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.
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
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. ;)
This was so easy and delicious and I even did it the lazy way. Only had jasmine rice and completely forgot the rice vinegar dressing. Thought about adding canned crab or tuna but decided to keep it simple. Just cut up nori sheet, avocado, carrots and cucumber with the sarachi Mayo. So good and so little work!! Love it
My boyfriend and I adore this recipe. Lately we’ve been substituting imitation crab with a can of tuna. We’ll mix some of the sriracha mayo with the tuna and we’ve found it to be a more filling and tastier substitution.
This is our go-to for a quick meal to satisfy sushi cravings.
This is so awesome! Both my husband and I loved this recipe, and it was super easy to make. I appreciate that it leaves room for customization. Based on other comments and Beth’s suggestions, I doubled the crab, added a fresh chopped mango, and sprinkled with some fried onions. I also added a few drops of sesame oil to the sriracha mayo, which gives it some extra depth. Yum! Thank you Beth for a great recipe!
Hi, It is an amazing recipe, I’m not sure if I did something wrong but the rice seems to stick to the pan. Am I supposed to keep stirring it?
No you don’t have to keep stirring the rice, however make sure you rinse it prior to cooking that will help a lot!
Great! I usually sub smoked salmon for the krab. This recipe is now in our daily rotation.
Once again you’ve knocked it out of the park! My three year old, apparently, “loves fish”. We are gobsmacked. Thanks so much for another great recipe! Oh yes, and I use “Calrose” rice which was only $1.99 for a 2 lb bag at Stater Brothers. The 3 oz packs of Krab were only $0.99!! So it didn’t hurt too much to pay $1.25 for an avocado (imin Southern California, BTW).
That’s awesome Nicole!
Would the rice turn out okay if it was cooked in a rice cooker?
Yes it would be great in a rice cooker!
Being pregnant and not being able to eat sushi has been torture so this recipe was perfect. I made these (minus the krab) for lunch prep for the week and it has worked out fantastic. The highest compliment is that I absolutely scarfed it down!
Thank you for sharing! Best of luck to you!
The artificial crab is totally pregnancy safe! It’s like a California roll in a bowl!
Do you think I could freeze the nori if I don’t use all of it?
Nori lasts for a really long time in the pantry. I looked it up and online says it will last up to 3 years once opened in the pantry.
My kids have just discovered california rolls and they LOVED this. I found the imitation crab meat at Kroger and was happy to see it was gluten free. Trader Joe’s has six-packs of the seaweed snacks that are great for this. I was able to make enough for five servings for much less than buying trays of (sometimes stale) rolls at the store. One kid opted for soy sauce instead of the sriracha mayo. Trader Joe’s carries a wasabi mayonnaise that I would bet would also taste delicious with this. Definitely a keeper recipe. I can see splurging on shrimp for this, as well, for special occasions.
So good! I used medium grain brown rice and put more crab stick in each bowl because I really like that stuff. The sriracha mayo really pulls it all together. Definitely going into the rotation. I really appreciate how many affordable bowl recipes you have. Thanks, Beth!
Absolutely delicious! My boyfriend and I scarfed these down.
Would this be good leftover/made as meal prep? Looking for food to take to work. Thanks!
Yes, I think that would work well.
Wasn’t sure if this would actually go over as well as sushi with my bunch, but since California rolls are such a treat for us I gave it a try. I can’t really even articulate how much we loved this lunch! We used long grain rice and didn’t splurge on sesame seeds, but no one cared; it was amazing. Family of 7 on a tight budget and this will be in our weekly rotation well into the foreseeable future. Very grateful for another exceptional quality recipe from budgetbytes!!!