container, sprinkle with toppings, and enjoy!
More Easy Dinner Ideas
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken
Street Corn Chicken Rice Bowls
Ground Beef Fried Rice
Tuna Mayo Rice Bowl
Bang Bang Salmon Bites Bowls
Equipment
- baking sheet
Ingredients
Salmon Marinade
- 8-10 oz skinless and boneless salmon, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- ½ Tbsp olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Bang Bang Sauce
- 3 Tbsp mayonnaise, use light if desired
- 2 Tbsp sweet Thai chili sauce
- 1-2 tsp sriracha
- 1 tsp rice vinegar
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp garlic powder
Cucumber Salad
Optional Serving Suggestions
- 2 cups cooked white rice, 1 cup per bowl
- sesame seeds
- red pepper flakes, optional
- sliced green onion, optional
Instructions
- Heat oven and cook rice: Position oven rack to the middle and pre-heat to 425 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. If you’re making rice, begin cooking now according to package directions.
- Prep salmon bites: In a medium mixing bowl, combine salmon with marinade ingredients. Mix and set aside.
- Make bang bang sauce: To a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients for bang bang sauce and whisk until smooth. You’ll toss your cooked salmon in here later, so make sure it’s big enough!
- Make cucumber salad: To a new small mixing bowl, add all ingredients for cucumber salad and toss to combine. Set aside.
- Cook salmon bites: Transfer salmon to the parchment-lined baking sheet and spread out to minimize overlap. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until salmon is cooked through and gently flaking. If desired, finish under the broiler for 1-3 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.
- Mix salmon with sauce: Transfer cooked salmon to the bowl with bang bang sauce. Gently toss salmon in the sauce until coated.
- Assemble bowls: To two serving bowls, add rice, salmon, and cucumber salad. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes, and any other toppings as desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Nutrition information calculated with full fat mayonnaise and 1 cup of cooked rice per person.
- Swap soy sauce for gluten-free tamari if needed.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
WOW! These were amazing!! My husband and I LOVED them!! Super quick and easy to make, delicious flavor, easy clean up, and very healthy!! We can’t wait to make them again!
PS – we added avocado and it paired great!
This was amazing! Comes together so quickly even on a night I didn’t want to cook. Absolutely delicious. Repeat for sure