How to Make Sushi Rice in a Rice Cooker
This is hands down the easiest way to make sushi rice for homemade sushi. Just use your rice cooker!
Yesterday I posted my how-to for making homemade sushi, and this post is completely dedicated to making the sushi rice.
There is an art to making perfect sushi rice, but I think that’s best left to the sushi chefs who have spent years learning how to make it perfectly.
When I make sushi at home, I leave the cooking up to my rice cooker. And as long as you have a somewhat decent rice cooker, the results should definitely be satisfactory!
I have this rice cooker, and at $60 I think it’s a very reasonably priced appliance. I use it a ton and I’m impressed with the rice it turns out.
UPDATE: After lots of research, I was convinced enough that more expensive rice cookers are in fact superior, so I ended up replacing my old rice cooker with this 5-star rated Zojirushi (affiliate). And WOW there is a huge difference. We had kept the box in case we wanted to return it, but the rice is so much better, we decided it’s indeed worth the cost.
To get started, combine rice and water in the rice cooker. I use Nishiki rice, which is easy to find and regarded as a high-quality rice. My Japanese friends say it’s the best!
As far as washing goes, I don’t rinse this particular brand of rice. A lot of people are adamant about this, but the directions for Nishiki instruct you to combine the rice with the water as is. You can wash the rice if you feel more comfortable.
While the rice cooks, all you need to finish it up is some seasoned rice vinegar. If you google sushi rice, you’ll see that most recipes call for rice vinegar, salt, and sugar, then you dissolve them together and season the rice with it.
Buying rice vinegar with the salt and sugar already in it takes that step away, so that’s why I keep this on hand:
For the 1.5 cups of uncooked rice that we used, about 1/4 cup of the rice vinegar is ideal. Add it to the rice:
Gently toss the rice around to further distribute the rice vinegar, trying not to mash or flatten the rice:
Then it’s ready to be used for homemade sushi. Enjoy!
How to Make Sushi Rice in a Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups sushi rice (I use Nishiki)
- 2 cups filtered water
- 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar (I use Marukan)
Instructions
- Place the rice and water into a rice cooker. Cook the rice according to the “white rice” setting on the rice cooker.
- When the rice has finished cooking, evenly pour the seasoned rice vinegar all over the rice. Toss the rice around to further distribute the rice vinegar, taking care to be gentle, and not mash the rice.
- It is now ready to be used for sushi. Here’s my post on homemade sushi.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
How to Make Homemade Sushi:
33 Comments on “How to Make Sushi Rice in a Rice Cooker”
How long before you make the sushi do you have to make this?
Ideally the rice is warm, but not hot. So you want to make the sushi pretty soon after. Maybe 10 minutes.
the description is good but i thought you had to cool it. Am I right?
And even if you use the already seasoned rice i think you should tell people how to do the usual stuff.
Do you put Rice Vinegar when the rice cooker is finished?
I put the vinegar in with the water during the cooking process to better distribute and not to mush the rice. Worked great.
I tried both ways and found the method used by K Howard to be the best and most efficient . I have done it several times now with success and evenly distributed over the rice. If there is a special reason not to mix the seasoned rice vinegar when cooking please let me know. Otherwise this is hands down the way to prepare.
Do you cool down the rice or out in fridge before rolling?
Too much water. My rice turned out super mushy
Seems easy to make. I wish there were alternatives if the brand/product is not available in store such as the seasones rice vinegar. 🤷🏻♀️
It’s $6.88 on Amazon.
Turned out really well!
Wow, I love this sushi . Thanks so much for sharing!
Hey Joanne, such an informative article you had shared. i didn’t know how to make sushi rice in a rice cooker. Your tips will help me to do that correctly.i will tell my friends about this recipe. keep sharing like this type of post.. 🙂
Great recipe, I always use it. Makes perfect sushi rice every time.
Hi Andy, that’s great to hear!
Can I use white rice in place of sushi rice?
Hi Lisa, for sushi specifically it should definitely be sushi rice that you buy. It has a certain stickiness to it that plain white rice doesn’t have.
This was great, so fluffy, and nice and sour.
Can I use sweetened black rice vinegar?
can I prepare the rice a day before and refrigerate it?
Oh wow, that is so cool! I didn’t realize rice vinegar (and good rice) is all you really need to get that consistency.