Learn how to make your all-time favorite Dragon Roll at home! In this recipe, we will talk about the key ingredients and tips & tricks to make the perfect sushi roll.
Next to California Rolls, Dragon Roll is another popular sushi rolls served at American-style sushi restaurants and buffet joints. It’s not traditional sushi you can find in Japan, but I can see why this imaginative sushi is such a favorite.
The combo of creamy avocado and crunchy shrimp tempura make the perfect match to the tenderly moist vinegared rice. It’s so delicious that I can devour the entire roll on my own. Luckily, making dragon roll at home is easier than it looks.
What is Dragon Roll?
The dragon roll is an inside-out sushi, which is filled with nori sheet wrapping around the ingredients on the inside and the sushi rice is on the outside. Here, shrimp tempura and cucumber are tucked inside the nori, and thinly sliced avocado is layered on top of the roll, and when it’s sliced, the artistically arranged sushi resembles the scales of a dragon. The sushi roll is typically topped with tobiko fish roes and drizzled with spicy mayonnaise and unagi sauce, which makes it even more enticing.
You can also find another version of the dragon roll that features grilled eel (unagi) instead of shrimp tempura.
Watch How To Make Dragon Roll
Key Ingredients and Tips to Make Perfect Dragon Roll
1. Shrimp Tempura
Since shrimp tempura is getting mainstream, many American grocery stores (Trader Joe’s, Costco, etc) carry frozen shrimp tempura at the seafood section. The frozen shrimp tempura tends to be extra crunchy, so it’s perfect for making dragon roll at home. You just need to pop them in an oven (or toaster oven) for 20 minutes or so, while you do most of the prep work.
Of course, you can make them from scratch, and here’s my Shrimp Tempura recipe. You’ll need 2 shrimp tempuras for each roll you plan to make.
2. Avocado
It’s funny to say this, but I find the most challenging part of making dragon roll at home is to find the perfectly ripe avocado.
To choose the perfect avocado for immediate use, look for the ones with darker colored skin. Then gently squeeze the fruit in the palm of your hand. If the avocado yields to firm gentle pressure, it’s ready-to-eat.
If the avocado does not yield to gentle pressure, it is considered still “firm” and will ripen in a couple of days. If the avocado feels mushy or very soft to the touch it may be very ripe to overripe.
3. Cucumber
I use Japanese cucumbers which are long and slender. They have few seeds so it’s perfect for sushi rolls. If you can’t find Japanese cucumbers, then use Persian cucumbers are quite similar so they are a great substitute.
If you use English cucumbers, then cut in half lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon as they yield too much water inside the rolls. I do not recommend using typical American cucumbers as they have waxy thick skin and too many seeds inside.
4. Sushi Rice
The word “sushi rice” is sometimes used to refer to Japanese short-grain rice outside of Japan, but in Japanese cooking, Sushi Rice (酢飯) means steamed rice that has been seasoned with sushi vinegar and only used for all types of sushi recipes.
Perfectly prepared sushi rice is very important in sushi making. Here are a few things to take note:
- You’ll need Japanese short-grain rice (I use Koshihikari), cook it well, and season with sushi vinegar. Read my step-by-step tutorial on how to cook sushi rice.
- Please DO NOT mash the sushi rice when you place it on the nori sheet. You should be able to see individual rice kernel, not mushy rice in the roll.
- Do not overfill the roll with rice. It’s important to balance to ratio of rice and the fillings. My quick tip is to use a ½-cup measuring cup to fill the rice before you assemble your rolls. That should be enough for half a sheet of nori. With a consistent amount of sushi rice for each roll, all of your sushi rolls will be of even size!
5. Nori (Seaweed)
I use only half a sheet of nori for my recipe and it is sufficient to roll. If you found the nori a little too short, cut down the filling slightly. Keep practicing and you should be able to find the perfect ratio for rolling.
6. Spicy Mayo
All you need is two ingredients for this amazing sauce! It’s creamy, sweet, tangy with the right amount of heat. Please use Japanese mayonnaise for the best flavor. You can buy it from Amazon. The Japanese mayo is essential to make Japanese Potato Salad, Sesame Dressing, Mentaiko Pasta, Okonomiyaki, Casesar Salad, and more!
7. Unagi Sauce
Just a few spoonfuls of unagi sauce gives an extra flavorful boost to the dragon roll. If you can’t find a bottle of unagi (eel) sauce from your local Japanese grocery store, try my Homemade Unagi Sauce recipe. It is totally worth making from scratch, especially if you love making Unadon (Unagi Donburi) or Yaki Onigiri. It’s a good condiment to have in your fridge at all times.
Dragon Roll for Sushi Party
I hope I’ve inspired you to start making sushi rolls at home. Dragon roll does not include any raw sashimi, so it’s safe for pregnant ladies and young children. If you’re looking for sushi to serve a crowd, this is the one to make. We have an ultimate guide on how to host a sushi party that you might want to check out!
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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- 1 Persian/Japanese cucumbers
- 2 avocados
- 1/2 lemon (optional)
- 2 sheets nori (seaweed) (cut in half crosswise)
- 2 cups sushi rice (cooked and seasoned) (each roll needs 1/2 cup sushi rice)
- 8 pieces shrimp tempura (Recipe)
- 2 Tbsp Tobiko (flying fish roe) (2 Tbsp = 20g)
- unagi (eel) (optional)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Cut cucumber lengthwise into quarters. Remove the seeds and then cut in half lengthwise.
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Cut the avocado in half lengthwise around the seed and twist the two halves until they separate. Hack the knife edge into the pit. Hold the skin of the avocado with the other hand and twist in counter directions. The pit will come out smoothly.
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Remove the skin and slice the avocado widthwise.
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Gently press the avocado slices with your fingers and then keep pressing gently and evenly with the side of the knife until the length of avocado is about the length of sushi roll (length of nori seaweed). If you don't serve the sushi roll right away, I recommend squeezing lemon over the avocado to prevent discoloration.
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Wrap the bamboo mat with plastic wrap and place half of the nori sheet, shiny side down. Dip your hands in tezu (vinegar water) and spread 1/2 cup sushi rice over the nori sheet.
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Turn it over and put the shrimp tempura, cucumber strips, and tobiko at the bottom end of the nori sheet. If you like to put unagi, place inside here as well.
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From the bottom end, start rolling nori sheet over the filling tightly and firmly with bamboo mat until the bottom end reaches the nori sheet. Lift the bamboo mat and roll over.
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Place the bamboo mat over the roll and tightly squeeze the roll.
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Using the side of the knife, place the avocado on top of the roll.
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Place plastic wrap over the roll and then put the bamboo mat over. Tightly squeeze the roll until the avocado slices wrap around the sushi. Be gentle so you won’t break the avocado slices.
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Cut the roll into 8 pieces with the knife. Clean knife with a wet towel after each cut. If the roll got messy while cutting, tightly squeeze the sushi roll again with the bamboo mat. Remove the plastic wrap on top of the sushi and transfer it to a serving plate.
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Put tobiko on each piece of sushi and drizzle spicy mayo and sprinkle black sesame seeds on top. If you like, place some unagi sauce on the plate so you can dip the sushi. Enjoy!
Equipment you will need:
- Bamboo sushi mat
- Plastic wrap
- Sharp knife
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Other Sushi Recipes You’ll Love:
- California Roll
- Spicy Tuna Roll
- Futomaki (Fat Sushi Roll)
- Hosomaki (Thin Sushi Roll)
- Hand Roll
- Temari Sushi
- Inari Sushi
- Cucumber Wrapped Sushi
- Sushi Ginger (gari)
Editor’s Note: Original post was published in June 2013. The post is updated with new content and video in April 2016 and republished in June 2020.
Hi Nami,
I love your beautiful website with all these amazing food/pictures. I am so glad to find out about your website by accident. I am going to find time to try out your food recipe when I get the chance. I see you make a lot of salad dressing, I wonder if you make sauces for roll sushi besides the unagi sauce, spicy mayo, and ponzu sauce. Any suggestions would be helpful, thank you
Texas mom
Tracy
Hi Tracy! Thank you so much for your kind compliment. 🙂 I’m so glad you found my site!
What kind of sauces have you tasted before and what kind of rolls? Sorry I usually eat more traditional nigiri sushi and don’t eat too many rolls, so I’m not too familiar with the kind of sauces for rolls (we don’t have this in Japan). Hope I can help you.
Would you know where to find real unagi filets? Or would using frozen ones come out the same?
Do you have suggestions on how to prepare it so that it comes out yummy?
Hi PandaMamma! I’m not sure where you’re located, but in SF, there are Japanese unagi (grilled already) shipped from Japan. They are like close to 3 times more expensive (and small.. but so delicious!).
Most of the time I rely on frozen unagi too (but good one among them). Follow this instruction for how to cook it. 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/unagi-don-unadon/
Hope this helps!
I love this roll and tried making it for the first time last night. It turned out great but my spicy mayo was a little thin, I used the Kewpie and Sriracha sauce. For flavor, it worked great, but made the presentation look like I put pink gravy on it. Do you have a suggestion for thickening the sauce?
Hi Patrick! First of all, thank you so much for trying this recipe! I am not 100% sure as I wasn’t there, but it looks like your sriracha portion was more as sriracha is more watery than the QP mayo. Mine holds a little bit rather than too watery (as you see in the photo). But then you lose some of the spiciness if you cut down on sriracha and not sure that’s what you prefer… I’ve never tried or heard to thicken the sauce without damaging the flavor, but do you think corn starch/potato starch would work to make it thick…?! I am not too sure… I’d just reduce the amount of sriracha and decorate, but keep it out for extra spicy option. Hope that helps. 🙂
That answers my question, Thank you. I did put a little more sriracha sauce and knew that was my main problem, but the color looked right and the spiciness was good for me. I imagine slowly adding cornstarch might do it, I would be afraid of clumps. I will try it and see how it works.
Tonight I am trying your Spicy Tuna recipe
Thanks!:-)
If you will try with corn starch, make sure to mix a small portion of water and corn starch in a bowl first (make corn starch completely dissolved) before adding to mayo/sriracha mix. Hope you enjoy the spicy tuna roll! 🙂
update: made these last nite – they were **wonderful!** Thank you! i think they came out a little big though b/c we used a whole sheet of nori???
up next: takoyaki, following your instruxns, of course (after i hunt down the octopus – have all the other ingreds!) 🙂
Hi Mari! Glad to hear your dragon roll came out well! Yes, whole sheet of nori would make a big sushi roll. 🙂
FYI, my online sashimi store Fish for Sushi sells a whole octopus (http://fishforsushi.com/products/octopus-sashimi). It’s quite a lot though. 🙂
Hi Mari! I just got back from my trip and I apologize for my late response. It does not matter what device you use (Japanese rice cooker or other rice cooker or regular pot), but as long as you use Japanese short grain rice, it’s recommended to soak the rice first before cooking. However when I don’t have time I totally skip soaking… but when I don’t soak, I usually add a bit more water when I cook the rice. Also, the brand of rice matters as well. For some rice brand I have to put just a little bit more water than usual. So I’d suggest to experiment the amount of water. If you don’t use a rice cooker, it helps if you record the amount of rice and water so it will be perfect every time. Hope this helps…
I rarely leave comments, but your simple, solid approach to show and tell in a cuisine that is very leftfield for many was perfect. We had an amazing first effort and are now inspired (though the wife will do the rolling!).
Just FYI for those out there, the unagi sauce recipe ROCKS and you can use smoked eel if that’s all you can find (just take the skin off and cook gently in the sauce).
Also the tempura recipe, if you want it gluten free, works perfectly well with an equal ratio substitution of corn flour, rice flour, tapioca flour and glutinous rice flour. Doesn’t quite colour as well as the wheat flour probably, but I’m working on this (and boy is it a tasty job!)
Hi Alex! Thank you so much for taking your time to write your kind feedback. I’m really happy to hear you enjoy my recipes. 🙂 Thank you for sharing GF option for the tempura recipe so that others can give it a try! Thank you for your support and love! 🙂
Nami-san, I have a question about selecting the best nori for sushi. My husband and I have made sushi at home and sometimes the nori is too chewy, not crisp like we get in the restaurants. Is there a brand or some specific type that we should try to buy? We do have a good Japanese grocery store nearby. And thank you for this recipe and the shrimp tempura trick! Dragon roll is our favorite too!
Hi Laurie! You know, living in the US, I don’t get to choose a good nori. That’s one thing I miss. I try to bring back good dried kombu and shiitake mushrooms, etc, but haven’t did that for nori. I don’t really have a good advice, but I “try” to get one of most expensive nori possible. It makes a little difference. It looks like higher price = better quality from my experience (although higher price is not always better quality in a lot of things). Hope you enjoy making this recipe! 🙂
what can i use instead of rice vinager with sushi rice ?? can i only use sugar and salt with water only ? or a little bit of normal vinager ?? please help
Hi Reema! If you really want to make a good sushi rice, please consider buying rice vinegar. Sometimes you can substitute with something else, but this recipe, having a few ingredients, is not a good recipe you can swap ingredients. The flavor of sushi rice relies on rice vinegar, which is not strong like regular vinegar. Rice vinegar is mild so it’s perfect for this recipe. If you use regular vinegar, you may not want to eat the sushi rice. And if you skip the rice vinegar… it’s not sushi rice anymore.
A lot of people are confused with this “sushi rice” with regular steamed rice. You’re making sushi rice to make sushi right? We only use this for sushi recipes.
For regular steamed rice, you don’t need to season it. Just water and rice. 🙂
I just found your recipe and I for one can’t wait to try and make it. Looks wonderful!
Hi Debra! I hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
You have such a great blog! I love that you offer so many sushi recipes with step by step instructions. Great job!!!!
Hi Kristen! Thank you for your kind words. Thank you! Make sure to check my YouTube channel for video tutorials. I think I have 3 or 4 videos for my sushi recipes there. 🙂
“gently squeeze the fruit in the palm of your hand”
Bless you! Most people think jamming their thumb into an avocado is the way to test for ripeness, leaving everything they touched covered in bruises. Your way, the way I learned, too, leaves the rejects unmarked and beautiful for when they finally soften satisfactorily. Thanks!
Hi Beejay! Do you mean most people press hard on the avocado? When my kids tried to touch peaches and avocados and were about to squeeze, I scolded them. I think they learned not to do that at early age. LOL. Gotta take gentle care of them… for myself and for others! 🙂
I used to teach cooking classes, and when I’d take my students to shop for ingredients, I told them I’d hit their knuckles with my ruler if I caught them doing that. /:) I’ve seen people keep pressing with their thumbs until they’ve made a dent, then shake their heads and put it back.
Peaches are easy, just sniff the stem end. If it doesn’t smell like ripe peach, it isn’t. 😉
Oh! And I never said, great video! Very helpful seeing it done, and it looks delicious.
Haha with your ruler! LOL! I don’t like finding out bruised fruits at home, so it bothers me that someone (like my children) creating bruises to someone else’s fruits. You were an excellent teacher. 🙂 Thank you for your kind words.
I am new to your website and very happy to find someone with the ethnic background to help me prepare and pursue Japanese cooking. I am 1/2 Japanese however, my mom has passed and I was not able to learn from her. Thank you for your knowledge and desire.
Hi Frances! I’m happy to hear you think my website is helpful. I hope you find your favorite mom’s food on my website and get to cook the dishes again in your kitchen! 🙂
Can you tell me if I could substitute something for the fried shrimp, I am severely allergic to all shellfish. I can eat fish.
I have a local restaurant that has a lot of different sushi that I can eat. Yummy.
Thanks
Hi Denise! Dragon roll filling is shrimp tempura but you can definitely use something else. Besides the tuna, salmon, and all the other fish option, you can use different vegetables too. It’s best to know what type of sushi rolls you like and what filling they use inside. 🙂
Thumbs up on the recipe/directions!
We didn’t have any shrimp on hand so we went with unagi (our freezer is full of unagi).
But I must say, I must of purchased the most uncooperative avocados EVER! Everything was fine up until fanning them across the roll; wasn’t happening without a great deal of “avocado motivation”. Certainly made me realize I may need some anger management counseling. lol
In any event, we ended up putting the avocado in the center and the unagi on top for the remaining rolls. 😉
They were excelent; Keep up the great tutorials!
– Neil
Hi Neil! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. Haha I love that your freezer is well stocked with unagi. 😀 You made me laugh at your anger management comment. I always get anxious when a recipe requires an avocado. We don’t know until I cut it in half to see if the avocado is a perfect condition or not. I still remember this avocado in this recipe was just perfect. You don’t see me, but I was screaming for joy when I cut the avocado in half in this video. 🙂
Thank you so much for this amazing recipe! I have made this for my boyfriend and he loves it and says that this is the restaurant level! I never cooked anything for him nor do I usually cook but this recipe was easier because everything is explained in details!
Hi Lidija! I’m so happy to hear that you two enjoyed this dish at home! Thank you for trying this recipe and for the kind feedback. 🙂
This was super good even if it was a lot of work.
Hi Bethy! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed it! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. xo
I made this today so so good!
Hi Hilda! Thank you for trying my recipe. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Amazing recipe! Didn’t have shrimps on hand so I made sticks of tofu tempura-style (we’re on lockdown, that’s the best alternative I could find…). Turned out better than expected! I highly recommend this substitution for whoever would like to make this dish vegetarian. So delish!
Hi Béatrice! Thank you for your kind words! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe and I LOVED your tofu tempura sub, what a clever idea! Thanks for sharing such a great sub with us!
Hello Nami,
Hope you are healing up nicely and that you are no longer in pain.
Our Asian grocery store does stock the short grain sushi rice/sticky rice. It comes in humongous bags of at least 10 pounds. Can I use arborio rice as a substitute?