How to make homemade Poke Bowls with fresh ahi tuna, avocado, cucumbers, shredded cabbage, edamame, and rice, with a bright and flavorful Poke dressing.

How to make homemade Poke Bowls with fresh ahi tuna, avocado, cucumbers, shredded cabbage, edamame, and rice, with a bright and flavorful Poke dressing.

One of my favorite things about Hawaii is fresh poke! I love seeking out all the little local poke shops, often tucked away in unnoticeable places. Inside them, you’ll typically see a refrigerated counter with many variations of poke available to buy by the pound.  They have so many fresh fish options; it’s my kind of heaven!

Here is an easy poke salad recipe, served over rice with veggies, basically turned into a Poke Bowl! Today, we are using ahi tuna, but you can easily swap out the tuna for wild salmon, albacore, or whatever is fresh and “sushi grade”.  Vegans can make this with cubes of tofu.

But first, What is Poke?

Poke, pronounced “pok-ee” is a chilled Hawaiian salad made with small cubes of raw fish, often ahi tuna, tossed in a sweet soy dressing with sesame seeds, seaweed and scallions. There are many of variations of poke, as it has become more and more popular. A Poke Bowl is a chilled poke salad served over any combination of rice and fresh vegetables.

Watch How to Make a Poke Bowl | video

What you’ll need (Ingredients)

Poke Salad Ingredients

  • Fish: Ahi Tuna, preferably sushi-grade (sashimi-grade) Or sub-wild salmon or other fresh wild ocean fish that is sushi-grade. Vegans can use cubed, extra-firm tofu.
  • Scallions green onions add a tasty, peppery layer of flavor.
  • Garlic and Ginger- finely minced or grated ( optional)
  • Toasted Sesame Seeds: Tiny seeds that give a subtle nutty crunch and visual appeal.
  • Soy Sauce or shoyu soy sauce, traditional Japanese soy sauce, or use gluten-free liquid Amino Acids.
  • Sesame Oil: for a toasty, nutty flavor.
  • Rice wine vinegar: for a hint of tang.
  • Sweetener: Honey, sugar, maple or agave.
  • Optional: sriracha, or garlic chili paste, for spicy poke and hijiki seaweed (traditional) 

Poke Bowl Ingredeints

  • Bowl Base: brown rice, white rice, sushi rice, black rice, greens, soba noodles or rice noodles
  • Optional Veggies: Cucumbers, shredded carrots or cabbage, radishes, avocado, edamame, microgreens,
  • Bowl Toppings: fried shallots, cilantro, seaweed salad, pickled ginger, nuts or seeds.
  • Poke Dressing or Spicy mayo– see recipe card.
poke bowl with ahi tuna.

How to make Ahi Tuna Poke Bowls

  1. Make the poke salad: Cut ahi tuna into small 3/4-inch cubes and place in a medium bowl. I used a frozen block of sushi-grade tuna (AAA) because fresh tuna, in our area, is over-the-top expensive. But frozen ahi tuna is just fine.
ahi cubes in a bowl.

2. Stir in the poke salad marinade ingredients to coat the fish.

ahi poke ingredients.

3. Place the marinating poke salad in the fridge while you prep and assemble your bowls. You can do this up to 2 days ahead- although it’s best to do it within a few hours.

marinating ahi poke.

4. Assemble the poke bowls.

building a poke bowl.

Pick a base for your bowls- here I am using short-grain brown rice, seasoned with a little rice vinegar and salt. Then start layering the veggies! Get colorful!

Add a scoop of the chilled poke salad.

 Poke - made with ahi tuna (or TOFU!) served over brown rice.

Then top with any toppings and drizzle with the optional Poke Dressing right before serving.

How to make your own homemade Hawaiian-style Poke Bowls made with fresh ahi tuna, rice, avocado, cucumbers, shredded cabbage, edamame, and a bright and flavorful Poke dressing.

A healthy, delicious Poke bowl full of fresh flavor!

Storage and Make Ahead

The poke salad can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, although it is BEST served the day it is made.

More Ahi Tuna Recipes!

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poke bowl recipe

Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 9 reviews

Description

Poke Bowls – made with your choice of ahi tuna or TOFU! Served over brown rice, soba or kelp noodles, with avocado, cucumber, radish and Citrus Ponzu Sauce! Vegan and Grain-free Adaptable!


Ingredients

Units Scale

Poke Salad Recipe

Optional Poke Salad additions: 

  • 1 garlic clove finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger root
  • 12 teaspoons sriracha, or garlic chili paste, for spicy poke
  • 1-2 tablespoons hijiki seaweed (traditional)

Poke Bowl Ingredients (Pick a few)

  • Base: 2 cups cooked brown rice, cooked white rice, soba noodles or rice noodles, baby spinach or greens
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage, grated carrots or grated fresh beets
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 1/2 cup sliced cucumber or sliced radishes
  • 1/2 cup Edamame, shelled

Optional Toppings:  crispy shallots, nori ( sliced thin), microgreens, seaweed salad, pickled ginger, scallions, cilantro, sesame seeds, nuts ( macadamia, peanuts, almonds), torn shiso leaves, furikake  kimchi, chili threads, or Sriracha  or Sriracha mayo.

Poke Bowl Sauce ( Optional, if you like extra saucy) 

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons mirin (or sub 1 1/2 tablespoons water +1/2 tablespoon honey)
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce or GF Braggs Liquid Aminos
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice (half an orange)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Instructions

  1. If cooking rice or noodles, start first and cook according to package directions. 
  2. Cut fish into ½- ¾ inch cubes. Place in a  medium bowl. Add scallions, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar and rice vinegar and sesame seeds, and give a good mix.
  3. Mix in any optional Poke Salad additions. Refrigerate until serving. 
  4. If creating a bowl, make the optional Poke Bowl Sauce, combining ingredients in a small bowl.
  5. Assemble bowls – Divide rice (or other base) among bowls. Add any additional toppings: avocado, cucumber, radish, sprouts, etc. Top with a bg spoonful of Pake Salad. 
  6. Drizzle Poke Bowl sauce over the veggies and sprinkle with any additional toppings.
  7. Serve with chopsticks and Sriracha.

Notes

You can simply just make the poke salad itself (with either ahi or tofu) or create the whole Bowl, loaded up with veggies, rice and the Poke Bowl Sauce.

To make Sriracha Mayo: mix 1-3 teaspoons sriracha with 3 tablespoons mayo, then loosen with a little water or vinegar, to thin it out.

The Poke Salad will keep up to 3 days in the refrigerator in a sealed airtight container.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 4 bowls with 1 cup brown rice, 1 cup veggies
  • Calories: 355
  • Sugar: 7.6 g
  • Sodium: 430.4 mg
  • Fat: 3.4 g
  • Saturated Fat: 0.6 g
  • Carbohydrates: 44.7 g
  • Fiber: 4.1 g
  • Protein: 35.9 g
  • Cholesterol: 44.2 mg

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Comments

  1. This was delicious. I’m not a rice fan so I made soba noodles. I also added edamame, carrots, cabbage, avocado and I can’t remember what else. The over the top flavor came from the homemade ponzu sauce. So easy to make and absolutely delicious.






    1. Yum Cheriede! Love the soba here! Glad you enjoyed an yes that ponzu is yummy. 🙂

  2. Made this last night and it was sooo delicious. My husband said it was better than our favorite Poke restaurant in town. Thank you Sylvia for another outstanding recipe:)






  3. You must be a food genius! This was absolutely divine! Enjoyed it over some lettuce and seaweed. So yummy!!!!






  4. I’m planning to make this and have lots of ponzu dressing left over from last night’s Zen Noodle bowls (delicious!). Good to use here? That ponzu has a large amount of toasted sesame oil which this one doesn’t.

  5. We love this recipe – can we please share it on our blog? We will of course mention where we sourced it from. x

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