What Is Sushi Rice?
Sushi rice, or sushimeshi (鮨飯) in Japanese, is steamed short-grain rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar and salt. It's the common component that all sushi recipes share; you could even say it defines the dish.
Here in Japan, good fish is a given, so the best sushi restaurants differentiate themselves based on the quality of their sushi rice recipe. The best sushi rice teeters the line between tender and firm, and the individual grains of rice stick together without being gluey or gummy. The seasoning gives the rice a balance of tangy, sweet, and savory tastes without distracting from the other ingredients in the sushi. Most importantly, each grain of sushi rice should sport a lustrous shine that would make a shampoo model jealous.
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Why My Recipe Works
- Good sushi rice starts with the right type of rice, which is why it's important to use Japanese short-grain rice, known as uruchimai in Japanese.
- How you wash and cook the rice affects its texture, and this authentic sushi rice recipe will teach you the techniques you need to make rice that's not mushy or hard.
- Properly seasoned sushi rice will elevate your homemade sushi, and it's not just about the ratio of ingredients. How you mix the sushi rice seasoning into the rice is just as important.
Sushi Rice Ingredients
- Japanese short-grain rice: This type of rice has a high ratio of amylopectin to amylose, giving it a sticky texture; this is how to make sushi rice hold its shape when formed into sushi. Although stickier than long-grain rice, it is not as sticky as glutinous rice (a.k.a. "sticky rice"). Read my post about Japanese short-grain rice for everything you need to know about selecting the right kind for sushi. It's also important to use white rice, as the bran that covers each grain of brown rice prevents the grains from sticking to each other. To give your sushi rice extra umami, you can cook it with a small piece of kombu (kelp).
- Water: Washing and soaking your rice in cold water is important. This allows it to absorb the water gradually and evenly, resulting in perfectly cooked rice with a consistent texture throughout.
- Rice vinegar: Rice vinegar has a mild acidity and sweet, nutty flavor, making it the perfect base for sushi rice seasoning, without overwhelming the other ingredients. When selecting rice vinegar, buy unseasoned rice vinegar (it should not contain any salt or sugar). If you can't find it, other mild vinegar or citrus juice, like apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, will work, but keep in mind that this will alter the flavor of your sushi rice.
- Sugar: Sugar balances out the rice vinegar's tartness and is an essential component of the seasoned vinegar for sushi. I like evaporated cane sugar because it has a caramel flavor, but white sugar or other relatively neutral sweeteners will work.
- Salt: Salt enhances the natural umami in sushi rice while balancing out the sweet and tangy notes of the sushi rice seasoning. I like to use an umami-rich sea salt, but any type of salt will work. Be sure to keep in mind that the 1 teaspoon measurement is for sea salt, so you will need to adjust the amount for flakier varieties like kosher salt.
How to Make Sushi Rice
How to Cook Sushi Rice
Place the rice in a sieve over a bowl and rinse it under cold tap water. This initial rinse removes any remaining bran left over from when the grain was milled. Gentle rubbing of the grains during rinsing helps this process while removing any powdered starch from the surface. When the water runs mostly clear, drain the rice.
To cook it, you can opt for a rice cooker or the stove-top method. If using a rice cooker, transfer the washed rice to the cooker bowl and add cold water just under the 2-cup line. Reducing the amount of water prevents the grains from getting mushy after adding the seasoning vinegar. Let it soak for 30 minutes before turning the rice cooker on. This soaking time allows the grains to absorb water, leading to shinier and better-textured rice upon cooking.
If you are cooking your short-grain rice on the stove, add the washed rice and 1 ½ cups of cold water to a heavy-bottomed non-stick pot with high sides and cover with a lid. Before cooking, let it soak in the water for at least 30 minutes. When it's done soaking, bring the pot to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to low and cook until there's no water left in the pan (this will take 12-15 minutes). Turn off the heat and continue steaming for ten minutes. This controlled cooking method ensures each grain is cooked evenly, resulting in firm yet tender rice, where each grain retains its shape and has a glossy appearance.
Make Sushi Seasoning
While the rice cooks, prepare the seasoned vinegar by whisking the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt together until the solids are dissolved. If you're having trouble getting the salt and sugar to dissolve, you can heat the mixture until it's warm (I usually do this in the microwave oven), but don't let it boil.
How to Season Sushi Rice
Once the rice is cooked and steamed, transfer it to a large bowl or sushi oke. Gently break it up to fluff it, and then pour the seasoned vinegar over the hot rice and fold it in with a rice paddle or spatula. You want to use a gentle cutting motion with the side of your rice paddle, followed by a folding motion to distribute the vinegar mixture evenly without crushing the grains. Once the vinegar is evenly distributed, use a fan or clean hairdryer (set to cool) while mixing to rapidly cool the sushimeshi while evaporating any excess vinegar. This will enhance the sheen of your sushi rice while preventing it from getting mushy.
The rice is ready when it's no longer wet or slippery and has a fluffy, sticky texture with a shiny glow. Cover your perfect sushi rice with a damp towel to keep it from drying out until you're ready to use it.
Ways to Use Sushi Rice
Now that you have my best sushi rice recipe prepared, you're ready to explore all the ways you can use it. With its tangy, sweet, savory taste and chewy texture, sushi rice is a versatile foundation on which you can build a variety of dishes. One popular option is to craft homemade sushi rolls, like California Rolls, Cucumber Rolls, Oshinko Rolls, or Caterpillar Rolls. If rolling sushi seems too daunting, temaki sushi or hand rolls are fun ways to make a cone of sushi rice and nori with your hands and stuff them with your favorite fillings such as avocado, tempura shrimp, or ikura.
A more traditional use is to make nigiri sushi, small balls of sushimeshi topped with a slice of sashimi or other seafood. Gunkan maki is another popular style of sushi with a small ball of sushi rice surrounded by a cup of nori that holds another filling, like spicy tuna. I also stuff sushi rice seasoned with sesame seeds and pickled ginger in my Inari Sushi, fried tofu pouches seasoned with a sweet and savory glaze. For a more casual presentation, consider chirashi sushi, a sushi bowl with a bed of sushi rice artfully topped with a mix of sashimi, vegetables, and garnishes. Sushi rice also makes an excellent base for poke bowls, a Hawaiian-inspired dish topped with marinated ahi tuna. Whatever you decide to make with my best sushi rice recipe will be a success.
Recipe
Perfect Sushi Rice
Ingredients
- 310 grams Japanese short-grain rice (2 cooker cups, see note)
- 1 ½ cups cold water
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Why it works- Put 310 grams Japanese short-grain rice in a sieve over a bowl and rinse it with cold tap water.
- Use your hands to remove the excess starch from each grain by using a gentle rubbing motion.
- When the water that runs off is mostly clear, drain the rice.
- If you're using a rice cooker, add the washed rice to the cooker's bowl and add cold water to just under the 2-cup line. If you're using the stove, add the washed rice to a small heavy-bottomed non-stick pot, then add 1 ½ cups cold water and cover it with a lid.
- Let this soak for at least 30 minutes before you start cooking it. This allows the grains to soak up water before cooking, resulting in shinier rice with a better texture.
- If you use a rice cooker, turn it on and let it do its thing. If you are doing this on the stovetop, turn the heat to high and bring the water to a boil (be careful not to let it boil over). Turn down the heat to low and set a timer for 15 minutes. Once no liquid remains in the pot, turn off the heat and let the rice steam for 10 minutes.
- While you wait, combine 4 tablespoons rice vinegar, 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. You can microwave it for a bit to help dissolve the sugar.
- When the rice is done, dump it into a large bowl or sushi oke (the wooden bowl in the photo). The key is that you want a container with a lot of surface area to spread the rice out to cool it rapidly. Gently break up any clumps, then pour the vinegar mixture evenly over the hot rice.
- Use a shamoji (rice paddle), spatula, or a flat wooden spoon to gently combine the rice and vinegar using a side-to-side cutting motion followed by a folding motion. You want to separate each grain so seasoned vinegar coats every surface, but you don't want to break the rice grains or mash them together.
- While mixing, use a fan or a clean hairdryer set to cool and blow air on the rice. This cools the sushimeshi and helps the excess liquid evaporate quickly, giving it a nice sheen while keeping it from getting mushy. It's a bit tricky mixing and fanning simultaneously, so a second set of hands can be helpful here.
- The sushi rice is done when the surface is no longer wet and slippery, and each grain is shiny. It will still be lukewarm, but it should not be hot.
- Mound up the sushimeshi and cover it with a damp towel until you're ready to use it.
Notes
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FAQs
The best types of rice suitable for making sushi are Japanese short-grain rice cultivars such as Koshihikari, Akitakomachi, Sasanishiki, or Hitomebore. Japonica rice is highly prized for its stickiness, mellow sweetness, and slight chewiness, which makes it an ideal choice for making sushi rice.
Long-grain rice, such as Basmati rice or Jasmine rice, has a dry, fluffy texture, and the grains don't stick together due to a higher ratio of Amylose to Amylopectin. This also causes long-grain rice to get hard as it cools. These traits make long-grain rice unsuitable for making sushi rice.
Calrose rice and Kokuho Rose are a medium-grain rice cultivars that were originally hybridized to grow in the dry climate of California. Although they're commonly labeled as "sushi rice," they are not used in Japan to make sushi because they contain a lower ratio of amylopectin when compared to Japonica rice.
That being said, these medium grain cultivars are widely available in many parts of the world, making it a more convenient option for sushi making if you cannot get Japanese rice where you live.
By some accounts, the word sushi is a contraction of the words su, which means "vinegar," and meshi, which means "rice." One of sushi's earliest iterations in Japan is what's known as narezushi (馴れ寿司). Fish was salted and then buried in cooked rice and allowed to ferment. The ensuing lacto-fermentation would break down the rice, lowering the pH and preserving the fish. Eventually, someone figured out that adding vinegar to the mixture would shorten the fermentation time, making the fish taste better.
The next step in the evolution of sushi happened near Osaka, where the fish was salted, vinegared, and pressed onto a bed of sushi rice using a wooden mold. The bar of sushi would then be cut into bite-size pieces. This style of sushi is known as oshizushi (押し寿司), or pressed sushi, and is still popular in the region, especially for bento since the vinegar helps preserve the fish. The style of sushi we enjoy today wasn't developed until the Edo Period. Edo, the former name of Tokyo, was situated next to a bay teaming with seafood.
Around 200 years ago, an enterprising chef started topping small balls of sushi rice with fresh fish from Edo Bay without curing it first. Never before had sushi preparation been so easy or fast, so nigiri sushi was brought into this world as an early form of fast food, sold out of stalls near the bay.
Cooling the sushimeshi as the seasoning is folded in is a part of the process of making sushi rice. That said, it does not need to be cooled to room temperature, and some sushi chefs like lukewarm rice.
This recipe makes about 700 grams (25 ounces) of sushi rice. It depends on the type of rolls you make and how thick you lay the sushimeshi, but it should make anywhere from 9 hosomaki (thin rolls with the nori on the outside), 8 uramaki, or 4-5 thicker rolls (full-sheet of nori).
I usually make a large batch of sushi vinegar and store it in a bottle. As long as the sugar and salt are fully dissolved, this will keep in the refrigerator for months. Then, if you want to make sushi rice, you can use ⅓ US cup of sushi vinegar for every two rice cooker cups of uncooked rice after you've cooked it according to the directions in this recipe.
Lo says
Hello! Wondering how close it would be to use seasoned rice vinegar instead of seasoning the vinegar yourself with this ratio!
Marc Matsumoto says
It depends on the brand as they all use different formulations but I don't like using premixed vinegars because 1) They use cheap vinegar that tends to have a sharper acidity 2) They often include "flavor enhancers" 3) They don't have the balance of acidity/sweetness/salt that I like.
Lo says
Thanks for the tips! I will try this recipe next time!
Teleport Qokka says
Thank you! This is perfect!
Marc Matsumoto says
I'm happy it was helpful!
Connie Oh says
Very carefully presented.
Thank you Mr. Marc Matsumoto.
Now I can make my own sushi rice.
Marc Matsumoto says
You're welcome! I'm happy to hear this was helpful!
Jimmywam says
Good luck 🙂
Raemin Bronte says
This recipe is perfect! I made a batch tonight and the sushi rice was perfectly flavoured, shiny and sticky. Highly recommend, - but follow all the directions!
Marc says
Hi Raemin, I'm so happy to hear you found this helpful! Thanks for dropping by to let me know how it went 😃
John says
How long can I leave the rice out after it's all mixed together?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi John, both the vinegar and salt should help preserve the sushi rice longer than plain rice. I usually leave the rice covered with a clean damp towel for up to 3 hours, but I'm not a food safety expert so proceed at your own risk.
R. says
What size tablespoon do you use? I'm in Australia and ours are 20ml. I followed the recipe but the rice ended up a tad heavily seasoned.
Marc Matsumoto says
I knew the cups were different between countries, but I had no idea tablespoons were defined differently as well, thank you for bringing this to my attention. All volumetric measurements on this site are based off US imperial measures (1 teaspoon = 5 ml, 1 tablespoon = 15 ml, 1 cup = 236ml).
Loris Ayoub says
How many rolls can I do with this recipe? How many sheets?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Loris, it depends on the type of roll you're making (hosomaki, uramaki, futomaki, gunkan maki, temaki, etc). Please check the specific roll recipe which will tell you how many rolls you can make. For example, California Rolls are here: https://norecipes.com/california-roll-recipe/ and it makes 6 rolls.
Asako says
Great sushi rice tutorial. Have made it twice now. It made about 6 or 7 futomaki. Great for a dinner of 4 people (with some other sides too)
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Asako, I'm glad to hear you found this helpful! Thanks for stopping by to let me know.
Diana says
Hi Marc! Can I use brown rice vinegar instead? I live in Korea and that’s all I can find at the grocery store. Thanks!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Diana, that should be fine.
Barbara Cooke says
Used this for a guideline. My rice was done to perfection in about 10 mins. I did use Splenda instead of sugar. The taste was out of this world
httr says
Gerda, Splenda is more harmful than helpful to anyone no matter what health issues they may or may not have (I wish they would ban it). Simply put Spenda is poison. Please try to find a healthy alternative, I say this out of respect b/c I care. Stay away from synthetic junk & try to stay as close to nature as possible.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Katie, so the number of rolls this makes will depend on the type of roll you make (hosomaki vs futomaki vs uramaki) as well as how thick you make the layer of rice. I guess if I had to make a ballpark estimate I'd say 6-8. As for arborio, I've never tried cooking it like japanese rice so I'm not sure. That said, I have gone the other way around and used sushi rice for risotto(it works well), so it's possible it could work. As for jasmine, it will not work. It's a long grain rice and will not stick together enough to make a roll.
Katie @ Produce on Parade says
Hi Marc! I have two questions: 1. About how many rolls (logs) of sushi will this supply? 2. I know this question is kind of crazy but I'm curious...in a pinch, could one use Arborio rice as a substitute for short white sushi rice? Or, would Jasmine be better? I confess those are the only two rice varieties I have on hand, other than red rice. Thanks so much for your help!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Gerda, I hate the taste of Splenda, so I'm probably the wrong person to ask, but you could certainly try it. Also, I'm sure you're aware of this, but white rice has a very high glycemic index, so maybe use brown rice?
Gerda Bryan says
My son no is diabetic can I use Splenda instead ?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Snowpoke, ideally you'd use a wooden tub called a hangiri as it provides the largest surface area to spread the rice and absorbs some of the excess moisture, but since most people don't have one, any large bowl will due provided it is non reactive (glass or stainless steel). The bowl in the photo is stainless.
snowpoke says
Try to not use a metal bowl as shown in the picture as there's a natural chemical reaction between metal and vinegar which can cause discoloration or a 'metallic' taste.
udo says
yes you can also i add a bit of vodka and rum sissolve with vinegar, you just have to try it, it worked for me
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Lisa, I respect the fact that you're thinking about your diet, but making sushi rice without sugar and salt is like making a strawberry milkshake without milk or sugar. How you make it is up to you but since it sounds like you're asking my opinion I don't think it will taste very good.
Lisa says
I want to keep salt and sugar out of my diet. Would using rice vinegar (with nothing else in it) an sushi rice be good enough? What would you suggest?
Marife Basi says
Hi! you're so intelligent. thanks for teaching us. i am fun of sushi. but now i'm going to make for my own. i've got all the ingredients from oriental supermarket here in bahrain. i'm so inLOVE of sushi....aaaaah! Thanks! 🙂
Benjamin Zuckerman says
Hi Tammy: be very careful! Once you realize how easy it is to make great sushi rice, making sushi at home will quickly become quite addictive, and you may find yourself with a houseful of hungry friends more than just one a week.....
Tammy says
Used this to make sushi tonight! It was perfect!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi @nime, I responded to a similar comment a while ago, but many sushi restaurants use a premixed vinegar that already has corn syrup and salt mixed in (along with MSG and preservatives). This is probably why they did not add salt. If you're going to be making sushi rice at home I'd suggest buying rice vinegar (it shouldn't have any salt or sugar or anything else in the ingredient list other than rice vinegar and water).
@nime says
Tnx for the wonderful info marc.. but im just wondering if is it really necessary to add the salt? Few years ago I worked at a japanese restaurant here in the philippines and as far as I remember, the sushi master was not adding salt to the vinegar mixture..and also, I dont think he cook the vinegar either..he just kept on stirring the vinegar and sugar together until the sugar melts..any advice marc?tnx!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Rani, thanks! Unless otherwise specified all "cup" measurements on this site are in US cups. There's a drop down in the recipe to change the measurement system to metric.
Rani GS Silva says
Your blog Rocks mate ! i have a question for the rice recipe, is the amount of water here in american cups ( 1.5 cup = 354 ml ) ? or is it also the cup from the rice cooker ?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Gelai, you can use whatever you want in your kitchen, but using mayo obviously isn't going to make it taste like sushi rice.
Gelai says
Hi Marc, can I use mayonaise instead of Vinegar? Thanks
Marc Matsumoto says
That's a great tip Benjamin, thanks!
Benjamin Zuckerman says
Using an electric hair dryer (on cool if possible, or at least warm) is a great time saver, and it makes it possible to mix with one hand and (blow) dry with the other. I learned this from my girlfriend when I lived in Japan, and it works GREAT!
Gonar says
Thank you for the detailed explanation Mr. Matsumoto. Sounds like it would make a good law anyway!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Gonar, as far as I'm aware of there is no law that says you can't but I would not recommend it. First off changing the pH of the water will probably do bad things to the rice and will screw with the sensors on rice cookers. The sugar in in the mixture will burn. And I don't think you're going to end up with rice that has the shine and stickiness you are looking for in sushi rice because that is achieved by coating each grain of rice with the vinegar mixture and then quickly evaporating it (by fanning).
Gonar says
Dear Marc, is it against the law to add vinegar before cooking the rice?