Vegan Sushi Bowls
Delicious vegan sushi bowls made with rice, tofu, avocado, cucumber, and Japanese sweet potato. Perfect for when you're craving sushi but don't want to spend the time or money!
The Origin
I love vegetarian sushi, but it's always so expensive in restaurants. $5 for a bit of rice and cucumber!! I have made it a few times at home, but somehow between the ingredient prep of making everything into tiny strips and the actual sushi assembly, it ends up taking me over an hour just to make enough for 2 servings. One day at home we had all the ingredients I would have used to make sushi, and I thought, what if I made this into a sort of poke bowl style meal to save myself the sushi assembly effort? And from there this simple vegan sushi bowl was born.
The Ingredients
There are 4 main components to make up this recipe: sushi rice, tofu, veggies, and toppings.
- Sushi rice: Although you can use any rice for this dish, I highly recommend using a short-grain style rice to give it that chewy sushi texture. This is the brand I use, but you can find sushi rice in most grocery stores.
- Tofu: This provides the protein for the meal. If you don't like tofu, you could also try tempeh, or if you're not vegan then a fried egg is also a great option.
- Veggies: I personally love avocado, cucumber, and Japanese sweet potato in my sushi, which is what I recommended for this recipe. If your favorite sushi fillings are different, feel free to switch it up!
- Toppings: The sky is the limit for toppings on this bowl!! Some I've tried that I really enjoyed were soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, pickled ginger, sesame seeds, homemade teriyaki sauce, and seaweed salad. If you like wasabi, that could be a great option as well!
The Method
This is a fairly simple recipe but does require cooking each ingredient individually. Below I outline the key steps of the recipe and some alternatives depending on what tools you have!
- Cook the rice: I always cook my rice in my instant pot, but if you have a rice cooker, that's also a great option here, or you can always just make it on the stove. Make sure to add the seasonings at the end, after the rice is fully cooked!
- Cook the potato: To save time, I prefer microwaving my sweet potato, but you could also bake it whole (which would take 60-90 minutes) or peel, dice and roast it with a bit of oil in the oven for 30 minutes at 375° F.
- Cook the tofu: I don't ever press my tofu, but if you prefer the texture of pressed tofu, you could do that. You could also use a pre-baked tofu like Trader Joe's Teriyaki baked tofu! Make sure that if you don't use pre-seasoned tofu that you season it with soy sauce near the end of the cooking process, as it needs more flavor than the rice or vegetables.
- Prep other ingredients, toppings, and assemble the bowls! I like to mix everything around to combine all the different flavors and textures before I dig in :)
If you're looking for another easy weeknight dinner, check out my Tofu Udon Stir Fry or Pesto Farro Chickpea Bowls!
Delicious vegan sushi bowls made with rice, tofu, avocado, cucumber, and Japanese sweet potato. Perfect for when you're craving sushi but don't want to spend the time or money!
- 1 cup sushi rice
- 1 tsp rice vinegar (or more to taste)
- 1 tsp agave (or more to taste)
- 1 pinch salt (or more to taste)
- 2 tsp neutral oil
- 14 oz firm tofu
- 2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari if gluten-free) (or more to taste)
- 2 avocados
- 1 cucumber
- 1 japanese sweet potato
- soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, pickled ginger, wasabi, or whatever you love on sushi!
- Start the rice
Rinse your rice in a strainer for at least 2-3 minutes (yes, that long) or until the water starts to run clear. Add to your instant pot along with 1 cup of water. (If you don't have an instant pot, you can cook it in a rice cooker or just a pot on the stove. Follow the package instructions for the water quantity.) Set your instant pot to 5 minutes at high pressure.
- Cook your sweet potato
Wash the sweet potato and poke it a few times with a fork. Wrap it in a paper towel and microwave it for 4-8 minutes depending on the size of the sweet potato. The potato is ready when it can be stabbed through easily with a fork or knife. Let it cool for at least 5 minutes on the counter.
- Prepare the tofu
Put a large frying pan on medium heat and coat the pan with a thin layer of oil. Drain the tofu. Cut it in half lengthwise and then slice into half in slabs. Put the tofu slices in the pan and fry for about 5 minutes or until the bottom side begins to brown.
- Prepare the veggies
While your tofu cooks, dice your avocados and cucumber into small chunks. Once your sweet potato is cool enough to hold, remove the peel and dice into small chunks.
- Finish the tofu
Once lightly browned, flip the tofu and cook for 3-5 more minutes on the other side. Then pour the soy sauce over the tofu and let cook for an additional 1-2 minutes or until the soy sauce has been fully absorbed. Remove tofu from heat.
- Flavor the rice
Once the rice has finished cooking and has depressurized for 15 minutes, release the remaining pressure and then open the pot. Add your rice seasonings - rice vinegar, agave, and salt - and stir thoroughly so that all the rice is evenly seasoned.
- Serve!
Divide your rice, tofu slices, sweet potato chunks, avocado, and cucumber into equal portions. Top with your favorite sushi toppings such as pickled ginger, sweet chili sauce, or soy sauce!
