There are a multitude of ways to cook salmon with rice, but when I leave out the preposition and call it salmon rice, then you’ll know I am cooking Japanese. This recipe is clean, spare, easy to make, and so satisfying.

Just as there are lots of ways to put salmon in rice, there are a few ways to make this particular recipe. I’ll walk you through how I prefer it, and then give you some easier substitutions.

Also keep in mind that this recipe is excellent with trout, too. Or char.

I like to make salmon rice after salmon fishing, and while this might sound obvious, there is a reason: Because Japanese salmon rice relies on scraps, tidbits from the fish, rather than lush fillets or bellies.

You can of course use salmon fillets if that’s all you have, and you could use canned salmon in a pinch, but the best way to make salmon rice is by making your own salmon stock; I have a recipe for salmon stock elsewhere on this site.

And by making the stock, you get to pick off bits of meat from the carcasses, using that as the meat in the salmon rice.

Doing it this way makes your salmon rice very salmon-y, in a good way if everything is fresh. You can make the stock up to four days beforehand, if you keep it in the fridge.

Don’t do this with stinky salmon. If you are buying salmon to make this, look for whole fish with crystalline, bright eyes, chrome-bright skin and gills that are crimson or rose pink. Have the fish filleted, use the fillets for another recipe, and save the carcass for salmon rice.

(You can browse dozens of my other salmon and trout recipes here.)

If buying a whole salmon isn’t an option, your next best bet is to make dashi. That requires a decent “Asian” aisle in your supermarket, or a trip to an Asian market, but it’s a really great alternative to salmon stock (This is a good, basic recipe for dashi.)

Barring both of those, use plain water. It’ll be fine.

The rice in salmon rice is important. You need Japanese rice to make it correctly. That means short-grain or medium-grain rice. It is very common in larger supermarkets, and the absolute best is called tamanishiki, which you can buy online.

Do not use risotto rice. If you can’t find Japanese rice (or of course Japanese varieties grown in California), use regular ole’ supermarket rice. Not basmati, not jasmine. Just standard American long-grain.

I cook my salmon rice with both salmon stock and a little sake. No need for any fancy sake here, just get a big bottle and use it to cook with. Or skip it.

Finally, there are two Japanese seasoning blends that will work very well with salmon rice: togarashi or furikake. Both are blends of things that make rice taste better, like sesame seeds, chile flakes, seaweed bits, etc. If your supermarket has any Japanese products at all in the “Asian” aisle, it’ll be there.

If not, toast 2 tablespoons or so of sesame seeds and use that.

So are you can see, if you have the raw materials on hand — most of which are pantry items — salmon rice is super easy to make and comes together in less than 30 minutes.

Looking for other great Japanese salmon recipes? I have a fantastic salmon miso soup, as well as a Japanese style salmon head soup.