Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Ahi Poke
Hawai‘i’s original fish salad: cubed raw ahi with soy, sesame oil, sweet onion, and limu, over warm rice.
Hawaiian · easy · serves 3
prep 20 min · cook 0 min
~540 cal · 49g protein · 61g carbs · 9g fat · 2g fiber · 1g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Poke, which means to slice or cut in Hawaiian, began as the simple snack of Native Hawaiian fishermen, who seasoned offcuts of their catch with sea salt, seaweed, and roasted kukui nut. It has since grown into an icon of the islands and a global phenomenon.
The classic ahi (yellowfin tuna) version cubes the raw fish and dresses it simply with shoyu (soy sauce), sesame oil, sweet Maui onion, and limu seaweed, letting the freshness of the fish lead. Served over warm rice, it is clean, savoury, and satisfying.
At its Hawaiian heart, poke is unfussy home and market food, sold by the pound at every corner store and grocery deli. Beyond the recent trend of elaborate poke bowls, the original remains a pure celebration of great fish and the flavours of the Pacific.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 3
1 lb sashimi-grade ahi tuna, cubed
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 sweet Maui (or Vidalia) onion, slivered
3 , sliced
3 tbsp limu (ogo seaweed) or crumbled nori
to taste Hawaiian or flaky sea salt
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
a pinch chili flakes (optional)
3 cups warm short-grain rice, to serve
Instructions
1
Cut the ahi (or its plant stand-in) into clean 3/4-inch cubes with a sharp knife, ragged cuts bruise the fish.
2
Fold gently with soy, sesame oil, onion, scallions, limu, sesame seeds, and chili.
3
Season with salt, then rest 10 minutes in the fridge so the seasoning settles in.
✎ Chef’s note
This is the modern shoyu poke. The older Hawaiian-style build, from long before Captain Cook, seasons the fish with Hawaiian sea salt, limu kohu, and inamona (roasted, crushed kukui nut) and nothing else: the soy replaced the salt, the onion replaced the seaweed, and the sesame replaced the inamona only in the 1960s and 70s.
4
Serve over warm rice, the temperature contrast is the island secret. Eat the same day, ideally within sight of water.
Hawai‘i fish-counter tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Hawai‘i. Kalua is the method and the imu is the oven. A pit is lined with stones heated in a fire, the pig is salted, wrapped in ti and banana leaves and lowered in, then covered with wet sacking and earth so that no steam escapes for hours. The plate lunch descends from the bento that plantation workers carried.
🗺️
United States. Between 1910 and 1970 some six million Black Americans left the South, and the cooking went north with them. The rib tips and hot links smoked in barrel pits on the South Side of Chicago, and the home cooking that acquired the name soul food around 1964, are both products of that migration rather than of the cities they arrived in.
🌍
North America. North America's table began with Indigenous foodways, the "three sisters" of corn, beans, and squash, plus chiles, tomatoes, and cacao, then layered on colonial, African, and immigrant influences. From Mexico's UNESCO-recognized cuisine to the Cajun and Creole pots of Louisiana and the fiery jerk of the Caribbean, the region turns ancient staples into something new. Barbecue, tacos, gumbo, and mole all carry stories of migration and adaptation.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Ahi Poke?
Hawai‘i’s original fish salad: cubed raw ahi with soy, sesame oil, sweet onion, and limu, over warm rice.
Where does Ahi Poke come from?
Ahi Poke is a Hawaiian dish from Hawai‘i, United States.
Can Ahi Poke be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ahi Poke recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ahi Poke safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ahi Poke take to make?
About 20 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 3.
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