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.
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. ;)
Delicious! Loved the bowl approach so everyone could fix it their way. Thank you again for sharing such a variety of recipes.
Made these last night for the first time, using brown sushi rice. Â So good! Â Ready for round 2 tonight!
Love love love!
This was so quick and easy I nearly kicked myself in the pants for not trying this sooner!
LOVE the recipe for the vinegar dressing. I’ve had rice with rice vinegar before, but never with rice vinegar and sugar. I got my fiance to try this when I swapped out the imitation crab with a can of tuna.
I love how it’s a balanced meal, colorful and sooooo easy to prepare.
Pregnant and craving sushi…this hit the spot and was much cheaper than buying rolls. I just used brown rice and used 1 tbsp of sugar instead of 2. Thanks!
I’ve been doing these for years but I’ve never used the seaweed snacks… or the sirracha mayo… I am so trying that!!! I usually used canned tuna mixed with kewpie mayo and about a teaspoon (to taste) of Japanese soy sauce.  I also use left over chicken snitzel with a bit of teriyaki sauce.
If I were to use tofu instead how would you suggest I cook it? Â Love this recipe so much! Â We have made it a bunch of times but usually use shrimp instead of crab!
I would pan fry the tofu using the technique in this recipe. You can either leave it plain, or drench it in a sauce like the sesame sauce in the linked recipe, or even a bottled sweet chili sauce. :)
I often just serve marinated tofu, which doesn’t need any cooking. A bit of tamari, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and whatever else you like, tossed with cubed tofu. Let marinate for 30 minutes to a couple of hours. It’s super easy and delicious.
I love those nori snack packs! But I eat about one a day as a snack so I couldn’t keep buying the $1.50 packets from Trader Joe. Cue: Asian grocery stores! They sell ten packs for under $4.
Just a tip! V. Excited to make these :)Â
This was awesome, ourr treated amazing and my family loved it. Thank you for this great recipie!
Oh my goodness thank you! We love sushi but can’t afford to go out and eat it as often as we would like. This…was…amazing! It was even less expensive than stated because I found a pack of the nori snacks at Walmart for .50, had a coupon for the krab, and just used long grain rice. I know the long grain isnt exactly the same, but it worked fine for us! That sriracha mayo? What!? Who knew that yummy sauce on top of the sushi at restaurants was THAT easy and inexpensive to make. You have blown our minds! This will be something we can have often, whenever we have that sushi craving!
Love this recipe! We make these bowls all the time to use up whatever veggies we have in the fridge–I’m particularly partial to the carrot/cucumber/red bell pepper combo. These are always a favorite, and if you make the rice in a rice cooker or Instant Pot, they’re perfect for avoiding heating up the house in the summer.
Delicious. My husband said it was amazing and needs to be added to our regular meals :).Â
This is in my regular rotation. Very fun, tasty, and easy.
Do you feel like this is something that would store well in the fridge during the week? I like this idea for lunches throughout the work week, but I’m not sure how well it would keep. Worried the rice would sort of dry out. :/
That’s how I ate it. :) I find it’s good for 3-4 days.
I have some canned crabmeat… would this be good to use?
That might work! :)
This was SO tasty!! Thank you!