Ready for another DAMN GOOD recipe to start your week off right? I know I am! And this time, I’ve got a savory, healthy dinner recipe that’s perfect for two people (hello date night in!) and only takes right around 45 minutes from start to finish.
I wanted to do something a little different to use up the last Alaskan caught wild salmon filets in our freezer, so I thought, why not make a chipotle style burrito bowl — but with salmon instead of chicken or steak. A few jazzed up ingredients later, like sofrito rice, and it a delicious heart-healthy salmon taco bowl was born.
Similar to my damn good tahini cookies and damn good peanut butter cake, you know if I’m calling it DAMN GOOD, then you know it’s gotta be out of this world delicious.
How to cook the perfect salmon in the oven
My absolute favorite way to cook salmon so that it’s moist, flavorful and stays together is to bake it right in the oven. In this recipe you’ll time your salmon just right to go along with the fluffy seasoned rice that goes in the bowl. Cooking the perfect salmon is easy! Here’s what you’ll need to do:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- Generously season your salmon. In this recipe you’ll use an incredible, homemade taco seasoning with coconut sugar, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, a pinch of cayenne and salt & pepper.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and grease lightly with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray.
- Place marinated or seasoned salmon skin side down on baking sheet.
- For every inch of thickness, bake for 15 minutes. My salmon is usually perfect around 18 minutes. Flake salmon with a fork and serve!
Pro-tip: always err on the side of undercooking rather than overcooking salmon to keep is nice and moist!
What else is in these salmon taco bowls?
Along with the deliciously seasoned wild salmon, these easy salmon taco bowls are filled with:
- Fluffy jasmine or basmati rice cooked with warming spices like cumin, coriander and turmeric. If you’d like you can use brown rice, but you’ll likely need to cook it for much longer according to the directions on the package.
- Yellow onion
- Green bell pepper
- Cilantro
- And your favorite toppings like avocado, hot sauce, Greek yogurt, green onion and a squeeze of lime juice
What is sofrito?
In Spanish, sofrito means sauce, and it’s very traditional when it comes to Puerto Rican foods. My version is a mixture of garlic, onion, green bell pepper, cilantro and tomato sauce. Some do it with fresh tomatoes and culantro, but this is how I normally make it.
Tips for making the homemade sofrito rice:
I’m pretty much obsessed with the flavors in this sofrito rice (and you will be, too.) Here’s how to make it super fluffy sofrito rice:
- First saute your onion, green pepper, cilantro and garlic for just about 2-4 minutes. You’ll want to make sure they are all VERY FINELY DICED. This is important.
- Then you’ll add in tomato sauce, cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic powder, salt and pepper and simmer until sauce comes together (this is the sofrito!)
- Next, you’ll add in water, bring it to a boil, stir in your rice, and reduce the heat to low to cook it right in the pot for 15-20 minutes.
- Lastly, you’ll remove the pot from the heat, stir the rice with a fork and place the lid back on for 20 more minutes to allow the rice to steam. The rice will be fluffy and perfectly seasoned to make the perfect base in these salmon taco bowls.
More ways to use this taco seasoned salmon
One of the best parts about this recipe is that not only can you use the homemade taco seasoning as a marinade for things like chicken (and even tofu!) but you can cook the salmon according to the instructions and create even more delicious recipes with it. Please note: I recommend doubling the spices for 1 pound of taco meat.
Try this salmon in actual tacos with corn or flour tortillas, scrambled with eggs (sounds strange but it’s amazing!) or in a yummy taco salad like this one for extra protein.
See how to make salmon taco bowls
I hope you love these healthy salmon taco bowls as much as we did! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe. xo!
Damn Good Salmon Taco Bowls For Two
Delicious, healthy salmon taco bowls with baked taco seasoned salmon and served with flavorful homemade sofrito rice. Add avocado, salsa, green onion, cilantro and any other toppings your heart desires for a wonderful meal prep dinner for two!
Ingredients
- For the salmon:
- 2 (6 oz each) wild salmon filets
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 lime, juiced
- For the taco seasoning:
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 3/4 teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or just a pinch!)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the rice:
- 2 teaspoons of olive oil
- 1/4 cup very finely diced yellow onion
- 1/4 cup very finely diced green bell pepper
- 1/4 cup finely diced cilantro
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 3/4 cup uncooked jasmine or basmati white rice
- For serving:
- avocado, sliced
- Greek yogurt
- Salsa or hot sauce
- Cilantro
- Diced green onion or red onion
- Lime wedges
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil and grease lightly with olive oil or nonstick cooking spray. Place salmon skin side down. Drizzle salmon filets with olive oil and a squeeze of lime juice.
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Next, prepare your salmon seasoning mix: in a small bowl mix together the coconut sugar, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. Sprinkle your taco seasoning on the salmon. Use your fingertips to rub the seasoning in evenly all over the salmon. Set aside.
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Next prepare your rice: add olive oil to a medium pot and place over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add in onion, green pepper, cilantro and garlic. Saute until onions and green peppers soften, about 2-4 minutes. Bring heat to medium-low and add in tomato sauce, cumin, coriander, turmeric, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Simmer for 2 minutes until sauce comes together. Next, add in water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, stir in rice, cover immediately and reduce heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until rice is tender. After 15 minutes, remove pot from heat, stir rice with a fork and then place cover back on. Allow rice to steam covered for another 10 minutes off the heat.
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As soon as you put the lid on the rice (allowing it to steam), it’s time to get the salmon baking. Place salmon in oven for 15-20 minutes or until salmon easily flakes with a fork. Mine is always perfect at 16-18 minutes.
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When you are done, pile rice into two bowls, then add salmon filet on the side. Serve with avocado slices, greek yogurt, cilantro, salsa or hot sauce, green onion and lime wedges. YUM. Serves 2.
Recipe Notes
If you'd like you can use brown rice instead of jasmine, but you'll likely need to cook it for much longer according to the directions on the package.
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
33 comments
This is a really good dish. I used brown rice cause I prefer them and also made some adjustments like instead of tomato sauce I used salsa. It worked very well. I’ll be making this again!
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Welp… the second we saw this recipe go live yesterday, we knew we HAD to make it for dinner tonight. This may be a new record for me. But this meal is so amazing & so easy.
The salmon is so flavorful and the texture is perfect. The coconut sugar with the spicy herbs is such a great combo. I’m pretty picky on salmon, but I loved it baked actually.
And the rice!!! So flavorful. If you like an extra kick of heat, we added jalepeno (with seeds) to the veggies we sauteed and it gave it a great kick. I also gave the veggies a rough chop and then “pulsed” in the food processor a few times to make sure they were chopped really fine (and save some time).
Basically, make this now 🙂 You’ll love it!
So happy you guys made this one! The perfect weeknight dinner (and love the kick of heat!)
This dish was delish! It’s packed full of flavour with the right amount of spice and freshness. The addition of cilantro, avocado and yogurt made it even better. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you loved these! The perfect dinner 🙂
This is a first for me; Salmon Tacos?! OMG! The wife/daughter love both! Wait until I surprise them with these! They’ll go crazy! I’ll be a hero! Thanks for the recipe, it will truly be a special treat for my girls! (And me!)
Amazing! So happy you loved this, Chris 🙂 hope the girls do, too!
Any suggestions for what to do with the rest of the tomato sauce if using from a can? thanks!
Check out one of these recipes! https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/ingredient/tomato/
I made this today! I omitted the sugar and drizzled honey on top of the salmon once it was done cooking. I didn’t make the rice, but ate this with some roasted butternut squash and avocado. You were right — it was damn good! Thanks Monique!
Delicious! Glad you loved it!
The perfect salmon seasoning!! The rice complements it really well. So glad I tried it, it will be a staple at our house!
I’m so happy you liked it! That seasoning is my new fav too 🙂
The rub for the salmon..AMAZING. I ended up having extra rub so I plan to save and make again in a few days! I didn’t have everything for the rice mix, but used onions, garlic, and most of the spices. I also used plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream. Highly recommend for a quick and super healthy meal!
Delicious! This one’s great for customizing 🙂 and the spice rub will be delicious with different recipes!
This looks delicious! If I have a rice cooker, can I just cook the rice and sauce separately and combine once cooked?
I would not recommend it, sorry!
So so delicious! I have been obsessed with AK for years and have never tried this recipe before. The salmon rub was super flavourful and the rice super easy to make! We add some more spice as we like it extra hot 👍🏽👍🏽
Amazing! So happy you loved this one 🙂
This was fantastic! I only started liking salmon a few months ago and I’m very picky about the flavor but I would make these again in a heartbeat. Only modification I made was using an orange bell pepper instead of green because it was what I had but the rice still had a lot of flavor. Adding this to our go-to recipes!
Amazing! So happy to hear that!
Another great recipe. The combination of spices on the salmon were just perfect. No more boring salmon. And the rice is super easy to make. This meal came together so quick and easy. Love it!
Made this tonight at turned out fantastic. The salmon rub was very flavourful, a bit sweet with a touch of spice. Will definitely be making this again.
So happy you enjoyed!
YUM! The salmon rub was so good! I subbed cauliflower rice and made a tangy slaw to add. Thanks for another great recipe!
That sounds delicious! Glad you enjoyed!
This was totally delicious. I used frozen salmon that was thawed, and you couldn’t tell. A keeper recipe!
Perfect! Such a great dinner.
Thank you for making a salmon recipe that my husband and toddler would eat! I love salmon…them…not so much. I thought a taco flair would do the trick, and it did! Love the little bit of sweetness from the coconut sugar. We used green onion instead of yellow onion in the rice since that was what we had. I think next time I might play around with adding more bell peppers in the rice.
Amazing! I’m so glad everyone loved these!
These were amazing!! The entire family loved this meal. Thank you for creating and sharing😃😋 We didn’t have enough salmon for everyone so I subbed cod for my plate and everyone else had salmon. I can’t wait to make again!
Perfect! Glad everyone loved it 🙂