Spicy Crab Sushi Roll Recipe
This Spicy Crab Sushi Roll is a restaurant-worthy treat that’s easy enough for beginners to make at home, with zesty crab salad and crunchy cucumbers.
Spicy Kani Roll
Craving sushi but finding it hard to find time and money for an expensive dinner? No problem, just make some at home! This Spicy Crab Sushi is a deliciously rich way to take your dinner to the next level!
If you ask me my favorite savory food…100% of the time I’m gonna say sushi. I first tried sushi when I was 16 years old – there were not so many sushi restaurants when I was growing up so it was a new thing to me. But I was instantly hooked! In fact, I worked at a sushi restaurant in college and it was one of my favorite jobs ever!
While some sushi items you’ll see in a restaurant are highly specialized or types of fish that might not be easy to find at your local grocery store, the basic rolls are actually pretty easy to make at home!
This Spicy Kani Maki (Spicy Crab Roll) is just a handful of simple ingredients, but it is SO flavorful! We made a simple crab salad with homemade spicy mayonnaise and wrapped this up with crisp cucumber slices. It’s the perfect contrast of flavors and textures.
If you can roll up sushi, you can whip this recipe up in just a few minutes. And if you’ve never tried rolling sushi before, this is a great roll to start with! I put step-by-step photo instructions in the post to help.
Now that both my husband and I know how to roll our own sushi, we’ll often grab crab or sashimi at there grocery store and make our own. It’s so much cheaper than going out to eat! And we’re getting pretty good at it!
Ingredients
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- 3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 Tablespoons srirachaย chili sauce
- 6 ounces imitation crab meat
- 1/2 of a medium cucumber
- 4 nori seaweed sheets
- 3 cups sushi rice, cooked
- Sesame seeds – optional
Helpful Kitchen Tools
- Bamboo Sushi Rolling Mat
- Sharp Knife – A well sharpened knife is crucial for cutting clean sushi rolls. I prefer a serrated knife, but you can use a good chef’s knife too.
- Plastic Wrap
Instructions
When making sushi, I find it helpful to prep all of my ingredients so everything is ready to roll up.
To Prep:
- Spicy Mayo – In a small bowl, whisk together the chili sauce and the mayonnaise until fully incorporated.
- Crab – Tear or shred the imitation crab into thin strips. Add the shredded crab to the bowl of spicy mayonnaise and stir to coat all of the crab in sauce.
- Cucumber – Peel cucumber half and cut into thin strips.
To Roll The Sushi:
- Place one nori sheet on a top of bamboo sushi mat with the shiny side facing down and lines running horizontally.
- Place 3/4 cup of cooked and cooled sushi rice on top of the nori sheet and gently spread until you’ve covered about 80% of the sheet, leaving about an inch uncovered. The rice layer should be no more than 1/4 inch thick.
- Spread 1/4th of the spicy crab salad in a strip across the middle of the rice. Place a few cucumber strips on top of the crab.
- Start from the bottom of the sushi and carefully roll it from the bottom, using the bamboo mat to press everything together. Stop when you get to the strip of nori at the top with no rice. Dip clean fingers in a bowl of water and use them to wet the nori strip. Press the dampened nori onto the rest of the roll, to seal it.
- Place the completed sushi roll with the seam down on a sheet of plastic wrap, tightly covering the roll while keeping its shape. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
- Repeat until all 4 rolls have been prepared.
- To serve, unwrap one roll and cut it into 8 slices. After you cut each piece, rotate the sushi roll so that it doesn’t get smashed down and the cut pieces are nice and round.
Prep Tips
- Rice – Sushi rice is a specific type of short grain white rice thatย is blended with a mixture of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt, which gives it a slightly sticky and chewy texture. It is this stickiness that holds together the rice when making sushi rolls. This recipe post has a tutorial to make sushi rice at home – it is our family’s go-to recipe!
- Crab – We used imitation crab for this recipe because it is a common ingredient used in sushi restaurants, easy to find and affordable, and my kids LOVE it. You could use real crab meat if you prefer, but it will likely cost more.
- Add-Ons – This is an easy sushi roll to customize to your preferences! Try adding avocado slices, wasabi mayo instead of spicy mayo, or any of your favorite sushi roll ingredients.
- Serve With – Traditional sushi accompaniments include soy sauce, prepared wasabi, pickled ginger. You could also serve with extra spicy mayo for dipping. I love that stuff!!
- Storage – Any leftovers may be kept refrigerated in an airtight container for 1-2 days. Even though there is no raw fish in this spicy crab roll, the rice starts to harden after a day or two, so the flavor is not quite as perfect as freshly rolled sushi.
- Cleanup – For easier clean-up, cover your bamboo mat with plastic wrap before rolling your sushi. If you don’t have plastic wrap, I recommend soaking your mat in soapy water immediately after use, so nothing sticks to it.
More Sushi Recipes To Try
Spicy Crab Sushi Recipe (Printable Recipe Card)
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Spicy Crab Sushi Roll Recipe
Equipment
- Bamboo Mat
- Chef's Knife
Ingredients
- 3 TB mayonnaise
- 2 TB sriracha
- 6 oz imitation crab meat shredded
- 1/2 medium cucumber sliced
- 4 sheets nori (seaweed)
- 3 cups sushi rice cooked and cooled
- sesame seeds optional
Instructions
Prep Ingredients
- In a small bowl, whisk together the chili sauce and the mayonnaise.
- Pull apart or slice the imitation crab into thin strips. Add crab meat to the bowl of spicy mayo and stir to coat.
- Peel the cucumber and slice it into thin strips.
To Roll the Sushi
- Place one nori sheet on a bamboo sushi mat with the shiny side of the seaweed facing down and the lines running horizontally.
- Add 3/4 cup of prepared sushi rice to the nori sheet and gently spread it until it covers about 80% of the nori, with an inch at the top uncovered. Rice layer should be no more than 1/4 inch thick.
- Spread 1/4th of the crab salad across the middle of the rice layer on the nori sheet.
- Place a few strips of cucumber on top of the crab.
- Carefully roll up the nori sheet, using the bamboo mat to press everything inward. Dip clean fingers in a bowl of water and wet the strip of nori at the top of the roll that does not have rice, pressing the dampened nori on the outside of the roll to seal it.
- Place the roll with the seam side down on a sheet of plastic wrap and tightly cover the roll while keeping its shape. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
- Repeat until all 4 sushi rolls have been prepared.
- To serve, unwrap a roll and cut it into 8 slices. After you cut each slice, rotate the sushi roll to prevent smashing it down.
Notes
Nutrition
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