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Donburi bowls are a fresh and satisfying meal option. Let me show you how to make a restaurant-quality bowl at home using teriyaki salmon and a few vegetables. It only takes around 30 minutes to make this takeout classic in your own kitchen!

Love teriyaki? Try it out with beef or meatballs!

salmon, vegetables and edamame beans on top of rice

Japanese cuisine has become a firm favourite for my family in recent years. Whenever we feel lazy and don’t want to cook dinner, we find ourselves ordering Japanese food more often than anything else.

It all started with sushi but eventually we discovered so many dishes we love. Donburi is one of them.

What is Donburi?

To put it plainly, it means “rice bowl”, which also means there is so much variety when it comes to these bowls. You can fill your rice bowl with anything you truly love. My kids favourite is teriyaki salmon, chicken or duck.

I personally love mine loaded with heaps of stir fried vegetables and topped with This is an affiliate link.furikake, a Japanese seasoning of toasted sesame seeds, nori, salt and other things.

The variations of this dish are endless, which means I will probably never get tired of it. Apart, from being very tasty and quite lean, this dish is also stunningly beautiful.

I love putting together a donburi bowl! It’s like a work of art. Each one is unique depending on the ingredients.

What Rice to Use

Since rice is essential to this dish, it’s important to mention what rice to use and how to cook it. I grew up in a European household and until my mid 20s I thought rice was rice. Then I spent a year in the Philippines and realised how wrong I was!

There are many varieties of rice and each dish might require a specific type. This is the case for these bowls. If you are familiar with sushi, you will immediately know that the rice used is short grain and sticky.

If searching through a supermarket, look for sushi rice or Japanese rice. If you can’t find it, you can substitute with another type of short grain rice like Italian This is an affiliate link.arborio, used for risotto, or Spanish bomba rice, which is used for Paella, or Thai sticky rice.

The method of cooking is very simple. My preferred way is done in the Instant Pot. You can also use a rice cooker or a stovetop method.

teriyaki salmon with rice and vegetables in a bowl

Stir Fried Vegetables

Quite often you will see wilted spinach as a vegetable of choice in donburi. What you use is your preference entirely. I quite like a combination of shredded cabbage, carrots and spinach.

I cook the vegetables very simply with a touch of garlic, ginger and This is an affiliate link.soy sauce. That’s it! And if you slice your cabbage very thinly, the stir fry is done in less than 10 minutes.

However, vegetables like mushrooms and broccoli are also very delicious and taste wonderful with sticky rice. I would recommend do a little fridge foraging and use any vegetables you’ve got!

Additional Toppings

What sets a good donburi bowl apart are the extras added at the end. My absolute favourite is This is an affiliate link.furikake seasoning, which I sprinkle over the whole dish immediately before serving.

My teenagers convinced me to try it with thinly sliced julienned carrots and black sesame seeds. I can’t imagine eating these rice bowls without them anymore.

Sliced green onions add a nice bite and a splash of attractive green colour. And if you ever make sushi at home, you probably have some leftover nori sheets kicking around.

They also add a beautiful umami flavour to donburi bowls. I cut them into narrow strips and sprinkle all over.

Finally, add some edamame beans for extra protein and texture! Or you can serve the edamame beans in their pods as an appetizer.

Recipe Tips and Notes

Long, thin carrot strips are essential here. This can be difficult to achieve with just a knife, but is simple with a This is an affiliate link.julienne peeler.
I’ve used vegetables like carrots, cabbage and spinach, but this is a chance to use up the veg you find in your fridge. There is lots that is going to work here, including mushrooms and broccoli, thinly sliced cucumber.
Don’t skip the toppings! They add so much to the flavour and texture of this dish, and it will feel incomplete without them.
A key to Japanese cooking is the attention to detail, and that holds true here as well. The best way to achieve restaurant-quality donburi bowls is to take the time to prepare the vegetables properly, especially slicing carefully to get the sizes right.

close up of rice bowl topped with salmon, stir fried vegetables and other toppings

Serving suggestions

Unlike a poke bowl, a donburi bowl is meant to be served hot. It should be served in individual bowls.

Pile the rice into a bowl, followed by the cooked vegetables, then salmon, with the other toppings coming last. Eat with chopsticks if you can!

Storage and leftovers

Rice doesn’t keep well in the fridge, especially after being combined into a donburi bowl. That means that this is a meal that is better fresh and doesn’t do well as leftovers.

If you do make more than you can eat, the best approach is to keep the ingredients separate, which means they can be kept refrigerated in This is an affiliate link.airtight containers to enjoy the next day.

The salmon will keep for 3-4 days, and the vegetables even longer. You will want fresh rice though, so make this fresh when you want to assemble your bowl.