Are you curious about how to make sushi rice in a rice cooker? Want to make great sushi to impress your friends? It’s actually really easy, even for the first time, and once you have the hang of it, you can make perfect sushi rice every time.
Making Sushi at Home
It is wonderful to be able to make sushi at home. I love a good California roll or Philadelphia roll. However, my family is split between liking sushi and not, so making it at home is many times easier than deciding to go out to get sushi.
This way you can satisfy all the picky eaters at home! You can also put whatever ingredients are favorites in your home in your sushi rolls.
How much sushi rice per roll?
Just as there are many different types of sushi, there is also no one-size-fits-all answer to the question of how much rice to use per sushi roll.
Depending on the size and type of sushi roll, you may need anywhere from 1/4 cup to 1 cup of rice. For most types of sushi, you’ll want to use about 1/2 cup of rice per roll.
If you’re using larger nori sheets or making oversized rolls, you may need to use a bit more rice. As you become more experienced in making sushi, you’ll develop a feel for how much rice is needed to achieve the perfect balance of flavors and textures.
What type of rice to use for sushi?
When making sushi at home, it’s important to start with the correct rice. Sushi rice grains are short-grain, sticky, and moist, which helps it to adhere to other ingredients.
When shopping for rice at your local grocery store, look for a label that clearly states the rice is suited for sushi. Make sure not to use brown rice or jasmine rice.
It’s also important to rinse the rice several times before cooking, as this will remove any excess starch and prevent the rice from becoming mushy. You can use a fine mesh strainer to accomplish this, or a small bowl.
Once the rice is cooked, it’s time to start assembling your sushi rolls.
If you decide to do a sushi bowl, which we highly recommend, you can use almost any rice you desire. The flavor will vary depending on if you chose to season the rice or not, however, this allows you to use brown rice, medium grain rice, jasmine rice, or any short-grain white rice.
Best rice cooker for sushi?
The best type of rice cooker for sushi is one that has an auto shut off feature. With auto off, your cooker can cook your sushi rice to the perfect consistency, then shut off so it does not become overdone.
Typically, they switch to a “warming” feature. ProTip. Take your rice out as soon as it is done cooking, so it does not become dried out.
You also want a rice cooker that can handle a few cups of rice at a time, especially if you will be making more than one roll of sushi. Something that can handle 3 or more cups should suffice. We also found that a rice cooker bowl that is non-stick is also very helpful as it makes clean up a breeze.
What to do with leftover sushi rice?
There are many ways to use leftover sushi rice!
One of our favorite ways to use the leftover rice is to make sushi bowls. Sushi bowls are basically deconstructed sushi rolls. You can even break up the nori into small pieces for your bowl!
Top with your favorite ingredients and sauce. You can also use leftover sushi rice by using it in fried rice. Fried rice needs rice to be made with rice that has been already cooked and cooled so this is the perfect way to utilize it. The sushi rice is seasoned so it would be a little more tangy than traditional rice, so make sure to taste and season your fried rice to your liking.
Best ingredients for making sushi at home?
The best thing about homemade sushi is being able to customize it to your liking. The only thing to be careful about it using raw meat or raw fish in your sushi. We tend to prefer to leave that to the professionals.
Imitation crab meat or other smoked and cured meats can be used safely in the home kitchen for sushi. Here are some of the top ingredients for making sushi at home:
- carrot
- cucumber
- cream cheese
- imitation crab, whitefish
- smoked salmon
- avocado
- cooked shrimp
- breaded shrimp
- spinach
- mushrooms
- wasabi
- ginger
- soy sauce
- asparagus
- scallions
How to season sushi rice?
Rice for sushi is called seasoned rice. The seasoning for sushi rice is a mix of rice vinegar and sugar. We like to use 3 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 1.5 tablespoons of sugar, and a pinch of salt when preparing 1 dry cup of rice.
You can always adjust to suit your needs. For best results, use unseasoned rice wine vinegar. You can use seasoned rice vinegar if you want to, but then you will want to omit the salt and possibly reduce the sugar amount as it is seasoned vinegar.
The sugar in this mix is what really binds the rice together, but the vinegar and salt flavor your rice and is often what you’ll find you’re missing if you make a sushi bowl.
Once your rinsed rice is cooked, the next things you will do is season the rice. Seasoning the sushi rice is what really binds the rice together so that your sushi rolls hold up.
The easiest way to handle the rice is to use a rice paddle or flat wooden spoon to spread the sticky rice onto a sheet pan. You may need to drain your rice well to remove excess moisture.
Next, pour your sugar and rice vinegar mixture over the rice. Use your utensil to carefully stir the seasoning into the rice, then spread your vinegared rice out again to finish cooling. You want your sticky sushi rice to be fairly cool when using it for making the sushi. You can also mix the seasoning into the rice in a large bowl if you prefer.
How much water to rice ratio for sushi?
The ideal water ratio for rice is about 1 to 1. The amount of water you use may vary based on the brand of short grain rice you choose. You can always check the recommendations on the bag of rice. However, when using a rice cooker, do about 1 inch more water in your rice cooker than your rice as a general rule-of-thumb.
How to store sushi rice
If you are not going to use your rice right away or if you are taking your time making sushi rolls, you can cover the rice with plastic wrap. You can also store in the refrigerator in any airtight container.
You may just have to use a little more water to rehydrate your rice when you are preparing sushi rolls the next day.
Another way to store it is to prepare the sushi rolls, then put those in a very airtight container, preferably glass, and enjoy those for a couple of days, just beware of using raw ingredients when preparing sushi ahead of time.
How to Make Sushi Rice in a Rice Cooker
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Kitchen Essentials
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Sushi Rice short grain rice
- 2 Cups Water
Sushi Seasoning
- 6 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- Pinch of Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. A strainer works well for this. Just add the rice to the strainer and rinse under running water.
- Transfer the rice to the rice cooker and add the water. Cover with the lid and follow your rice cooker’s instructions for cooking rice. It might say white rice or basic rice. Choose that setting and press start.
- Pro Tip. Once the rice has finished cooking leave it in the container for 5 minutes before removing.
- Add the granulated sugar, rice vinegar and pinch of kosher salt to the rice. Gently stir the rice to combine making sure not to mash the rice. Pro Tip. If you want to cool the rice faster, pour it out on a baking tray in a flat layer.
- Cover with a damp towel to prevent the rice from drying out as you assemble your sushi.
