Confession: I’ve been spending way too much on sushi lately. But I don’t have the skill to make beautifully rolled sushi at home. So when that sushi craving hits, I just whip up an easy sushi bowl instead. It’s got all of the components of California roll piled into a bowl instead. They’re not fancy, for sure, but they’ll crush that sushi craving without leaving you $30 in the hole.
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What is in a Sushi Bowl?
I kept this sushi bowl as simple as possible to keep the price low and to make it easy to prepare, but they’re very customizable! My sushi bowls had seasoned sushi rice, a few crunchy vegetables (carrot and cucumber), nori (seaweed), and crab stick. You can jazz these sushi bowls up and make them fancier as your budget allows.
Here are some other fun ingredients to add to sushi bowls:
- Mango
- Steamed asparagus
- Radish
- Coconut
- Shrimp
- Honey sriracha tofu
- Sashimi grade fish
For Best Results, use short grain rice
Using short grain rice is really important for getting that classic sushi flavor and texture. Those little grains have a high starch content and a very different texture than long grain white rice. Packaged “sushi rice” carries a hefty price tag at regular grocery stores and can be quite expensive, so I suggest checking bulk bins, or better yet making a special trip to an Asian grocer.
Another option is to use Calrose rice, which is fairly common in U.S. grocery stores. Calrose is a medium grain starchy rice grown in California that still works really well for sushi bowls.
What is Imitation Crab?
Imitation crab is what you’ll find in California rolls and a lot of other Americanized sushi. It’s real white fish that has been shaped and flavored to resemble crab meat, but at a much lower price. You can usually find it in stick form, chunks, or flaked. It’s pretty tasty, IMHO, and very affordable!
Seaweed options
Adding a bit of nori (dried seaweed) really goes a long way toward making this bowl taste like real sushi. Luckily, “nori snacks” have become really popular the last few years. They are just smaller single-serving-sized packages of nori rather than the larger packs you’d typically use to roll a lot of sushi. I sliced up a few small squares of nori snack for each bowl and, boom! Done.
How to Store Sushi Bowls
These sushi bowls work really well for meal prep and stay good in the refrigerator for about four days. You definitely want to cool the rice as quickly as possible after cooking and before packing your sushi bowls so that the warm rice doesn’t wilt the vegetables. So after seasoning the rice, spread it out on a baking sheet or in a casserole dish then refrigerate until cooled before packing the sushi bowls into meal prep containers.
Sushi Bowls
Servings 4Ingredients
SUSHI RICE
- 2 cups short grain white rice ($1.36)
- 2 cups water ($0.00)
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar ($0.27)
- 2 Tbsp sugar ($0.02)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.05)
TOPPINGS
- 8 oz imitation crab ($2.99)
- 1 carrot ($0.19)
- 1 cucumber ($0.59)
- 1 avocado ($1.50)
- 1 pack nori snack ($1.15)
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds ($0.18)
SRIRACHA MAYO (optional)
- 4 Tbsp mayonnaise ($0.30)
- 2 Tbsp sriracha ($0.22)
Instructions
- Place the uncooked short grain rice in a medium sauce pot. Rinse the rice well and drain off as much water as possible.
- Add 2 cups of fresh water, place a lid on the pot, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let the rice rest, undisturbed and with the lid in place, for 10 additional minutes.
- To prepare the sushi rice dressing, combine the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. If needed, microwave for 15-30 seconds to help the sugar dissolve.
- While the rice is cooking, prepare the toppings. Shred or chop the imitation crab, shred or julienne the carrot, slice the avocado, slice the cucumber, and break the nori snacks into smaller pieces. Stir together the mayonnaise and sriracha in a small bowl.
- When the rice is finished cooking, sprinkle about 1/4 of the vinegar dressing over the rice, then gently fold or stir the rice to combine. Repeat the process until all of the vinegar dressing has been incorporated into the rice.
- To build your sushi bowls, place about 1 cup of the seasoned sushi rice in a bowl, then top with crab stick, carrot, cucumber, avocado, a few pieces of nori, a pinch of sesame seeds, and a drizzle of the sriracha mayo.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Sushi Bowls – Step by Step Photos
Place 2 cups of the uncooked rice in a medium sauce pot. Rinse the rice well and drain off as much of the excess water as possible. Add 2 cups fresh water, place a lid on the pot, then bring the water up to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a full boil, turn the heat down to low and let the rice simmer for 15 minutes (make sure it’s simmering the whole time). After 15 minutes, turn the heat off and let the rice rest, lid in place, for an additional five minutes.
While the rice is cooking, mix up the rice seasoning. This seasoning gives the rice its characteristic sushi flavor and glossy appearance. Combine 2 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp white sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved. If needed, microwave the mixture for 15-30 seconds to help dissolve the sugar.
Sprinkle about 1/4 of the vinegar seasoning over the rice. Gently fold or stir the rice to distribute the dressing. Repeat this process until all of the dressing has been incorporated and the rice appears slightly glossy. Make sure not gently fold, rather than stir, the rice to prevent it from becoming mushy.
While the rice is cooking, prepare the rest of the sushi bowl toppings. Shred one carrot (use a large-holed cheese grater), chop one cucumber, slice one avocado and chop or break up 8oz. of imitation crab into small pieces.
Imitation crab is basically just white fish that has been shaped and flavored to resemble crab. You can usually find this in the seafood department or frozen seafood department of the grocery store. Nori snacks can usually be found in the International aisle of larger grocery stores. They’re usually around $2 per pack and contain several squares each!
Prepare a little sriracha mayo to go on the sushi bowls… Simply stir together 4 Tbsp mayo and 2 Tbsp sriracha. NOM.
Finally build your sushi bowls by adding about 1 cup of the seasoned sushi rice, then topping with some of imitation crab, sliced avocado, shredded carrot, sliced cucumbers, a few pieces of nori, a sprinkle of sesame seeds, and a delicious drizzle of sriracha mayo.
Seriously, SO GOOD.
Bonus: sushi bowls are a little harder to pick up with chopsticks than rolled sushi, so you can’t inhale them quite as quickly. Take time and savor that flavor. ;)
Tried this tonight and it was great! I added a bit of smoked salmon and cream cheese and it tasted just like a Philadelphia roll. My crab meat was a bit dry so I added some lemon too. So delicious!!
Homemade eel sauce is a great alternative to the siracha mayo. We also add soft boiled egg halves. Sushi bowl night is now a staple!
Made this tonight and it was amazing! I used double the amount of imitation crab meat, and I thought it was better with the extra crab. I also used pre-made sriracha mayo — in the Asian aisle at most grocery stores. I like to keep it on hand for all of the Asian-style dishes I make.
I also used medium grain white rice (cheap at Kroger), and this ended up being fine with the vinegar. Next time I want to try brown rice as that’s what I usually use in all of my recipes.
Made this for lunch today!!! Soooo good!!! My fiancé and I love sushi and have the same issue with spending too much AND our only good place just closed . I used brown rice and was able to find the nori snacks at Kroger for $0.89!!! This will definitely become a staple in our house!! Thanks!!!
This recipe was soooo good. I was spending so much on take-out sushi rolls, now I do not have to. I added some panko on top for the feel of a crunchy roll. Next I might try the onion crisps, so happy I found this recipe.
I made this tonight exactly as listed and it was great! The rice came out perfectly, and it was so easy to throw together. Very minimal cook time, just lots of chopping while the rice cooks. Loved it!
What brand of mayo did you use? I’m a sushiholic too so I was super excited to see you had put this together! Thanks Beth!
I prefer Hellmann’s, but this time I bought Duke’s to try it out. I like Hellmann’s better.
While normally I’d consider not liking Duke’s blasphemy, I probably just miss it because I can’t find it on my side of the country.
I actually had some left over Japanese (Kewpie) mayo from a previous recipe and used it in this recipe. It was fantastic.
Used a sliced up sweet omelette in place of the crab and it was amazing!
Made this for lunch today, so delicious! I used brown rice (all I had) and radishes (forgot the carrot by mistake). Will definitely make again!
This is a great recipe! It has all the flavors of a yummy California Roll and it was a nice sized serving. I especially loved the sriracha mayo. Delicious!
Made this last night and my husband and I loved it! I used kewpie mayo from the Asian market and mixed it in with the krab instead of drizzling on top. My only mistake was putting the cucumbers directly on the hot rice which caused them to get warm and soft :( Next time I would cool the rice first to make it more sushi-like!
Those nori sheets are delicious and I also like to add wasabi peas for a little crunch!
Would it be possible to substitute the short grain white rice for jasmine rice? Thanks for such a yummy recipe!
FYI, the last time I tried seasoning non-sticky rice with this kind of dressing it made the rice a bit too wet so it kind of gave it an odd texture.
Jasmine rice is usually a long grain rice, which isn’t quite as starchy as the short grain, so it might not work as well.
I’m eating this as we speak and used jasmine rice because I have a big bag of it and not a lot of pantry space. I’m VERY pleased with it. I’m interested to try it with short grain for comparison, though!
Made this tonight for dinner and it was delish. We doubled the amount of the crab legs, only made 1 cup of sushi rice in the rice cooker and made wasabi, ginger, sesame oil mayo. For us it was “following” the recipe and it was terrific!! Love my Budget Bytes….
What quantities did you use for your sauce ingredients?
Thank you for reminding me that Kani is a thing! I’ve seen several “Sushi Bowl” recipes floating around the food blogosphere, but many seem to be vegan/vegetarian focused. Kani is a cheap and tasty addition that I totally forgot about.
A little high in sodium, but not a deal breaker.