Today we’re making an incredibly fresh and delicious salmon donburi recipe! You’re going to love this salmon rice bowl and you won’t believe how easy and fast it is to make! Fresh salmon sashimi on top of delicious, homemade sushi rice, along with salmon roe and sweet egg omelet chunks! So what are you waiting for? Make this now!
Watch how to make Salmon Donburi
Salmon Donburi - The most delicious seafood rice bowl!
This salmon donburi is a delicious, complete meal in a bowl! Donburi translates to “bowl of food” in Japanese, and this is the ultimate bowl of food for seafood lovers!
Although not that common, I have seen this dish referred to as Umi Oyakodon. Umi means “ocean” and Oyakodon is a rice bowl topped with simmered chicken and egg. The name of the dish means “Mother and child bowl of food“, which is kind of dark when you think of it. So this salmon donburi is the “ocean” version of it!
What goes into this Salmon Donburi?
For this dish, we use our homemade sushi rice. If you’ve never made sushi rice, it’s extremely easy to make! You just need some rice wine vinegar (you can check it out here), sugar, and salt. You can also buy pre-made sushi vinegar, but making it yourself results in a much better flavor.
This gets topped with fresh salmon sashimi. Along with that, we add some sweet egg omelette chunks. These provide a nice sweetness and flavor to the dish. Usually these are sliced into thin strips like confetti, but I think the chunks work great for this particular dish.
Finally, we have salmon roe or ikura in Japanese. If you’ve never had salmon roe, it tastes kind of like the oil in those fish oil caplets. That might sound disgusting, but the flavor is very faint in fresh salmon roe. It has an extremely salty and savory flavor as well, which makes it taste so good. If you cannot find this in your area, or if the fish market doesn’t sell absolutely fresh salmon roe, skip it entirely.
A note on raw salmon (or any fish) consumption
In Japan there is a difference between fish meant to be eaten raw and fish meant to be eaten as sashimi. They will usually denote these two types of fish with a sticker with the Japanese character 生, which means “raw” or “fresh“.
This distinction is often a bit murky in the U.S., so it’s better to ask the fish monger if it can be consumed raw. If you are still wary of consuming raw salmon, you can freeze for at least 7 days. A long freeze like this will kill off any microbes and parasites.
What substitutions can I make?
If you’re still unsure about consuming raw fish sold in your area, I would recommend substituting the salmon with smoked salmon. Smoked salmon is safe to eat as is and also lends that wonderful salty, smokey flavor to the dish.
For the salmon roe, I would recommend cubed avocado. It doesn’t have the same savoriness that the salmon roe has, but it’s easy to get and also very delicious!
On that note, cream cheese goes well with the avocado too. Little chunks of it mixed with the avocado create for a great flavor. In fact, smoked salmon, avocado, and cream cheese make up the fillings for one of my favorite American-style sushi rolls: The Alaskan Roll.
What Ingredients Do I Need To Make This Salmon Donburi?
The seafood will be the most challenging part if you live in a landlocked area or a country that doesn’t commonly consume fish. If that is the case, refer to my section on common substitutions above.
- Salmon that is safe for raw consumption
- Salmon roe
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Mirin (See it on Amazon)
- Salt
- Soy sauce (See it on Amazon)
- Sushi Rice (See it on Amazon)
- Rice wine vinegar (See it on Amazon)
Salmon Donburi: A Seafood Lover's Dream!
This delicious meal is not only big on flavor, but big on nutrition! Packed with tons of protein and healthy fats, it’s great for those of you who want a hearty meal that’s also good for you! Sourcing the seafood will be the most difficult part, but you won’t regret it once you have this meal sitting in front of you!
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Salmon Donburi
Ingredients
- Sushi-grade salmon .5 lbs
- Salmon roe
Sweet Egg Omelette
- 2 eggs
- ½ tbsp sugar
- .5 tsp
Mirin (See it on Amazon) - 1/8 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp
Soy Sauce (See it on Amazon)
Sushi Rice
- 300 grams
Japanese Short-grain Rice (See it on Amazon) - 3 tbsp
Rice Wine Vinegar (See it on Amazon) - 1 tbsp sugar
- 2/3 tsp salt
Garnish
- 1 tbsp Wasabi 1 tbsp
- Optional 1 Perilla leaf (Shiso)
Instructions
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and add the sugar, mirin, salt, and soy sauce and stir to combine.
- Heat a pan over medium low heat and add oil. Spread the oil evenly over the surface of the pan with a paper towl. Pour in half of the egg mixture and allow it to cook until it begins to set on the bottom, about 1 minute.
- Carefully roll the omelet over to one side, then re-oil the pan and add the rest of your egg mixture. Tilt the pan to allow the eggs to spread over the surface, and lift of the rolled omelet to allow the egg mixture to flow onto the underside of it. Cook it for another minute and roll the thick part of the omelet over to the opposite end.
- Remove the omelet from the heat and roll it while pressing firmly with a bamboo sushi mat. If you do not have a sushi mat, you can skip this step. Allow the egg to cool completely, then cut it into cubes.
- In a bowl, add the wet ingredients for the *sushi rice* and microwave for about 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave and stir to combine. When most of the salts and sugars have dissolved into the vinegar, it’s ready to be used. If you still see large mounds of salt and sugar at the bottom of the bowl, microwave for another 10 seconds and stir until they’ve mostly been dissolved.
- In a large bowl, add the cooked rice and pour the sushi vinegar evenly over the surface of the rice, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get any remaining salt and sugar out. Using a rice spoon or a spatula, run it through the rice with the thin edge. Then carefully fold the rice on top of itself and continue this cut and fold method to ensure the vinegar completely coats the rice. As the vinegar cools, it will become harder to mix the rice, and the rice will have a sheen on it. Taste the rice to ensure that it’s been coated well. If you need to adjust the seasonings, sprinkle them onto the rice and carefully fold and cut to mix. Cover the rice and set aside.
- Slice the salmon into sushi slices and set aside.
- (Optional) Slice a perilla leaf (shiso) in half, length-wise.
- Add half of the sushi rice to a bowl and top 1/3 of the rice with the sweet egg omelet chunks. Lay the salmon sashimi partially over the rice and the omelets. Place the perilla leaf halves over the lower-half of the salmon slices, then spoon the salmon roe over the remaining portion of rice.
- Garnish the top with wasabi.
- When you’re ready to serve, pour soy sauce over the top of the salmon donburi. Alternatively, mix the wasabi with soy sauce on the side, then pour it over the top of the salmon donburi.
