Spicy Tuna Rice Bowl. Warm sushi rice layered with canned tuna, fresh cucumbers, spicy mayo and roasted seaweed flakes. A delicious, easy, budget friendly meal made with minimal ingredients. Great as a fast meal. Ready in 10 minutes with cooked rice!
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What is a Spicy Tuna Rice Bowl?
Spicy Tuna Rice Bowl is a quick and simple rice bowl featuring short grain rice with canned tuna, roasted seaweed, kewpie mayo, sriracha sauce, fresh cucumbers, sesame oil and soy sauce. It's a Japanese inspired dish and almost tastes like a deconstructed spicy tuna sushi roll with the nori.
I love this simple recipe as a fast meal because it's made with minimal ingredients! Also, the canned tuna requires no cooking at all so if you have cooked rice, it's very convenient. I personally love this dish and I make it very often whenever I am crunched for time.
Ingredients
Note: Most Asian grocers will carry these ingredients. You may find some at your select grocery store or online, like on Amazon.
- Canned Tuna: or substitute with cooked salmon. I like using canned tuna in oil but you can use canned tuna in water.
- Short grain rice: or substitute with medium grain or long grain rice
- Sesame oil
- Regular Soy Sauce: or substitute with light soy sauce or low sodium soy sauce
- Roasted seaweed flakes: or substitute with crushed roasted seaweed snack
- Sriracha Sauce
- Kewpie Mayo aka Japanese Mayo: or substitute with normal mayo
- Cucumbers (optional)
How to Make Spicy Tuna Rice Bowl
- First place warm cooked rice into a wide bowl. If you have cold leftover rice, microwave it for 2-3 minutes covered until it's hot.
- Then strain the liquid from your canned tuna. Add as much canned tuna as you desire, start with half a can and add more if you desire.
- Next drizzle soy sauce and sesame oil on top of rice and tuna.
- Top off with thinly sliced cucumbers.
- Generously squeeze sufficient sriracha sauce and kewpie mayo over top.
- Finally sprinkle roasted seaweed flakes on top. Mix and enjoy! You can also take a scoop of your mixed rice and enjoy it with smaller sheets of nori.
Storage & Reheating
This bowl is best enjoyed immediately. However, leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat. microwave for 2-3 minutes until hot.
Expert Tips
- Use freshly cooked warm rice because this makes a difference in terms of taste and texture. Leftover rice tends to go hard and remains hard even after microwaving it.
- Highly recommend short grain rice over medium to long grain rice because short grain has a tasty stickier texture and works better with the nori.
- Use canned tuna in oil for best taste because the oil gives the tuna a more smoother taste than when it's canned in water.
- Keep this bowl simple. Don't overwhelm it with other ingredients. It tastes better when there's less ingredients.
FAQ
Here are some suggestions on how to level up your rice bowl: Avocado,
Sautéed Spinach, Kimchi, Fried egg, Furikake seasoning.
Note: this Japanese canned tuna rice bowl is best served with minimal toppings. I wouldn’t suggest overwhelming your bowl with everything I suggested. The beauty of this dish is the simple taste of the tuna mixed with spicy mayo, rice and seaweed flakes.
Other Recipes you may like!
📖 Recipe
10-min. Easy Spicy Tuna Rice Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups cooked short grain rice or sub with re-heated leftover rice
- 2.6 oz canned tuna or as needed (liquids strained)
- 1.5 tablespoon sriracha sauce or as needed
- 2 tablespoon Japanese mayo or as needed
- 1 teaspoon regular soy sauce
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- â…“ cup roasted seaweed flakes or as needed
- ½ cup cucumber thinly sliced, optional
Instructions
- Place warm cooked rice into a large serving bowl. If you have cold leftover rice, microwave it for 2-3 minutes covered until it's hot.
- Strain the liquid from your canned tuna. Add as much canned tuna as you desire, start with half a can and add more if you like.
- Drizzle soy sauce and sesame oil on top of rice and tuna.
- Top off with thinly sliced cucumbers.
- Generously squeeze sufficient sriracha sauce and kewpie mayo over top.
- Sprinkle roasted seaweed flakes on top. Mix and enjoy! You can also take a scoop of your mixed rice and enjoy it with smaller sheets of nori.
Heidi | The Frugal Girls
This is a great mid week dinner for busy weeks. Topping it with the cucumber slices adds the perfect refreshing finish.
Monica
Such a quick and Very tasty meal. Highly recommend it. Thank you for the recipe I will be making it again.
christieathome
Thank you so much for your kind comment, Monica! I am so happy you enjoyed it 🙂 Have a lovely day!
Lisa Stoik
Fantastic! Thanks so much for this recipe. I added eggs b/c we were hungry.
christieathome
Awesome! I love the addition of eggs! Thank you for making it and for sharing this kind review with me 🙂
Ri
It was great! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my recipe, Ri! Happy you enjoyed it 🙂
Lee
Great recipe! I like adding (frozen) shelled edamame for an extra dose of veggies. So easy and tasty!
christieathome
Thanks so much for making my recipe, Lee! Happy you enjoyed it!