Julia Roberts’ 3-Ingredient, 15-Minute Dinner Is My Weeknight Go-to

I love a good celebrity interview, and especially one that revolves around food. For example, I remember a Melissa McCarthy interview with Glamour, where she spoke about how she kept accidentally letting blueberries get moldy while waiting to use them for something special. “I can’t tell you how much I wasted,” she said. “At one point I was just like, ‘How about you just start eating blueberries? It’s getting weird.’”

I had been guilty of doing this exact thing: saving “fancy” foods for a special occasion. And there was another ingredient that I didn’t dare purchase to make at home, since I thought it was too expensive: salmon.

Then, Julia Roberts did an interview with People in 2017, a Q&A about the kinds of food she eats. For dinner, she said she enjoys salmon, brown rice, and avocado. It seemed so simple and accessible—and I wanted to enjoy the favorite meal of a beloved Hollywood star.

How I Make Julia Roberts' 3-Ingredient Dinner

To make Julia's salmon dinner, I often start with frozen rice, so the whole meal only takes about 15 minutes. If I make rice from scratch, it takes closer to 40 minutes.

To start, I simply rub salmon with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Next, sear it skin side up for four minutes, flip, and cook until it finishes cooking, about four minutes more. I love using my trusty Aldi Crofton cast-iron grill pan for this method, but I’ve also thrown it in the oven to bake if I don’t have the time or energy to be as hands-on.

The wonderful thing about salmon is that, as far as fish goes, it’s almost completely foolproof—it’s very fatty, so it’s difficult to overcook it.

Once the salmon and the rice are done, I plate them with half of a sliced avocado. From there, you can customize it any way you like. Since the salmon is simply seasoned, it goes well with so many different flavorings.

My favorite way to top off this meal is with some sriracha mayo and furikake for a very easy sushi-style bowl (sometimes I’ll even add some imitation crab meat). I’ve also used lemon-pepper seasoning, Dijon mayo, barbecue sauce, and beans and salsa for finishing. You can put all of these items on the table and let each eater decide.

To keep this cost per serving low, I'll look for salmon when it's on sale; my local grocery store usually has fillets marked down two or three times a month. Add in two cups of brown rice and two avocados to feed four, and it ends up being about $2.50 per serving.

This easy meal is unbelievably affordable and feels like a restaurant-quality dish. Little does Julia know that she changed the course of my weeknight meal mentality with her interview in 2017.