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A tuna bowl with pickled cucmbers, carrots brown rice topped with spicy mayonnaise
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Spicy Tuna Bowl Recipe

This spicy tuna bowl with sriracha mayonnaise is so good and easy, you can make it with your eyes closed! Here's how you turn a tuna and rice recipe into something amazingly good!
Course Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine American
Keyword rice and tuna recipe, tuna and rice recipe, tuna bowl, tuna bowl recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Servings 4 people
Author April Boller Wright

Ingredients

For the Spicy Mayonnaise

  • 2 tbsp buttermilk
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp sour cream
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 1/2 sesame oil
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 3-4 tsp sriracha see notes below
  • 1 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
  • 1 1/4 tsp soy sauce
  • 1/16 tsp sugar

For the tuna salad bowl

  • cooked brown rice
  • 3 cans of tuna in water or you can use canned salmon too
  • cucumbers sliced into stick or slices
  • shredded carrots or cut your carrots into sticks
  • avocados

Optional toppings

  • pickled ginger
  • seaweed chips These can be found at the grocery store
  • sesame seeds
  • nori

Pickled cucumbers

  • 1 english cucumber large and sliced into sticks or slices
  • 1 tsp vinegar
  • 1/4 tsp sugar plus a pinch
  • 1 tsp sesame oil

Instructions

  • To a small mixing bowl, add the buttermilk, sour cream, mayonnaise, sriracha, lemon juice, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar and mix until combined.
  • In another bowl, add the cucumber sticks, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil and salt and pepper to a bowl. Toss to combine.
  • To serve, to each bowl add the carrots, the cucumber and avocado tuna and rice. Then drizzle over the spicy mayo or mix into the tuna. 
  • Add the optional toppings if you like.

Notes

Storing your tuna salad bowl
If you don’t gobble it all up in one sitting, you can put the remaining tuna salad in an airtight container or simply cover your serving bowl with saran wrap. It will keep in the fridge for a few days, just like regular tuna salad!
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Grains Alternatives 
The base of your tuna salad bowl is going to be a nice, hearty grain. I like to use brown rice because it has lots of health benefits and I enjoy the texture. However, you can use whatever you have! A few suggestions:
  • Quinoa
  • Black rice
  • Cauliflower rice
  • Bulgar
  • Barley
  • Couscous
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Tuna alternatives
If you’re not a huge fan of tuna, you can absolutely use canned salmon. Canned salmon has similar textures and shred easily so the recipe will work just as well with one or the other. I actually can't tell the difference between the two when I make this.
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Vegan alternatives
If you’re looking for a vegan alternative, you can use mashed chickpeas! When making the spicy mayo, you can use vegan mayo, soy milk, and eliminate the sour cream (or use a vegan sour cream if you’d like).
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Toppings for the Tuna bowl 
  • Cucumbers – just like in a spicy tuna roll
  • Avocado – also in spicy tuna rolls!
  • Carrot sticks or shredded carrot – I love to dip carrot sticks in almost anything
  • Salt, pepper, and sesame seeds – sprinkled on top or mixed into the salad
  • Pickled ginger – to give it a traditional sushi feel
  • Soy sauce or sesame oil – drizzled on top for an extra punch of flavor
  • Seaweed/Nori chips - You can find a small package at the grocery store for about a buck.
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Spicy Mayo, Carrots and rice 
FYI, If you don't like it too spicy, don't add the full amount of srirachi called for in the recipe. Add more of an ingredient or less to the spicy mayo to satisfy your tase preference.
Sometimes for more flavor, I'll saute the shredded carrots in a bit of butter for a few a few minute then sprinkle with ground ginger. Just make sure the pan is hot before you add the butter and carrots. It's absolutely delicious. So that's something you can try if you don't like raw carrots.
 
 
 
I like to use brown rice because I like the texture of it in this recipe, plus it's quick, but you can use white if you like. For a shortcut I always use instant brown rice. For some reason my regular brown rice is always mushy no matter what I do. 
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This tuna salad recipe is a super simple way to whip up a healthy lunch for yourself or prepare something that will really wow guests at the next party you attend. I love how customizable it is. With that said, you can easily eliminate whatever you don't like and add what you do like.