This Salmon Coconut Rice Bowl is healthy, delicious, and perfect for make-ahead lunches. Plus it’s an easy pantry meal, as almost all ingredients are shelf-stable!
Table of Contents
Why Make This Recipe
- Tasty and Good-for-You: I love when a healthy recipe is super yummy, and this Salmon Coconut Rice Bowl really fits the bill. High in protein, nutrients, and omega-3s, not to mention delicious.
- Pantry-Friendly and Pocketbook-Friendly: Almost all the ingredients in this recipe can be kept in your pantry. That makes this easy to pull together on short notice. And, opting for canned instead of fresh salmon keeps the cost down!
- Perfect for Make-Ahead: This recipe does include several components, but the good news is that you can make them all in advance and either store separately or together.
🥗 Ingredients
- Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas): Pepitas are pumpkin seeds that have had their white outer husks removed. They are high in fat but are packed with nutrients, protein, and fiber, making them a very healthy snack! If you don’t have pepitas, you can substitute nuts of any kind (pecans, walnuts, etc.) or try sunflower seeds. And check out my Arugula Salad with Apples and Quinoa for instructions on how to make candied pepitas instead!
- Coconut Milk: You can use low-fat or full-fat coconut milk for this dish. The full-fat version will feel more decadent of course, but is also higher in calories.
- Split Peas: You could replace these with frozen peas or fresh peas if you don’t want to start from the dried version. Or replace with another green vegetable, like green beans or asparagus.
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes: You’ll want to use pre-softened sun-dried tomatoes (not the ones you need to soak in hot water). I prefer sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil (drain and dry off before using), but any soft sun-dried tomato is fine.
- Canned Salmon: If you can find it, I highly recommend Wild Planet Wild Pink Salmon. It’s wild-caught in Alaska, and canned by a company that cares about sustainability. If you’re concerned about the mercury content in your salmon, you might also look for Safe Catch Wild Pink Salmon, which has the lowest mercury content of any brand of canned salmon.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Add pepitas to a medium nonstick skillet set to medium-high heat. Toast for 4-5 minutes, stirring or shaking the pan frequently. Some of the seeds will brown a bit, and you’ll be able to smell a toasty scent. Careful not to burn them—turn down the heat if you smell burning instead of toasting. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Rinse split peas in a sieve, and pick out any debris you might find. Add peas to a small saucepan along with 1 ¼ cups of water. Bring to a simmer, then stir, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer gently for 30 minutes, until crisp-tender. Drain any excess water, if necessary.
Meanwhile, whisk together coconut milk and ½ cup of water in a small saucepan. Stir in rice and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then stir, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 15 minutes, until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes, then stir.
While peas and rice are cooking, chop onion and sun-dried tomatoes.
Heat olive oil in a medium skillet, then add chopped onions. Cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are lightly browned.
To serve your Salmon Coconut Rice Bowl, start with a bed of coconut rice. Top with split peas, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes. Flake salmon over the top of the dish, then sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds.
🧐 Recipe FAQs
Split peas are the same as regular peas—they are just shelled, dried, and split. Peas are a pulse, like lentils, chickpeas, and beans—and you may notice that dried split peas look an awful lot like red lentils, which are also usually sold split rather than whole. Splitting the dried peas along their natural seam allows them to be cooked faster than if they were left whole.
Yes, this meal is perfect for make-ahead. You can make all the components in advance. Then, either store the components separately, or put the whole salad together and refrigerate. I’d recommend leaving off the toasted pumpkin seeds until you’re ready to serve, since those will get soggy if refrigerated.
Yes. Nutritionally speaking, canned salmon is just as healthy for you as fresh salmon. Note that sometimes canned salmon includes skin and bones, and sometimes the skin and bones have been removed. If you buy the “premium” canned salmon, without the skin and bones, it will have less fat, but also fewer milligrams of omega-3s. Salmon with the bones in it will also give you more calcium.
Yes, in most cases it is! Most canned salmon is wild-caught and will say that on the label. If the label says “Atlantic,” however, you can assume it is farmed. (There are concerns over some farmed salmon testing high in PCB toxins, pesticides, and antibiotics, due to being held in large but very crowded pens.) Also watch out for labels that say Alaskan wild-caught, but also “product of Thailand”—this refers to salmon that is caught in Alaska but sent to Thailand to be processed. (No concerns there about the quality of the salmon, but sending fish from the U.S. to Thailand and then back to sell is a lot of air miles on your food.)
👩🍳 Expert Tips
This recipe works really well with substitutions. You can replace the salmon with almost any protein you’d like, from rotisserie chicken meat to sautéed tofu cubes, to tuna fish, to meatballs. So it’s an excellent base for leftovers. You can also just serve it as a vegetarian side salad by leaving off the salmon entirely. Similarly, you can change up the peas to another vegetable—try corn or chopped, sautéed asparagus instead. And try replacing the coconut rice with a different kind of grain, such as quinoa or pearl barley. The key is just to get a combination of flavors and textures that work well together.
Most of the cooking in this dish is quite straightforward, but you might want some advice on cooking your onions. This recipe uses a quick caramelization technique, where the onions soften and brown, but don't quite caramelize. If you have more time, you might want to go the full caramelization route. Just cook the onions at a low temperature over a longer period of time—you generally will at least 30 minutes for onions to caramelize. I’d also recommend using 2 onions instead of one in that case, and using the leftover onions in other dishes that week. They’re delicious on sandwiches, pasta, pizza, and salads.
Tips for cooking dried split peas: depending on the level of your simmer, you may have too much water when the peas are finished cooking, or too little. If water has begun to evaporate off before the peas are tender, add more water to the pan. If you have too much water when peas are finished cooking, just strain them like you would pasta. Note that if you want even more flavor, you can cook your peas in vegetable, chicken, or beef broth.
Other Delicious Grain Bowl Recipes
If you love grain bowls as much as I do, you may want to check out some of my other recipes that feature rice, quinoa, and barley with a variety of different toppings.
If you try this Salmon Coconut Rice Bowl recipe, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below—I read them all, and your feedback is invaluable to me. And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Salmon Coconut Rice Bowl
Ingredients
- ½ cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
- ½ cup dried split peas
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 cup basmati or jasmine rice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large onion
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes (3 ounces)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 6-ounce cans salmon
Instructions
- Add pepitas to a medium nonstick skillet set to medium-high heat.
- Toast for 4-5 minutes, stirring or shaking the pan frequently. Some of the seeds will brown a bit, and you’ll be able to smell a toasty scent. Careful not to burn them—turn down the heat if you smell burning instead of toasting.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- Rinse split peas in a sieve, and pick out any debris you might find.
- Add peas to a small saucepan along with 1 ¼ cups of water.
- Bring to a simmer, then stir, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low.
- Simmer gently for 30 minutes, until crisp-tender.
- Meanwhile, whisk together coconut milk and ½ cup of water in a small saucepan.
- Stir in rice and ½ teaspoon kosher salt.
- Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then stir, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low.
- Cook for 15 minutes, until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed. Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes, then stir.
- While peas and rice are cooking, chop onion and sun-dried tomatoes.
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet, then add chopped onions.
- Cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are lightly browned.
- To serve, start with a bed of coconut rice. Top with split peas, onions, and sun-dried tomatoes. Flake salmon over the top of the dish, then sprinkle with toasted pumpkin seeds.
Notes
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this recipe, tag me @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because I'd love to see your results!
Jeff the Chef says
I love canned salmon, but almost never have it! That must change, and this is the perfect opportunity!
Chef Molly says
Yes, it's such a great ingredient that most people don't think of buying.
Heidi | The Frugal Girls says
I really do love how you've designed this recipe so that it can be made in advance. That helps so much with weekly meal planning!
Chef Molly says
Yes! Nothing better than make-ahead meals to make your week go more smoothly.