
California Roll Sushi Bowl
My family loves sushi. For my daughter’s birthday last year, she asked for sushi as her special birthday dinner. If they could, my children would eat sushi every day and eat their weight in it. Luckily, sushi rolls are fairly easy to make and ingredients are easily found. There are times, however, when we don’t have the time or energy to hand-roll sushi. There are molds you can buy to help save time. But we have another way to have the taste of sushi without the time requirement, sushi bowls.
A sushi bowl is essentially a rice bowl with the roll ingredients placed on top. It tastes just as good and is ready in less time. It’s a great use for leftover rice or for a make ahead lunch. For today’s version, we are making California Rolls. It is one of my children’s favorites. California rolls contain no raw seafood, so I won’t be issuing any food warnings or advisory. This roll contains sushi rice, cucumber, avocado, crab meat, nori (dried seaweed), and Furikake. Furikake is optional and can be replaced by sesame seeds or left out completely.
If you want a different type of sushi roll bowl, substitute your favorite toppings; spicy tuna, shrimp, eel, etc. At the end of the recipe, you can find links to over sushi roll recipes that would work great for sushi bowls. There is no limit to the possibilities.
California Roll Sushi Bowl

Ingredients
- 4 cups of brown rice, cooked
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 4 tablespoons of sugar
- 1 cucumber, cubed
- 2 avocados, peeled, deseeded, and cubed
- 1 cup blue crab meat
- 1 sheet Nori (dried seaweed), cut into 4 strips
- Pickled ginger
- Furikake, any flavor or sesame seeds
- Soy Sauce
- Wasabi, optional
Instructions
- Cook rice according to package directions.
- While rice is cooking, combine vinegar and sugar in a saucepan. Simmer until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Once rice is cooked, pour vinegar mixture over rice and combine. Allow to cool slightly.
- To assemble your sushi bowl, place 1 cup of rice into each bowl. Follow with crab, cucumber, and avocado. Sprinkle with furikake or sesame seeds, pickled ginger, and strip of nori.
- Serve with soy sauce and wasabi if desired.
Oh my. I’m drooling….Love the avocados on top too! Great idea! These sushi bowls are called Chirashizushi and I LOVE to make it when I’m impatient in rolling them in Nori to make sushi. Thanks for linking to my Sea Veggies Primer!
I didn’t know they went by any other name. What rolls do you like to remake in a bowl?
Thank you for sharing on Seafood Frenzy Friday~have a great week! http://carriesexperimentalkitchen.blogspot.com/2013/08/seafood-frenzy-friday-58.html
Bei uns war’s auch so mit den blauen Tonnen… mittlerweile geh’ ich zum Duschen in den Sportverein. Durch meine Wohnung bewege ich mich in einem komplizierten mawuaurfganglrtigen System. Vor einem halben Jahr stand ich dann vor der Entscheidung: Bett oder Dusche? Mal sehen, wie’s weitergeht…
Love this idea! I also believe Grumpy would eat this (minus the avocado-he’s the picky one!). Looks delicious!
Thanks Shelby. The kids really like sushi and this is a great way to eat it without the hassle of making rolls. I hope Grumpy and you enjoy it.
This one my oldest son would love. He loves california rolls. To do list.
It is easier than doing a ton of rolls and tastes just as good.
Help, I’ve been informed and I can’t become igrnnaot.