This Easy Spicy Salmon Sushi Bake recipe is creamy, dreamy and incredibly easy to whip together! Using a few staple Japanese ingredients, leftover rice, and canned salmon to bring this baked salmon sushi to your dinner table in less than 30 minutes!
What is a Sushi Bake?
Baked salmon sushi is a warm, easy one-dish meal that’s made out of sushi rice, salmon, spicy mayo sauce, and toppings like avocado, furikake, jalapenos for spice, and panko for a crunch! Enjoyed with Nori sheets (seaweed) for a sushi experience.
One of my absolute favorite things to order at a Japanese or sushi restaurant is spicy salmon sushi or spicy tuna and, of course, a giant elaborate roll with lots of toppings and a crunch. This spicy salmon sushi bake reminds me of both of my favorite things, in one easy, affordable, delicious dinner!
Baked sushi is also very similar to a dish my husband and I made every single Friday, Tuna over rice.
It’s a Japanese inspired meal that his Japanese grandpa and dad taught him how to make. It’s both good and so easy to make. So, perfect for an easy Friday night dinner.
I’ll show you how easy it is to incorporate this baked salmon sushi for an out-of-this-world delicious and cozy dinner for you, for two or for a large family!
There are a variety of ways to make this dish, so change out what doesn’t work for you and add what does. Look through my variations list below for more ideas to customize it.
A Little History On Sushi Bake
Cooked salmon sushi has been around for a while, especially with various sushi restaurants showcasing their work through more elaborate sushi rolls.
Though one-pan Baked Sushi started taking off more when a video went viral showing a microwaved rice bowl with salmon topped with spicy mayo and soy sauce. The internet lost it’s mind and everyone wanted a piece of the action.
Although everyone has their own twist, the one-dish salmon sushi bake stuck.
This recipe reminds me of so many wonderful food. One of them being this Shrimp Poke Rice Bowl, that’s topped with spicy mayo and fresh toppings!
And, if you decide to go with salmon filets instead of canned salmon, then make this Smoky Bourbon BBQ Salmon with any leftovers. It knocks in out of the park in smoky and sweet flavor, with a splash of bourbon!
Ingredients Needed
The toppings can get as simple or as complicated as you’d like. This Salmon Sushi Bake recipe is absolutely delicious either way. To dig into this seafood wonderfulness, we’ll need:
Salmon, use canned salmon or filets.
I opted for using a large 14.5 oz can that you can easily find in any grocery store.
Rice
Mayo
Sriracha
Seasoned rice vinegar
Low-sodium soy sauce
Avocado
Jalapenos
Optional: Panko. Adding it to the top before baking the dish adds the best crunch! Think about those crunchy rolls, mmmm.
Another optional but exceptional topping is adding zuke, or a quick cucumber pickling salad to this dish, after it baked. It adds the zing and the fresh crunch that we love pairing without rice bowls!
How to Make Salmon Sushi Bake (step-by-step)
Preheat oven to 350F.
To a baking dish, add the rice and flatten it along the bottom of the dish.
Drizzle rice vinegar, soy sauce and a liberal serving of furikake over the rice. Stir if you’d like, but not necessary.
In a medium mixing bowl, add drained and picked through for bones, canned salmon.
Mix in, softened cream cheese, Mayo, sriracha, soy sauce, and Japanese bbq sauce.
Top the rice with the salmon mixture and smear it flat.
Top with Panko, jalapeños, and more sauce if you’d like.
Bake for 20 minutes uncovered, until heated through.
Expert Tips
- Canned Salmon – remove bones if yours comes with them. The salmon mixture should be soft and creamy, so bones get in the way of that.
- Sushi Rice – using the right kind of rice creates a more authentic sushi experience. Though I’ve made this dish many times without sushi rice, I end up tasting the difference.
Serving Suggestions
There are a couple ways you can enjoy this meal. If you’re not apart of a large crowd, I like keeping everything in the main baking dish and using Nori sheets to eat.
Otherwise, plate as much as you’d like on a medium-sized plate and enjoy with chopsticks or seaweed. Or my preference, both!
Storage Tips
Cover it tightly and store in the fridge for up to 2 days. To eat again, reheat in the oven or microwave for simplicity. You can top with panko for a crunch prior to reheating!
HOW TO PREP AHEAD
This is one of those recipes that makes it extremely easy to make ahead of time. Here’s how!
Make your rice in advance. Using leftover rice from the night before, mix the rice toppings and set aside. Then mix the salmon with cream cheese, and spicy mayo mixture. Place in a air tight container in the fridge, preferably separate from the rice until you’re ready to make this recipe.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS
For one, it’s extremely simple. Easy to whip together, which I look for more and more ways nowadays with our growing young family.
The Japanese toppings and flavors work well together to create a creamy spicy sushi bake.
VARIATIONS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Salmon
If you’re not a fan of canned salmon, then use pre-cooked salmon fillets to make this recipe. I would use at least 2 personal fillets that are flaked well to combine with the creamy mixture.
Tuna
To go a different route, if you have canned tuna on hand you can absolutely use that instead. We’ve made a similar Japanese dish with canned tuna. It turns out great! You may not need as much cream cheese.
Shrimp
I love shrimp, so this is one I’m all over. Make it the same way, or decrease the amount of cream cheese since shrimp is already juicy. Dice them up small!
You can use Hoison sauce if you have that instead. They will both provide a touch of sweetness to enhance the other flavors.
Crunchy
For a crunch, top with a heavy sprinkle of panko and a touch of salt. This adds a much needed crunch that I seek after in sushi! It’s absolutely worth a try.
FAQ
Absolutely. Leave out the sriracha and use hoisin sauce or Japanese BBQ sauce for flavor. if you prefer any of those. Otherwise, reduce the amount of sriracha or leave it out completely.
Whatever you’d like. This dish would work great with shrimp, crab or scallops. In fact, crab is sounding especially good right now, I might run off and make that version. Look through the variations I have above!
First, make sure that either your salmon is sushi grade or that you switch to using cooked salmon.
I’ve eaten various versions of this dish in the past, and with sushi traditional being cold or room temp, then you can definitely enjoy this dish cold. I would at the very least, plate it per the instructions in the recipe, but using warmed rice. This is how I make our family’s regular tuna rice bowls, and they’re always a hit.
RELATED RECIPES
One of my all time favorite salmon recipes is this Smoky Bourbon Salmon I love making as a cozy yet a great meal to serve guests.
For another super easy canned fish recipe, try Tuna Pesto Pasta, it’s simple, yet fresh and filling!
If you have canned smoked oysters, this Canned Seafood Stuffing is absolutely phenomenal. Made with flaky, buttery, croissants, it’s hard to turn down!
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Easy Spicy Salmon Sushi Bake
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked rice using sushi rice is preferred
- ¼ cup seasoned rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Furikake Japanese rice seasoning with sesame seeds and seaweed
Homemade Spicy Mayo
- ½ cup mayo
- 2-3 tbsp sriracha more or less to your spicy tolerance
- 1 tbsp Japanese bbq sauce Optional. use soy sauce and a sprinkle of sugar or hoison sauce instead.
Baked Salmon
- 1 14.5oz canned salmon
- 4 oz cream cheese softened
Toppings
- 2 green onions diced
- fresh sliced jalapenos
- Furikake
- spicy mayo sauce
- 1 avocado sliced
- ⅓ cup panko optional for a crunch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- To a baking dish, add the rice and flatten it along the bottom of the dish.
- Drizzle rice vinegar, soy sauce and a liberal serving of furikake over the rice. Stir if you’d like, but not necessary.
- In a medium mixing bowl, add drained and picked through for bones, canned salmon.
- Mix in softened cream cheese and a little more than half of the spicy mayo sauce.
- Top the rice with the salmon mixture and smear it flat.
- Top with the rest of the spicy mayo, jalapeños, green onions, and panko if you’d like.
- Bake uncovered until heated through, about 20 minutes. Top with avocado prior to serving. Enjoy with Nori sheets (seaweed).
Notes
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