Canned Mackerel Rice Bowl With Bok Choy & Peanut Sauce
This Asian-Inspired Rice Bowl pairs canned mackerel with ginger garlic bok choy and the most delicious peanut sauce for a tasty and nutritionally-balanced meal!
Thank you so much to my friends at Gold Seal Canada for sponsoring this post. You can follow Gold Seal Canada on their Instagram and Website for more recipe inspiration!
Every March, dietitians across North America celebrate Nutrition Month – a time to discuss and educate the public all about healthy eating! With so many mixed messages about nutrition in the media, dietitians love to take this opportunity to increase the public’s awareness of good nutrition, and to translate nutritional science into simple, everyday recommendations.
This Nutrition Month, I’ve teamed up with my friends at Gold Seal Canada to discuss a hot nutrition topic: omega-3s. Below, you’ll also find a recipe using Gold Seal’s Canned Mackerel, one of the best sources of omega-3s available, providing 3.5 grams per can!
What Are Omega-3s?
Omega-3s are types of unsaturated fatty acids that are essential to our diets, meaning that we must get them from the foods that we eat because we cannot produce them ourselves.
The three types of omega-3s include ALA (alpha-linolenic acid), EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).
Omega-3s play a role in brain and mental health, they help to lower the risk of heart disease, and help to reduce inflammation throughout the body.
Current research is even looking into how omega-3s may play a role in lowering the risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and even in improving gut health.
What Foods Provide Omega-3s?
The best sources of ALA omega-3 are found in plant foods like walnuts, flax seeds, hemp seeds, and chia seeds. The best sources of EPA and DHA include fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, sardines, and anchovies.
While ALA can convert to EPA and DHA in our bodies, that process is not the most efficient. This is why it’s recommended to eat at least 2 servings (75 grams of 2.5 oz each) of fatty fish per week to meet your EPA and DHA needs.
Mackerel Is Rich In Omega-3s
As a general healthy eating recommendation, I always try to emphasize eating a VARIETY of whole foods. When it comes to seafood, that recommendation is no different!
Many of us are familiar with fish like salmon (which is awesome), but how many of you have experimented with mackerel!? Below I’m sharing a recipe for a Canned Mackerel Rice Bowl With Bok Choy & Peanut Sauce.
I’ll be honest, this was the first recipe I’ve ever created with mackerel. I was pretty hesitant to try it, but SO pleasantly surprised at the flavour and I can’t wait to cook with it again! Have you guys tried mackerel before? I’d love to know how you use it!
More Easy Bowl Recipes
- Green Goddess Rice Bowl With Shrimp
- Vegan Noodle Bowl With Spicy Peanut Sauce
- Easy Kimchi Quinoa Bowl
- Cold Soba Noodle Salad Bowl
- High-Protein Chimichurri Grain Bowl
If you give this Canned Mackerel Rice Bowl With Bok Choy & Peanut Sauce recipe a try, let me know by leaving a comment and recipe rating below! Be sure to follow along on Instagram and Pinterest for more simple, healthy recipe ideas.
Get the Recipe: Canned Mackerel Rice Bowl With Bok Choy & Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup brown rice
- 1 cup water
- Approx. 10 pieces baby bok choy
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp ginger, minced (use a knob about size of tip of thumb to first knuckle)
- 1 can Gold Seal’s Canned Mackerel in Olive Oil
Peanut sauce:
- 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
- 2 tsp tamari
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or freshly minced)
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger (or freshly minced)
- Approx. 2 tbsp water (or more to consistency)
Instructions
- Cook brown rice according to package directions.
- Mince garlic and ginger for the bok choy. Set aside.
- Prepare bok choy by washing and slicing into halves. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, add all peanut sauce ingredients together. Mix well, adding 1 Tbsp at a time of water to get to the perfect sauce-like consistency. I used about 2 Tbsps! Set aside.
- Heat a pan to medium heat, and add cooking oil of choice (I like avocado oil spray). Sauté minced garlic and ginger for a couple minutes.
- Add sliced bok choy to the pan, and cook with ginger and garlic for approx. 5 minutes, mixing frequently. Once done, cover and remove from heat.
- Once rice is fully cooked, spoon 1/2-1/3 cup portions to serving bowl. Top with half the bok choy, 1/2 the can of mackerel, and drizzle with peanut sauce. Stir together and enjoy immediately!
Nutrition
As a dietitian, I create recipes with whole food ingredients that provide the nutrients needed for optimal health. My nutrition philosophy does not focus on numbers; however, I understand that this information can be helpful.
Do note that the nutrition info provided is an estimate and I cannot guarantee correctness of the displayed values. These numbers will differ depending on brands used, recipe modifications, and amount eaten. If you require specific nutrition information due to medical reasons, please consult with your dietitian or physician.
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know by leaving a recipe rating below, or by tagging @walderwellness on Instagram. I love seeing your beautiful creations!
6 Comments on “Canned Mackerel Rice Bowl With Bok Choy & Peanut Sauce”
Hi Carrie! 🙂
This recipe was amazing! We ate it for lunch today and loved it so much we will be putting it on our regular menu rotation. The mackerel took on the flavor of the peanut ginger sauce which is a great thing because the sauce was sooooo yummy! It was super easy to put together the sauce and that sauce packed so much incredible flavor! Great food doesn’t have to be complicated and I love how you select just the right spice or herb so that cooking can be realistic with our hectic lives! 🙂 The texture of the mackerel was meaty and hearty and the baby bok choy and brown rice stood up to the mackerel by absorbing its richness. Prepping baby bok choy is so much easier and quicker to prep than regular bok choy. This recipe was a huge hit with my crew with taste and texture! Thank you for your wonderful inspiration in creating this healthy and phenomenal- tasting recipe!
Hi Jordanna! Thank you SO much for the lovely comment. I am so grateful for your support and all your reviews are so appreciated. I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed this one and that you found it simple to throw together! This is such an old recipe on the blog I almost forgot about it haha. Thank you again!! Can’t wait to see what you try next 🙂
Gosh I’ve been making something similar but it felt like such a wild combination I searched online to see if it was just me. Forgive me in advance going to brain dump my recipe here: fry spring onions, chilli, garlic, ginger, in sesame oil. Make my dressing with soy sauce, a bit of sesame oil, crunchy peanut butter and loosen it with hot water, lime juice (rogue choice perhaps but I love the tang). Then add my veg, add my mackerel, add the noodles / sauce. It’s so good! So glad you posted this, it looks like a more suave version. Mackerel is v. cheap in the UK too.
Hi Elly! Ooh your version sounds so delicious!!! This is SUCH an old recipe from my early blogging days, but I do remember it being really tasty! I clearly need to try making this again (perhaps with your additions!) Mackerel goes so surprisingly well with peanut butter 😉
If you’re looking for more ways to use mackerel, one of the most popular recipes on my blog is actually this Mediterranean Canned Mackerel Pasta. Its got close to 70 5-star reviews and is such an easy way to use those tins of mackerel!! I’d love to know if you try it 🙂
Oooh thank you I will also try, looks like a great rift on a puttanesca, I always feel guilty using tuna as it’s not the most sustainable fish so this is👌
You are so welcome, Elly! Yes kind of like a puttanesca. The mackerel works so well here!! I hope you enjoy it 🙂