Learn how to make delicious Sushi Rolls or Maki Sushi (Hosomaki) at home with step-by-step instructions and a tutorial video. To get started, you just need a few ingredients like tuna, cucumber, nori, and Japanese short-grain rice.
For today’s recipe, I’ll show you how to make the best known and popular Japanese food, Sushi Rolls or Maki Sushi (巻き寿司)! Even though you might not have tried making sushi at home before, don’t worry. I will explain in detail with lots of good tips and advice as well as the video tutorial and step-by-step pictures on how to make these delicious rolls at home!
You can put different ingredients inside but for today, we’ll be making Tuna Rolls, Cucumber Rolls, and Natto Rolls.
Watch How To Make Sushi Rolls (Maki Sushi)
Making delicious sushi rolls at home is easy, you just need a few ingredients like tuna, cucumber, nori, and short-grain rice.
What are Sushi Rolls?
First of all, what’s Sushi? Sushi is any dish that consists of vinegared rice (we call it “Sushi Rice“) combined with other ingredients such as seafood and vegetables. Some people think sushi means raw fish, but that’s not entirely true. There are various types of sushi, and you can find variations here.
When the sushi rice is wrapped in nori seaweed and rolled, it is a Sushi Roll. In Japan, we call it Makizushi or Maki Sushi (巻き寿司). There are several types of sushi rolls:
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- Hosomaki (細巻き) – Thin rolls (1″ in diameter), nori on the outside, containing 1 ingredient
- Chumaki (中巻き) – Medium rolls (1-1.5″ in diameter), nori on outside, containing 2-3 ingredients
- Futomaki (太巻き) – Thick rolls (2-2.5″ in diameter), nori on the outside, containing 4-5 ingredients
- Uramaki (裏巻き) – “Inside-out” rolls (nori on the inside – like California Roll)
- Temaki (手巻き) – Cone-shaped hand roll sushi – Click for Recipe
Varieties of Sushi Rolls
1. Traditional Edo-style Sushi Rolls
These sushi rolls are hosomaki which consists of one main ingredient and usually wrapped with nori on the outside. How many of these do you know or tried before?
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- Tuna Roll (Tekka Maki) – Today’s recipe
- Cucumber Roll (Kappa Maki) – Today’s recipe
- Fermented Soybean Roll (Natto Maki) – Today’s recipe
- Dried Gourd Roll (Kanpyo Maki)
- Pickled Daikon Roll (Shiko Maki)
- Pickled Plum & Cucumber Roll (Umekyu)
- Eel/Sea Eel & Cucumber Roll (Unakyu or Anakyu Maki)
- Tuna & Scallion Roll (Negitoro Maki)
- Yellowtail & Scallion Roll (Negihama Maki) – Click for Recipe
2. Western Style Sushi Rolls
These sushi rolls consist of multiple ingredients and most of them are inside-out rolls (uramaki). A lot of restaurants create their own version of combination and unique names, but here are some common ones.
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- California Roll – Click for Recipe
- Dragon Roll – Click for Recipe
- Spicy Tuna Roll – Click for Recipe
- Rainbow Roll
- Caterpillar Roll
- Alaska Roll
- Boston Roll
- Philadelphia Roll
- Dynamite Roll
- Spider Roll
Things You Need to Make Sushi Rolls
First, you need to prepare 4 key items to make sushi rolls: sushi rice, the fillings of your choice, nori sheet, and a bamboo sushi mat.
1. Sushi Rice
One of the important ingredients to make sushi rolls is to have the right sushi rice. The steamed short-grain rice should be seasoned with sushi vinegar. If you need the directions on how to make sushi rice, you can watch this video or read/print out the recipe from How To Make Sushi Rice post.
Simple instruction on how to make sushi rice with kombu, rice vinegar, sugar, and salt.
2. The Fillings
Traditionally the fillings for hosomaki are either (raw or cooked) seafood or vegetables. However, if you don’t eat raw fish, you can use other ingredients you like. Experiment with what food works for your preference.
If you’re looking for sashimi/sushi-grade fish, check your local fishmongers and Japanese grocery stores.
3. Nori Sheet (Roasted Seaweed)
There are many types of “seaweed” used in Japanese cooking, and for making sushi rolls, we need dried seaweed called nori (海苔). They are roasted and look like sheets of paper. We use a half sheet of nori for this recipe but depends on the type of roll, we use half, 3/4, or a whole sheet of nori.
Please remember that nori gets stale easily; therefore, once you open the package, store in an airtight container or a plastic bag (remove the air before closing) and keep in the refrigerator.
4. Bamboo Sushi Rolling Mat (Makisu 巻き簾)
A bamboo sushi mat or Makisu (巻き簾) is made of bamboo and used to make sushi rolls and egg omelette like Tamagoyaki and Datemaki.
The left sushi mat has a round and flat (green) side and each bamboo strip is wider and bigger round shape. The right sushi mat has narrower round bamboo strips with no flat side. For today’s sushi roll recipe, I highly recommend the sushi mat on the right because it is more flexible when you shape the sushi roll.
I found this cool sushi kit, a set of sushi oke/hangiri, bamboo mat, and rice paddles from Amazon for $16.65! If you have a sushi party often, this is a must!
If you don’t want to purchase a bamboo mat, you can actually use a thick, hard texture kitchen towel folded into a similar size as a bamboo sushi mat, or use a placemat similar to the bamboo mat.
Practice Makes Perfect!
Today we’ll make these traditional sushi rolls – Hosomaki. They are much easier to roll than thick western-style fancy sushi rolls. Consider today’s recipe as a practice run before you move on to bigger sushi rolls like California Rolls and Dragon Rolls.
We’ll make Tuna Roll, Cucumber Roll, and Natto Roll. Tuna and cucumber rolls are the most popular Hosomaki and you have probably seen or eaten these at Japanese restaurants. If you don’t eat raw fish or cucumber, you can substitute with other ingredients of your choice.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Sushi Rolls (Maki Sushi - Hosomaki)
Video
Ingredients
For Sushi Rice
- 3 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short-grain rice (3 rice-cooker-cups (180 ml x 3 = 540 ml) yields roughly 5-6 servings (5 ¼ US cups or 990 g); you MUST use short-grain Japanese rice to make sushi; otherwise, rice will fall apart.)
- 540 ml water
- 1 piece kombu (dried kelp) (2" x 2", 5 x 5 cm; optional but highly recommend it)
- ⅓ cup rice vinegar (you can substitute it with "sushi vinegar" (seasoned rice vinegar))
- 3 Tbsp sugar (skip if you are using "sushi vinegar" (seasoned rice vinegar))
- 1 ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt) (skip if you are using "sushi vinegar" (seasoned rice vinegar))
For the Fillings
- 1 Persian/Japanese cucumber (yield 8 rolls)
- 7 oz sashimi-grade tuna (yield 12 rolls)
- 1 box natto (fermented soybean) (yield 2 rolls)
For Vinegar Finger Dipping Water (Tezu)
- ¼ cup water
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
Everything Else
- 5 sheets nori (seaweed)
- soy sauce
- wasabi (optional)
- sushi ginger (gari) (optional; for my homemade recipe, click here)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. Please note that cook time does not include time for cooking rice as it varies depending on device/method you use to cook rice. You will need a bamboo sushi mat.
To Prepare Sushi Rice
- For this recipe, 3 rice-cooker-cups of uncooked rice will yield 5 ¼ US cups and can make 10 Hosomaki (thin sushi rolls).
- Follow my sushi rice recipe. Cover the sushi rice and the completed rolls with a damp cloth/plastic wrap at all times to prevent from drying.
To Prepare the Fillings
- Cut both ends of the cucumber. Then cut in half lengthwise and cut again in half so you now have 4 strips. Remove the seeds with knife and cut in half lengthwise again. You should end up with 8 cucumber strips.
- Cut the tuna into ¼- ½” slices and then cut into ¼- ½” thick long strips.
- Take out the natto from the container and season with soy sauce or seasoning that came with the package. Mix everything up until it’s slimy and bubbly.
To Roll Sushi
- Make vinegared finger-dipping water (Tezu) by combining ¼ cup water and 1 Tbsp rice vinegar in a small bowl. Applying this water to your hands prevents rice from sticking to your hands.
- Cut nori in half. Even though it may look it, Nori sheets are not perfect square; therefore cut the longer side of rectangular in half. Also, nori gets stale easily, so store unused nori in an air-tight bag and take out only as much as you need.
- Place the sushi mat on a working surface. The bamboo strings should go sideways so you can roll them up. And put the nori half sheet on the bamboo mat, with one of nori’s long side close to the back edge of the mat. Leave about 3-4 slats visible on the side nearest to you. The shiny side of nori should face DOWN.
- Moisten your hand before you touch sushi rice.
- Using a ½-cup measuring cup, measure ½ cup (90 g) of sushi rice into your hand. This way the amount of rice for each roll is the same and the rolls will be equal size. Make sure to wet the measuring cup so the rice won't stick. I know, this is not a “proper” way, but until you can grab a perfect amount of rice each time, this trick will do!
- Place the sushi rice on the left center of nori. Now spread the rice across the nori, leaving a 1” space along the top edge of the nori. Use your right hand to spread the rice toward the right and use your left fingers to keep the rice away from the 1” space on the top of the nori.
- Spread the rice evenly with both fingers, still keeping the 1” space on the top. Wet your fingers in dipping water if rice starts to stick to your fingers.
- Place the filling (tuna, cucumber, natto) at the middle of rice. If your tuna or cucumber is a bit too short, add extra pieces on the end. Hold the filling down using your fingers.
- With one swift movement, roll the sushi over the filling and land right where the edge of the rice is (see you still see the 1”nori space after rolling).
- Don’t move the sushi mat yet and gently shape and tighten the roll with your fingers from outside of the mat. Shape the sushi roll into square (or round). Then finally lift the sushi mat and rotate the roll once to seal the edge of nori. Again gently squeeze and tighten the roll with your fingers.
- To cut a sushi roll, wet your knife with a damp towel and cut the roll in half first. You should “push then pull” the knife while cutting through the sushi. Wet the knife again and cut each half roll into 3 pieces. Serve with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger.
To Store
- Sushi rolls should be consumed right away, but they can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. I highly recommend keeping them in an airtight container or a plate wrapped tightly with plastic and then wrap around the container/plate with a thick kitchen towel so the food stay safe in a cool environment but rice doesn't get hard from cold air in the refrigerator.
I have made sushi out of leftover rare beef, a little wasabi and sweet red pepper strips as the filling. It was delicious! Also, steamed asparagus with egg (lightly beaten, cooked into a pancake, and cut into strips), I put slivers of lemon zest into this one – it was an experiment that worked. I have thought about putting in everything from little shrimps to pimento-stuffed green olives. Wonder how leftover spicy chicken from Popeye’s would taste?
Hi Sherrie! Thank you so much for sharing all the great combination! The spicy chicken sounds good. I’ve tried one with Chicken Karaage before and it was actually pretty good too! 🙂 Thank you for your comment!
I had to chuckle when I read about the natto turning “slimy and bubbly”–good explanation! Is it true that if you chop up the natto, it doesn’t become as slimy? I’ve had it temaki style with little or no “web” that natto usually has. My favorite hosomaki is made with takuan but I cheat and use a press instead of the sushi mat! 😉
Hi Donna! Hmm that’s a good question. I use “hikiwari natto” for sushi rolls and even though it’s slimy, maybe you are right, it might be less slimy… I never thought about it or realized it though. I love takuan and ume. I do have oshizushi set from my mom… I should use it one day. It might be fun recipe to develop. 😀
Thanks so much for the response, Nami!
I’ve made quite a few of your recipes including your sushi roll recipes, and they have turned out AMAZING due to your clear instructions and step-by-step photos. Thank you! Can’t wait to try out more of your recipes!
Hi Audrey! Thank you so much for trying my recipes and this recipe too! I’m so happy to hear they turned out well. A lot of people like my step by step pictures… and glad to hear they are helpful! Happy cooking, and thanks so much for taking your time to write your kind feedback! xo
Boston, Caterpillar, Rainbow rolls are all my favorite and would love to have their recipeson this site.
Hi Jeff! Thank you for your request! I have added them to my list. 🙂
very information and easy to follow
Thank you, Tiu!
Today was the second time I have made sushi rolls and they were great, thanks to your easy to follow recipe and videos. the rice flavor is very good and my family loved it.
Hi Lariza! I’m so happy to hear your sushi rolls came out well! I’m glad my video and recipe were helpful and sushi rice was good. Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hi Nami, if I have left over sushi rice (after I put in the vinegar etc,) and want to use it next morning to make rolls for school lunch, what’s the best way to store the rice? Ok at room temperature? If I put in the fridge, the rice will get hard,
Hi Vivian! For food safety, I feel more comfortable putting in the fridge. But my trick for keeping the rice in the fridge is to wrap the container (that has sushi rice in it) with towel, so the rice doesn’t get hard. It’s cool enough but not cold. I do the same trick for rice ball and sushi rolls when I keep in the fridge. It helps. 🙂
Thanks, Nami. I use glass container with lid to put in the fridge. You wrap a towel around that? Didn’t know that trick!
Hi Vivian! Yeah basically you don’t want your rice to be super cold. If you would put it in a rice bowl or plate and wrap with plastic wrap, most likely the rice will be pretty hard. So towel would just protect the cold air directly touching the food…. If you live in a cold place, you can keep it in a cold room or something, but I think the fridge is the best place, but don’t need it to be that cold… 🙂 So yeah, wrap the towel… Hope that will help!
Thanks so much! Have a nice weekend!
Ps, I follow all your posts and videos!!! You make things simple but tastes very authentic!!
Thank you so much for your support, Vivian! Your kind words mean so much to me! Have a great weekend too! xo
Do you need to cook the tuna first?
Hi Alva! Sushi uses raw fish, BUT it’s sushi grade fish, and not any kind of raw fish you can get in a regular fish monger. You have to purchase from a store where they carry sushi grade or sashimi grade fish. 🙂
Do you have recipes for the Dynamite Roll, Spider Roll, and Seafood Tempura?
I’ll add to my list. Thank you Angel!
can i use pickled cucumber as a filling?
Hi Yuli! My first thought was that it might be salty… pickled cucumber or any Japanese pickles (tsukemono) are pretty salty, and to fill in the rolls, I feel like you’re putting too much pickles for rice : pickles ratio….
But if you enjoy it, why not? One thing though. You have to eat right away, otherwise the moisture drawn from pickles may be too much for sushi to hold tight.
This was great! Thanks for all the information and careful instructions
Thank you Carlos! Glad to hear the recipe was helpful. 🙂
Yummy
Thank you Scarlet!
I used this guide to make sushi for the first time. It turned out really good. I appreciate the time you took to write this up. Thank you very much. I made cucumber and tuna rolls. Also a 3rd with both cucumber and tuna.
Hi Kevin! Thank you for using my recipe to make your first sushi rolls! I’m so happy to hear you had fun making them. Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Dear Nami
Thank you for sharing these fabulous recipes. Today, I’ve made Sushi Rice for the first time and it was a success. It tasted really nice and I would say the rice was just perfect. I then used the rice to make cucumber roll. It didn’t become a perfect roll; the seaweed didn’t meet when I rolled! I guess, I either cut the nori too small, the nori was just a smaller size than normal from the packet (is this possible?) or I’ve put too much rice. Anyway, since it was only my first time ever making this, I am actually happy with the result because the flavour was really nice. I’ll make this again since the rice was a success. Infact, next time.I’ll use some nicer fillings. Thank you again. All your tips were great.
Hi Sofia! Thank you for trying this recipe! Having good and delicious sushi rice is key to a good sushi roll. Glad to hear sushi rice was a success.
Now, the sushi rolls. Do you know that nori’s length and width is slightly different? When you place nori, the longer side should be perpendicular to you. I don’t know how to describe this…. At Step 7 picture, do you see I cut the longer side of rectangular in half? Maybe you cut the wrong side? But putting more rice could be another reason. Hope next trial will be successful! Thank you for your kind feedback. xoxo
Hi Nami, thank you for your reply regarding sushi (I cannot find your comment now but I did read it here last week). Yes, I think I cut the nori the wrong side! I’ll try again perhaps next week (with cucumber and also sushi grade salmon). Will let you know.
Hi Sofia! Ohhh glad to know you just cut the nori wrong way – it’s easy fix! 😉 Have fun making sushi! xo
One of the best detailed instruction & recipe I have found from the web about Japanese food. I am a huge fan of Japanese traditional foods and feels like will become a big fan of you soon 🙂 thx for great info! Nami sang
Hi Kyle! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! Hope you enjoy cooking my recipes! 🙂
The recipe looks great. I am hoping you can clarify a couple points before I try making a batch for a large group. You mention that each roll requires 1/2 cup (US?) of cooked rice. 10 rolls x 1/2 cup of rice means that you should have 5 cups of cooked rice. 2 rice cooker cups of uncooked rice doesn’t seem like enough to give you this amount.
I was also helping you could confirm that 10 rolls = approx. 60 pieces.
Thank you for your time and attention!
Hi Chris! First of all, this is Hosomaki – classic thin sushi roll (as shown in the picture). To make one roll, you will need a scant 1/2 US cup of steamed and seasoned rice (scant, so it means between 1/3 and 1/2 cup). You can roughly make 9-10 rolls with 4 cups cooked rice (2 cups uncooked rice). And each roll, you will cut into 6. So if you make 10 rolls, yes 60 pieces.
Hope that helps!
I’m making sushi for a party next week and was wondering if you can make sushi the morning of and then store it in the fridge? Will it still taste fresh? Any tips would be appreciated! (I’m now officially addicted to this website and I’m so excited about finding your Okonomiyaki recipe)
Hi Danielle! Rice gets hard in the refrigerator. It’s just the thing that we can’t avoid. So my trick is to wrap around the sushi with a thick kitchen towel and keep the sushi “cool” enough to be safe but not cold for rice. This is my method to keep my leftover sushi rolls for the next day. The rice loses the fluffiness but at least it’s not hard rice. 🙂