Dinner is served with these delicious Fiesta Salmon Rice Bowls complete with a corn and bean salad, cilantro lime rice, and perfectly cooked salmon filets. We know you’ll love this rice bowl recipe.

We’re big fans of meals in bowls over here on Fit Foodie Finds, which is why our go-to dinner most nice is a rice bowl! Whether it’s this fiesta salmon rice bowl or this Mediterranean vegan buddha bowl or this delicious vegetarian harvest grain bowl, you can’t go wrong with a rice bowl for dinner.

What is a Rice Bowl?

A rice bowl is a balanced meal served over any kind of rice. Oftentimes rice bowls are composed of rice, a vegetable, a protein, and toppings.

Rice bowls are an excellent meal-prep recipe if you’re hoping to prep food for lunches and/or dinners to save time and money.

Are rice bowls good for you? Typically rice bowls are a better option because they are made with protein, fiber, healthy fats, and tons of veggies.

Components of a Rice Bowl

Before we jump into our Fiesta Salmon Rice Bowl, I thought I’d dive deeper into the components of any rice bowl so that you can take this recipe and make it your own.

Rice: the most obvious component of a rice bowl is cooked rice! Pretty much any type of rice goes. Below are a few of our favorites:

• White rice
• Brown rice
• Wild rice
• Fried rice

Can’t do rice? Try a different grain such as quinoa, farro, or couscous.

Vegetables: any kind of veggie goes. So feel free to use raw vegetables, roasted veggies, or even grilled veggies. Here are some favorites:

• steamed broccoli
• bell peppers
• cucumber
• cherry tomatoes
• roasted sweet potatoes
• spinach
• cauliflower
• roasted red potatoes
• roasted Brussels sprouts

Protein – pretty much any protein goes when it comes to rice bowls. In today’s recipe, we’re featuring salmon, but chicken, turkey, beef, pork, and even tofu or beans are great options. 

Toppings – when it comes to toppings, the world is your oyster. You can use a homemade dressing, different sauces (try our teriyaki sauce or homemade bbq sauce!), nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds, etc.), and fresh herbs (basil, mint, thyme, etc.)

All About this EPIC Fiesta Salmon Rice Bowl

These fiesta salmon rice bowls are bright, colorful, delicious, and packed with healthy ingredients! Plus, they can be easily meal prepped for healthy lunches or dinners throughout the week.

The elements of these salmon bowls are simple to prepare and enjoy but know that nothing is set in stone with the recipe (much like ALL of our bowl recipes!). You can absolutely sub in other ingredients you have on hand when the bowl mood strikes. These fiesta salmon bowls combine:

1. Salmon filets
2. Cilantro lime rice
3. Corn and bean salad
4. Toppings: sliced avocado, fresh cilantro, dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream

Simple Salmon Recipe

The salmon in this recipe is super simple. It’s made with salt, pepper, and a little olive oil. You really can’t go wrong.

We’re sharing a few ways to cook your salmon filets below so that you can make these bowls at your convenience:

Salmon in oven: bake salmon at 375ºF for 20-25 minutes or until it’s light pink in color and easy to flake. Get the full tutorial HERE.

Salmon on grill: 0ºF skin-side down for about 6 minutes. Then, flip and grill for 2 more minutes or until the salmon reaches 140ºF internally. Get the full tutorial HERE.

Salmon on the stovetop: pan-sear salmon over medium/high heat for 4 minutes skin-side up. Then, flip, and cook for 3-4 more minutes or until the salmon is light pink in color and flakey. Get the full tutorial HERE.

Cilantro Lime Rice

We thought we’d take this bowl up a notch and give it some “fiesta” inspiration –> cilantro lime rice. It’s limey, packed with fresh cilantro, and has the perfect amount of salt.

When it comes to this cilantro lime rice, feel free to use white or brown rice, whichever you prefer! We like the bite that brown rice has and we love starchy long-grain white rice, it’s a classic! But what is the difference between the two?

• Brown Rice: Brown rice comes in a long grain or a short grain! It is a whole grain that still has it’s nutritious germ and fibrous bran! It tends to have a little bit more of an earthy flavor.
• White Rice: White rice also comes in many different shapes and sizes. The main difference between white rice and brown rice is that the white rice is stripped of its bran and germ. White rice has less fiber and is a bit easier to digest!

No matter what type of rice you choose, they both taste great in these fiesta salmon bowls.

Corn and Bean Salad + Toppings

A rice bowl isn’t a rice bowl without the toppings. We whipped together a super simple corn and bean salad by combining corn, black beans, and red onion.

Other Mexican-inspired toppings include:

• Avocado (instead avocado you can use homemade guacamole)
• Fresh cilantro
• Sour cream/Greek yogurt

Can you Double this Recipe?

Yes! In fact, you can double, triple, or even 1/2 or 1/4 this recipe to your heart’s content. It’s great for meal prep for the week.

Either way, you can’t go wrong with prepping a batch of these fiesta salmon bowls for the week or whipping up a single-serve at a moment’s notice.

How to Store Fiesta Salmon Bowls

If you’re looking to meal prep these bowls and then eat them throughout the week, simply store in air-tight containers in the fridge for 3-5 days. 

Pro Tip: wait to add the fresh sliced avocado and dollop of Greek yogurt til you’re about to serve these bowls!