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A dinner staple of mine is salmon. It’s on my menu at least three nights out of the week. So I’m always looking for new ways to upgrade a simple salmon dish. I’ve also had my eye on the Emily Mariko salmon rice bowl for some time now. This column gave me the perfect opportunity to finally try it out.
Mariko is a food and wellness influencer with 12.4 million followers on TikTok. Her most popular recipe to date is the salmon rice bowl.
When she introduced this dish in 2021, it consisted of salmon, rice, soy sauce, sriracha, and seaweed snacks. She later applied viewer suggestions by adding Kewpie mayonnaise and avocado to the mix, creating the viral recipe that viewers know today. One of her earliest videos featuring it is sitting at 84.6 million views.
As one viewer pointed out at the time, there were three cultural moments that dominated people’s For You Pages in the fall of 2021: the “couch guy” saga, the introduction of Squid Game, and Mariko’s salmon rice bowl.
Unlike most food trends, Mariko’s recipe has stood the test of time. Three and a half years after she presented it to the masses, the dish is still part of people’s lives.
The Daily Dot reached out to Mariko via email to discuss the recipe’s impact and staying power.
Ingredients
Like many of Mariko’s recipes, the bowl is nourishing yet simple, consisting of only a handful of ingredients:
- Salmon
- Rice
- Soy sauce
- Sriracha
- Kewpie mayonnaise
- Seaweed snacks
- Avocado
The recipe should only take around 5 minutes since it is recommended to use leftover salmon and rice. If you don’t have any leftover salmon and rice and need to start from scratch, it should take closer to 30 minutes.
The dish comes together in a few easy steps
- Cook salmon in the oven or an airfryer. (Skip this step if you are using leftover salmon.)
- Use a fork to shred the salmon.
- Add cooked rice to the salmon.
- If you are using leftover salmon and rice, top it with an ice cube and parchment paper before putting it in the microwave for 2 minutes.
- Drizzle soy sauce, Kewpie mayonnaise, and sriracha on top.
- Use a fork to combine the ingredients.
- Top it with sliced avocado.
- Enjoy it with seaweed snacks and a side of kimchi.
Mariko’s recipe also has a hack in it. She adds an ice cube to her rice before microwaving it to create steam and add some moisture back into the grain. There’s science to back this hack up. I worked with fresh rice, so I didn’t get a chance to try it out.
Let us know if you decide to try out this recipe and if the rice hack works for you!
Emily Mariko salmon rice bowl ratings
Difficulty rating: 2.5/10. This recipe was super easy to follow. It came together quickly and with minimal effort. A fork was the only tool needed, and you don’t have to follow exact measurements, which is always appreciated.
Taste rating: 8/10. I wasn’t a fan of using the seaweed sheets to scoop up the mixture and create mini wraps. It gave this dish a deconstructed sushi vibe and taste. What I did enjoy was the base of it—the salmon, rice, and the three condiments. Those paired really well, and I was happy to dig in to just that with a fork.
Would I make this again?: I’d make this again sans the seaweed snacks. I also love how you can enjoy the base alone or customize it to your liking. You can get as creative and fancy as you want with its toppings. Some other suggested toppings include scallions, sesame seeds, and cucumbers.
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