The Best Vegan Sushi Bake Recipe

🍱 What's in a vegan sushi bake?

Sushi Rice

The best rice to make this sushi bake with is short-grain japonica rice. While "sushi rice" is ideal, other sticky short grain rices also work great. Sweet rice or glutinous rice, work fantastic here, and then you can use the leftover uncooked rice to make dishes like Filipino suman malagkit, Indonesian turmeric rice, or Vietnamese taro pudding. 

If you decide to make this with a brown rice variety, just increase the water in the recipe by about ⅓ cup and allow for longer simmering time.

Rice Vinegar

Rice vinegar (komezu in Japanese) is a mild, slightly sweet vinegar made from fermented rice. While it's kinda crucial for giving tangy sushi rice its distinctive flavor, mirin is an excellent replacement if you want the rice to have a more mellow, sweet flavor. If you get some to use in this recipe and want to know what else to make with it, my Korean BBQ sauce, bami goreng noodles, and vegan sour cream recipe are great things to use it in.

Sesame Oil

I love giving the sweet potato topping a little sesame flavor, and this is the easiest way in the galaxy to pull that off. Toasted sesame oil is the same magical substance that lends its powerful aroma to Korean tofu soup and crispy rice dumplings and goma dressing. If you are out of sesame oil or don't love its flavor, you can substitute it with peanut oil, sunflower oil or olive oil and still make a sushi bake that slaps.

Extra Firm Tofu

I am telling you with my hand over my heart, that imitation crab meat has NOTHING on this. Pressing and drying the tofu before cooking helps it get the amazing meaty texture we want for the topping of this sushi bake. It's the same technique I employ for making vegan chorizo which is basically permanently on hand in my fridge for me to make vegan burrito bowls, vegan taquitos, and vegan tostadas at a moment's notice. Once you make tofu this way, you are never gonna take it out of your cooking repertoire. For this method, you really want an extra firm tofu, or a sprouted tofu. Soft tofu will break down too much, and FORGET about silken tofu for this project.

Soy Sauce

You can use any soy sauce for this recipe. I tend to cook primarily with tamari because it is gluten-free and adds a robust umami flavor. It's less salty than regular soy sauce and has a richer taste. A nice alternative is liquid aminos (coconut aminos). If you're not gluten-free, you can use regular soy sauce or shoyu.

Vegetarian Oyster Sauce

Vegetarian oyster sauce is a flavorful and versatile condiment typically made from mushrooms, soy sauce, sugar, and various seasonings. It's not super-fishy tasting as you might expect. It is umami-rich, slightly sweet, and pungent, which lends itself perfectly to recipes like mie goreng, tom yum fried rice, and chee cheong fun. Hoisin sauce is a perfect substitute, just make sure the one you use is vegan.

Sriracha

Sriracha sauce adds a garlicky bite to recipes like Vietnamese banh bao chay and Indian hakka noodles. Sometimes there are droughts in the sriracha market. So, you can make your own following my sriracha recipe, or you can use my sambal oelek recipe which can be a nice alternative topping for the sushi bake.

Shichimi Togarashi

Shichimi togarashi is a Japanese chili pepper seasoning that adds a bit of heat and subtly citrusy complexity. It's basically a Japanese 7-spice blend. If you don't have shichimi togarashi, there are some yummy spicy seasoned dulse (which is a sea vegetable) blends that you can use. Otherwise, just leave it out.

Vegan Mayonnaise

For sure in this recipe, you are going to need a bunch of plant-based mayonnaise to form the quick and easy base of the sriracha and wasabi mayo. There used to be some straight-up trash vegan mayos on the market (…ahem cough, nayonnaise, cough). But especially for use in vegan Japanese recipes like this, the best option is to make my vegan kewpie mayo yourself. It takes about as little time to make as a smoothie does, and relies on ingredients you probably already have on hand.

Otherwise, if you are going to get some from the store, my heart sorta belongs to Vegenaise from Follow your Heart. I used about 15-20 gallons of this vegan mayo every week on my food truck to make popular sandwiches like my vegan banh mi and a zillion other things. This creamy glistening substance is so damned good. But basically, for this recipe, you can get away with using any vegan mayo you can get your hands on. 

Wasabi and Spirulina

Why Adam? Why are you using spirulina in this recipe?!? Well, most of the neon greenish wasabi you see in sushi restaurants is artificially colored to be that way. And since your boyo here does not ever mess with any artificial colors, we are using spirulina (which is actually great for you) to add to natural, uncolored wasabi for that lovely Japanese horseradish flavor.

Vegan Furikake

Furikake is a Japanese rice seasoning typically made with seaweed, sesame seeds, and salt. It adds umami and a touch of crunch. Not all of the furikake on the market is vegan. Many brands include some bonito flakes. If you can't find vegan furikake seasoning (Trader Joe's makes an ok one), you can make my furikake recipe, which will take ya all of 5 minutes.

Laver 

Roasted seasoned nori became popular first in Korea, but now this seasoned seaweed is also a part of Japanese food culture. Here, it provides the perfect, seriously addictive way to scoop and eat the casserole. You can find it in all Asian grocery stores and many health food stores, but plain roasted nori sheets can be used. 

I was a little hesitant about this when my wife suggested it, but one night all we had on hand was chili lime-flavored nori to have our sushi bake with. OMG, I might never go back. It's seriously amazing to have with this recipe!

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🤯Variations

Japanese Pickled Topped Vegan Sushi Bake: 

Sliced pickled ginger (gari), chopped yamagobo (pickled burdock root) and thinly sliced radish (daikon) can be used as additional toppings for an authentic Japanese flavor. Just add those after the sushi bake comes out of the oven.

Korean Sushi Bake: 

Add a little gochujang-based Korean bbq sauce to the tofu after it's gotten to its initial brewing when adding the other seasonings. Use vegan kimchi fried rice instead of the suhi rice in the recipe. When it comes out of the oven, top the sushi bake with vegan kimchi, chopped oi muchim (Korean spicy cucumbers), and pieces of seitan bulgogi.

Vegan Deconstructed California Roll:

Mix thin-cut strips of nori seaweed sheets into the rice, add a layer of vegan cream cheese under the tofu, and go extra heavy with the avocado. Some strips of smoked tofu or roasted shiitake mushrooms marinated in lapsang souchong (smoked black tea) can make for a nice plant-based alternative to fishies in this variation.

📖 How to make this sushi bake recipe

Become the pride and joy of every potluck for the rest of eternity by following these step-by-step photos with helpful tips. Or scroll down to the bottom of this page for the easy-to-print recipe card.

Step One

Make the Sushi Rice:

Combine the sushi rice, water, salt, rice vinegar, sugar and sesame oil in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for ten minutes.

You can alternatively use a rice cooker, and select the setting for sushi rice or short-grain white rice.

I prefer the sushi rice in this recipe to be a little starchy, which makes the final casserole easier to scoop up and eat. So it's on purpose that I haven't rinsed it. If you want more individualized rice grains as you would find in veg biryani or nasi minyak, feel free to rinse it under cold running water for a couple of minutes in a wire mesh strainer first. 

Step Two

Tofu Cri(s)p Walk:

Heat olive oil in a skillet over mediumheat for 90 seconds.

When the oil is hot, crumble the dried tofu into th pan and sauté it for seven to eight minutes, stirring regularly until the tofu is golden and crispy in some spots.

Step Three

Flavor Flav:

Add the tamari, vegetarian oyster sauce, sriracha, and scallions to the tofu and continue sautéing for two minutes over medium heat until the scallions have wilted and the seasonings are absorbed. Remove the pan from the heat and set the tofu topping aside.

Step Four

I Yam What I Yam: 

In a covered pan, combine the diced sweet potatoes (you can peel them if you want, but I usually don't), water, sesame oil, tamari, maple syrup, rice vinegar, and Shichimi Togarashi (if using). Cook over medium heat for ten to twelve minutes, covered, until the sweet potatoes are tender and the liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside.