Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
Published 1/21/2021 • Updated 4/23/2024
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This delicious and fresh ahi tuna poke bowl features perfectly seared ahi tuna, cilantro-lime rice, a cucumber salad, and a poke bowl dressing.
Have you ever made seared ahi tuna? Sometimes fish can be intimidating. But we’ll walk you through how to make seared ahi tuna here. You’ll see how easy it is to make!
Did you know that all three of us went to Hawaii for our honeymoons? It’s true! We all fell in love with getting delicious poke bowls at different grocery stores on Kaui. You just can’t beat it!
Here is our attempt at recreating one of our favorite meals from our honeymoons!
Keeping it FRESH
We are big fresh sushi fans here at Fit Foodie Finds and we thought a good first step towards homemade sushi would be to try to make seared ahi tuna first. Guess what? It’s so easy! Check out our tutorial on how to make seared ahi tuna.
If you’re like me, eating a whole tuna steak in one sitting seems like a lot. I love rare ahi tuna, but love eating it with something. Enter—> ahi tuna poke bowls. The combination of poke, hot rice, and cold vinegary vegetables is SO good.
PS: try our sushi burrito recipe, but swap it with seared ahi tuna!
Tuna Poke Bowl Tips + Tricks
Before we go through a step-by-step on how to make a seared ahi tuna poke bowl, let’s go over some tips and tricks so this meal is easy AND enjoyable to make!
What is poke? Poke is technically diced raw fish and is native to Hawaiian cuisine. You can eat it alone, as an appetizer, or as part of a main dish.
What is poke sauce made of? A traditional poke sauce is made out of a combination of sea salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili pepper. It all depends on where you are and what you like!
To serve the rice hot or cold? That’s the million-dollar question when people are preparing poke. Traditionally the poke rice is served hot and the poke is served cold. However, you can eat your poke with whatever grain you’d like, and both hot or cold is just great! Check out some other options below:
- Quinoa
- Brown rice
- Cauliflower rice
- Forbidden rice
What do you serve with poke?
Usually, poke is served with hot rice and seaweed. Today, poke is everywhere and often served in a poke bowl! Feel free to serve your poke anyway you’d like! Make it an appetizer at your next party or serve these poke bowls for the main dish. The options are endless!
What kind of fish do I use with poke?
Yellowtail is usually used for traditional Hawaiian poke. However, ahi tuna and salmon are some of the most commonly used types of fish!
Is it safe to eat poke?
Raw fish can be scary sometimes. Our recommendation is to buy sushi-grade fish to prepare your ahi tuna bowls! If you aren’t a fan of raw fish, cook it a little more!
How to Make an Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
Step 1: Marinate the ahi tuna
We spiced up the traditional poke marinade by adding ginger and chili sauce to the traditional soy sauce and sesame oil mixture!
Begin by adding the soy sauce, red chili sauce, grated ginger, lime juice, sesame seeds, and olive oil to a large bowl. Whisk the sauce until everything is combined.
Next, add ahi tuna to the bowl and cover. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to marinate!
here’s a tip
The longer you marinate the tuna, the more flavor it will have! Sometimes we will prepare the marinade the night before we plan to serve the ahi tuna!
Step 2: Sear Ahi Tuna
Remove your ahi tuna steaks from the refrigerator and then remove from the marinade. Pour sesame seeds on a plate and coat every part of both tuna steak with sesame seeds.
Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. You’ll want the skillet to be HOT. When the olive oil is fragrant, add one ahi tuna steak to the pan and sear for 30 seconds to 2 minutes on each side, depending on how rare you like your ahi tuna.
Let seared ahi tuna rest for 2 minutes and then thinly slice.
Step 3: Prepare veggies
You can’t have a poke bowl without veggies! We love tossing vegetables for any poke bowl with a delicious vinegary dressing! Feel free to use whatever vegetables and dressing you’d like!
We decided on cucumbers, cabbage, and radishes for the salad in this ahi poke bowl. All you have to do is toss the vegetables with the lime juice, vinegar, and salt. Store the vegetables in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve the ahi poke bowl.
Step 4: Choose grain
We love all grains here on Fit Foodie Finds. Our favorite grain to eat with poke is hot white long-grain rice! Feel free to use whatever grain (or not) toots your fancy!
Prepare whenever grain you are using by following the directions on the package! If you are using long-grain white rice for our cilantro lime rice, add 1 cup of white rice, 1.5 cups of water, and a pinch of salt to a saucepan.
Bring water to a boil. Cover and reduce heat until water is dissolved (17-20 minutes).
Remove from heat and mix cilantro into the rice. Set aside.
Step 5: Add Sauce
You guys are going to lose it when you make this ahi poke bowl! A little bit goes a long way. Whatever you don’t use, feel free to finish off with a spoon (I joke, I joke..but it’s seriously that good).
All you have to do is add drippy almond butter, sriracha, soy sauce, water, and lime juice to a mason jar. Cover the jar and shake until all ingredients are combined!
Step 6: Assemble Tuna Poke Bowl
Evenly distribute rice, ahi tuna, vegetables and dressing to six bowls or meal prep containers. Top each poke bowl with fresh avocado and sesame seeds immediately before serving!
There you have it! An easy, healthy, and fresh meal prep meal that everyone will love!
Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl
Ingredients
Ahi Tuna
- 1.5 lbs. Ahi Tuna Steaks, 2 1.5-inch steaks
- 1/3 cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon red chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 4 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
Cilantro White Rice
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 1.5 cups water*
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Salad
- I cup sliced cucumbers
- 1 cup sliced radishes
- 1 cup sliced cabbage
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Poke Bowl Dressing
Poke Bowl
- 2 large avocados, halved and sliced
- Sesame seeds, to taste
Instructions
Ahi Tuna
- First, place tuna steaks in a large bowl or a plastic bag.
- Make ahi tuna marinade and add soy sauce, chili sauce, grated ginger, and lime juice to a small mason jar. Tighten cover and then shake the jar until all ingredients are combined. Pour mixture over the ahi tuna steaks.
- Seal the plastic bag and place the steaks in the fridge and let marinate for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better!).
- Remove ahi tuna steaks from the refrigerator and then remove from the marinade. Pour sesame seeds on a plate and coat every part of both tuna steak with sesame seeds.
- Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When the olive oil is fragrant, add one tuna steak to the pan and sear for 30 seconds to 2 minutes on each side.*
- Repeat for the second tuna steak.
- Let seared tuna steaks rest for 2 minutes and then thinly slice.
Cilantro White Rice
- Place white rice and water into a medium saucepan. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to low and cover. Let simmer for around 15 minutes or until all water has absorbed.
- Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. Add cilantro and mix.
- Set aside for later.
Salad
- Add all the ingredients for the salad to a large bowl and mix well.
- Set aside for later.
Poke Bowl Dressing
- Add all ingredients for the dressing to a separate mason jar.
- Shake well until all ingredients are combined.
- Set aside for later.
Poke Bowls
- Now it’s time to make 4 poke bowls! Add 1/2 cup cooked white rice to the bottom of each bowl.
- Then, add 1/4 of the salad and 1/4 of the sliced seared tuna to each bowl.
- Add 1/4 of an avocado to each bowl and then drizzle the almond butter dressing on top of each bowl.
- Finish off with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
Tips & Notes
- *Follow directions on your white rice packaging for how much water to use.
- *30 seconds for rare, 1 minute for medium rare, and 2 minutes for well done.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Erin from The Wooden Skillet.
This is the second time I’ve made this! So delicious! I saw one of the reviews added sesame oil to the dressing, I will try that next time. My dressing was not as thin as I wanted it but still so good!
Looks so delish, Pat!
The recipe was delicious and the instructions were very easy! I changed one slight thing….I added 2 tbsp of honey to the sauce😉😋
Sounds like a delicious addition to the sauce, Billie!
Tried this for the first time tonight and it was a hit with everyone. Husband enjoyed it with quinoa / son had it with basmati rice, and I had it with 0 carb noodles. After reading through some of the reviews I also added sesame oil & upped the spice level , tripled the almond butter sauce. So delicious. Thank you so much!
This recipe is outstanding! It struck me as one I could go loosey-goosey with, and I can’t wait to try variations. I stuck pretty close this time but subbed in tahini for the dressing (what I had on hand) and made a ginger garlic quinoa (not a white rice fan.) Salad was shredded cabbage, red pepper, cucumber, red onion and arugula. It was DELICIOUS! I can see going Lebanese or Korean or Thai….. the possibilities are endless. From the bottom of my bowl- THANK YOU (Sorry for the photo, but that is what it looked like by the time I wrote the review)
This bowl is full of deliciousness, really loved it. 😋💖Pinning!!
FANTASTIC!
This recipe is great! Don’t cut corners, the marinade, vegetable mix with apple cider vinegar and lime, and the dressing is a must! My Almond butter was not drippy so I added sesame oil until I got the proper consistency. This added a nice nutty flavor.
I omitted the radishes, added edamame and some Furikake to the veggies. Super!
Looks amazing!!
Spicy and satisfying. Great take on a favorite.
Easy to make, sadly avacado wasn’t not ripe and shopper forgot radishes. We mad do for Father’s Day!
This turned out really good! The dressing, however, had way too much nut butter and not enough heat or tang. Added apple cider vinegar, about 6 times as much sriracha, and 3 times as much lime, and salt of course. No water needed.
Thanks so much for your feedback!
Excelente receta, ahora estan de moda los poke bowl, también marinarian muy bien con algas kombu, nori o dulse y gengibre encurtido.