Sushi rice is the basic building block of many sushi variations. It is the hero ingredient of any sushi dish, and it will determine the quality of any sushi you make. So I am going to share the authentic way to make it perfect.
What is SUSHI by the way?
The first Sushi was introduced as a method of preserving fish utilising rice fermentation. Japanese people started to eat preserved fish with the rice after the Muromachi era. What we call Sushi is a bit different from its origin.
So-called “寿司(sushi)”, the Chinese character was used as a phonetic equivalent in the Edo period. Furthermore, the word “SUSHI” is derived from Su-me-shi. The middle sound “me” was dropped later and became “su-shi”. Su means vinegar, (me)shi means rice. Therefore sushi is vinegar rice.
Sushi rice is the foundation of any Sushi
Sushi is an essential part of Japanese cuisine and is probably the most famous and popular Japanese food. If you master how to make the perfect sushi rice, you can make any type of sushi successfully. Those sushi variations are as follows and also see the Sushi guide.
- Makizushi (rolled sushi),
- Chirashi-zushi (Scattered sushi),
- Oshi-zushi (pressed sushi),
- Temaki zushi (hand rolled sushi),
- Inari-zushi,
- Temari-zushi (sushi balls)
- sushi donuts
- mehari zushi
The secret behind the delicious sushi
The main part of all these different types of sushi is obviously rice. It’s vital that this is made well, so whatever type of sushi you choose to make will turn out super delicious! To help you make sure that your sushi is always the most delicious it can be, I’m sharing with you the perfect sushi rice recipe!
Which variety of Rice?
To make perfect sushi rice, you need to use appropriate rice variety. For making sushi you need to use short-grain rice, Japonica preferably, “ Koshihikari
”. Long grain rice such as Jasmine rice or Basmati rice is not suitable because they are too dry for making sushi. Furthermore, they are not sticky enough to keep the sushi shape.
You can get Koshihikari rice from Japanese grocery stores, supermarkets, and online stores. Choosing the right type of rice and cooking the rice properly can improve any homemade rice to restaurant-quality sushi rice.
How to cook rice for making sushi?
I usually use a Rice Cooker
. Even if you use a rice cooker, it is important to use a little less water than normal to cook the rice. Because the rice will be combined with vinegar mixture and will absorb the vinegar mixture. It is important not to use the cup that comes with the rice cooker because they are all different sizes. To follow the recipe accurately, use a standard measuring cup (240ml).
If you don’t have a rice cooker, see my “how to cook rice the Japanese way” post. You need 10 % less water for sushi rice. Also, don’t forget to add a piece of Konbu (kelp). Konbu will give the rice a subtle fragrance, glossiness, and deep umami kick.
How much rice do I need to make a full sized sushi roll?
The standard size of a sushi roll is 8 inches (21cm) long and about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. It is determined by the size of a Nori seaweed sheet. The nori seaweeds standard size is 7.5 x 8 inches (19 x 21 cm). The size of sushi rolls that you can purchase from a sushi takeaway is usually ½ of one full-sized roll.
1 cup (240ml) of prepared sushi rice weighs about 5 oz (150g). You need 1.5 cups of prepared sushi rice to make a standard full-sized roll. This final prepared sushi rice includes sushi vinegar mixture. I explain this in the next paragraph.
Three ingredients for the sushi vinegar mixture
You can use a bottle of ready-made sushi vinegar. However, you can make your own sushi vinegar mixture easily from just three ingredients; rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. Place the three ingredients in a small saucepan. Do not bring to a boil, but just till the sugar and salt dissolve. We don’t want to lose the fragrance of the vinegar. Cool to room temperature.
If you can not access Rice Vinegar, you can substitute this with champagne vinegar, white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
We have prepared a useful calculator for you to determine how much rice and other ingredients you need to make a full-sized sushi roll (8 inch long).
Kitchen equipment you need
Wooden tub – “Hangiri 
“, “Sushi-oke” or “Handai” are names for a Japanese wooden tub. It is a shallow and flat-bottom wooden tub used to make rice in Japan. You need to let it soak in water before use so that it will not soak up the vinegar for the rice and avoid the rice sticking to the tub.
If you do not have access to this type of tub, you can substitute with a large mixing bowl. Do not use the rice cooker bowl especially for mixing the vinegar in. The acidity of the vinegar will damage the rice cooker bowl.
A Japanese fan – “Uchiwa” is the name of the Japanese fan. Of course, it does not have to be this type. However, in order to make the rice shine, you need something to cool the rice down quickly while you are combining the vinegar with the rice.
No more mushy sushi rice! Tips to make it perfectly
4 tips to make sure the rice turns out the best it can:
- Make sure the rice is hot when you pour the vinegar on top so that the rice turns out nice and shiny.
- Don’t stir and squish the rice while mixing in the vinegar, you need to “cut” it into the rice.
- Use a fan to cool the rice as you “cut” the vinegar into it, so the rice is shiny.
- Cool to room temperature and cover the rice with wet kitchen cloths to avoid the rice getting dry. Do not keep in the fridge.
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Recipe notes
Remember to use the ingredients calculator above to determine the quantity of rice and other ingredients for the number of full-sized sushi rolls you wish to make.
Ingredients
Sushi Vinegar (Sushizu)
- 4 tbsp Rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
Sushi Rice
- 2 cups Uncooked sushi rice *1
- 1.8 cups of water
- 1 strip of Kelp (about 5 cm/2inch) *2 or I tsp Konbu dashi powder
Instructions
- Wash the rice a few times or until the washing water becomes clear. Drain the washing water and place the rice in a rice cooker.
- Add the kepl strip and water and cook the rice as per your rice cooker instructions. *3
- While the rice is cooking, in a small pot, heat the rice vinegar, sugar, and salt together to make the sushi vinegar on medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
- Moisten the wooden tub with water and wipe excess water off with a cloth.
- Once the rice is cooked, remove the kelp strip (if you used a kelp strip) from the rice and place the rice into the wooden tub. Pour the sushi vinegar over it and mix to flavour the rice while fanning it to cool down the rice.
- While the rice is hot, pour the sushi vinegar mixture over the rice.
- Turn and mix to flavour the rice with rice spatula (called Shamoji) while fanning it to cool down the rice.
- While fanning with the Japanese fan (called Uchiwa) make sure that you are not mashing the rice, rather more like cutting motion.
- All the rice to cool at room temperature and place a moistened cloth over to avoid getting dry.
I made the perfect rice for my homemade sushi using this recipe! It tastes just like the rice that you’d buy from a Japanese restaurant. Delicious!
Ohhhh Thank you so much for using this recipe Maddie-chan <3
Great recipe. Calculator really helped.
Thank you Craig 😀 I am glad that the calculator is helpful!
Shihoko-San, you give the most simple yet detailed directions. I can’t thank you enough for helping me cook more authentically. My sushi rice was perfect thanks to your wonderful detailed directions.
Dōmo arigatōgozaimasu
Hi Ella san 😀 Dou itashi mashite. I am glad to know the recipe is useful 😀 Thank you for your lovely comments.Happy cooking!
Amazing. I followed your recipe and even added a strip of kelp. Best rice I have ever cooked.
Thank you for sharing this.
You are welcome Clayton 😀
What size is the Hangiri you are using
Hi Paul, I have a Hangiri about 25cm (9.8 inch) in diameter. It caters up to 5 cups of uncooked rice.
Thanks for this tutorial! We have made our own sushi before and the rice is never like the real stuff. This was very helpful.
You are welcome 😀 Thank you for 5 star rating Taryn 😀
Perfect is right! This rice always comes out so good. Thanks for sharing your tips!
Well apparently I have been making sushi rice completely wrong for years! Thank you so much for this instructional and detailed recipe! I have never cooked my rice with a strip of kelp before, so I am going to try that! And What a great tip about using a fan to help cool it down and make it shiny! Where can we buy a fan and a wooden tub like that? I need one!
Thank you Jenni for lovely comment 😀 You can get from Amazon
I LOVE this! We make our own sushi rice at home but the rice has never been quite 100% All the tips and tricks here means there is no chance I can stuff it up next time!
You are welcome Donna 😀 Hope the next one is perfect!
Thank you for writing this excellent guide on making perfect rice.
I’ve tried it and it came out very well.
Konnichiwa Frank, I am glad it came out well for you 😀 Happy cooking!
2 nitpicks: some rice vinegar, like Marukan, already has sugar and salt, so you’ll want to skip adding those again. Also it wasn’t quite clear if the volume of the rice vinegar is given in US cup or JP cup (since below JP cup was referenced for the rice).
Hi Val Thank you for your comment. I don’t use already mixed up “sushi vinegar”. When you purchase rice vinegar, make sure you get vinegar nothing added. The volume of the rice vinegar required is US cup 😀
I had no idea sushi rice had to have vinegar! No wonder mine never turns out! Can’t wait to try again with your method.
Thank you for the comment Krystal. Hope your next sushi rice is good one 😀
So easy and so yummy! Thank you for blogging this!
Thank you Graham 😀 I am glad that you found this recipe is easy!
I SOOOO needed this. I always mess up my sushi rice. Too sticky, not sticky enough. These tips worked wonders. THANKS!
Thank you Jessica 😀
Thank you for such a great tutorial!!! I always seem to mess up sushi rice, but with this method it was perfect.
My kids LOVED having sushi rolls for dinner.
You are welcome Claire 😀 Thank you for the comment and great rating.
I’ve GOT to try this!
YES! Thank you Aimee, try it very soon 😀
My son loves sushi. Now I know exactly how to make the rice for it. Thanks!
You are welcome Lisa 😀
This is such an informative and easy to follow guide, thank you!
You are welcome Wilhelmina 😀
Hi, i tried making sushi several times but i have two problems. One is that when i cook sushi and put in the bowl ( i will buy hangiri soon) and when i pour vinegar and mix all up and put damp table cloth to cool …. the very moment when i take out nori and start spreading rice, it seems dry. I really have to stick it in to to fill the space at nori sheet. I dont know why is that the case, i bought proper sushi rice and it is moist enough after cooking. Second problem is getting the taste of vinegar but i think i will sort that out.
Hi Alex, I am not sure, may be the rice type you use? and for the second problem the vinegar taste is subtle though usually.
We attempted to make sushi for the first time last night and used this rice recipe. It turned out GREAT! I will be saving this for our future sushi chronicles 🙂 Thanks for sharing! <3
Hi Stephanie, That’s fantastic 😀 I am glad to know that your sushi making went well.
This will be super helpful in the future! I have a question though, if you don’t mind. Can I use plain white rice without all the other ingredients and still make it sticky enough to mould? I’m very interested in learning how to make dishes with this (like onigiri) but I don’t have access to markets that would sell most of what I’d need, I don’t think. Thank you so much!
Hi Ryoka, it depends on what types of plain white rice. For example, long grain plain white rice such as basamati rice are not suitable. It will be too dry. The rice Japanese use is Koshihikari and it is sticky enough to make onigiri without adding sweet vinegar. And Onigiri is usually made with plain rice, not with vinegared rice (su-shi).
Such a wonderful and informative post!
I do hope to be able to improve my Japanese cooking skills.
Thank you for your help!
Have a great weekend! Alex
Thank you Alexandra 😀 you have a wonderful weekend too!
I didn’t know kelp/dashi should also be added when we cook the sushi rice. Thank you for an informative post :)!
I recently had lunch at a famous sushi restaurant in New York and they used some kind of red vinegar to season their sushi rice. The taste seems to be stronger than regular rice vinegar. I thought it was quite interesting but I guess it’s not very traditional right?
Hi Sophie, no I don’t think it is traditional sushi. We always use rice vinegar, but hey adding some colour is quite creative 😀 .
That sounds like umeboshi vinegar.
For one serving the calorie count is 1203 calories. This seems extremely high for a single serving. When I looked up a conversion chart for 300 grams of rice equals 1 and 1/2 cups of uncooked rice. When cooked this would be almost 3 cups of rice which is far more than one serving. I will reduce the amount of rice I use so that it will be much less in calories per serving. It does sound really delicious.
Hi, it is not for one serving. It is for one whole lot. If you use all of this sushi rice, it will make about 6 rolls of sushi 😀
this is what i needed for so long, thank you for sharing!
wow I’m so glad! thank you
Hello! What brand of konbu dashi powder do you use? Is this something I can buy online? I live in the US, but don’t live near an Asian market. Thanks!
Hi Dee, you can get Shimaya or Ajinomoto brand Konbu Dashi powder from Amazon 😀 They are about $8.
What brand of sushi vinegar do you usually use?
Hi Greg, I usually use Mitsukan. That is my favourite brand:D