Tuna Onigiri

You can make this perfect on-the-go Japanese snack right at home with this easy tuna onigiri recipe! This tuna onigiri is made with seasoned rice and stuffed with a delicious savory tuna mayo filling and wrapped with a crisp sheet of nori.

Course Appetizer, Appetizer & Sides, Snack

Cuisine Japanese

Keyword onigiri with tuna, spicy tuna onigiri, tuna mayo onigiri, tuna onigiri, tuna rice balls

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 30

Total Time 50

Servings servings

Calories 68kcal

Author Megan

Equipment

Ingredients

Rice

1 ½ cup Japanese short grain sushi rice uncooked
2 cups water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Tuna

1 4.5 oz can tuna, drained
2 tablespoon Kewpie mayonnaise
2 teaspoon sriracha to taste
½ teaspoon rice vinegar
1 green onion chopped
¼ teaspoon salt

Topping

3 sheets toasted nori
Furikake seasoning
Toasted sesame seeds
Togarashi seasoning (optional for extra spice)

Instructions

Rice

Rinse and cook the rice. Place the rice in the bowl of your rice cooker and wash with water until the water runs clear. Then drain and add 2 cups of water and cook in the rice cooker.
Season the rice. In a small bowl, mix together the rice vinegar, sugar and salt until combined. Once the rice is cooked, transfer the rice to a large mixing bowl and add the rice vinegar mixture and mix until combined. Cover and let the rice cool.

Spicy Tuna

Mix the spicy tuna. In a large mixing bowl, add the tuna, kewpie mayonnaise, sriracha, rice vinegar, green onion, and salt. Mix until combined.

Assemble

Use onigiri mold. Using an onigiri mold, add the seasoned rice to the mold filling it about halfway and press your thumb or a measuring spoon into the rice to create a well. Then fill with about 1 tablespoon of the spicy tuna mixture and then cover with more rice. Firmly place the lid of the mold on top and then release it from the mold. Repeat until all the rice is used.
Add the nori. You have 2 options to add the nori. 1) Cut the nori into 4-inch x 1 1/2-inch wide strips and wrap one strip around the base of the onigiri. 2) Cut the nori sheet in half and place the rice triangle near the top of one edge and fold the edges to cover the top. Then wrap the long end over the rice.
Garnish. Garnish the top/edges of the rice with furikake seasoning, toasted sesame seeds, or togarashi seasoning for more spice. Enjoy!

Notes

Wash your rice. Washing your rice removes excess starch that results in the rice grains being more separated when cooked. If you do not wash your rice you could end up with overly mushy gelatinized rice when cooked.
Use sushi rice! I highly recommend using short grain sushi rice for the best results. Sushi grain rice is plump and sticky which is optimal for absorbing the seasonings while also maintaining their sticky texture.
Season to taste. This is your spicy tuna onigiri. You can make it as spicy or non-spicy as you please by adding more or less sriracha to the taste.
No mold? No problem. If you do not have an onigiri mold, you can easily shape your tuna rice balls by hand placing a sheet of plastic wrap on your work surface, adding rice, tuna mixture, and more rice, and then closing the plastic wrap and shaping it into a triangle with your hands.

Nutrition