I’ve been loving salmon for years and years. It’s the BEST easy healthy meal out there, am I right?
I created this unique, absolutely delicious salmon recipe after getting the most gorgeous piece of Copper River King Salmon from Whole Foods a few years back. Apparently, it’s only seasonal 3 weeks out of the year and comes straight from Alaska. It was truly was AMAZING and I made these quick, wonderful chili lime salmon bowls with it.
I will say the price per pound was kind of out of control, which is why I still opt for other salmon that they sell. Perfectly cooked salmon in this recipe pairs with nutty forbidden rice (AKA black rice), tender edamame, and juicy mango. OBSESSED.
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Choosing your salmon
If you’ve ever bought salmon you’ll know that it comes in a ton of different varieties. Here are things to consider when buying it for recipes:
Ingredients in chili lime salmon bowls
The salmon glaze is my favorite, inspired by a former vegetarian dish. I used essentially the same dressing to glaze the salmon and it turned out beautifully sweet, tangy and with plenty of good flavor from the chili powder and garlic. YUM. You’ll need some fresh ingredients and a few delicious seasonings to make these easy chili maple lime salmon bowls absolutely delicious.
- Salmon: I like to use small (about 6oz) wild salmon filets in this recipe for optimal freshness and a great serving size for each person.
- Pure maple syrup: a little maple syrup adds just a touch of sweetness to that bright chili lime glaze.
- Lime juice: from a freshly squeezed lime for the perfect amount of tang in the glaze.
- Chili powder: the ultimate seasoning and combination with the lime juice.
- Garlic: who doesn’t love a little garlicky flavor with seafood? Yum.
- Coconut oil: you’ll add a bit of coconut oil to the forbidden rice to make it extra delicious with a hint of coconut flavor.
- Forbidden rice: this is also called black rice and can be found at most grocery stores with grains or global products.
- Mango: for a juicy sweetness in every bite to pair with the chili lime glaze.
- Edamame: I love the texture of edamame with the rice and salmon in here, plus it adds some additional protein!
- Cilantro, green onion & avocado: to garnish and serve these gorgeous chili lime salmon bowls.
What is forbidden rice?
Forbidden rice is also known as black rice: it’s chewy, slightly sweet, nutty, higher in protein and lower in carbs than regular, white rice. You cook it the same way you’d cook regular rice, too! I’m a HUGE fan of having it at my favorite local sushi spot here in Chicago.
Black rice on errrthang please. Plus the name forbidden rice just sounds cool.
Customize your chili lime salmon bowls
These beautiful salmon bowls are easy to customize to your taste preferences! Here are some subs and swaps I can recommend:
- Choose your grain: if you can’t find forbidden rice feel free to use white basmati rice, jasmine rice, or even quinoa or cauliflower rice!
- Pick your veggies: I think cubed pineapple would be delicious in place of the mango, and you could add snow peas or regular peas in place of the edamame.
- Try a new protein: feel free to use the glaze/marinade to cook up some shrimp, chicken, or even tofu!
How to make chili lime salmon bowls
- Cook your rice. Start by cooking your rice in a small pot until it’s nice and fluffy. Once it’s done, stir in the mango, coconut oil, edamame, and salt.
- Prep your salmon. While the rice cooks, place your salmon filets skin-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Whisk together all of the glaze ingredients and pour or brush the glaze over the salmon — remember to reserve 1 tablespoon for once it’s done, and be sure you don’t double-dip! Bake the salmon at 400 degrees F.
- Assemble the bowls. Divide mango & rice mixture between two bowls, and add salmon on top. Garnish with green onion and cilantro if desired and enjoy!
Tip for baking salmon
Always err on the side of undercooking rather than overcooking salmon; for every inch of thickness, you’ll need to bake it for 15 minutes at around 400 degrees F or until the salmon is opaque and easily flakes with a fork. My salmon usually always comes out perfect at 18 minutes.
Want to grill your salmon instead?
Great idea! Get all of my tips and tricks for grilling salmon in this post. It’s the perfect summer meal!
More 30 minute meals you’ll love
- 30-Minute Sesame Chicken Green Bean Stir Fry
- Spinach Garlic Parmesan Orzo with Crispy Bacon
- Sweet and Sour Pineapple Broccoli Chicken Stir Fry
- 30 Minute Vegan Stir Fry Sesame Noodles with Chickpeas & Basil
- Firecracker Salmon with Peach Avocado Salsa
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If you make these healthy chili lime salmon bowls, leave a comment below to let me know how it turned out or snap a picture, upload it to Instagram and tag #ambitiouskitchen! xo.
Chili Maple Lime Salmon Bowls with Forbidden Rice
Ingredients
- 2 (6 oz) wild salmon filets
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1 small lime, juiced
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil
- 1/2 cup uncooked black rice (also known as forbidden rice)
- 1/2 mango, diced
- 1/2 cup cooked shelled edamame
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- To garnish: Cilantro and green onion
- Optional: Avocado slices
Instructions
- First cook the rice: Add 1 cup of water with 1/2 cup of forbidden rice to a small pot and place over high heat. Bring to a boil, the reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 25 minutes. Once rice is done stir in mango, coconut oil, edamame and salt.
- While the rice cooks, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent the glaze from burning. Place salmon filets 2 inches apart on parchment paper, skinside down.
- In a small bowl, whisk together maple syrup, lime juice, chili powder and garlic. Pour or generously brush the glaze over the salmon, reserving 1 tablespoon for glazing once salmon is done. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until salmon is done and flakes with a fork.
- Divide mango & rice mixture between two bowls, and add salmon on top. Garnish with green onion and cilantro if desired.
- If you time this correctly, this can easily be a 30 minute dinner from start to finish.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on July 6th, 2017, and republished on May 9th, 2023.
18 minutes at 400º is about twice as long as needed & is going to result in dry fish with all the fat & oil oozing out (which indicates the dryness AND looks bad on the plate).
8-9 mins at 425º is just right for a normal 6oz filet from the middle flank. 7-8 mins for a tail-end filet.
My rule of thumb is to bake for 15 minutes for ever inch of thickness, as some filets are thicker than others 🙂
Delicious and very easy to prepare. Did modify with frozen pre-cooked rice but still very good !!
Perfect! Great way to speed up the process 🙂
I love how this recipe turns out perfect every time! I even used the salmon portion of this recipe by itself for a dish one time. The fats in the coconut oil and fish compliment the tangy mango perfectly. The rice is an exciting change too! I have also subbed peas for the edamame, and although it isn’t the same, it still works! A go-to- meal for sure.
Love that! Great idea to swap in peas, too 🙂
Revised the recipe for 3 of us. My teens really enjoyed it! I followed the recipe exactly as written except I used wild-caught salmon and I added the avocado to the bowls-the only thing I would change is giving yourself little extra time for the rice (mine took more like 35-40 mins). Will definitely make again!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed this recipe and it was a for everyone! 🙂
This is such a fast, nutritious and fun flavored meal! I love it and want it in my rotation forever.
Perfect 👌
Thanks so much!
If you love tropical flavor, this one is for you! I make my forbidden rice in my instant pot and mix the coconut oil right in once its done! I have made this with both the salmon recipe listed and with Minimalist Kitchen’s maple glazed salmon. Both turn out wonderful. This is a quick. easy and healthy meal.
I’m so glad you loved it, Chloe! Thanks for leaving a review–it means a lot 🙂
I have frozen mango and frozen edamame, do you think that would work? Looks delish and def making this this week!
Yes that should work fine!
A great choice if you are looking for a quick and easy dinner.
Made this tonight and my fam and I loved it! Will definitely make this again! I didn’t have forbidden rice but I had wild rice and that was really good, too. Loved it with he edamame, mango and coconut oil. Salmon was delish too. All ingredients from Whole Foods Market. Thanks for the great recipe!
Delicious! I grew up on wild rice and love it too 🙂 So happy you liked this one!
Just made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious. Only change I made was that I used pineapple in place of the mango since that is what I had on hand. I’ve had forbidden rice in my pantry and this was a great recipe for it. Would also be good with chicken. My husband and I both liked it and I will definitely be making it again. It only took 30 minutes and was easy to make. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Pineapple sounds great in here! And yes, I have a slow cooker chicken recipe with forbidden rice, too (check it out here). So happy you guys enjoyed this one!
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the page layout
of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve
got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of
content so people could connect with it better.
Youve got an awful lot of text for only having 1 or 2 images.
Maybe you could space it out better?
Thank you for your feedback! We’re actually going through a major website re-design in early 2018 🙂 stay tuned!
How do you obtain the nutritional information on your recipes?
Hi Cristina! I use an online nutritional calculator and make sure that each ingredient matches.
And always buy wild Alaska salmon – I live here. Copper River Kings are awesome, but don’t pass by sockeye, coho or pink! We don’t even avoid chum; but we can catch it fresh. Here’s an ADFG site that shows how to tell what they are. https://www.fws.gov/alaska/fisheries/fieldoffice/fairbanks/salmon/salmon%20ID%20chart.pdf
Love forbidden rice!! Yum! Knowing where to buy seafood is such an art-form! I live in Seattle and we have a whole-foods like local chain that has the absolutely WORST seafood, but whole foods’ seafood is usually of fairly decent quality! I am glad to hear that you didn’t use Copper River in a marinade like this. It would be pointless to have paid so much per pound to cover the flavor. Its the added omega-3s that make it so special. A much more basic preparation really lets the unique flavors shine. (My fam is in the seafood biz – especially Alaskan salmon – can ya tell? HA!). Love salmon in bowls like this. So so good! But definitely not the right thing to splurge on copper river salmon for!
So interesting! And agreed – I’ll have to make a super simple dish with the fancy salmon 😉
I had an unlimited membership at Crosstown up until fairly recently. After almost every workout I would end up at Whole Foods. I think wandering Whole Foods after an especially bada** CTF workout is one of my favorite pastimes. So dangerous for my disposable income. But so delightful.
Agreed! Nothing like a little sweaty walk around Whole Foods 😉
I’ve never heard of forbidden rice! This sounds delicious!
It has such an awesome flavor! Let me know if you try it 🙂
This looks simply amazing!! Can’t wait to try!
Hope you love it!
I agree with you on buying most groceries at Trader Joes (or a local chain) and then last minute stuff at Whole foods. There is a Whole foods two blocks from my place so its really convenient, but i try to limit my shopping there!
http://www.themilestraveled.com
Definitely! Some more specialty items I get off of Amazon as well.