Get my newest recipe via email:

Brown Rice Sushi Salad {vegan, gluten-free}

Think of brown rice sushi salad as a deconstructed vegetarian sushi roll. Instead of rolling sweet vinegar rice and fillings into sheets of nori seaweed, toss the flavored rice and sushi fillings along wth little slivers of nori and turn it into a tangy slightly sweet salad!

Brown Rice Sushi Salad in bowl on sushi mat with chopsticks | Letty's Kitchen

Click here to PIN Brown Rice Sushi Salad!


JUMP DIRECTLY TO RECIPE

Though it’s not a major ingredient and this salad will be plenty tasty without it, let’s bless shiso for inspiring this recipe.  In sushi restaurants, you may have seen the green aromatic jagged-edge shiso used as a vessel for the wasabi condiment.

A lot of grocery stores have sushi takeout, “prepared fresh daily.” Do a double take on the thin jagged-edged green plastic things that separate the pieces of sushi in the to-go containers–it’s fake shiso!

So when shiso, a cousin of mint and basil, aka “Japanese basil”, came in our weekly farm share box,  I decided to make a shiso sushi salad.

Say it aloud. Brown rice shiso sushi salad. Quickly. Shiso sushi salad. Holy shiso, that’s a tongue twister! And a tongue pleaser, with shiso leaf, avocado slices, carrot matchsticks, cucumber, nori ribbons, pink pickled ginger, and spicy wasabi dressing. Short grain brown rice brings in nutty whole grain texture and flavor.

Shiso leaves, whole and cut for Brown Rice Shiso Sushi Salad

 

ingredients for Brown Rice Shiso Sushi Salad

Ask at farmer’s markets and Asian food stores for shiso. If you can’t find the fresh leaves, substitute mint or fresh basil, or skip the fresh herb entirely. Shiso is the bonus… The essentials in this salad are the flavored rice and everything else sushi. Shiso sushi salad is seductive even without shiso. Just as delicious, and less alliterative.

Ingredients needed for Brown Rice Sushi Salad:

  • Look for the usual sushi ingredients, pickled ginger, wasabi, rice vinegar, mirin, nori seaweed sheets, and white sushi rice in supermarket international aisles. Find sushi ingredients at natural food grocers too, as well as short grain brown rice. (The highlighted ingredients are Amazon affiliate links.)
  • Feel free to add high protein sushi possibilities like toasted sesame seeds, cooked edamame beans, and/or cubes of Asian teriyaki baked tofu.
  • I thought sweet brown rice would be perfect in sushi salad. Not. Cooked using one part water: one part rice, sweet brown rice was super sticky–even the wasabi and rice vinegar didn’t separate the grains. I tested this recipe with long grain brown rice too—for brown rice shiso sushi salad, regular short grain brown wins out.

You might also like this Curried Brown Rice and Veggie Salad!

Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and cook something delicious!

Thanks for being here. To get my latest recipe posts and exclusive monthly newsletters, subscribe here. (I hate Spam too and will never share your email with anyone.)

  • Follow me on Instagram! It’s my favorite!
  • Peruse my Pinterest boards for more vegetarian recipe ideas.
  • Find daily vegetarian and healthy living ideas on my Facebook page.

This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase products via my links, it doesn’t cost you anything and I earn a tiny commission, which helps me continue to provide free content here on Letty’s Kitchen. Thank you!!

If you like this recipe, I’d be grateful if you’d give a ✮✮✮✮✮ rating on the recipe card below.

Nutrition Facts
Brown Rice Sushi Salad {vegan, gluten-free}
Amount Per Serving
Calories 171 Calories from Fat 54
% Daily Value*
Fat 6g9%
Sodium 274mg12%
Potassium 272mg8%
Carbohydrates 26g9%
Fiber 3g13%
Sugar 3g3%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 1385IU28%
Vitamin C 4.9mg6%
Calcium 23mg2%
Iron 0.8mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

3 comments

  • This sounds amazing. I’ve heard about Shiso for years but haven’t ever seen it anywhere in Utah. Reply · 31 August, 2014

  • Beautiful salad and I’m sure delicious. Brown rice is so good at soaking up flavors while still holding onto its nutty charm. GREG Reply · 2 September, 2014

  • Thanks Amy for including my brown rice sushi salad in your roundup of vegetarian sushi recipes! Reply · 16 August, 2016

Leave a Reply

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.