Miso Glazed Salmon Bowl with Quick Pickles and Sesame Spinach Recipe
This miso glazed salmon bowl is a simple and satisfying dinner! Top brown rice with an easy miso glazed roasted salmon, quick cucumber pickles and sesame sautéed spinach for a delicious weeknight meal!
This miso glazed salmon bowl recipe has become a favorite in our house because it’s so quick and easy, yet packed with tons of complex flavor. Each ingredient is very simple - plain cooked brown rice, salmon with a 3 ingredient marinade, quick cucumber pickles and spinach briefly sautéed in sesame oil - yet it all comes together for a perfectly balanced bowl. The tender slow roasted miso glazed salmon is definitely the highlight of the dish!
The flavors in this miso glazed salmon bowl recipe were inspired by Japanese cuisine. A couple years ago I spent two weeks in Japan, and I fell in love with the flavors there. Japanese cuisine is one of the few countries recognized by UNESCO for its culinary traditions, and the importance of that heritage was evident pretty much everywhere we ate. What I appreciated most about Japanese food was it’s simplicity. Normally I’m the kinda person who likes to load up my pizza with all the different toppings and doesn’t balk at recipes with a 20-ingredient long list. But with Japanese food, simple, fresh ingredients shined with a flavorful, high quality condiment or two, like a piece of tender steamed sea bass in a broth of dashi and soy sauce, perfectly fried tofu with freshly grated ginger and miso, or a plate of pickles with white rice.
The different kinds of pickles in Japan were one of my favorite food discoveries! The markets were filled with giant wood barrels filled with vegetables pickling in miso, sake lees (the leftover rice from making sake) and salts. I learned that the addition of pickles is a great way to boost the flavor of a simple dish!
How to Make this Miso Glazed Salmon Bowl
This miso glazed salmon bowl is actually quite simple to make! First, just cook a pot of brown rice. I like to use short grain brown rice in this recipe.
Then I make the easy miso marinade for the salmon. It’s just a simple mix of soy sauce, miso paste and sesame oil. I let it marinade at least 15-ish minutes but it could go longer. Then, I slow roast the miso glazed salmon with a method I learned from my friend Kara Lydon that yields the most moist, tender and perfectly cooked medium salmon.
Then, as the brown rice cooks and the salmon marinates, whip up a batch of quick pickles. To make quick pickles, all you do is toss sliced cucumbers with rice vinegar and a bit of salt and sugar. The salt and sugar will draw out the liquids in the cucumber and allow the vinegar to soak in. It takes just 15 minutes to pickle, but you could also make them in advance, as I often do, and keep them in the fridge for a couple of weeks. I love to have pickled cucumbers or red onion on hand to add to grain bowls, tacos or tostadas, and sandwiches.
While the salmon is cooking, saute a bag of spinach in toasted sesame oil. I like toasted sesame oil because it has a rich, toasty flavor.
To serve, top the rice with sesame spinach, pickles and miso glazed salmon, and garnish with a bit of toasted sesame seeds or gomasio, and sliced scallions.
Fatty Fish and Health
How much fish you should eat is a question I often get from clients. Fatty fish, like the salmon in this miso glazed salmon bowl recipe, as well as tuna, mackerel, trout, herring and sardines, are some of the richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Other types of seafood like shrimp, catfish and cod also contain omega-3 fats, but in significantly smaller amounts. Omega-3 fatty acids are important for brain development, heart health, and seem to be helpful for inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans generally recommend two servings of seafood each week.
That said, I think it’s helpful to remember that anytime you read recommendations to eat a certain number of servings of a food/week, it’s just that - a recommendation. There’s nothing magical about two servings versus one, or for that matter, three servings versus two - it’s certainly not a guarantee of health! Also, intake naturally varies from week to week and month to month. Sometimes you might go a week without any seafood, another week you might eat a ton!
While eating seafood twice a week is a good recommendation based on research, remember these recommendations are based off studies and statistics, and don’t necessarily reflect the complexities of human beings and their unique biology and social circumstances. Some people may benefit from more, others are totally cool with less or none, and in the end, nutrition is just one small piece of health.
Personally, when I plan my meals, I try to plan at least one fatty fish seafood recipe, like this miso glazed salmon bowl recipe. Then, I usually have canned salmon, tuna or sardines on hand for snacking or incorporating into recipes.
All that to say, don’t sweat nutrition recommendations too much!
Sustainable Salmon for this Miso Glazed Salmon Bowl Recipe
If you’re looking for a sustainable choice for this miso glazed salmon bowl recipe, look for wild Alaskan salmon. They have some of the strictest environmental regulations for salmon. Otherwise, I like to use the Seafood Watch app to find a more sustainable choice. Generally speaking, wild salmon is best, however there is responsibly raised farmed salmon on the market too.
Where to Find Miso Paste for this Miso Glazed Salmon Bowl Recipe
Miso paste is a common ingredient in Japanese cuisine and is made from fermented soybeans. It has a salty, umami flavor that’s savory and complex. It’s also a source of beneficial probiotics, although I’m fairly sure the oven kills those off in this miso glazed salmon bowl recipe!
Thankfully, miso paste is pretty easy to find. You can get it in most well stocked grocery stores, and health food stores will often have a good selection. You might see white, yellow and red miso paste. I use white miso in this recipe, which has the lightest flavor as it’s been aged less time than the darker varieties, but darker miso will work too.
Don’t worry about having leftover miso paste! It lasts for ages in the fridge - I’d say well over a year because the salt and beneficial bacteria preserve it. Feel free to use leftover miso paste in the following recipes from my blog:
Maple Miso Brussels Sprouts - try this one for Thanksgiving!
One of my favorite ways to enjoy miso paste is to mix it with butter and toss with roasted vegetables!
If you make this miso glazed salmon bowl recipe, please share it on instagram and tag me! I love to see when y’all make my creations!
This miso glazed salmon bowl recipe was originally published November 2016. Recipe, images and text have been updated to give you the best content possible.
Miso Glazed Salmon Bowl with Quick Pickles and Sesame Spinach Recipe
Serves 4ish
Ingredients
1 cup short grain brown rice
2 cups water
1 cucumber, very thinly sliced
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon miso paste
2 tablespoons soy sauce, preferably sweet soy sauce
2 tablespoon sesame oil, divided
1 lb salmon filets, cut into four equal pieces
1 6-ounce bag spinach
Toasted sesame seeds or gomasio and sliced scallions, for garnish
Instructions
Bring rice and water to a boil in a medium pot. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 40-50 minutes until water is absorbed and rice is tender. Let sit, covered, for 5 minutes to finish steaming, then fluff with a fork.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Mix miso, soy sauce and 1 tablespoon sesame oil in a small bowl. Place salmon in large dish, toss with marinade, and refrigerate 15 minutes.
While rice is cooking and salmon in marinading, make the pickles. Mix cucumber, rice vinegar, sugar and salt in a lidded container. Give it a good toss and let the cucumbers pickle for at least 15 minutes while preparing other ingredients.
When ready to cook the salmon, place salmon on a large baking sheet sprayed with oil. Sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper. Roast salmon 20 minutes until cooked through and flakes with a fork, but still moist and tender.
While fish is cooking, heat remaining tablespoon sesame oil in a skillet on medium-high heat. Add spinach and a pinch of salt, and saute until wilted.
Divide rice between four bowls. Top with pickles, salmon, and spinach. Garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.
If You Like This Miso Glazed Salmon Bowl Recipe, You Might Also Like:
Curry Salmon Noodle Bowl
Hemp Crusted Salmon with Spicy Peanut Slaw
Spicy Smoked Salmon and Avocado Sushi Bowl Recipe
