How to Meal Prep Vegan Poke Salad Jars
These vegan poke salad jars are a super fun way to meal prep for the weekdays. I layer the jars with ginger miso dressing, lots of veggies, marinated tofu, mango, greens, cilantro, and green onions! However, the ingredients are extremely customizable to your liking. These vegan poke salad jars are easy to make, full of delicious flavors, and nutritious!
What is poke?
The word poke means “chunk” in Hawaiian. It is often thought of as any seafood cut into small chunks and marinated. Then it is typically mixed with veggies and topped with a savory, umami sauce.
Poke bowls, however, are incredibly customizable. The bowls usually consist of rice, a marinated protein (the poke), veggies, perhaps fruit, and a sauce. As I said, the bowls can be customized to one’s liking. So, people often add in lettuce, pickled veggies or ginger, nori, seaweed salad, avocado, crispy onions, sesame seeds, cilantro, the list goes on and on!
Why make poke salad JARS?
I love vegan poke bowls, but I’m not going to lie; the prep work does take some time. If you’re a busy person like myself, then meal prep is a huge lifesaver for you. That’s where the jars come into handy! I’ll pick a day, typically Monday, to set an hour or so aside to prep and jar this dish. Then I have five days worth of delicious poke “bowls” ready to go!
Let’s talk about the recipes that you need to make for these salad jars!
First, I make the vegan poke. I marinate cubed tofu in a homemade chili garlic ginger sauce. This is very quick and easy to make, and it gives the tofu a TON of flavor! The poke tofu is slightly sweet and salty, with a tiny kick of heat from the ginger and chili.
Then, I make sushi-style black rice. This recipe is also easy to prepare. I cook the black rice according to its package instructions and then toss it with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt! Once it cools completely, it has a slightly sticky consistency, similar to classic sushi rice. Black rice, also known by the name of forbidden or purple rice, is unique and nutritious. It has a slightly nutty flavor, chewy texture, and tons of healthy benefits!
The last recipe I make for these vegan poke salad jars is a super easy miso ginger dressing. It’s tangy, slightly sweet and salty, with a hint of umami. What is umami, you ask? It is our fifth taste, often described as a meaty, savory flavor. This dressing is so quick and easy because all of the ingredients are thrown into the blender!
The following list is how I layer my poke salad jars, starting at the bottom of the jar:
- Miso ginger dressing
- Radish
- Shelled Edamame
- Cucumber
- Carrot
- Sushi-style black rice
- Poke tofu
- Mango
- Mixed greens
- Cilantro
- Green onions
Then, whenever I am ready to eat one of the jars, I tip it upside into a bowl. If I have avocado on hand, I will add some of that into the bowl as well. I don’t like to add the avocado into the jars because avocado turns brown quickly after it is exposed to oxygen. I then stir the salad together and top it off with sushi ginger and black sesame seeds!
If you make my poke salad jars, don’t forget to post a picture to Instagram, tag me @chefsummerstorm, and #gardengrub so I can see your recreation!
How to Meal Prep Vegan Poke Salad Jars
Equipment
- Paper towel
- Five 1-quart mason jars
Ingredients
Marinated Tofu
- One 16 ounce block/pack extra firm or super firm tofu
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
- 1 tsp pure sesame oil
- 1 tbsp fresh garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
Sushi-Style Black Rice
- 2 cup water
- 1 cup black rice
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1/2 tsp organic cane sugar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Miso Ginger Dressing
- 1 tbsp mellow miso paste
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
- 1 tsp fresh garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp agave nectar
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tbsp pure sesame oil
For One Salad Jar (or Bowl) You Will Need
- 3 tbsp Miso Ginger Dressing (From recipe above)
- 1/4 cup radish, thinly sliced (about 1/8th inch thick)
- 1/4 cup shelled edamame, cooked according to it's package instructions
- 1/4 cup cucumber, sliced about 1/4th inch thick
- 1/4 cup carrot, peeled and shredded
- 1/2 cup Sushi-Style Black Rice (From recipe above)
- 1/2 cup Marinated Tofu (From recipe above)
- 1/4 cup mango, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 cup mixed greens, packed
- 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp green onions thinly sliced
- 1/4th of an avocado, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 tsp black or white sesame seeds,
Instructions
Marinated Tofu
- Drain and rinse off the block of tofu. Gently pat the tofu with paper towel to dry it off.
- Cut the block of tofu into 1/2 inch cubes. I show how to cut it in my video above the recipe.
- Add the rest of the ingredients into a large, shallow mixing bowl. Stir them together to combine evenly.
- Place the cubed tofu into the mixing bowl of the marinade and carefully toss to evenly combine everything. Set this in the fridge to marinate while you prepare the following recipes.
Sushi-Style Black Rice
- *You may have to cook your black rice slightly differently depending on the brand you bought, but I will provide instructions on how I cook mine.
- Add the water into a medium-sized saucepot and place it over high heat to bring it up to a boil.
- In the meantime, dump the rice into a fine-mesh strainer and rinse it under cold water until the water runs clear.
- Once the water is boiling, dump the rinsed rice into the pot. Stir it, turn the heat down to low, and cover the pot. Cook it for 30 to 35 minutes or until the water is completely absorbed, stirring every 10 minutes to ensure the rice cooks evenly and isn't sticking to the pan's bottom.
- While the rice is cooking, add the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt into a small saucepot. Place it over medium-low heat and heat it to dissolve the sugar and salt, about 3 minutes.
- After the rice has finished cooking, scrape it into a large, shallow bowl. Pour the rice vinegar mixture over the rice, stir well, and place it in the refrigerator to completely cool it down.
- Now, make the Miso Ginger Dressing.
Miso Ginger
- *See "tiparooskis," located below the written recipe, for an important tip!
- Add all of the ingredients, EXCEPT for the olive oil and sesame oil, into a high powdered blender.
- Gradually bring the blender's speed up to high and blend until smooth.
- Once smooth, very slowly drizzle in both of the oils while still blending on high.
How to Build One Salad Jar
- Pour three tablespoons of the Miso Ginger Dressing into the bottom of the jar.
- Now, fill the jar with the rest of the ingredients. Layer them in this order, starting from the bottom of the jar and working your way up: radish, edamame, cucumber, carrot, Sushi-Style Black Rice, Marinated Tofu, mango, mixed greens, cilantro, and green onions. You will probably need to press the mixed greens down into the jar to make it all fit.
- Store the jars in the fridge and eat them within four days. When you are ready to eat a salad jar, dump the jar over into a bowl and stir to coat the dressing onto all ingredients evenly. Then, garnish with avocado, sushi ginger, and black sesame seeds!***HOT TIP: Whenever I make this vegan poke salad, I make one salad bowl to eat right after prepping everything, and then I make four jars. I don't think this salad would hold for six days, so I recommend only jarring four and eating the fifth serving the first day. If you want to make five jars, eat one jar the first day you make them.
- To make a poke salad bowl:1. Lay down a bed of mixed greens.2. Place the black rice, radish, edamame, cucumber, carrots, tofu, mango, avocado, and sushi ginger into separate piles.3. Drizzle the dressing on top.4. Garnish with the cilantro, green onions, and black sesame seeds.5. Stir and enjoy!
Tiparooskis
Welcome to my tip section of the vegan poke salad jars! Here I provide my top tips to help you perfect the recipe. Sometimes, I also give substitute suggestions that I think you may find helpful.
- If you like a lot of dressing, I recommend doubling up the miso ginger dressing recipe! I’d still suggest putting the recommended amount of tablespoons of the dressing in the bottom of the jars, and then if you decide you’d like more dressing, drizzle however much more you’d like in the bowl. Plus, this dressing is so delicious and can be used for other salads, so having extra on hand is not a bad problem to have!
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