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The ultimate guide to making Japanese Rice Balls, or onigiri, and shaping them into perfect triangles without a mold.
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Onigiri

Good Onigiri is all about the rice and how it's prepared, so in this Onigiri recipe, I'm going to teach you everything you need to know to make these traditional Japanese rice balls at home using various fillings.
Course Entree
Cuisine Japanese
Keyword bento, picnic
Level Beginner
Main Ingredient Rice
Diet Dairy-Free, Low Sugar, Low-Fat, Pescatarian, Vegan, Vegetarian
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 6 rice balls
Calories 169kcal
Author Marc Matsumoto

Equipment

Ingredients

Grams + US Cups - US Standard

Instructions

  • Wash and cook the 1 ½ cups Japanese short-grain rice in a rice cooker with the 1 ⅔ cup cold water as you normally would, or if you are doing it on the stove, you can follow the instructions on my sushi rice recipe (but be sure to use the amount of rice and water specified above).
    1 ½ cups Japanese short-grain rice, 1 ⅔ cup cold water
    Washing rice for onigiri.
  • While you're waiting for the rice to cook and steam, remove the pits from the 6 whole umeboshi.
    6 whole umeboshi
    Removing pits from Umeboshi with chopsticks.
  • Cut the 2 sheets unseasoned nori into thirds by either using scissors or creasing and tearing the nori.
    2 sheets unseasoned nori
    Cutting nori into strips for wrapping rice balls.
  • Prepare a medium bowl of water and a small bowl of Salt.
    Salt
  • When the rice is done, fluff it with a spatula and transfer it to a bowl to cool. Keep the bowl covered with a damp towel to keep the rice from drying out.
  • When the rice has cooled enough to handle without burning yourself, wet your hands in the bowl of water and dip your index finger into the bowl of salt.
    Wet hands with salt for making onigiri rice balls.
  • Rub the salt into both hands and then scoop ⅙ of the rice into one hand. Press one pitted umeboshi into the center of the mound of rice and cover it with the surrounding rice.
    Rice ball with umeboshi in center.
  • Curl your fingers up and over the rice, and then use your index and middle fingers on your free hand to shape the rice into a triangle, but do not over squeeze the rice.
    Shaping Onigiri into triangles.
  • Roll the rice ball on your hand onto another side and repeat until the triangle has equal length sides, and it's roughly the same thickness.
  • To wrap the onigiri, place a strip of nori centered on the rice and then wrap each side of the nori around the triangle and under the base.
    Wrapping Japanese Rice Ball with nori.
  • Garnish the top of the onigiri with a little dab of umeboshi so you can identify what's inside.
    Pickled Plum Onigiri (Japanese Rice Ball)

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 169kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 6mg | Potassium: 53mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 45IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 15mg | Iron: 1mg