These salmon seaweed rolls have all the flavor of onigiri rolls but in a roll instead of a ball! They're my idea of a perfect after school snack or part of a lunch box! I also love them as part of a Japanese-style appetizer or entree spread!
Recipe: $12.95 | Per Roll: $2.59 | Yield: 5 Servings
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This recipe was originally published in June of 2015, back when Zac and I lived in Japan and made Japanese food every single day! I've made some updates, with the original recipe listed in the notes.
Sushi, Seaweed Rolls, and Onigiri?
So, these are not sushi rolls, and they're not exactly onigiri either. They're more like California-style onigiri in a seaweed roll form.
- Sushi rolls are made with a sushi rice seasoned with a sweetened rice vinegar mixture
- Onigiri are Japanese rice balls that are usually made with plain rice.
I've taken these two dishes and fused them to make the best and easiest salmon seaweed rolls!
In my recipe, there's no need to make fancy seasoned sushi rice or find the best raw fish in town. Just get the right combination of flavors (in this case, salmon and avocado) and you're good to go.
Yes, these rolls are stuffed with just cooked salmon, avocado, and plain rice. And they're about 4,000 times more delicious than you're expecting.
If you're looking to explore more Japanese meals, I think you will love these Japanese croquettes, called Korokke and my Japanese yakisoba.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Makes a great portable snack you can carry on the go in the form of a bento box.
- Budget-friendly way to enjoy a sushi-like treat at home!
- Very beginner-friendly! Nothing complicated here, folks.
- Lots of tips so you can easily roll great looking sushi rolls.
Ingredients You Need
Here's a glance of some of the main ingredients you will need to have to make salmon onigiri rolls. Be sure to check the full list in the recipe card along with the quantities of each.
What's the Best Rice for Seaweed Rolls?
You want to use short grain brown rice or white sushi rice which both tend to be a bit starchier and stickier than long-grain varieties.
Short grain brown rice has more fiber than white sushi rice, and is a “whole grain”. However, white sushi rice is stickier and holds together much better. I have not tried this with long-grain rice and would not recommend trying to make onigiri or seaweed rolls with it.
When it comes to choosing between the brown or white rice, I recommend choosing whichever works for you and your family as the difference in nutrition and blood sugar benefits are typically negligible.
Salmon or Shiozake?
There are a few options when it comes to choosing the salmon for your seaweed rolls. Let's take a look at each one.
- Canned Salmon: I like to use Trader Joe’s canned salmon with bones. The bones become super soft in the canning process and provide an excellent source of easy-to-absorb calcium. We are doctoring up the canned salmon with fish sauce and soy sauce/tamari to get the salty flavor of shiozake.
- Shiozake: This ingredient is a type of salted salmon that is common in Japanese cuisine. You can make this at home or find it in some Asian markets. It is delicious, but not as readily available as canned salmon, which is why I have re-written this recipe to use plain canned salmon. If using shiozake, it doesn't need to be mixed with additional seasonings: you can omit the tamari or soy sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil.
- Leftover Salmon: A great option is to use leftover cooked salmon or you can cook fresh salmon and shred it with a fork. I will say that the fresh salmon normally tastes better than using canned.
Other Ingredients You Need
- Toasted sesame oil: Make sure you are using toasted sesame oil for the best flavor.
- Soy Sauce/Tamari: This adds the salty flavor. If you don't need it to be gluten-free you can use regular soy sauce.
- Fish sauce: A source of salty umami flavors! If you don't have fish sauce, coconut aminos is a good option!
- Nori seaweed: These sheets of seaweed are available in many large grocery stores, at Asian markets, or online.
Variations and Substitutions
- Paleo: Nope, but if you replace the soy sauce with coconut aminos, the only non-Paleo ingredient is the rice.
- Vegetarian: No - but you can replace the salmon with something else such as marinated shredded tofu.
- Salmon: You can also make this with tuna or shrimp instead.
- Veggies: You can also add some thinly sliced pieces of carrot or red bell pepper strips.
- Fish sauce: coconut aminos are a great alternative to fish sauce here. Coconut aminos are sweet, while fish sauce is salty, but both bring delicious umami flavor.
How to Make Salmon Onigiri
We're going to start first with gathering all our ingredients and prepping a few things to make our onigiri-inspired salmon rolls. Here's a look at the main steps.
- Cook the rice in a rice cooker or on the stovetop using the package instructions. For sushi rice I use three cups of water for one cup of short grain brown rice.
- Stir in the toasted sesame oil and a pinch of salt to the cooked and slightly cooled rice.
- Place the drained canned salmon or shredded fresh salmon into a large bowl to make the salmon onigiri filling. Stir with a fork to separate the flakes. Add the tamari and fish sauce and stir well.
PRO TIP: If you're using the shiozake proceed directly to rolling your sushi. There is no need to mix shiozake with tamari or soy sauce, fish sauce, or sesame oil, as it is already very salty and very flavorful.
How to Roll Sushi Rolls
Rolling sushi is actually not that difficult, I promise. Here's a super easy guide. I highly recommend using a a bamboo sushi mat to make things easier and achieve tighter seaweed rolls.
- Lay the nori shiny side down on your bamboo mat or work surface. Spread some rice onto the nori. It should reach both side edges, and you should leave a little rice-free space on the top and bottom edges to make it easier to roll. Press the rice together and into the seaweed so it sticks, wetting your hands as needed.
- Add the salmon to the bottom area of the rice followed by the slices of avocado.
- Drizzle with sriracha sauce if you like it spicy!
- Pull the bottom of the nori over the fillings, and squeeze, then roll, squeezing tightly as you go, using the bamboo mat to help you roll and apply even pressure.
- Use your finger to dab a little water on the top inch of the exposed seaweed. Then continue rolling until it seals.
- Place your seaweed roll seam-side-down and set aside for a few minutes as you continue with the rest of the salmon onigiri rolls. Then cut them into pieces with a sharp knife.
- Serve and enjoy!
PRO TIP: I find the rolls are much easier to slice after they’ve been sitting for a bit.
How to Store
For best results enjoy your salmon onigiri-style rolls within 1-2 days of making them. The avocado will brown the longer it sits and the seaweed will soften significantly.
If you are making them ahead of time, I recommend storing the seaweed rolls uncut. Wrap them tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge. When you're ready to eat or pack up, you can then slice them into pieces.
These seaweed rolls are not suitable for freezing.
What to Serve With Seaweed Rolls
- Build a bento box: These make a terrific snack in-between meals! Add some protein in the form of nuts, edamame, boiled egg, and some fruit! This makes a great balanced of protein, carbs, and healthy fats!
- Enjoy it as an appetizer for a meal! It goes great served with this Japanese beef stew or these Japanese tuna and sweet potato cakes, and paired with my favorite sesame cucumber salad.
- Serve it up with other fun appetizers for a party such as mini sausage stuffed peppers, rosemary roasted almonds, and cheesy broccoli quinoa bites.
Expert Tips
- Be confident about rolling your sushi! It's the secret to rolling seaweed! You can do it! I'm sending confidence your way.
- If using gluten-free soy sauce, I recommend reducing the amount to three teaspoons as it's quite saltier than tamari or regular soy sauce.
- Don't try to make these with regular long grain white or brown rice. It doesn't have enough starch to stick to the nori and will likely fall apart.
- Don't add too much salmon, avocado, or any extra ingredients to your rolls. This makes them more difficult to roll and less likely to stay together. Start with a little less than you think you need.
Recipe FAQs
Fun fact about rice: when you cook it and cool it to room temperature, it develops something called resistant starch. This starch functions in a very similar way to fiber, which means it is beneficial for balancing our blood sugar and can feed our microbiome.
Studies have found that cooked and cooled rice has a lower glycemic load. If you’re dealing with blood sugar dysregulation, preparing rice ahead of time and reheating it (or eating it cold, like in this recipe for seaweed rolls) is a great way to enjoy it without a huge blood sugar spike.
Traditionally it's served room temperature so you can enjoy them immediately after making. However, if you refrigerate them, they will still taste good cold.
You can absolutely make these without a bamboo mat! Simply roll the seaweed up and over the filing and roll tightly but gently with both hands, applying even pressure. The bamboo mat helps make the rolls more even and prevents the nori from tearing, but it is completely optional.
More Salmon Recipes
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Salmon Seaweed Rolls (Onigiri Rolls)
Equipment
- Bamboo mat
Ingredients
For the Rice
- 1 cup short grain brown rice or sushi rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
For the Salmon
- 11 oz canned or leftover salmon 320 g, see notes for shiozake
- 2 Tablespoons tamari
- ½ teaspoon fish sauce
For the Onigiri Seaweed Rolls
- 10 sheets nori seaweed
- 1-2 medium avocados 1 avocado - 7.6 ounces
- Optional: sriracha for drizzling or dipping
- Optional: white & black sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
Prepare the rice:
- In a rice cooker or on the stovetop, cook 1 cup short grain brown rice (or sushi rice) in about 3 cups water (or according to package instructions).
- When rice is cooked and slightly cooled, stir in the toasted sesame oil and a pinch of salt.
For canned salmon or leftover cooked salmon:
- Add the drained salmon to a large bowl and stir with a fork to separate the flakes. Combine with the tamari an fish sauce and stir well. *Note, if using gluten-free soy sauce, I recommend using 3 teaspoons as GF soy sauce is very salty.
For shiozake:
- Proceed directly to the layer and rolling step. There is no need to mix shiozake with tamari/soy sauce, fish sauce, or sesame oil, as it is already very salty and very flavorful.
Assemble the onigiri rolls:
- Prepare a cutting board with all of your ingredients. If using a bamboo mat, lay that out in a way that you can easily roll it away from you, with the prepped ingredients nearby.
- Lay out a sheet of nori, shiny side down. Scoop about ¼ - ⅓ cup rice onto the nori, spreading it out evenly, but leaving about 1 inch on the bottom and 1.5-2 inches at the top. Press it together and into the seaweed so it sticks, wetting your hands as needed. (Please note that starchy rice works best here. This will not work well with long-grain rice.)
- On the bottom part of the rice, closest to you, layer about 2-3 Tablespoons of the salmon mixture and 3-4 (or more) slices of avocado. Optionally, you can add a drizzle of sriracha if you’d like.
- Pull the bottom of the nori over the fillings, and squeeze, then roll, squeezing tightly as you go, using the bamboo mat to help you roll and apply even pressure. Before you get to the very end, wet your fingers and dab a little water on the top inch of the exposed seaweed. Then continue rolling until it seals.
- Place your nori roll seam-side-down and set aside for a few minutes as you continue rolling. (The rolls are easier to slice if they’ve been sitting for a bit.)
- Repeat to fill 10 seaweed rolls, and then cut them with a sharp knife into 6-8 pieces.
Notes
- Shiozake is a type of salted salmon that is common in Japanese cuisine. You can make this at home or find it in some Asian markets. It is delicious, but not as readily available as canned salmon, which is why I have re-written this recipe to use plain canned salmon or pre-cooked.
- If using shiozake, you can omit the tamari/soy sauce, fish sauce, and skip the sesame oil in this step.
- Short grain brown rice and white sushi rice tend to be a bit starchier and stickier than long-grain varieties, making them best for this recipe. I have not tried this with long-grain rice. Short grain brown rice has more fiber than white rice, and is a “whole grain”. However, white rice is stickier and holds together much better. I recommend choosing whichever works for you and your family as the difference in nutrition & blood sugar benefits are typically negligible.
- A bamboo mat makes this process a little bit easier, but isn’t totally necessary.
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