Poke Bowl Recipe

Here’s how to make a poke bowl! This classic recipe stars ahi tuna marinaded in a flavorful poke sauce, rice, and lots of veggie topping ideas. How much do you love a good poke bowl? This Hawaiian bowl of seasoned raw fish, rice and crunchy veggies has caught on here on the mainland, and everybody’s doing it! Yep, there are a few poke restaurants right here in Indianapolis, the middle of the Midwest. Because poke is that good. And guess what? You can easily make poke in the comfort of your own home: it’s perfect for a weeknight meal, or even better for a showy meal for entertaining. Want a plant based option? Go to Vegan Poke Bowl. What is poke? Poke is Hawaiian for “to slice” or “cut crosswise into pieces, and it refers to the raw fish that’s cut into cubes. It originated from fisherman in Hawaii who would season leftover parts of their catch for a snack! Poke is a Hawaiian-American food, but much of its flavor is influenced by Japanese cuisine: soy sauce, green onions, and sesame oil. You can make poke out of any raw fish, but the most common fish you’ll see is ahi […]

A Couple Cooks – Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

Here’s how to make a poke bowl! This classic recipe stars ahi tuna marinaded in a flavorful poke sauce, rice, and lots of veggie topping ideas.

Poke bowl recipe

How much do you love a good poke bowl? This Hawaiian bowl of seasoned raw fish, rice and crunchy veggies has caught on here on the mainland, and everybody’s doing it! Yep, there are a few poke restaurants right here in Indianapolis, the middle of the Midwest. Because poke is that good. And guess what? You can easily make poke in the comfort of your own home: it’s perfect for a weeknight meal, or even better for a showy meal for entertaining.

Want a plant based option? Go to Vegan Poke Bowl.

What is poke?

Poke is Hawaiian for “to slice” or “cut crosswise into pieces, and it refers to the raw fish that’s cut into cubes. It originated from fisherman in Hawaii who would season leftover parts of their catch for a snack! Poke is a Hawaiian-American food, but much of its flavor is influenced by Japanese cuisine: soy sauce, green onions, and sesame oil. You can make poke out of any raw fish, but the most common fish you’ll see is ahi tuna.

Poke can be served as either an appetizer, or in a bowl as a main dish. Serve it with rice, veggies, and other sauces and it becomes a poke bowl. What does it taste like? You’ve got to taste it to believe it, but with a good ahi tuna it tastes buttery, savory, and altogether otherworldly.

Ahi poke

What’s in the poke sauce?

This poke bowl recipe features glistening ahi tuna poke in a marinade that makes it taste like the most incredible food on the planet. You’ll cut the tuna into cubes, then stir it with these flavors and let it marinade. Here are the flavors that go into this poke sauce:

  • Sweet yellow onion (has a milder flavor than yellow onion)
  • Green onions
  • Soy sauce
  • Sesame oil (plain, not toasted, to gently accentuate the flavor of the fish)
  • Garlic
  • Ginger
  • Sriracha (just a squirt to brighten the flavor without adding heat)
Poke bowl

Do you really have to marinade 1 hour?

Most classic poke bowl recipes call for marinading the poke for 1 hour. But do you really have to wait a whole hour before digging in? Great question. To find out, Alex and I taste tested our poke right away, at 30 minutes, and at 1 hour to see how the flavor changed. The verdict?

  • You can eat your poke right away! It tastes incredible.
  • Marinading even 15 to 30 minutes rounds out the flavor.
  • If you have the time, marinade for 1 hour: the flavors really permeate the fish.

Raw fish? Here’s how to find the best ahi tuna

You’ll be eating raw fish in a poke bowl, so you want to make sure to get the very best tuna you can find. Here are some pointers:

  • Make sure to purchase ahi tuna that is marked sushi or sashimi grade.
  • Sometimes this will be in the frozen fish area, or at the fish counter.
  • If you aren’t sure, make sure to confirm with the store that this fish is safe to eat raw.
Ahi tuna

Poke bowl topping ideas

There are so many ways to make a poke bowl! This bowl is built around the assumption: if you start with great poke, you’ll have a great poke bowl. The fish is the star here, so really anything you do with it will taste incredible. The poke sauce will drip down into the veggies and rice, helping to flavor them. In this bowl, we did add some light seasonings to each veggie to bring out the flavor. Here’s what you’ll find in this poke bowl, and then some other ideas:

Toppings in this poke bowl

  • Short grain rice white or brown, we tend toward brown since it has more fiber and nutrients. Traditionally it’s white sushi rice. This bowl we actually used purple short grain rice, which was also tasty!
  • Red cabbage flavored with a little rice vinegar and salt
  • Cucumber with a few pinches of salt
  • Edamame frozen and thawed, well salted
  • Radishes if you can find watermelon radishes, they’ve got beautiful color!
  • Sesame seeds

Other poke topping ideas

  • Cucumber seaweed salad: Take 1 large English cucumber and julienne it into long thin strips (3 cups; we used a handheld julienne peeler). Mix with 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil.
  • Spicy mayo: Everything is better with a little spicy mayo: right? We also use this on our Vegan Poke Bowl.
  • Carrot ribbons: Julienne carrots or slice them into long ribbons using a vegetable peeler.
  • Avocado: Many poke bowls have avocado: we also used it in our Vegan Poke Bowl.
  • Ponzu sauce
Poke bowl topping ideas

Other great poke recipes

Want more ideas? There are great resources from Hawaiian chefs:

Ahi tuna poke bowl

This poke bowl recipe is…

Pescatarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free.

Print
Poke bowl recipe

Poke Bowl Recipe


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (6 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4

Description

Here’s how to make a poke bowl! Try this easy healthy dinner recipe with rice, ahi tuna marinaded in a flavorful sauce, and lots of veggie topping ideas.


Ingredients

For the poke

  • 1 1/2 pounds ahi tuna, sushi or sashimi grade (3 steaks, 6 to 8 ounces each)
  • 1/4 cup minced sweet yellow onion
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil (not toasted)
  • 1 small garlic clove, grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger, grated
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • Small squeeze sriracha

For the poke bowl

  • 1 cup dry short grain white rice or brown rice
  • 1/2 cup shredded red cabbage
  • 1 watermelon radish or 2 radishes
  • 1/2 English cucumber
  • 1 cup shelled edamame (thawed)
  • Rice vinegar and kosher salt, for seasoning
  • For the garnish: Sesame seeds, microgreens or sprouts
  • Optional: Spicy Mayo

Instructions

  1. Make the rice: Make the rice on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot. When it’s done, give it a few shakes of rice vinegar and stir in salt to taste. (Or, make the rice in advance and reheat it on the stovetop with a splash of water.)
  2. For the poke: Slice the tuna into 1-inch cubes. Mince the onion. Thinly slice the green onions. Mix them in a bowl with the soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, kosher salt and Sriracha. 
  3. Serve immediately, but for most authentic flavor marinate in refrigerator for 15 minutes to 1 hour. Taste and add a sprinkle of salt before serving.* (Get this in the fridge while the rice boils and you prep the veggies, and you can eat when it’s all done.)
  4. Prepare the vegetables: Thinly slice the red cabbage. Place it in a small bowl and add a few shakes of rice vinegar and a few pinches salt. Thinly slice the cucumber and radishes, and salt them with a few pinches of salt. 
  5. Assemble the poke bowls: Place the rice in the bowl and top with the poke and vegetables. Garnish with sesame seeds and greens. 

Notes

*It tastes great either way. The traditional poke is marinaded at least 1 hour. If you’re looking for a quick meal, it’s very good right away too.

  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Raw
  • Cuisine: Hawaiian

Keywords: Poke Bowl, Poke Bowl Recipe

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

Vegan Poke Bowl

Here’s how to make a vegan poke bowl! You’ll be surprised at how much flavor comes from marinaded beet poke, colorful veggies and spicy mayo. Want to eat plant based but have your poke bowls too? These popular healthy bowl meals are all the rage lately. Poke is a Hawaiian specialty, typically made with raw ahi tuna that’s marinaded and then served with lots of veggies and tasty sauces. What if you don’t eat fish? We’ve got a whole food plant based (WFPB) version for you: vegan poke bowls! These tasty bowls are bursting with flavor, and they’ve got an unusual ingredient that amazingly gives the same texture and flavor as poke. Beets. Yep, you’re going to have to taste this to believe it…but it really works! Really, beet poke? Yes! Odd as it sounds, cooked beets stand in for the fish in this vegan poke bowl. Somehow the textures and the marinade really work! The beet poke comes out buttery and tender, savory with hints of soy, sesame and ginger. Just how to pull off this trick? Here are our secrets: Boiled beets have a similar texture and color to poke: smooth and buttery. Of course, beets have a […]

A Couple Cooks – Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes

Here’s how to make a vegan poke bowl! You’ll be surprised at how much flavor comes from marinaded beet poke, colorful veggies and spicy mayo.

Vegan poke bowl

Want to eat plant based but have your poke bowls too? These popular healthy bowl meals are all the rage lately. Poke is a Hawaiian specialty, typically made with raw ahi tuna that’s marinaded and then served with lots of veggies and tasty sauces. What if you don’t eat fish? We’ve got a whole food plant based (WFPB) version for you: vegan poke bowls! These tasty bowls are bursting with flavor, and they’ve got an unusual ingredient that amazingly gives the same texture and flavor as poke. Beets. Yep, you’re going to have to taste this to believe it…but it really works!

Vegan poke bowl

Really, beet poke?

Yes! Odd as it sounds, cooked beets stand in for the fish in this vegan poke bowl. Somehow the textures and the marinade really work! The beet poke comes out buttery and tender, savory with hints of soy, sesame and ginger. Just how to pull off this trick? Here are our secrets:

  • Boiled beets have a similar texture and color to poke: smooth and buttery. Of course, beets have a darker pink color than the bright pink ahi tuna: but they’re close! Cut them in cubes to simulate the real thing.
  • Stir in the poke sauce and the beets instantly pick up the flavors of soy, toasted sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and green onion. It’s pretty incredible. You’ve got to taste this to believe it!
  • Add filling plant-based protein to your bowl. Since beets don’t have protein, you’ll need to make sure other components of your bowl keep it filling. With edamame and brown rice, this bowl has a good amount of filling protein and fiber.
  • Add richness with spicy mayo. Beets are missing one more thing that ahi tuna has: fat! The spicy mayo drizzle brings back some of the richness.
Vegan Poke Bowl

Why make a vegan poke bowl?

This vegan poke bowl is a tasty, healthy plant based dinner recipe that makes eating your vegetables taste incredible! The beet poke tastes so buttery and savory from the soy and sesame oil, you’ll feel like you’re eating the real thing. (Though if you’re a long-time vegan, perhaps you haven’t tried it!)

Alex and I eat a Mediterranean-style diet that includes some seafood. So, we love our Classic Poke Bowls when we want to splurge on a really good piece of fish. But most of the time we eat a mostly plant based diet, so we make both of these poke bowl recipes. Each one is its own experience: uniquely delicious in its own way! It’s also nice to have both recipes if you’re cooking for a crowd with mixed diets. Make the same toppings and then serve either the ahi poke or the vegan beet poke!

Spicy mayo: what if I don’t like heat?

Good question! Spicy mayo is what takes this vegan poke bowl over the top. The richness and tang that it adds is essential to the bowl experience. But what if you can’t handle spice? Here’s what to do:

  • Make lime mayo. Mix the 1/2 cup vegan mayo with 1 tablespoon lime juice and 1 teaspoon soy sauce, to get all the tang but none of the heat!

Where did the poke bowl originate?

Poke is a Hawaiian dish! The word is Hawaiian for “to slice” or “cut crosswise into pieces.” It refers to the raw fish that’s cut into cubes. Poke is a Hawaiian-American food, but much of its flavor is influenced by Japanese cuisine: soy sauce, green onions, and sesame oil. Serve poke with rice, veggies, and other sauces and it becomes a poke bowl.

Interestingly, poke bowls started to become very popular in North America around 2012. As you might imagine, this spawned a lot of creativity around exactly what goes into a poke bowl! This vegan poke bowl is not traditional because it’s a plant based knock off, of course. For our classic poke bowl, go to Poke Bowl Recipe.

Marinaded beet poke

Vegan poke bowl topping ideas!

There are so many ways to make a great vegan poke bowl! You can easily customize it around your own preferences. Since the poke here is made of beets, you’ll want to make sure you have lots of plant-based protein and fiber in this bowl to keep you full. In this bowl, we did add some light seasonings to each veggie to bring out the flavor. Here’s what you’ll find in this poke bowl, and then some other ideas:

Toppings in this poke bowl

  • Short grain rice Use white or brown! Traditionally it’s white sushi rice, we tend toward brown since it has more fiber and nutrients.
  • Edamame frozen and thawed, well salted
  • Radishes if you can find watermelon radishes, they’ve got beautiful color!
  • Avocado also adds richness and is filling
  • Carrots are beautiful for color
  • Green onion adds a crunch
  • Spicy mayo adds richness: it’s a must!
  • Sesame seeds

Other vegan poke bowl topping ideas

  • Marinaded tofu: To add even more protein, add this tasty marinaded tofu.
  • Cucumber seaweed salad: Take 1 large English cucumber and julienne it into long thin strips (3 cups; we used a handheld julienne peeler). Mix with 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar, 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil.
  • Sliced cucumber: Even easier, just thinly slice it!
  • Red cabbage: Shred it and add a little toasted sesame oil
  • Vegan ponzu sauce like this one
Vegan Poke Bowl

This recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.

Print
Vegan poke bowl

Vegan Poke Bowl


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

  • Author: Sonja Overhiser
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4

Description

Here’s how to make a vegan poke bowl! You’ll be surprised at how much flavor comes from marinaded beet poke, colorful veggies and spicy mayo.


Ingredients

For the beet poke

  • 6 medium beets (or pre-cooked beets, as a time saver*)
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 small garlic clove, grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger, grated
  • 1 teaspoon minced green onion
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For the poke bowl

  • 1 cup short grain white rice or brown rice
  • 2 cups shelled edamame (thawed)
  • 3 green onions
  • 8 radishes
  • 1 avocado
  • 2 medium carrots
  • Spicy Mayo (1/2 cup mayo + 1 1/2 tablespoons Sriracha), for drizzling
  • For the garnish: sesame seeds, microgreens or sprouts (optional)

Instructions

  1. Cook the beets*: Use How to Boil Beets (takes about 40 minutes total) or Instant Pot Beets (takes 25 minutes). Peel the beets according to the recipe, then slice them into 1/2-inch cubes.
  2. Make the rice: Make the rice on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot. When it’s done, give it a few shakes of rice vinegar and stir in salt to taste. (Or, make the rice in advance and reheat it on the stovetop with a splash of water.)
  3. Season the beets: When they’re cooked, place the beets in a bowl and stir together the soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, grated garlic, ginger, minced green onion, and kosher salt.
  4. Prepare the veggies: Thinly slice the green onions and radishes. Slice the avocado. Julienne the carrots (or peel strips with a veggie peeler). Sprinkle all the veggies with salt.
  5. Serve: Place the veggies and rice in a bowl. Top with the beet poke and garnish the poke with sesame seeds. Drizzle with Spicy Mayo and serve.

Notes

*Many grocery stores now carry pre-cooked beets that are packaged and ready to eat. Buy these for a time saver in this recipe!

  • Category: Main Dish
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: Vegan

Keywords: Vegan Poke Bowl

A Couple Cooks - Healthy, Whole Food, & Vegetarian Recipes