This dish has equal amounts of tuna and rice by weight, which, in my opinion, achieves the ideal ratio of protein to starch. Although some may compare this to fried rice, it is much lighter and has a very low fat level. Despite this, the dish is nevertheless filling and cozy like most rice dishes.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 40 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 (7 ounce) jar tuna packed in olive oil
- ½ cup finely diced red bell pepper
- ¼ cup finely diced jalapeno pepper
- ¼ cup finely sliced green onions
- ⅓ cup seasoned rice vinegar
- ½ lemon, juiced, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha hot sauce
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 pinch Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru), or to taste
- 1 teaspoon finely sliced green onion, or to taste
Instructions
- Pour rice into a heavy pot and add water; swirl to allow rice to settle. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat; do not stir. Reduce heat to low, cover, and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.
- While rice is cooking, place tuna into a large mixing bowl and break up with your hands or a fork. Toss in red bell pepper, jalapeno, 1/4 cup green onions, rice vinegar, lemon juice, soy sauce, Sriracha, and sesame oil. Mix with a fork until thoroughly combined.
- Turn off heat and let rice sit, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Fluff rice with a fork to separate the grains and break up any large clumps; transfer into the mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly with a spoon until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Serve warm, at room temperature, or cold like a rice salad, topped with red pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon green onion.
- If using unseasoned rice vinegar, adjust with a few pinches of sugar and salt.
- You can use any hot sauce you like.
- If you use a little less dressing, a shorter grain of rice, and make this a little stickier, you can actually press this together and form it into balls that can be rolled in sesame seeds for an incredible handheld snack to bring to work or a picnic.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 583 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 83 g |
| Cholesterol | 18 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 38 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2 g |
| Sodium | 1495 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
My Lord, it’s so simple for something yummy and reasonably healthy. Definitely adding this to my routine for those crazy work days when you don’t want to feel like garbage for picking up fast food but also don’t want to spend tons of time on the kitchen.
Super easy and delicious!
yeah…. too much vinegar. way too strong
Used sticky rice, I didn’t have red pepper on hand so I substituted julienned carrots. This is delicious! For me, perfect amount of vinegar and spice. Great way to change up eating Canned Tuna! Good By Tuna salad, hello Spicy Tuna Rice Bowl!!
WAYYYYY TO MUCH VINEGAR! I used a 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 cup and it is not pleasant. I absolutely love vinegary things, but this is not good. I recommend using 2 table spoons instead. I used honey to try to combat the sourness.
This was quick and delicious. I used unsweetened rice vinegar and added a little sweet chili sauce. I suggest mixing the soy vinegar oil combination to taste before adding to the tuna.
Tasty, with just right amount of zing. No changes, but doubled everything for the two of us.
I used orzo because that’s what I had but otherwise followed the recipe. I liked it but wish I had read the reviews first. I also found it had too much vinegar–probably would use a quarter cup at most next time. I feel like it could use something extra–maybe some peanut butter or chopped peanuts?
Needs more veggies
This very sour. We didn’t even eat it.
A unique combination of flavor. I just made this for one of my clients for meal peeps. Good protein and carb source.
1/3 cup of rice vinegar is WAYYY too much. Was my first time using it so I didn’t know, but I wasted food thanks to that:/
I was not expecting much from this dish, just needed a quick lunch. The first words that came out of my mouth were, “Excuse me??!”. I was blown away by how flavorful it was. If you prefer less tangy, cut the vinegar down by half (I love tangy and so added a bit more than the amount called for). Thank you for another delicious recipe, Chef John. YOU NEVER MISS!
Basmati rice, tuna in water, orange bell pepper, red onion, chopped garlic, baby bella mushrooms, seasalt butter (teaspoon), and Tiger Sauce (3 tbl spoons). Dusted with peppercorn medley. Q: How’d it taste? A: Magnifique! This is a quick video with creative writing.
This was an easy, quick and enjoyable meal for two. The lemon juice plus vinegar gave it such a bright flavor. The next time I make it I will reduce the amount of vinegar by about a tablespoon. My ingredient substitutions were minimal: I used water-packed albacore because I had it on hand and couldn’t justify a trip to the grocery store for oil-packed tuna. For the jalapenos I used a generous tablespoon of diced pickled (en escabeche) jalapenos in place of fresh. I omitted the Korean red pepper flakes because we felt the jalapenos would give the dish enough zip. My husband was a little skeptical of how this would taste but he liked it enough to polish off two generous servings of it. I refrigerated the leftover serving and ate it cold the next day. It was still very satisfactory. Thank you Chef John!
Yum!! Love the flavor and mix of crunch. Will definitely make again!
It may have been just a palette issue, but it was pretty meh for me. My husband loved it though and based on our love of Chef John recipes, I’m sure that the issue is more me than a recipe issue. But I saw some of the comments say that it tastes like sushi and I can confirm that this is false lol
Chef John never disappoints! I used what I had on hand, canned albacore and white wine vinegar to which I added a touch of salt & sugar. Other than that, I followed the recipe as suggested. While the rice finished cooking, I tasted the tuna mixture to be sure I had enough lemon juice. WOW! It was so delicious that I nearly omitted the rice! Delicious!
Delicious!
Deliciously spicy! I replaced jalapeno with serrano, green onion with yellow onion, siracha with hot sauce, and did not have rice vinegar or sesame oil. Easy to make. Once everything was prepped, just had to wait for the rice to cook. I ate this warm. I really like spicy food so I made it a tad more spicy. Most definitely would make again for lunch!
This was really, REALLY good! I used a different pepper in place of the jalapeño (Serrano?) and I used a touch less. The only change I might make next time is to reduce the seasoned rice vinegar by 1 – 2 tablespoons. But it was still great as-is and all the flavors blend wonderfully. AND, while I was surprised by this, I enjoyed it as much (if not even a bit more) cold than hot or room temp. Oh, it’s definitely in the rotation!