These Sweet and Spicy Salmon Bowls are bursting with colors and flavors! It's an easy recipe that comes together in minutes and is perfect for a simple weeknight dinner, lunch, or meal prep! Packed with healthy and fresh ingredients, this well-balanced dish has everything: protein, fiber, and carbs!
Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and mix well.
Cook the salmon
Use whole salmon fillets or slice each into 3 chunks. Season the salmon with olive oil, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Spread in a single layer in a baking dish skin-side down.
Roast for about 10 or 12 minutes in the preheated oven at 425 F or until the salmon is almost cooked through.
Remove from the oven. At this point, if you don't like the salmon skin, remove it by sliding a spatula carefully under each salmon fillet or chunk to separate the fillet from the skin. Discard the skin. Or leave the skin on!
Coat the salmon with the sticky sweet chili glaze (reserving about ⅓ of the sauce for later) and return briefly to the oven to continue cooking (a couple of minutes) until the salmon is cooked through.
While the salmon is roasted in the oven, proceed with the rest of the recipe and prepare the mango salsa and the bowls.
Mango salsa
Note about mangos. Wash them thoroughly to get rid of any debris. Use ripe mangos. Always peel the mangos. Pit the mangos and dice them into cubes.
In a medium mixing bowl combine diced mangos, diced red bell pepper, chopped fresh cilantro, freshly squeezed lime juice, and chili powder. Toss to combine.
Assembly
Add cooked jasmine rice to the bowls. Top with glazed salmon on one side and mango salsa on the other side. Glaze the salmon with the reserved ⅓ of sweet chili sauce. Top with chopped fresh cilantro and fresh lime slices.
Notes
Notes about homemade sweet chili sauce
My version of sweet chili sauce is made with only 4 ingredients: low-sodium soy sauce (or tamari sauce), rice vinegar, fig spread, and red pepper flakes.
Fig spread is a wonderful "shortcut" ingredient to use in sticky sweet chili sauces to create thickness and texture. I used fig spread by Divina brand (sold in most grocery stores these days).
I also highly recommend using chili fig spread by Divina brand - it already has red pepper flakes, and is perfectly spicy for this recipe.
Simple substitutes for homemade sweet chili sauce
Option 1. Get a store-bought pad Thai sauce and mix it with the fig spread and red chili flakes.
Option 2. Get a store-bought sweet red chili sauce and mix it with the fig spread and red chili flakes.