Vegan Sushi: Dining Out or Rolling Your Own (2024)

Vegan Sushi: Dining Out or Rolling Your Own (1)

Is sushi vegan? Well, it can be.

Unfortunately, most sushi contains either fish or roe. But vegan sushi is nevertheless widely available in groceries and at restaurants. It’s also easy to make at home. Whether you buy it or make it yourself, vegan sushi is some of the tastiest food you’ll ever eat.

Sushi is by far the most famous dish in Japanese cooking. It takes an endless variety of forms, from dead-simple three ingredient nori rolls to extravagant offerings that demand years of training for authentic preparation. Luckily for vegans, the complexity surrounding sushi preparation mainly regards the fussy work of cutting up the fish, which demands expert instruction—especially where fugu (puffer fish) species are concerned. These fish contain a gland carrying enough poison to kill thirty people!

By contrast, you can make fantastic vegan sushi with minimal practice, with no risk of killing anybody.

Vegan sushi makes terrific sense from an ethical and environmental standpoint. You’ll also avoid potential exposure to parasitic worms and larva that are far-too-commonly found in raw fish.

Vegan Sushi Fillings

Fish is absolutely not a mandatory sushi ingredient. Here are some vegan items that are marvelous in sushi:

  • avocado
  • cucumber
  • baked sweet potato
  • nato
  • fried or baked tamari-marinated tofu
  • baked kabocha squash
  • radish
Vegan Sushi: Dining Out or Rolling Your Own (2)

Restaurant Sushi

You may have trouble finding totally vegan sushi in restaurants. That’s because most Japanese restaurants flavor their rice with dashi, a seasoning that provides a umami flavor. Dashi is usually made from fish flakes, but it is possible to make this seasoning from vegan ingredients like seaweed or mushrooms. Unfortunately, it’s a safe bet that the rice cooked at most sushi restaurants contains a minuscule amount of fish-based dashi.

If you can get vegan rice you’re home free—just order a nori roll made without seafood or eggs. Keep in mind, though, that the cost of your meal may be unreasonably high—because of lofty fish prices, sushi restaurants are among the most expensive places to eat. It’s unlikely that you’ll get an appropriate discount for ordering fish-free sushi, even though the ingredients that go into your meal could hardly be cheaper.

Nori rolls are served alongside a shallow bowl in which you’ll pour a little soy sauce. You’ll then use your chopsticks to stir in as much wasabi paste as suits your taste. Wasibi is super pungent, so try just a tiny bit to start. Next, you’ll use chopsticks to take a piece of sushi, and dip it into your soy sauce. It’s a faux pas to treat nori rolls as a finger food while at restaurants, but when I’m home and nobody’s looking I don’t see the point of using chopsticks. My Japanese friends don’t use them either for informal meals at home.

While it can be tough to find 100 percent vegan sushi at restaurants, many natural food stores carry vegan nori rolls. Just check the refrigerated section, next to their sandwiches and other prepared meals.

Vegan Sushi: Dining Out or Rolling Your Own (3)

Making Vegan Sushi at Home

If there’s no place nearby that sells vegan sushi, it’s easy to make your own.

You’ll need sushi rice, veggies, nori, and a sushirolling mat. Any good natural food store carries sheets of nori. Better yet, Asian groceries typically sell it at rock-bottom prices—and they also stock an excellent selection of soy sauce, pickled ginger, sushi rice, and wasabi.

Once you get the knack of making nori rolls, they are one of the easiest gourmet-leaning meals you can make. YouTube offers numerous instruction videos for making vegan sushi. Here’s a splendid introductory video that covers the basics, and shows you three varieties perfect for your first attempts. And here’s a longer video showing more ambitious and labor-intensive variations.

If you want to explore further, pick up a copy of the all-vegan cookbook, Sushi Modoki.

Fancy Fillings and Special Accompaniments

Making nori rolls at home offers the perfect opportunity to experiment with the latest vegan fish alternatives. Ocean Hugger Foods offers a product called Ahimi that’s made from tomatoes, yet has a texture and flavor profile shockingly similar to pricey (and often endangered!) tuna.

Half of what makes sushi special are its accompaniments. At home or in restaurants, try eating slices of pickled ginger and sipping some cold Japanese beer between pieces. Note that store-bought pickled ginger may contain artificial sweeteners or red dye, so read labels and opt for a gourmet brand. Japanese-style lager beers, not surprisingly, provide the perfect accompaniment to vegan sushi. Available internationally, Asahi’s flagship Super Dry beer sold in silver cans makes for a sensational vegan pairing.

For further reading, please see our Vegan Cooking Guide and our Guide to Vegan Japanese food.

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Vegan Sushi: Dining Out or Rolling Your Own (2024)

FAQs

How to eat vegan sushi? ›

Nori rolls are served alongside a shallow bowl in which you'll pour a little soy sauce. You'll then use your chopsticks to stir in as much wasabi paste as suits your taste. Wasibi is super pungent, so try just a tiny bit to start. Next, you'll use chopsticks to take a piece of sushi, and dip it into your soy sauce.

What is a vegan sushi roll called? ›

Seaweed Gunkanmaki

Seaweed gunkan-maki (“battleship roll”) is a flavorful and nutrient-rich sushi option for vegans and non-vegans alike. Wakame or seaweed salad is dressed with soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, sesame seeds and red chili, then piled on top of sushi rice and secured with a strip of nori seaweed.

How do you store vegan sushi? ›

How to Store Vegetable Sushi Rolls. If you're taking them with you on the go, just pop some into a container with a lid or wrap with re-usable plastic wrap! They're best eaten the day it's made but if you would like to make them the night before, just wrap them in a towel and store in the fridge.

How healthy is vegan sushi? ›

Yes, vegan sushi can be a good option for those trying to lose weight. It is generally low in calories and saturated fat, and high in nutrients and fiber, which can help promote fullness and prevent overeating. However, as with any food, it's important to consume vegan sushi in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

Is veg sushi worth it? ›

Yes, sushi can definitely be made vegetarian! In fact, there are many delicious vegetarian options for sushi, such as avocado rolls, cucumber rolls, and vegetable tempura rolls. These options provide a variety of textures and flavors, making them just as satisfying as traditional sushi with fish.

What is veg sushi made of? ›

Sprinkle avocado slices with lemon juice in a bowl. Spread a thin layer of sesame seeds onto a sushi mat. Pick up about half a cup of cooled rice and place onto sushi mat in an even layer. Place 1/4 of the cucumber, avocado slices, bell pepper, and zucchini in a line down the middle of the rice.

How long can vegan sushi sit out? ›

Raw sushi like sashimi can be refrigerated for 1–2 days, while cooked sushi can last for 3–4 days. Neither type should be kept at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

Can you eat vegan sushi the next day? ›

According to Katie Heil, Seller/Server Learning Experience Design Manager at Certus, sushi with raw fish should be consumed within one to two days of preparation. Sushi without raw fish might be safe for almost a week.

Can you eat sushi left out overnight? ›

How long can I keep sushi? For best results, sushi should be eaten the day it is prepared. It can be kept up to two hours at room temperature. If it is to be consumed more than two hours later, please refrigerate your sushi or keep it in a cool place.

How long can poke sit out? ›

If you purchased your poke ready-to-eat from the store, you should also factor in the time that it has already spent in a refrigerator. Do not let your poke sit out at room temperature for more than 2 hours (or 1 hour when it's more than 90 degrees Fahrenheit out), warns the USDA.

Is there a downside to a vegan diet? ›

Low vitamin B12 intake is a significant problem in vegan diets due to the exclusion of vitamin B12-rich foods such as meat, poultry, and eggs. A lack of vitamin B12 has been linked to neurologic and hematologic problems [19].

Does vegan sushi taste fishy? ›

Not really. Vegetarian sushi is just like other sushi, without the meat. It's rice and vegetables, rolled in seaweed. I suppose, to a small degree, you could say that seaweed tastes “fishy” but honestly, you could also say that fish taste like the ocean, which tastes like seaweed.

How often should you eat sushi? ›

General sushi consumption on a weekly basis should be no more than 10 to 15 rolls, according to Health Magazine. This should especially be taken into consideration if the sushi ingredients include tuna, salmon or any raw fish.

Is veggie sushi good for weight loss? ›

For example, a common ingredient in vegetarian sushi rolls is avocado. In such a roll, calories come from the avocado's healthy monounsaturated fats. Due to its fibre content, the avocado makes this sushi a great addition to the diet of people who want to lose weight.

What is vegan sushi called? ›

Any sushi with just vegetables on it and inari sushi (sometimes called tofu pockets). Inari is my favorite along with avocado sushi. There is also sushi with fake seafood and fake fish on it, but the ones I've tried don't taste anything. Popular other vegan sushi styles are aubergine sushi and cucumber sushi.

Does veg sushi taste good? ›

Yeah, vegetarian sushi is a thing. I like vegetarian sushi from time to time. You can say it isn't really sushi if you like but it delivers most of the same flavors and textures. It's yards better than the canned tuna filled crap that 7–11 calls sushi, that's for sure.

Can you roll sushi without seaweed? ›

You can thinly cut a cucumber to use as a wrapper for delicious sushi fillings. Or you can use a soy wrapper that comes in a variety of fun colors. Either way, you're sure to create memorable sushi that doesn't rely on the standard seaweed.

Can you eat sushi if you're vegan? ›

However, since the primary ingredients of sushi are vegan, like sushi su (sushi rice, rice vinegar, water) and nori sheets (100% seaweed), whether a roll of sushi is vegan or not depends on the fillings and toppings used. Subscribe to our newsletters and download it right now.

How do you eat raw vegan? ›

A raw vegan diet means that a person also does not heat, cook, or process the food they eat. Many people eating the raw vegan diet consider food raw if it has not had exposure to temperatures higher than 118 °F (48 °C). Instead of cooking, a person may prepare foods in other ways, such as: juicing.

Can raw vegans eat rice? ›

While observers of a raw diet may eat rice, only certain types are viable and the rice must be prepared by sprouting. Rice cannot be eaten in its hard raw state. It must be hydrated, and in the case of the raw diet, sprouted. Both white rice and wild rice will not sprout.

How do you eat sushi if you dont like fish? ›

A great tip is that after cooking and seasoning your sushi rice, quickly poach some shrimp in a little salt water for a few minutes. Then, slice them thinly, add avocado and cucumber, and roll with nori and the seasoned rice — with the rice on the outside. Roll the rice side in your tobiko, slice, and serve.

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