Name: Easy Sushi Bake (Spicy Kani Mayo)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 42 min
Ingredients: 1 cup of Japanese sushi rice, cooked; 1 tbsp rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar; 1 tsp mirin or sugar; 1 tsp salt; 1 tbsp furikake or sesame seeds; 3 tbsps mozzarella cheese (optional); 100g or 7-8 sticks of imitation crab meat; 3 tbsps kewpie mayo; 3 tbsps sriracha; roasted seaweed; cucumber; Rice Cooker; Baking Dish; Air Fryer

This Easy Sushi Bake (Spicy Kani Mayo) will be your new weeknight favourite!

If you love sushi but are tired of the same old rolls, sushi bake is the perfect dish to spice up your sushi game. Sushi bake is a simple and delicious casserole-style dish that combines all the flavors of sushi in one easy-to-make dish. Here’s everything you need to know to make your own easy casserole.

What the heck is a Sushi Bake?

Sushi Bake is a casserole dish consisting of rice, layered with your topping of choice and baked until heated through or it develops a delicious golden brown top. The topping is typically imitation crab sticks mayo blend.

It’s basically deconstructed sushi, and it blew up on Tiktok and it just stayed as a staple because it is that good and easy!

Why you will LOVE this Easy Sushi Bake recipe

It’s BASIC and EASY: This is easy to make, even for those who are new to making sushi. This is a very pared down recipe that ANYONE can recreate, and dress up with more ingredients according to what you enjoy. Get fun and creative!
It’s CUSTOMISABLE: This is so versatile. Don’t want to use imitation crab? Use shrimp, salmon, or make it vegan with tofu and vegan mayo! You can use your favorite sushi ingredients or adjust it to suit your dietary preferences.
It’s the PERFECT CROWD-PLEASER: It’s a quick and easy dish for entertaining guests, you can make a huge batch at one go and it’s easy to enjoy – even for non-sushi lovers.
Serve it HOT or COLD! You can serve it hot or cold depending on your preference… or if you have leftovers. I personally prefer it cold.

Ingredients to make Sushi Bake

The beauty of sushi bake is that it’s completely customisable, so you can use any combination of ingredients that you like. Some common ingredients include cooked crab meat, cooked shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, tobiko (fish roe), green onions, and spicy mayo to give your sushi bake even more flavour.

Sushi Rice:

Japanese rice
Rice Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar: These two vinegar types are the most ideal because they have a hint of sweetness to them.
Salt
Mirin (or Sugar)

Spicy Kani Mayo Topping:

Imitation crab sticks
Mayonnaise: I live by Kewpie mayo for this recipe! If you want to use regular mayo, you can, just be sure to add some sugar.
Sriracha: Or any hot sauce of preference. This is my personal fave!

This is really all you need for the topping, but to level this up even more, add the following:

Cream cheese: This will give it that creaminess, but I rarely add this.
Egg Yolk: Mix in a raw yolk. Trust me, this makes it that much richer!

Additional Toppings:

Furikake
Mozzarella Cheese

Serve with:

Roasted Seaweed: This is a MUST-HAVE! Only open the packaging when you’re ready to eat, as the seaweed will wilt.
Cucumber: Thinly sliced cucumber

How to make Easy Sushi Bake

1. Make the Sushi Rice

Cook Japanese rice, and once rice is cooked, gently fluff with a paddle. While rice is still warm – this is important – add vinegar, salt and mirin or sugar.

If using leftover rice, sprinkle on some water, and microwave to steam before adding the seasonings. Gently combine with the rice paddle. Sushi Rice is ready. Cover the lid back, or with a cloth if you’ve transferred it out into a bowl, so it doesn’t lose moisture. Allow to cool.

How to cook Sushi Rice

Before you start layering your ingredients in a baking dish, you’ll need to cook the sushi rice. Sushi rice is a short-grain rice that’s stickier and more tender than other types of rice. It’s important to cook the rice properly to get the right texture and flavour for your sushi bake.

To make sushi rice, start by rinsing the rice in cold water until the water runs clear. This will remove any excess starch from the rice and help it cook evenly.

I use a rice cooker for my Japanese rice, and the general water to Japanese rice ratio is 1 cup rice: 1.2 cup water. This is more than the standard rice to water ratio, which tends to be 1:1. Soak the Japanese rice in water for 30 minutes before cooking. This will allow the rice to absorb some of the water, for more even cooking.

2. Make the Kani Mayo Salad

While your rice is cooking, let’s make the kani mayo salad. Grab your imitation crab sticks, and start to either chop them up, or shred them. I like to shred them to get the long strands. To shred, I simply slice them length-wise and work through with my fingers so it comes loose into shreds.

Combine the crab sticks with mayo and sriracha and we’re done. Pop this in the fridge until your rice is ready.

3. Layering Your Ingredients

Now that your sushi rice is cooked and cooled, it’s time to start layering your ingredients in a baking dish.

Start by spreading a layer of sushi rice on the bottom of your baking dish. Pat it down to an even layer. Top with furikake or sesame seeds.

Layer on the Kani Mayo. Optional, to layer on mozzarella cheese. You can also stir in the mozzarella cheese with the kani mayo itself but I much prefer adding a layer of it like this.

Drizzle on more mayo and sriracha over the cheese or Kani Mayo. Top with more furikake.

4. Baking Your Sushi Bake

Bake your sushi bake in the preheated air fryer (or oven if you’re making a huge tray) for about 12-20 minutes or until golden brown or heated through. Once it’s done, sprinkle on more furikake over the top and let it cool for a few minutes before serving.

5. Serve!

While the sushi bake cools down, slice cucumbers. Right before serving, open up your roasted seaweed so it stays crisp for longer.

Slice sushi bake into bite-sized sections… or you can just be like me and scoop up a portion with a spoon! Spoon it on the seaweed, layer on cucumbers… and eat!

Variations

Sushi bake is SUCH a versatile dish that can be customised to your liking.

Don’t want to use kani or imitation crab meat? Try any of these:

California Roll Sushi Bake: This is what’s everyone’s making when they say sushi bake! To make this, simply add a dollop of cream cheese to the sauce combination.
Spicy Salmon Sushi Bake: Swap out cooked salmon with the imitation crab. I also like to add some fish roe as a topping for a delicious pop with every bite.
Spicy Shrimp Sushi Bake: Swap out the imitation crab with cooked, chopped up shrimp
Spicy Tuna Sushi Bake: Use canned or cooked tuna mixed with spicy mayo to give your sushi bake a kick.
Okonomiyaki Sushi Bake: Combine shredded cabbage and carrots with egg and bacon bits or chop up some cooked bacon (I’ve used turkey and beef bacon). Add okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, sriracha (optional), and stir to combine. Top rice with more bacon bits, before layering on the cabbage mixture. Bake in the oven until egg is cabbage is cooked. Drizzle on more okonomiyaki sauce, mayo and sriracha before serving.

Make it Vegan!

Tofu Sushi Bake: Chop up some firm tofu, and saute with light soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Combine it with some teriyaki sauce, vegan mayo, sriracha, and top rice. Vegetarian Sushi Bake: Use a variety of vegetables such as carrots, radishes, and bell peppers to make a vegetarian-friendly sushi bake.

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