The viral recipe test · October 29, 2026
Does Emily Mariko's salmon rice bowl work?
It worksA photo like it · Wikimedia Commons
Works, and the ice cube is real. It just needs short bursts, not one long blast.
The recipe: Emily Mariko · @emilymariko on TikTok
In the fall of 2021 Emily Mariko made lunch from leftovers: flaked salmon on rice, an ice cube on top, parchment over it, into the microwave. The videos had no talking and tens of millions of views, and "salmon rice bowl" was suddenly the most searched lunch on TikTok.
What goes wrong, and the fix
Leftover salmon and rice steamed in the microwave under an ice cube, mashed with soy sauce, Kewpie mayo and sriracha, and eaten with avocado and kimchi in little seaweed hand rolls.
- The rice comes out hard and the salmon dry.Use the ice cube and parchment, and heat in 30-second bursts, about 90 seconds total, just until it's hot through.
- The salmon smells fishy and tastes overcooked.Reheat it gently with the rice, never on its own, and stop as soon as it's warm. If you don't have leftovers, roast a fillet fresh (below).
- The seaweed goes limp and chewy.Keep the seaweed snacks in their packet until each bite. Wrap, eat, repeat.
- Too much mayo and it all tastes the same.Season after heating, little by little, and let the kimchi and avocado do some of the work.
Chef's version
You need
- 1 cup cooked short-grain rice, ideally a day old
- 4 oz (115 g) cooked salmon (leftover, or 1 fillet roasted as below)
- 1 ice cube
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Kewpie mayonnaise
- 1 to 2 tsp sriracha
- 1/2 ripe avocado, sliced
- 2 tbsp kimchi
- 1 small packet roasted seaweed snacks
- Toasted sesame seeds
How to make it
- If you need salmon: heat the oven to 425°F (220°C), brush a 5 oz fillet with a little soy sauce and oil, and roast 10 to 12 minutes, until it flakes. Let it cool a few minutes.
- Flake the salmon over the rice in a microwave-safe bowl, breaking it into small pieces with a fork.
- Set the ice cube in the middle, cover the bowl loosely with a sheet of parchment, and microwave in 30-second bursts until hot through, about 90 seconds. Lift off the parchment and take out what's left of the cube.
- Drizzle over the soy sauce, mayo and sriracha and mash it all together.
- Top with avocado, kimchi and sesame seeds.
- Take a sheet of seaweed, scoop up a bite of rice, salmon, avocado and kimchi, fold it and eat. One sheet a bite.
Good to know
- Leftover rice and salmon should be reheated until steaming hot; eat it straight away.
- A little furikake or a squeeze of lime is a good change from the sriracha.
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