When that sushi craving hits next time, skip the rolling and slicing and just make SUSHI BAKE instead! All the delicious flavors you know and love but baked and broiled in the oven to crispy perfection and enjoyed with nori or by the spoon. It’s a lot easier to make than traditional sushi BUT it’s not anywhere near short on flavor. The crab and shrimp filling tastes just like a shrimp tempura roll – a classic that can’t be beat!
Now I’m not sure where the idea came to bake a lazy version of sushi but I’ve been seeing a lot of people make it on TikTok. It looks absolutely deliciously so of course I knew I had to make my own version of it. It’s the perfect lazy-girl hack to making sushi because it’s basically a deconstructed California Roll in a casserole dish.
Making The Sushi Rice
The first component to this recipe is preparing the sushi rice. The process is super simple!
You’ll need the following ingredients:
- sushi rice
- salt
- rice vinegar
- granulated white sugar
- sesame oil
Start off by soaking and rinsing the sushi rice to remove some of the starch. I like using the Nishiki brand of sushi rice and it can be found at most supermarkets! After that, bring it to a boil with water and salt using a 2:3 cup ratio of rice to water. Simmer covered for 20 minutes and turn off the heat and leave it covered for another 10 minutes.
In a small bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, granulated sugar, and sesame oil. Heat it in the microwave for 30 seconds to dissolve the sugar. Stir the rice and then add the mixture and mix well. Set aside until later when we assemble the dish!
The Spicy Mayo
This is the easiest part and also the best part because the sauce is pure heaven! You can use it for the sushi bake and then save any leftovers, IF ANY, and use it in bowls, sandwiches, or even a salad topping.
All you need is a small bowl and to it add mayo, lemon juice, sesame oil, sugar, and Sriracha or Sambal. I used to always use Sriracha in my spicy mayo but recently I tried sambal which is the Vietnamese hot chili paste and it was so much better. I buy it from Target or any large supermarket/Asian market. Depending on how spicy you like it, you can add less or more hot sauce. Feel free to also use regular mayonnaise but I love using Japanese Kewpie Mayo!
Sesame oil is optional but highly recommended. A little dash goes a long way as it has a very strong nutty and earthy taste that helps to brighten the creamy sauce up.
The Crab & Shrimp Filling
This is the best part and the heart of the recipe! Typically, sushi bakes will just have imitation crab like a California Roll but my husband and I have been craving shrimp so I used half crab, half shrimp. It was like a hybrid between a California Roll and Shrimp Tempura Roll and it was incredible.
The ingredients you will need:
- imitation crab meat, finely chopped or shredded
- raw shrimp, chopped small
- cream cheese, room temp
- mayonnaise
- sriracha or sambal
- sesame oil
- low sodium soy sauce
- lime juice
Just add all the ingredients above to a bowl and mix together until evenly combined. And that’s it! Now it’s time to assemble and bake.
Assembling and Baking
Preheat oven to 425°F. To a 9 x 9 baking pan or casserole dish, add the sushi rice to the bottom. You don’t need to spray the bottom with oil but if you’d like, you may. Then add a nori seaweed sheet on top of the rice. Instead of the sheets, you can add furikake in its place. After that, add the crab and shrimp mixture on top and pop in the oven to bake for about 15 minutes until golden on top.
This step is optional but I love to broil it after 15 minutes just for another minute or two so it’s a bit more crispy and golden brown on top. If you decide to do this too, just watch it closely so it doesn’t burn.
Once out of the oven, top it off with avocado, green onions, unagi sauce, and spicy mayo and enjoy!
If you tried this recipe and loved it, drop by down below and let me know how you liked it with a rating and comment! Feel free to also leave a question there about this recipe and I’ll get right back to it.
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Variations
- Since this is not traditional sushi, feel free to use Jasmine rice instead of sushi rice in this recipe. Just prepare it as you naturally would and add the vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil mixture to the cooked rice.
- To avoid the shrimp, just double the crab used in this recipe. I used imitation crab meat.
- Unagi sauce is optional. You can purchase it at the Asian supermarket to drizzle on top of the sushi. It’s also known as eel sauce and it has a nice sweet taste.
- For more crunch, add some Panko breadcrumbs coated in butter on top of the crab and shrimp mixture before popping in the oven or right before broiling!
Other Seafood Recipes to Try
- Crispy Rice and Spicy Tuna Bites – Nobu Copycat
- Sweet & Spicy Salmon Rice Bowls
- Honey Butter Garlic Shrimp
- Elote Shrimp Tacos
- Bang Bang Shrimp
- Crispy Baja Fish Tacos
Sushi Bake
Ingredients
SPICY MAYO
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 to 2 tablespoons sambal
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
CRAB AND SHRIMP FILLING
- 8 ounces crab meat
- 8 ounces shrimp finely chopped into small pieces
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise Kewpie mayo preferred
- 1/4 cup cream cheese room temp
- 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon of samba or sriracha
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1/4 cup green onions thinly sliced
RICE
- 2 cups sushi rice rinsed well
- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
OTHER
- nori seaweed sheets or furikake
- cucumber
- green onion
- avocado
- sesame seeds
- unagi sauce
Instructions
MAKE THE SUHSI RICE
- Rinse the sushi rice for a minute or two until the water runs clear. If you have time, soak it in water for 15 minutes prior to rinsing.
- Add 3 cups of water to a pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Add the salt and rice and once boiling, lower the heat and cover to simmer for 20 minutes. After, turn off the heat but leave covered for 10 more minutes. Then fluff it up.
- In a small bowl, add the rice vinegar, granulated sugar, and sesame oil. Microwave for 30 seconds or quickly warm it up in a pot just so the sugar dissolves.
- Pour this over the rice and mix so that each grain of rice is coated evenly. It should be very sticky!
SPICY MAYO
- To make the spicy mayo, mix together mayo, sambal, sriracha, sesame oil, sugar, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Once it’s creamy and smooth, set aside
MAKE THE CRAB AND SHRIMP FILLING
- In a bowl, combine crab meat, shrimp, mayo, cream cheese, soy sauce, sesame oil, sriracha or sambal, and lime juice. Mix together well until evenly combined.
ASEMBLE AND BAKE
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- To a casserole dish or 9×9 baking pan, add the rice on the bottom. Add as much or as little rice as you’d like to the desired thickness. Then add a layer of seaweed on top to cover the rice. Add all the crab and shrimp mixture on top.
- Pop in the oven to bake for about 10 to 15 minutes until golden on top. For more crispiness and color on top, you can broil it for a few minutes but keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
- Once out of the oven, drizzle with the spicy mayo and unagi sauce. Add avocado, green onions, and sesame seeds on top and enjoy!
Did You Make This Recipe?
If you make this recipe, leave a comment below and let me know how it turns out. I love hearing from you!
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