Seared Ahi Tuna Poke Bowl Fresh Healthy

Published 1/21/2021 • Updated 4/23/2024 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!

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!