This Easy Sushi Bake is flavorful and delicious, with creamy crab topping, crunchy shrimp tempura, and spicy mayo. This dish is everything you love about sushi in a recipe you can easily follow at home.
If you love this recipe, you should try our Shrimp Tempura California Roll and crispy Shrimp Tempura.
This recipe is so tasty and the perfect way to have homemade sushi whenever you want. A sushi bake is basically a sushi roll that has been taken apart. It has all the things you love: sour sushi rice, seasoned crab filling, and spicy mayo on top.
Sushi bake is the latest food trend that is taking over social media This fun spin on traditional sushi rolls makes for an easy and delicious meal or appetizer that can be customized in so many ways. At its base, sushi bake consists of a layer of seasoned sushi rice topped with a mixture of crab and other mix-ins like shrimp or avocado, all baked together in the oven The result is a crispy, savory casserole-like dish that captures all the flavors of your favorite sushi roll, without any fussy rolling or slicing required.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the entire process of how to make the best sushi bake at home, starring everyone’s favorite – crab! With just a few simple ingredients and easy steps, you’ll learn tips and tricks for nailing perfectly cooked sushi rice, flavorful spicy mayo, and a hearty crab filling that mimics that of a dynamite roll or California roll. Keep reading for the full recipe and let’s get cooking!
Ingredients Needed
Gathering the ingredients is the first step in creating this dish. Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 cups sushi rice
- Rice vinegar, sugar, salt
- Sriracha or sambal
- Japanese mayonnaise or regular mayo
- Imitation crab meat or real crab
- Shrimp (optional)
- Cream cheese
- Cucumber
- Avocado
- Nori sheets
- Furikake
- Unagi sauce
These ingredients cover the three main components: the rice, spicy mayo sauce, and crab filling. The other items are optional toppings and garnishes you can add on at the end for extra texture and flavor.
Perfectly Cooked Sushi Rice
A good sushi bake starts with perfectly cooked sushi rice Here are some tips for flawless rice every time
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Rinse the rice well until the water runs clear to remove excess starch. Soaking for 30 minutes before cooking also helps.
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Use a ratio of 1 cup rice to 15 cups water
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Let the rice steam for 10 minutes after cooking, then spread it out on a baking sheet to cool quickly.
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Toss the warm rice with a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt to season it. Gently fold to coat each grain.
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Allow the seasoned rice to cool completely before using in the bake. This helps it stay fluffy and helps the grains hold their shape better.
Easy Spicy Mayo
The spicy mayo sauce takes this bake over the top. Whisk together:
- 1/2 cup Japanese mayo or regular mayonnaise
- 1-2 tablespoons sriracha or sambal
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Adjust the spiciness to your taste by adding more or less sriracha. The sesame oil gives it a nice nutty flavor while the sugar and lemon brighten it up.
Crab Filling
Here is where you can really customize your sushi bake. The basic crab filling ingredients are:
- 8 oz imitation crab meat, finely chopped
- 8 oz shrimp, chopped small (optional)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
- 1-2 tablespoons sriracha
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- Green onions, sliced (for garnish)
Simply mix everything together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. The cream cheese helps bind it together. Use real crab meat for an even more decadent filling!
Assembly and Cooking
Now we’re ready to put it all together:
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Press the sushi rice evenly into a 9×13 baking dish to form the base layer.
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Cover with a sheet of nori seaweed, if desired.
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Spread the crab filling mixture evenly over the rice.
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Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes until golden brown on top. Broil for 1-2 minutes to make it crispy.
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Remove from oven and top with desired garnishes like avocado slices, cucumber, green onion, sesame seeds, and drizzle with spicy mayo and unagi sauce.
Customize Your Sushi Bake
The great thing about sushi bake is how versatile it is. You can easily customize it by:
- Using other seafood like cooked salmon, tuna, shrimp or octopus in the filling
- Adding sliced avocado, carrot, mango or other veggies
- Topping with crispy tempura bits or fried wontons
- Drizzling with unagi or spicy mayo sauce
- Garnishing with furikake, chopped green onion, or toasted sesame seeds
Sushi Bake Tips
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Use short-grain Japanese rice like Calrose or Kokuho Rose for best results. Long grain rice may not hold together as well.
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Letting the rice cool completely after mixing with vinegar helps it retain the best texture.
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For a quick shortcut, use storebought shrimp tempura instead of raw shrimp.
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Try mixing real and imitation crab meat to make the filling stretch further.
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Cooked salmon or tuna work well in place of or in addition to the crab.
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For a vegan version, use smoked tofu in the filling instead of crab.
Frequently Asked Questions
What can I serve with sushi bake?
Sushi bake goes great with sides like miso soup, edamame, seaweed salad, or tempura vegetables. It also works well in rice bowls or on top of salad greens.
How do you store and reheat sushi bake?
Leftover sushi bake keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 days. Reheat individual portions in the microwave until warmed through. The texture is best when fresh.
Can you freeze sushi bake?
It’s best to enjoy sushi bake fresh. The rice and seafood filling don’t hold up as well after freezing and thawing.
What kind of crab meat works best?
Imitation crab and real lump crab meat work equally well. Shredded imitation crab is more budget friendly.
Enjoy Your Homemade Sushi Bake!
Whipping up this trendy sushi bake at home is simple with the step-by-step instructions provided above. In less than an hour, you can have a beautiful platter ready to enjoy that’s bursting with all those classic sushi flavors you love. Personalize it with your favorite mix-ins and sauces. Sushi bake also makes great easy party food or appetizer for a crowd. Give this fun dish a try and impress your family and friends with your culinary skills. Just be prepared for them to start requesting this new favorite on repeat!
How to Make Sushi Bake
- Clean the rice. To make the sushi rice, put the rice through a fine-mesh sieve to clean it. After that, put it under cold water for a minute and stir it with a spoon.
- Cook the rice. Now put the water and rice in a rice cooker and turn it on. Move it to a 13×9-inch baking sheet with a rim that has been buttered before it’s done cooking so it doesn’t stick.
- Cool. Pour the spiced rice vinegar over the hot rice and use a rice paddle to gently mix it in so it doesn’t get mashed. Then set it aside to cool.
- Make the crab mixture. Put the shrimp tempura, Japanese mayo, softened cream cheese, and Sriracha in a bowl. The crab meat should be finely chopped. Mix everything together until well combined.
Pro Tip: Soften the cream cheese so that it’s easier to mix with the other ingredients. Cold cream cheese will not mix smoothly. Just leave it on the counter until it’s soft.
- Assemble the sushi bake. Spread the cooled sushi rice out evenly on the baking sheet and press it down. Then sprinkle the top with furikake. Next, spread the crab mixture over the rice.
- Broil. Boil the sushi bake for 4 minutes in the oven.
- Make the spicy mayo. Now add the Japanese mayo to the Sriracha and stir.
- Garnish the sushi bake. When the sushi bake is done, drizzle it with the unagi and spicy mayo. If you want, you can add chopped cucumber, furikake, and green onion on top.
- Before cooking the rice, make sure to wash it well to get rid of the starch on the surface. If you don’t, the rice will get sticky as it cooks.
- Add the rice vinegar to hot rice. The rice will soak up the vinegar better when it is hot. The acid in the vinegar then breaks down the starch in the rice, which makes it even more fluffy and easy to soak up.
- Compress the rice once cooled. The grains will hold their shape better after the rice has cooled. Making it fit on the baking sheet helps the sushi bake stay together after it’s done.
A sushi bake is basically a deconstructed California roll in a casserole dish. It’s layers of rice, imitation crab meat, and sauces like unagi and spicy mayo. You can add other seafood, sauces, and vegetables to change up the flavor and texture. There are lots of variations.
Sushi bake can be eaten cold or warm from the oven. Either way, it’s delicious!
This Sushi Bake is a versatile dish that combines tangy, spicy, and sweet flavors. It tastes great with salads, sushi rolls, and other Asian-inspired dishes.