This California sushi bowl recipe features imitation crab and fresh veggies on a bed of sweet and tangy rice topped with zesty sriracha mayo.
Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: California sushi bowls are packed with fresh and vibrant colors, textures, and flavors.
- Skill Level: Easy as it comes! Cook the rice, prep the veggies, drizzle, and serve.
- Budget Tip: DIY sushi bowls are inexpensive and fun to make with the family.
- Swaps: Use poke ingredients (salmon, tuna, or snapper) instead of imitation crab.
- Time-Saving Tip: Double the rice and freeze it for last-minute roll bowls!
- Yield: Halve the recipe for 2 or double it for 8; no complicated math!
Ingredient Tips For Sushi Bowls
- Rice: Use sushi rice, which is a short-grained white rice that’s sticky and starchy. It will absorb the sweetened rice vinegar well. Calrose Rice is another excellent choice.
- Imitation Crab Meat: Colored and shaped to look like real crab meat, “surimi” is an affordable alternative to real crab meat. You can use sushi-grade fish or cooked shrimp in this recipe, too.
- Add-Ins and Toppings: Cucumbers and avocados add a crisp and creamy texture to sushi bowls, and nori strips provide a briny umami flavor.
- Sriracha Mayo: Mix the two and add a touch of water to thin it.
Variations: Other colorful and tasty additions to sushi bowls are sliced radishes, pickled red onions, steamed (and chilled) asparagus, green onions, and small chunks of fresh mango. Try salmon rice bowls for a tasty variant.
How to Make Sushi Bowls
- Prepare rice as described in the full recipe below.
- Add desired toppings and drizzle with sriracha mayo, sesame seeds, and optional pickled ginger.
Storing Sushi Bowls
- Sushi rice can be made in advance and frozen in quart-sized bags for quick and easy meals.
- Keep leftover ingredients separated until ready to assemble again, or keep whole bowls covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Perfect for a workday lunch or light dinner!
- Leftovers can also be mixed and rolled into sheets of nori to make sushi burritos.
More One Bowl Delights
Did you enjoy this Sushi Bowl recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below.
California Roll Sushi Bowl
Sushi rice, imitation crab, avocado, cucumber, and nori seaweed are layered in a bowl and drizzled with a spicy mayo sauce.
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Rice
- 1 ½ cups sushi rice
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
For the Toppings
- 12 ounces imitation crab meat roughly chopped
- 1 English cucumber diced
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1 sheet nori cut into strips
- ¼ cup spicy mayonnaise see notes below
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- pickled ginger for serving, optional
Instructions
- Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear.
- Add the rice to a medium saucepan with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until rice is tender and water is absorbed, about 18 to 20 minutes.
- In a small bowl, combine rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Stir to dissolve and add to the rice. Stir to combine and let the rice cool slightly.
- Divide the rice over four bowls. Top with crab meat, cucumber, avocado, and nori. Drizzle with spicy mayo and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with pickled ginger if desired.
Notes
Total time to make this recipe is as little as 20 minutes if you do the prepping while the rice cooks.
If needed, the vinegar can be warmed in the microwave to help dissolve the sugar and salt.
To make spicy mayonnaise, in a small bowl combine 3 tablespoons mayonnaise with 2 to 3 teaspoons sriracha and 1 teaspoon water. Drizzle over the bowls for serving.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 547 | Carbohydrates: 82g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 1455mg | Potassium: 417mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 194IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 42mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner, Entree, Fish, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine American, Asian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
The whole family loved this! So easy. This was super yummy and such a fun dinner. Advice: make a lot. Even the spicy mayo was great. Love your site, Holly!
So glad your family loved this as much as mine does!
Thank you absolutely delicious. We also added shredded carrots. My teenage kids enjoyed it. They liked mixing it all together and wrapping it in the Nori like a burrito for school lunches.
That sounds delicious! I will have to try that.
regarding California Sushi Roll Bowl….what do you do with the Nori. recipe just says to add in. How? Isn’t Nori a wrap of some kind?
Yes, it comes as a sheet and I cut it into strips.