Chirashi Sushi is a festive “scattered” sushi rice prepared by Japanese home cooks with a beautiful medley of colorful toppings. In this recipe for my quick and easy version, you can use a store-bought seasoning mix to enjoy this dish any day of the week. You can also try my traditional, made-from-scratch version.
Chirashi sushi (we say chirashizushi in Japan) is bright and colorful sushi that the Japanese eat on happy occasions. It is pretty much a deconstructed sushi served on a large wooden platter or in a rice bowl.
You can make a traditional chirashi sushi from scratch (my recipe here) or take a shortcut version by using a premixed package. On regular days, Japanese home cooks often take the easy route by making Quick & Easy Chirashi Sushi. It’s a low-lift way to experience sushi at home, with tons of tasty toppings. So let’s make this at home today!
Table of contents
What is Chirashi Sushi?
Among all the different types of sushi in Japan, chirashi sushi (ちらし寿司), literally means “scattered sushi”, is probably the most common sushi served in Japanese homes.
This traditional sushi is often prepared to celebrate special and happy occasions, such as festivals and parties. It is also served every March 3rd or Girl’s Day when we celebrate the annual Hinamatsuri (Doll Festival).
Different Types of Chirashi Sushi
Each region in Japan serves a slightly different version of chirashi sushi with various ingredients and toppings.
For example, in the Osaka area, chirashi sushi is called barazushi (ばら寿司) or gomoku sushi (五目寿司). We would serve the sushi rice topped with unagi and cooked or uncooked vegetables.
In the Tokyo area, you’ll find Edomae-Style Chirashi Sushi, which features assorted sashimi and colorful garnishes served in a bowl or a lacquered box. This style of chirashi is very similar to sashimi bowl, but the difference is chirashi uses vinegared rice (sushi rice) while sashimi bowl uses unseasoned plain rice.
What is the Difference between Chirashi and Poke Bowl?
First of all, chirashi sushi originates in Japan, and poke hails from Hawaii. Since Hawaiian food takes a lot of influence from Japanese food, you’ll see some similarities between the two.
Both chirashi (the Edomae-style) and poke feature sashimi sushi, however, you can tell them apart from some of the local ingredients used in the dishes. For poke bowl, it is often topped with crushed candlenut (kukui nut), a favorite ingredient used in the Pacific islands.
Poke bowls also tend to feature one or two types of fish — such as tuna and salmon — that are marinated in a sauce and served on rice or salad. Chirashi sushi, on the other hand, contains no sauce and features a few types of seafood sashimi, such as tuna, salmon, hamachi (yellowtail), shrimp, roe, and shredded eggs.
How to Use Chirashi Sushi Mix
To make a quick version, you can use this convenient and budget-friendly chirashi sushi mix from your local Japanese/Asian grocery stores or Amazon. The package comes with a seasoned mixture of shiitake mushroom, carrots, burdock roots, dried kanpyo, shredded nori, and so on. It has most of the ingredients, but I like to throw in some add-ons like shredded eggs crepe, snap peas, and ikura (salmon roe) to make the dish extra special.
With cooked Japanese rice, you can enjoy delicious chirashi sushi in less than 30 minutes!
Homemade Chirashi Sushi – Everything From Scratch
If you have the time and want to make everything from scratch, check out my Chirashi Sushi post. This is perfect for serving a larger crowd or as a potluck dish.
How to Reuse Leftover Chirashi Sushi
Buy inari-age (seasoned tofu pouch) and stuff the chirashi sushi to make inari sushi! It’s one of my favorite ways to eat inari sushi.
Whether you make chirashi sushi from scratch or with a chirashi sushi mix, you will enjoy this healthy and flavorful sushi on any occasion!
Other Delicious Sushi Recipes
- Chirashi Sushi Cake
- Temari Sushi
- Hosomaki (Thin Sushi Rolls)
- Futomaki (Fat Sushi Rolls)
- Mackerel Pressed Sushi (Saba Oshizushi)
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Quick and Easy Chirashi Sushi
Ingredients
For the Chirashi Sushi
- 1½ cups uncooked Japanese short-grain white rice (2 rice cooker cups, 360 ml)
- 1⅔ cups water (400 ml)
- 1 packet chirashi sushi mix (I used Sushi Taro brand)
For the Toppings
- kinshi tamago (shredded egg crepe) (you can make my Kinshi Tamago recipe)
- ikura (salmon roe)
- snow peas (blanched and sliced)
- shredded nori seaweed (kizami nori)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Please note that 1½ cups (300 g, 2 rice cooker cups) of uncooked Japanese short-grain rice yield 4⅓ cups (660 g) of cooked white rice.Cook 1½ cups uncooked Japanese short-grain white rice in 1⅔ cups water. See how to cook rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe. While the rice is cooking, make Kinshi Tamago.
- Put the hot cooked rice in a large salad bowl, baking sheet, or hangiri. (You can purchase a hangiri or sushi oke on Amazon. My hangiri is 10 inches (26 cm), which is good for a family of 4). Add 1 packet chirashi sushi mix while the rice is hot.
- Combine everything together. Use a slicing motion with a rice paddle to separate the grains and combine the mix into the rice instead of stirring or mixing, which could smash the rice grains.
- Serve in a bowl or plate and top with kinshi tamago (shredded egg crepe), ikura (salmon roe), and snow peas. You can put any topping you like, such as your favorite sashimi or boiled shrimp. Sprinkle on top with shredded nori seaweed (kizami nori).
To Store
- Rice gets hard when refrigerated; therefore, it‘s best to cover it with plastic and a thick kitchen towel to store in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
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Thank you! My family loved it so much! I will be making more of your recipes. I love Japanese cuisine
Hi Ria! Wow! We love your beautiful Chirashi Sushi photo! Thank you very much for sharing it!
Nami and JOC team hope that you enjoy many recipes from our website.
We can’t wait to see another photo! Happy cooking!
[…] Quick & Easy Chirashi Sushi […]
If I have leftovers, can I use it the next morning in ochazuke?
Hi Jessica! It’s a bit strange for me to make ochazuke with vinegared rice (sushi rice). But if you like it, you can. 🙂
Thanks! I’ve never tried it before either, so I’ll see how it tastes and decide later. Thank you for your advice 🙂
Nami, Is Charashi Sushi equal to Poki’ Bowl….Our local Nanlanka Japanese Rest. has a Poki’ Bowl to die for…Have to have my fix once a week…Thank You for wonderful Newsletter.
Hi Rosemary! No, chirashi sushi can be two things as I described in my post – assorted sashimi on top of sushi rice OR this recipe. Poke Bowl is Hawaiian dish looks like this (https://www.justonecookbook.com/poke-bowl/). Seasoned raw fish (can be tuna, salmon, etc) over rice. 🙂
Hi Nami,
I happened to find your blog a couple days ago searching for “Japanese Food Blogs”. It came up first. I signed up for your newsletter and am thinking of getting your recipe book. My stepson is getting married this summer and we are having a kitchen shower for them in a couple weeks. His fiancée taught in Japan for 2 years, so we are having a Japanese theme. I was asked to make chicken teriyaki and I think they are expecting an American version with stir fried vegetables. I plan on using your recipe, but after it is cooked, would it be alright to remove the skin as I know the other ladies don’t want the skin on? I am also just going to prepare rice and steamed broccoli.
I called a Japanese market here in Houston where I live and was asking him about certain ingredients and 1 pot dishes and he mentioned chirashizushi. I have researched so many recipes and they sound so time consuming with all these weird vegetables to add to the rice and so time consuming. I came back to your blog and found this simplified version with the mix containing all the veggies. I am now thinking about making this for a group of 20-25. I understand you serve the dish at room temperature, so can I make the rice the night before and add the veggies to it and then pull it from the fridge next morning, letting it come to room temperature and then adding the other topping ingredients. We will be serving it at lunch. I am not certain of the fish eggs, as I am not fond of them, but want other people to enjoy them if that is their thing! Maybe it is more of a texture thing with me, lol!!During my all day affair with my computer searching for Japanese recipes, I wondered if I could add some other things pulling from different recipes such as some cooked shrimp. I understand you can really add however many and whatever toppings you want. I will not be using any raw fish as it will become to expensive and not sure there will be many people liking raw fish.
Also, I notice in other recipes from scratch, after cooking rice you turn it into sushi rice with vinegar, mirin, etc. then add the other vegetables that you would be buying individually, The vegetables included in this package are the same. I pulled up the contents of this package and it looks like all the ingredients for turning the rice into sushi rice are also included in this package and you didn’t mention adding them in addition to the package, so I assume all I use is the package? Please correct me if I am mistaken. I cook a lot of international food, but have never tried my hand at Japanese.
We are getting a decorated cake, but I also want to try and make your cherry blossom cookies. So perfect for our theme. Can you recommend anything else that might be easy to fix and go with the chicken teriyaki? I hope you see this soon and I hear back from you. As I said the shower will be in a couple weeks. Sorry for such a long comment and not checking for spelling mistakes, so excuse any I might have. Thank you so much for all your help.
Hi Shirley,
First of all, welcome to my site! I hope you find some recipes that you like or are interested in on my site. 🙂
And congratulations on your step-son’s wedding! Since it’s a long comment, I’m going to answer one by one.
1) You can cook skinless-chicken if you like. I recommend using non-stick pan so the chicken will not stick. But to cook for such a big crowd, I wouldn’t pan fry it… I recommend an easy chicken dish like this:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/honey-soy-sauce-chicken-recipe/
2) Chirashizushi is a very traditional food, so I know, there are a lot of unique, not so common (but common in Japan) ingredients in there. Considering the number of guests, I think it’s wise to buy chirashizushi packs and make it.
3) You could prepare the rice ahead of time. However, please remember that rice do gets hard in the fridge. My trick is wrap the bowl/container/plate with plastic wrap and then wrap the entire thing with kitchen towel or something so that rice will not get too cold. Towel is like a buffer. It “helps” but it’s not like rice that you freshly made.
4) You can mix the rice with package already, instead of mixing in the morning. You can save time, if you are making rice ahead of time anyway.
5) Chirashizushi doesn’t always have raw fish on top – unless it’s a really fancy version. You can boil shrimp and slice it in half (so both side has red color when you decorate). Try to make chirashizushi pretty with colors – egg (yellow), shrimp (red), and snow peas (green).
Maybe these images may help?
https://www.google.com/search?q=%E3%81%A1%E3%82%89%E3%81%97%E5%AF%BF%E5%8F%B8&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjW24jhrLPMAhUB1WMKHW5DDD8Q_AUIBygB&biw=1570&bih=878
6) Yes, the package is including the sushi vinegar. Just mix and ready to use (except for toppings).
7) Since you have chicken, steamed broccoli, rice (Chirashizushi)…. how about:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-potato-salad/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/yakisoba/
It’s really hard to suggest what type of dishes you’re looking for….
8) Here I listed some party food (Japanese style, or what we consider party food – usually a small group as Japanese house is small…):
https://www.justonecookbook.com/tags/party-food/
Hope this helps!
Hi Nami,
Thank you so much for getting back with me. I really appreciate it I have spent the afternoon reading more recipes on you blog. I love the idea of the Yakisoba and then reading another reader’s comment about her preference for yaki udon…..that has me intrigued. Of course, it all depends on what I can find at the Japanese market here. Which of these two do you prefer or which one do you think is more flavorful? I know they both must be good, but I don’t really know the difference in the sauces, only that you use a different type noodle. I assume you can add whatever veggies to either one? Would steamed broccoli thrown in at the end be an ok veggie to add along with the others?
I love your suggestion for the honey-soy sauce chicken, but I know we want to keep the chicken off the bone, so I would probably do the chicken teriyaki instead. I would have to prepare the chicken teriyaki the night before, therefore it wouldn’t be impossible to follow your recipe and then I would just have to reheat the next day.
Whatever I do, I need to do the night before, so if I chose to do yakisoba or yaki udon, could I prepare everything the night before except for the noodles and then the next day heat it up and add the noodles fresh at that time?
If I do the chirashizushi,, I could probably wait and do it the morning of. I have a rice cooker, so it really wouldn’t take too long and maybe have everything else chopped up the night before, then when the rice is cool, throw it together before I leave for the luncheon..
I was also intrigued by your recipe for Korokke, but I know I couldn’t deep fry them ahead of time. I wont have that much time and I have to travel an hour to the luncheon and be there early before it starts. Have you ever baked them in the oven instead? I really would like to do these but just can’t with the deep frying method. What do you think?
I will probably do the chirashizushi along with either the chicken teriyaki or one of the noodle dishes. and maybe the korokke if it would work for me to bake in the oven. I can spritz it will oil of some kind for baking in the oven.
Thanks again for all your help. I feel like I have found a goldmine here and am anxious to try my hand at Japanese cooking!!!
Shirley
Hi Shirley!
Yaki Udon and Yakisoba have different texture and different flavor. To cook ahead of time, I think Yakisoba will stay better than Udon I think. If you have a griddle over stove, it’s much easier to cook as well. We don’t usually put broccoli in there (florets going to be broken and it can be messy), but if you want to add steamed broccoli toward the end, it should be okay. Never had it with yakisoba so I’m not sure how the taste would be.
You can use chicken thigh or breast for honey soy sauce chicken too.
I do have baked korokke recipe!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/baked-croquette/
Hope you enjoy!
Thank you so much Nami for all your help. I will definitely try the baked version of korokke and will try some of the other recipes before the luncheon and then decide from there. I will let you now how everything turns out. Can’t wait to taste these!!!
Thanks Nami for all your help and suggestions. I will definitely try the baked Korokke. I will try some of the other recipes ahead of time and then decide which I will fix for the luncheon.. Can’t wait. I will let you know how everything turns out.
Hi Shirley! Good luck with cooking for luncheon! 🙂
do you add the prepackaged mix to plain rice or to sushi rice
Hi Janet! It’s up to you, but usually all sushi is made with sushi rice. 🙂
My mother is from Osaka, too! I was born in Tokyo. Since I loved chirashi, she’d make it for me as a treat when I was a kid, especially if I was home sick and couldn’t go to school. Great memories!
Hi Chieko! Thank you so much for your comment. I’m glad to hear you enjoy this post. I love food-related memories and thanks for sharing! 🙂