Gochujang salmon rice bowls
Sticky, sweet-spicy gochujang salmon over rice with quick-pickled cucumber and sesame, the bowl you’ll want on repeat.
- 35 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $5.47 a serving
- 780 calories
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- ¾ cup jasmine rice, rinsed
- 1½ tbsp gochujang
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cucumber, thinly sliced
- 2 salmon fillets, about 6 oz each, skinless, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp rice vinegar, divided
- ½ tsp sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 780 calories, 42 g protein, 78 g carbs and 33 g fat, and costs about $5.47 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No honey? Maple syrup works.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the rice and water in a small and over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 15 minutes, then leave it covered off the heat.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
the cucumber with 1 teaspoon of the rice vinegar, the sugar and the salt, and set it aside to pickle lightly.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
the gochujang, honey, soy sauce, garlic and the rest of the rice vinegar together.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
the salmon dry. Heat the oil in a large nonstick over medium-high heat and cook the salmon for about 2 minutes, turning, until on a few sides.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Turn the heat to medium, pour in the sauce and gently for 1 to 2 minutes, until it and the salmon flakes easily in the middle.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Gochujang’s sugars scorch fast. Keep the heat at medium once the sauce goes in.Food safety: Fish is done at 145°F, when the middle looks opaque and flakes apart easily with a fork.
Divide the rice between bowls and top with the salmon and the cucumbers. with the sesame oil and scatter the green onions and sesame seeds over.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Drizzle. Drizzling means pouring a thin, slow stream over the top of something. A thin stream spreads a little flavor a long way.
How you’ll know: You see thin lines across the food, not a puddle collecting underneath.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Spicy tuna rice bowls
15 min
Air fryer fish katsu
40 min
Golden tilapia bowls with coconut rice and mango salsa
40 min
Miso salmon
30 min
High-protein dinners ›Easy Korean dinner recipes ›What to make with rice and cucumber ›