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 around 45 minutes from start to finish.
I developed this recipe years ago when I wanted to do something a little different to use up the last Alaskan-caught wild salmon filets in our freezer. 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 delicious, heart-healthy salmon taco bowls were 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.
Everything you’ll need to make salmon taco bowls
These damn good salmon taco bowls are filled with delicious sofrito rice, perfectly seasoned salmon, and all of the toppings your heart desires. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Salmon: because this recipe serves 2, you’ll need 2 wild salmon filets that are about 6oz each.
- Taco seasoning: we’re using my famous homemade taco seasoning to perfectly season the salmon filets.
- Rice: I like to use jasmine or basmati rice because it turns out super fluffy and delicious. You’ll cook the rice with warming spices like cumin, coriander, turmeric & garlic powder.
- Sofrito: what makes the rice extra special is that you’ll also cook it in a homemade sofrito, which is a sauce used in Hispanic cooking. Read more on it below!
- Toppings: what’s a taco bowl without delicious toppings?! I like to add avocado, hot sauce, Greek yogurt, green onion, and a squeeze of lime juice.
Customize your taco bowls
Here’s what I can recommend for ingredient swaps in these salmon taco bowls:
- Choose a new protein: feel free to use 2 6oz chicken breasts or 1 lb shrimp instead of salmon filets. You’ll add the taco seasoning the same way, then you can bake or grill the chicken, and bake, grill, or cook the shrimp in a skillet!
- Swap your grains: instead of jasmine rice, you could also use brown rice or quinoa. Please note that you’ll need to cook brown rice longer according to the directions on the package, but quinoa should work with the same cooking time.
Want to make it vegetarian?
This recipe would also work well with tofu! To swap the salmon for tofu:
- Cut your tofu block into 2×3″ rectangular strips to bake or grill your tofu, or cube your tofu to bake or pan fry it.
- After cubing or cutting your tofu into 2×3″ rectangular strips, toss it in the taco seasoning until each cube or strip is well coated.
- Then grill it with these tips, bake it at 400 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway through, or pan fry the tofu until it’s golden brown on all sides.
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, sauté your onion, green pepper, cilantro, and garlic in a pot. You’ll want to make sure they are all VERY FINELY DICED. This is important.
- Then you’ll add in tomato sauce and all of those cozy spices, 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.
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 and generously season your salmon with those lovely spices.
- 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 the 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 it nice and moist!
Looking to grill your salmon?
You can! Get all of my tips & tricks for grilling perfect salmon with this guide.
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.
More delicious dinners you’ll love
- BBQ Ranch Chicken Quinoa Bowls
- Blackened Salmon Tacos with Forbidden Rice & Mango Guacamole
- Sheet Pan Herby Lemon Garlic Chicken and Potatoes
- Honey Lemon Garlic Salmon
- Vegan Mango Black Bean Green Rice Burrito Bowls
Get all of my delicious dinner recipes here!
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!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Salmon Taco Bowls For Two
Ingredients
- For the salmon:
- 2 (6 oz each) wild salmon filets
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- ½ lime, juiced
- For the taco seasoning:
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- ¾ teaspoon cumin
- ¾ teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ⅕ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or just a pinch!)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- For the rice:
- 2 teaspoons of olive oil
- ¼ cup very finely diced yellow onion
- ¼ cup very finely diced green bell pepper
- ¼ cup finely diced cilantro
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ¼ cups water
- ¾ 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on March 2nd, 2020, republished on April 22nd, 2024, and republished on July 5th, 2026.
I really love this one and have done it many times. Salmon is so good for us, but I need other flavors to really enjoy it and this dose the trick for me.
I tend to air fry the salmon ( usually 400 F 8-12 min depending on size, since I usually get a big piece and cut in 4-8oz pieces depending on what I got).
I also often do a throw together version of the rice making brown rice ahead, putting the onion and pepper on the stove, then garlic, tomato sauce and spices, add in the rice ( a little water if drying out too fast) and then mix in the cilantro when done cooking. Squeezing some lime, and adding avocado, and Greek yogurt to the end product and mixing into a delicious mess.
Perfect! Such a yummy bowl!
This dish is EVERYTHING! The name is accurate…Damn Good! So much flavour! The sweet & spicy rub on the salmon is the right contrast and the veggies and spices in the rice could make it a meal in itself. This will definitely be on the weekly rotation!
So glad you loved this one!!
This was delicious! I only had 4oz filets so I used 4 pieces and slightly increased the amounts. This made me love salmon again!
Perfect! So happy to hear that!
OMG so good perfect amount of kick of heat and sweetness of the rice everyone loved it
So happy to hear that!
Really enjoyed this recipe! Always looking for more ways to add salmon to our meals instead of meat and this is definitely going in the rotation. I did use quinoa instead of rice, and added black beans to the bowl as well. Yum!
Absolutely! Quinoa sounds perfect 🙂
Delicious. I used a jalapeno and diced tomatoes as that was what I had. Also, I did not have any ground coriander, but other than that I was good to go. My husband loved it. I will make this again. Thank you!
Perfect! Glad these were a hit!
I want to make this for some friends coming over tomorrow, can you make the rice in advance?
Yes, absolutely!
A couple of months ago, I had something similar to this recipe at a restaurant and was looking to duplicate it. This nailed it and was absolutely delicious. I didn’t have sauce for the rice but I had some salsa and added some black beans. I also made a little extra taco seasoning and mixed it into some sour cream with lime and lemon juice. This is going into my “Favorites” folder. Thank you.
Amazing! I’m glad you found this one!
Excellent recipe. Switched salmon for trout fillets. Recipe was perfect for two. Delicious…we will make this again!
Perfect! Such a great dinner 🙂
You absolutely need to try this. The flavor combination is just insane!!!! Definitely one of my favorites from Monique!
So glad you love it! One of my all-time favs, too 🙂
Excellent dinner! Loved the flavor!
This is one of the best recipes I’ve made in a long time. The sofrito rice is sooo good and worth the time it takes. I followed the recipe to a T and timing worked out well. Highly recommend!
So happy to hear that! One of my all-time fav dinners, too 🙂
These are such a good switch-up from the typical chicken or steak burrito bowl recipes that I always see. You can’t skip avocado, salsa & extra cilantro as toppings for these bowls!
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
The spice rub on the salmon is delicious. I’ve used just the rub multiple times.
Love it! It’s one of my go-to’s for tons of different proteins, too.
Can never go wrong with ambitious kitchen! This salmon is so savory and such a good pair with the rice. We make this rice often just to pair with other things too.
One of my go-to’s, too! So happy you love it 🙂
I have made this so many times and I never get tired of it. I cook the salmon in the air fryer which makes is perfect every time. Can’t say enough good things about it! Don’t forget the avocado. The creamyness is a game changeer! Enjoy!
Love that! Glad it’s a favorite!
This is delicious! I’ve made it countless times and my 7 year old even commented on how flavorful the salmon was. I use this rub now every time I make salmon! Thank you!
Amazing! Glad you both enjoyed!
Absolutely delicious, this is a firm favourite in our household and any friends we have cooked it for have requested the recipe.
SO yum! Glad you are loving this recipe and it turned out great for you ❤️
I’m going to try this recipe!
Enjoy!