I gave a little TLC to one of my older recipes this week, Spicy Tuna Guacamole Bowls! With many people avoiding meat for lent, I figured this was a good time to revisit this classic. I love “bowl meals” because there is so much flavor, texture, and color in every bite, and they’re highly customizable. This particular bowl combines the super fresh flavors of cucumber and cilantro with rich guacamole, spicy hot sauce and crunchy shredded carrots, plus edamame and tuna for a healthy dose of protein.
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Do You Eat the Bowls Hot or Cold?
The bowls are super delicious and filling, and because they’re eaten cold they are also quite refreshing in this sweltering hot weather. That being said, I actually ate the first bowl while the rice was still warm and it was awesome that way, too. But I wouldn’t reheat them in the microwave before serving. Just eat the leftovers cold.
How Long Do Spicy Tuna Guacamole Bowls Stay Fresh?
The bowls stay fresh in the refrigerator for the next three days, with the last bowl being just as good as the first! I know, you’re thinking, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE GUACAMOLE?! Didn’t it turn black?” Nope. It does turn slightly greyish on the surface after a couple days in the fridge, but it’s still 100% okay to eat. It’s just oxidization, folks. Still tastes good.
Homemade or Store-Bought Guac?
Pre-made guacamole is usually very expensive and if there had been ripe avocados at a the store for a reasonable price, I probably would have made my own homemade guacamole or used slice avocado in place of the guac for these bowls. BUT now that I live near an Aldi, they have decent guacamole for a pretty good price, so I can make that little splurge. But hey, do what works for you and your budget!
Spicy Tuna Guacamole Bowls
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 cup frozen shelled edamame ($1.04)
- 1 medium cucumber ($1.29)
- 1 medium carrot ($0.11)
- 2 5oz. cans chunk light tuna in water ($1.98)
- 8 oz. guacamole ($2.39)
- 3 cups cooked rice* ($0.72)
- 1/4 bunch cilantro ($0.20)
- 4 Tbsp sriracha hot sauce ($0.44)
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.08)
Instructions
- Cook the edamame according to the package directions (mine instructed to microwave for 5 minutes). Allow the edamame to cool.
- Dice the cucumber and shred the carrot using a large box or cheese grater. Drain the tuna and roughly chop the cilantro.
- To build the bowls, place 3/4 cup of cooked rice in the bottom of each bowl. Top with 1/4 cup edamame, 1/2 a can of tuna, 1/4 cup guacamole, a handful of diced cucumber, a pinch of shredded carrots, and a few pieces of fresh cilantro. Drizzle sriracha over top, add a pinch or two of sesame seeds, then serve or refrigerate up to four days.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!It’s almost like a Sushi Bowl for non-sushi lovers. 😅
How to Make Spicy Tuna Guacamole Bowls – Step by Step Photos
You’ll need about 3 cups of cooked rice for this recipe. I used brown rice to get in a little extra fiber, but you can certainly use white rice if you prefer. I am also using brown Basmati rice, but plain brown rice will also do.
First, cook the edamame according to the package directions. Mine says to microwave for 5 minutes. Let the edamame cool.
Slice or dice one cucumber, peel and shred one carrot (I used a large-holed cheese grater), and chop (or leave whole) about 1/4 bunch of fresh cilantro.
Drain two cans of tuna. You’ll also need about 8 oz. of guacamole, or you can use fresh avocado slices.
Then just build the bowl! Start with 3/4 cup rice, then add 1/4 of the cucumber, 1/4 of the shredded carrot, 1/4 of the edamame…
Then add 1/2 can of tuna to each and a couple tablespoons of guacamole. Add a pinch or two of sesame seeds, then drizzle sriracha over top and DONE!
Meal prep made easy!!
Didn’t have sriracha on hand, but it paired very well with Melinda’s Pizza hot sauce.
Surprisingly amazing for such a simple assembly of ingredients. I made a light salad with a bit of mayo and salt in the tuna to add some creaminess. Also, a sprinkle of soy sauce over the whole thing. Super easy to prep! Thanks Beth!
Question: I don’t use Edamame (I know it’s silly, but for some reason Edamame scares me :( ). Have you got any suggestion(s) as to what I can substitute for it (in this recipe as well as in others). I’m thinking either frozen or canned “petite peas”, but I’d genuinely appreciate your opinion. Thank you.
Hi, Joann! I can’t guarantee that swapping out the edamame with something else will achieve successful results since we haven’t tried it ourselves — but you do you, and let your taste guide you! I would suggest using something frozen since canned vegetables have a very different texture. Maybe try lima beans? They’re a bit softer than edamame, but a closer substitution than peas. — Marion :)
This was SO good, and refreshing! It is like a deconstructed sushi roll. We subbed black beans for edamame because that’s what we had on hand. Thank you for the recipe. We’ll definitely be making again when we’re craving sushi :)
I used a multigrain mix, added Japanese mayo, rice topping, & soy sauce. It was sooooo good! I will 100% be making this again!
Hi! I am so excited to make this. Do you know how long this will last in the fridge? Thank you in advance!
Can’t wait to hear what you think Veronica! It will only last about 3 days in the fridge.
Really good recipe!! Do you have any idea how much calories does this bowl contains? I would like to know :)
thank you
I forgot the guac, but was good nonetheless. I kept the rice separate from the other ingredients so I could heat up the rice without heating up the veggies. I did eat it with cold rice today for lunch since I didn’t want to lug two tupperwares to separate the rice and veggies, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did with hot rice.
Hi Beth, Great recipe. Is you tuna packed in water or oil? Is it from Aldi? I was looking for a good inexpensive tuna. Thanks and have a great holiday weekend.
I used tuna packed in water, but you can certainly use oil packed if you prefer. :) I don’t remember for certain if this is Aldi tuna, but I’m about 95% sure because this is the only time that I’ve bought tuna in the past year or so and I remember thinking, “I hope Aldi tuna is good.” haha! It was. :)
Hi Beth, Thank You.
Simple, pretty, and delicious; another keeper! It’s not uncommon for my weekly meal planning to be made entirely of budget byte recipes. Thank you for your writing and sharing!
Delicious! My husband ate two servings and my one year old not only ate some, but locked the bowl. It might be weird that she likes Sriracha?
Not weird at all, I’d say you’re lucky! Haha!
I just made these for lunch the other day (without the edamame since we don’t have any right now). I really enjoyed it and the flavor reminded me of sushi so, I tore up a nori sheet and sprinkled it on top.
Good recipe, but I’ll substitute tuna in extra virgin olive oil for the in water tuna. Better flavor and the oil makes a nice topping for the bowl ingredients.
I mixed a little soy sauce with sesame oil and the sriracha, then drizzled the while bowl with it. Tossed some daikon radish sprouts on top. This was awesome!
Ok so I have an unrelated question for Beth and anyone that wants to answer :) does anyone actually toss their expired seasonings? I have a few that are a little (or a lot) past their expiration date and they looks and smell fine.. but I’m not sure if i should still toss them just cuz they are old. Anyone else?
If they are several years old I would toss them, but personally I find that they simply lose more of their flavour and are not actually harmful to eat.
As long as they smell fine, I would keep them. They are probably just not as strong anymore. :)
Usually spices have a “best if used by” date rather than an actual “expiration date” because there are so many factors that can affect the quality of spices as they are stored that it’s hard to predict when they’ll expire. What happens is that they slowly loose their potency over time. So, as someone else suggested, give them a sniff. If you don’t smell much it’s probably time to replace them. :) One year is a good safe benchmark, but I will openly admit that I often keep spices longer than that. …because like, who has time to actually track when they bought their spices? 😅 The “best if used by” date does help when you can’t remember when they were purchased, though.
A ripe avocado when you need one is nearly always impossible to find. I did pick up this trick somewhere online as a way to help. Buy them green and keep them refrigerated for up to a couple of weeks, taking them out of the fridge a day or two before you plan to use them. I buy 3-4 little ones when they are on sale for about $.50 each, either at Aldi, or in net bags of 2 at Harris Teeter (often on special at $.99 a bag). I get the small avocados because we actually eat one all up instead of wasting half of a big one. They do continue to ripen in the fridge but very slowly, and even a ripe one will last a few extra days when refrigerated. I used to keep them on the counter always, and ended up throwing one out if I didn’t get to it in time, a truly painful thing.
This looks perfect for today’s lunch–a healthy mayo-less tuna salad. I’ll sub baby limas for the edamame since I have a bag in the freezer.
These look really great but I don’t eat meat or fish! Anyone have any yummy vegetarian substitutions for the tuna?
A really easy one is tofu! I get firm to extra-firm tofu, cut into thick slices, and pan fry them with oil and a bit of soy sauce for flavour!
Could you freeze these? The only possible issue I see is that the edamame would be frozen twice…
The cucumber will definitely get very soft and soggy if frozen, so I would say this one is not very freezer friendly.
I made this with your savory coconut rice and it was delicious!
ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS RECIPE! I don’t know why I never thought to include canned tuna in a ‘bowl’ like this. Sometimes I’ll throw in a little seaweed salad and pickled ginger for extra flavor.
This is truly spectacular. It doesn’t look or seem like much, but it is just perfect. I altered it a little with quinoa instead of rice, and frozen peas instead of edamame (it’s hard to find in my country). Everything goes together so well, it’s easy to make and easy to eat, it was all gone in a flash and I don’t usually have a big appetite. I will definitely be making this again, I’ll swear by it in the summer months when it’s too hot to make anything else!
I’m wondering if in place of the tuna, alaskan pink salmon would work instead? I’ve got a can sitting here that needs to be used up, but I haven’t been able to think of anything to use it for.
I think that would work very well. :)
Made this last night and it was pretty good. Put together a bowl for lunch today, and it was even better! I will be making this again!
I was wondering what would be a good replacement ingredient for the edamame?
Black beans would be pretty good.
This is good. And fresh. And uplifting.
It makes me happy. Nothing less.
Thank you for this amazing and simple recipe!
And the step by step photos, please, continue to do that.
I love to cook now and it’s because of you!
Wow! I have a huge rotation of recipes. Some of my families favorite meals, I only make once or twice a year. With that said, I’m making these amazing tuna bowls for the third time in a month! Somehow the flavors combine and taste like sushi in a bowl. Amazing! Thank you, Beth!
I have eaten 3 out of 4 servings (had the first fresh when I made them Sunday night and brought the next two for lunch) and I’m still looking forward to eating the fourth for lunch tomorrow. I can’t wait to try to make these again and tweak them just a bit, though I’m not sure how since this combination is such a winner!
These were really really good! Avocados were cheaper than guacamole at the store so I went with slices. To make up for the moisture, I made a batch of your Sesame Ginger dressing and spooned a little on top. I left out the siracha so the flavors wouldn’t compete. Next time I’m going to try making it as written. This is definitely a recipe built with power foods if you use brown rice. Thanks!
As I reflect upon my empty bowl, I can’t help but think that perhaps a good addition/substitution could be some kimchi.
I’m sad to see kimchi returns no search results Beth!
I bet that would be good! I mean, I haven’t “liked” kimchi yet (I assume it’s just a matter of time before I come around to it), but I can still imagine that it would go great in there.
Wow, this was fantastic! I was a little hesitant because I just couldn’t imagine how all these ingredients would taste paired together, but it was a home run for sure!
Great recipe–I love this type of one dish complete meal with a minimal amount of cooking. And it tastes great! I don’t know why, but I have trouble cooking rice well, so this recipe prompted me to try some other rice cooking techniques as I don’t want to get a rice cooker (space). I’m getting there!
Made these for dinner tonight. A hit with all. Thank you for a great recipe. It’s a keeper.
My husband and I loved these for a light dinner! I used fresh greens instead of rice. It was scrumptious.
So, so, SO good. Added some sliced red pepper & used brown basmati rice. Just ate my leftovers from last night’s recipe – STILL GOOD. Can’t wait to make this again. Thanks!
I love these bowls! They have all my favorite things: avocado, tuna, cilantro, edamame, and of course, Siracha sauce, in one dish. Yummy yum.
And I am getting over my fear of eating avacados that have turned dark. It’s such an amazing food that it is worth getting over that. I think I have found an absolutely essential, every week recipe for when I go back to school this fall.
The rice was good the next day cold, but I am going to use quinoa instead. I prefer the quinoa cold, so it makes more sense for me as a three day recipe. I am also going to maybe throw in some red onion. I like how these recipes make me feel comfortable to try things on my own.
So you eat this with cold rice on the bottom? Sounds kind of weird to me…
How is it with cold leftover rice?
Thanks!
Ken
Yep, cold rice! :) It’s kind of like a cold rice salad. You can definitely use leftover rice if you have it on hand.
Subbed flaked-up tilapia for the tuna (needed to clean out the freezer), and it worked *beautifully*!
I was a little skeptical, but want to eat more tuna and love almost all of your recipes. So I tried it, and it was amazing. Super easy, fast, and yummy. I used tuna in olive oil and half an avocado per serving instead of guacamole.
Delicious! I was sort of unsure about how all the ingredients would taste together, but I love all of them separately and I trust you, so I went for it. I mixed a little mayo and sriracha into the tuna and made the guac myself. I love that this meal is tasty and filling, but still light, and I only had to turn on the stove to cook the rice, so it’s perfect for summer. (It won’t let me click 5 stars, or I would have!)
I loved this! I made each bowl a little smaller added a fried egg on top of it. Amazing!
My boyfriend and I made a double batch for lunches for the week. We both LOVE this recipe – super delicious, super fast, and super affordable. Thanks for sharing (another) winner!
I made a batch of these for lunch this week with fresh avocado slices dipped in lemon juice. They held up well. Next time I want to add some orange or red bell pepper and maybe swap out the tuna for some fresh broiled salmon.
I like that idea about the lemon juice. I am using fresh slices too.
Made this for dinner tonight, my store was out of edamame so used cannelini beans and steamable broccoli. This was a hit with all!
This looks delicious! As I was reading through your recipe, I couldn’t help but think Trader Joe’s Spicy Edamame Guacamole/dip would be delicious with this (I just bought some for the first time on Monday… TJ’s never lets me down).
I am totally going to make this soon, except with chicken instead. :) I have nearly all of this in my fridge already!
And once again, it was great to meet you on Saturday!
This was really good. Adding this to my regular rotation.
I just made this last night for dinner. It was a huge hit with my husband and he’s exited about eating it for lunch today. He’s not a big fan of tuna, so I bought a discounted rotissery chicken from the grocery store. The cost was comparable ($4.00 for the whole chicken).
Also, I made the pickeled carrots from your Bahn Mi bowls and added those. They were also a good addition and a big hit!
I made this today for lunch, but perked up the tuna portion a bit. Took 3 cans of tuna and mixed in 1/4 chopped red onion, 1 stalk minced celery, and a dash of ginger dressing. Perfection! Definitely trying this recipe again with fresh sliced avocado next time rather than premade guac. A slice of mango goes great on the side, as well!
I can’t WAIT to eat this for lunch tomorrow!!
Made this tonight (my third BB meal in as many days I think). Was so filling, felt and tasted really healthy. Loved it.
Used salmon instead of tuna and for the veggie version (for me) I used what I had to hand and chopped up some veggie hot dog sausage.
Def on the menu again.
Thanks so much!!
Oh and my iPad won’t let me select 5 stars!
I made this for dinner last night using a single jar of tuna packed in olive oil. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t be filling enough, but I was full after one serving. It was really, really good. The best part is that I have lunch for three more days! Great recipe!
This looks really good – since I am veg, I think I will sub beans for the tuna.
I bought a couple of avocados the other day, and they’re finally just about ripe. Definitely trying this tomorrow!! =)
Definitely trying this variation with raw tuna. YUMMY.
I’m eating this right now–it’s delicious! I used quinoa instead of rice and omitted the cucumber. Perfection.
What did you do to keep the guacamole from turning brown in the ones that you prepackaged?
She explains in the second paragraph. :)
It just for some reason didn’t really turn brown. :) Guacamole has lime (or lemon) juice in it, so that sometimes help keep it from turning brown, but the brand I used may have had an extra preservative in it. It was only slightly grey by day 3.
As an alternative, Wholly Guacamole sells 100 calorie snack pack portions in both plain and spicy. I get these all the time and you could throw one in the lunch bag to put on top so it stays fresher. They are 2 oz so exactly the same portion required per salad.
Great idea! That’s the brand I used, just not the 100 calorie pack :)
I am SO grateful to have a delicious recipe that uses canned tuna. Thank you as always for another hit!