How to make sushi rice – the complete recipe
Preparing sushi rice may seem complicated, but once you get started, you’ll find out that it is a bit like cooking ordinary rice, but with vinegar added to it, and a dash of Japanese technique. There are four key steps to making sushi rice: washing, soaking, cooking, and seasoning. Let’s review everything you need to know:
Choosing the right rice
Japanese short-grain rice has a higher starch content than long-grain rice and takes a different amount of water than long-grain rice. Short-grain rice is stickier and better for holding its shape when rolled into sushi. Long-grain (‘regular’) rice just isn’t sticky enough for sushi-making. Here is what a bag of sushi rice should look like.
Measuring sushi rice
Prepare 1 cup of sushi rice per 3 sushi rolls. Each roll makes up 6-8 little sushi pieces. 2 rolls are recommended per person, depending on personal preferences. Wash the rice (1 cup = 3 rolls) with running water for 1-2 minutes until there is no more starch coming out of it. For best results, let the rice soak in water for 30 minutes to help soften it.
After washing the rice, place it gently in a pot and add more water than rice. It should be about 1.2:1 in favor of the water. That is 20% more water compared to the rice. Do not add more water or you will end up with dough instead of rice.
Still not sure? Check out our Quantity Calculator.Cooking the rice
Cook the rice on high heat at first, stirring every minute or two until the water boils. Then, lower the heat to low and cover the pot. After 6-8 minutes, check the water level – if there is no more water, only bigger grains of rice in the pot, the rice is ready. If not, check back every minute, making sure not to burn the rice at the bottom.
Quantity calculator
We are here to help with all the calculations. Select how much you will be making, and the calculator will provide you with the quantities. Have a go!
Units:
Taking out the rice
When taking the rice out of the pot, only use a wooden spoon to handle the cooked rice. A metal spoon will cause the rice to be damaged, and it can also react with the vinegar that we will be adding later.
Second, do not scrape the rice out from the bottom of the pot. If it comes out easily, that is great. Otherwise, do not use it. The rice will taste bad. Put it in wooden or plastic bowls to chill.
Seasoning the rice
Rice vinegar mixed with sugar and salt is essential for giving sushi its distinct combination of flavors. If you neglect this part, your sushi won’t quite taste like sushi should. It is not recommended to substitute rice vinegar as most types of vinegar are much too strong. Rice vinegar is more delicate and blends in perfectly with the rice.
How to season the rice
- For 3 cups of dry sushi rice, use 0.5 cup of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 2 teaspoons of salt. Use only rice vinegar! Any other kind of vinegar will taste bad. Alternatively, you could use sushi rice seasoning powder.
- Mix together in a small pot on medium heat until all the solids are mixed together.
- Pour the mixture onto the rice and mix well. That should take a minute or two.
- Let the rice cool down for a few minutes until it reaches room temperature. Don’t put the rice in the fridge to make it cool faster – that will damage the rice. You can, however, use a fan, A/C, or put it by the window.
Important tip – Some people prefer less seasoned sushi rice. Also, the strength of rice vinegar can vary depending on the brand. If it is your first time making sushi rice, or you are uncertain, prepare half the amount of seasoning described above. Mix it with the rice and taste.
Trust your own palette if you want to use the full amount or not.
Final thoughts
That’s it, you’ve made it! For the sake of the internet, please take a moment to share your experience in the comments section below. Did it turn out as you expected? Better? Ask any questions you have, somebody will be able to answer, and it might even help other folks with the same question in the future. And most importantly, enjoy making sushi!
Made it this way the first time and it was perfect- don’t change a thing! Easiest recipe to follow too, thank you for posting it!
We’ve made it. Second time we have done this and Your guide helped us a lot, improved the taste. Its not perfect but its really helpful and all in all really tasty! Thank You for sharing.
I made it using only one cup of sushi rice since it’s my first attempt and I didn’t want to waste a lot of product. I cut everything into thirds, and am using a garlic infused rice vinegar. It’s a little to vinegary and sweet so next time I’ll reduce both a little.
Where can i find rice vinegar?
Hey Jodi!
That really depends where you live, but try your local supermarket or buy online e.g. from Amazon.
I found it at Walmart on the “Asian food” aisle 🙂
Walmart usually has it on a top shelf in the vinegar aisle.
Worked out great, just like in restaurants 🙂
The rice turned out great! I found out that brown sugar works in placement of white sugar for the seasoning. The brown sugar doesn’t change the color of the rice at all.
The rice turned out to be perfect!! <3
Thank you! I am doing it again today. 🙂
The recipe turned out perfect! This is my first time making sushi rice and I made it in a rice cooker too. Thank you, this was very helpful!
this is the best cooking website ever out of all the other ones, my sushi rice tastes just like the ones you get from japan I RECOMMEND THİS WEB TO ANYONE WHO WANTS SCRUMPTOUS(means scrummy, yummy and delicious at the same time) SUSHİ RİCE and wants a nice happy tummy i think sushi is the best food in the WORLD
I love sushi! But due to a diet change I have been using brown medium calrose rice with the sushi seasoning. However, I would like to find an alternative to using rice wine vinegar (or vinegar/mirin), and have heard you can use cranberry juice. I realise this isn’t going to be like traditional sushi at all, but need to find a way to stick the brown rice together. Any ideas would be much appreciated. KT
Leave the rice a little moist, do not cook it as long
Fantastic site made sushi for the first time using your recipes and the rice came out great! I can see how it can take a long time to master the technique but your instructions were spot on!
Question: How long will the sushi rice keep, if I made it late morning (11 am) and didn’t use it until dinner (7pm) is that okay and if so, how would I store it.
Thanks!
LC
The rolls should be consumed within 24 hours. As far as the rice itself, it can be used, however the quality will be lowered a ridiculous amount. I personally use a rice cooker with a warming function, it keeps the rice warm for up to 5 hours.
Would you share your recipe using a rice cooker? Obviously the water should be measured exactly in that instance. Thx
i would say put a cover over it and keep in a cool, dry place:)
This was PERFECT. I needed even a little less than half of the seasoning but that gave me leftover to season my veggies.
I would clarify for other total newbies that the 3 rolls you get per uncooked cup of rice is 3 “logs” – rolls about 8″ long that can be cut into six or so pieces each (varies with how you slice them). So three cups of rice would make around 54 pieces.
(This is embarrassing, but I thought “roll” meant a round piece cut from the log, not the log itself – like when making jelly rolls, cinnamon buns, etc, where the slice from the tightly rolled log is what is called a roll. So while I thought it sounded like too much rice, since I wanted 6-12 pieces, I made 2 cups of rice, and wound up with a cookie sheet full of pieces instead A happy surprise, but still a surprise!)
Anyway, thank you for this awesome tutorial. My sushi came out exactly how I wanted on my very first try and I’m so happy!
I was curious as to how long a “roll” was! Thanks for answering for me ????????
Hahaa! Same thing happened to me, so I made much more than really needed, but turned our so perfect that I didn’t regret the waisted rice. Lessons learned!
Perfecting sushi is an art your have shown the way!
I tried this recipe night before last and decided to attempt it with regular white rice. It turned out great! The steps were clear and very very helpful. We really enjoyed our first homemade sushi dinner. 🙂 thank you so much!
Been hankering after Sushi for a fortnight and ive just made the rice 🙂 looks great and currently cooling.. now away to Google which side up should I have the nori..
Great instructions.. much better than on rice packet!!
Do you think that this same mixture will work with brown rice? I am trying to make healthy sushi! 😉
Brown rice will not stick together as well as traditional short grain white rice. Your sushi would probably fall apart.
I’m a little late to reply, but mixing white and brown rice would work better than using brown rice alone. It would provide a bit of stickiness. You would probably have to cook the brown and white rice separately because they have different cooking times and water amounts.
i just made a half batch of this. first time making sushi. i did find it a little salty, but it was otherwise delicious. especially like the tip of the fan.
as a first time sushi maker, i applaud and thank you for the easy tips.
Best rolls yet! I over sugared. and over vinegared. But I got the rice right this time.
Thanks.
Works every time. Thanks
I used a little more than half of the vinegar mixture, and it was perfect for my taste.
Great cooking advise!I eliminated the sugar from the recipe..that’s just for my taste though!
Is rice vinegar the same as rice wine vinegar?
Short answer: Yes.
Longer answer: vinegar is a product of wines in general it’s a byproduct of a bacteria that “eats” alcohol in wine. So rice vinegar is when rice wine is converted by this bacteria.
An aside: obviously rice wine is made by using yeast to convert the starch/sugars from rice into alcohol.
I have seasoned rice vinegar, how does that impact how much sugar and salt I use? Or is it already added?
Hey Maria, if the rice vinegar is already seasoned – there is no need to add sugar and salt to it.
To be sure, taste a tiny bit of it to tell if it is sweet and salty enough and add accordingly.
Thanks. Worked really well
Great recipe thanks for sharing