Sweetgreen Inspired BBQ Salmon Bowl

I look to many different places for inspiration, and as creative as I sometimes can be, I have no shame saying that I love Sweetgreen and I love some of their flavor combinations. (Fun fact - one of my first dates with Shiping was at Sweetgreen and this definitely contributed to our compatibility!)

Anyways, proud Sweetgreen supporter over here, and you can find 9 of my other copycat Sweetgreen recipes on my website. And if you ever see me out and about traveling, I will usually ALWAYS hunt down a Sweetgreen so I can keep a little bit of my routine while on the road. They are dependable and incorporating their salads while traveling just helps me feel my best. I will also say, while this recipe is inspired by their new bbq salmon plate, I don't know Sweetgreen's exact recipe - this is just my take on their combination of ingredients.

Ok, now that we're past that - I'm very excited to share this recipe. It's filled with colorful veggies, good ingredients, and is just SO GOOD.

To start off, I'm making a homemade bbq seasoning marinade to toss with both the sweet potatoes and the salmon. The sweet potatoes cook a bit longer than the salmon, so get these into the oven while you prep the remaining veggies and salmon.

While both the veggies and salmon are roasting, make the honey bbq dressing. It's a simple combination with olive oil, bbq sauce, dijon mustard, salt, black pepper, and honey. A bit on the sweeter side since we're using store-bought bbq sauce, but it's overall still balanced and fresh. You could substitute a balsamic vinaigrette if you want to keep this recipe super clean.

To round out the bowl, we're also making wild rice and a kale, cabbage, and carrot slaw. Toss the slaw with the dressing, plate all the ingredients, and enjoy!!

The best parts about this recipe

• A freshened-up take on bbq flavors

• BBQ marinade doubles as sweet potato seasoning and salmon marinade

• Great for meal prep!

Table of Contents

• Ingredient Notes

• How to make this BBQ Salmon Bowl Step by Step

• Recipe and Cooking Tips

• Storage and Reheating

• Additions and Substitutions

• FAQ

• Video Tutorial

• The Recipe

• Looking for more similar recipes?

Ingredient Notes: 

Salmon: Opt for fresh salmon fillets, portioned into 4-ounce pieces for easy serving. I use an Atlantic or King salmon, but you could also use Coho salmon, sockeye salmon, steelhead trout, or even an arctic char.

Vegetables: Lacinato kale, carrot, and red cabbage add color, flavor, and nutrition to the dish. If you can't find lacinato kale, you can also use curly kale, just make sure to massage the kale and remove any stems. For carrots and red cabbage, I highly recommend you slice your own and NOT get the pre-shredded kind. I've recently noticed a pretty big difference between the store-bought pre-shredded carrots and the carrots I get from my local produce shop (Church Produce).

The whole carrots are so much sweeter and have much more flavor than the pre-shredded version, and it just makes the slaw a lot more enjoyable.

Grains: Use raw wild rice, cooked according to package directions. I like to add in 1/4 cup of quinoa to make this a bit more fluffy, but feel free to use all wild rice or even white or brown rice if you prefer.

How to make the BBQ Salmon Bowl - Step by Step:

Step 1: In a small pot, add the 3/4 cup of wild rice, 1.25 cups of water, and pinch of kosher salt. Bring up to a boil, then stir and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and let sit covered for 10 minutes. 

Step 2: Preheat the oven to 400F.

Step 3: Make the bbq marinade by combining all the ingredients together.

Step 4: Prep the sweet potatoes – peel the potatoes, then cut them into ¼” thick quarter moons. Add this to a sheet tray along with about 3 tablespoons of the bbq marinade. Give everything a toss, then roast at 400F for 15-20 minutes.

Step 5: Portion the salmon and place this onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Top each piece of salmon with a spoonful of the bbq marinade (or you can mix all the salmon with the remaining marinade). Once the oven is preheated, roast for 8-10 minutes. This can roast at the same time as the sweet potatoes.

Step 6: Prep the remaining produce – chop the kale, julienne the carrots, and thinly slice the red cabbage. Add the kale to the mixing bowl along with the remaining shredded carrots and red cabbage and toss together.