This California Roll Bowl is a great way to satisfy your sushi cravings at home. Perfectly cooked sushi rice is layered up with creamy crab salad, crunchy cucumber, avocado, and seaweed snacks. It’s just like your favorite roll, but way easier.

hero shot deconstructed California roll on a black plate

The classic California roll is made up of imitation crab salad, avocado, and cucumber wrapped in seaweed paper and sushi rice. Making this deconstructed California Roll gives you loads of that traditional flavor, plus the option to dress it up with toppings like green onions and sesame seeds. These bowls come together quickly and are super easy to make.

I make these California roll bowls a lot during the summer because it is a cool, refreshing meal that takes minimal effort.

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Why This Recipe Works
Ingredients
How to Make California Sushi Roll Bowls
Diana's Tips for Success
Top Tip
Make Ahead and Storage
Related Recipes
📖 Recipe

Why This Recipe Works

I give you all of my tips for perfect sushi rice that I learned from an actual sushi chef.
There are no specialty ingredients in this recipe, but a few tips to make sure you don’t miss any of the traditional flavor.
There is no raw fish and no rolling required making this recipe perfect for beginners.
You can make this recipe in large batches and serve it over multiple days for am easy lunch or super delicious meal prep.

Ingredients

Sushi Rice- Short grain rice that is a bit sticky and made a bit sweet with rice vinegar and sugar.

Imitation Crab- Easy to use and a very inexpensive product that tastes great. Easy to use and a very inexpensive product that tastes great. I prefer the flake style so that I can have a shredded crab salad, but a thicker style works great too.

Seaweed Snacks- Traditional sushi is made with nori paper which is seaweed paper. I find the nori paper to be a bit too thick for a bowl. I traded it out for the Korean style seaweed snacks which are thinner and more chip-like. They add the same salty flavor, but the texture is nicer.

How to Make California Sushi Roll Bowls

Cooking Sushi Rice

Place rinsed sushi rice in a pot and add water. The ratio of rice to water is 1 cup of rice to 1 ½ Cups water.
Add rice vinegar and sugar to the water.
Then bring the rice to a low simmer, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.
Turn off the heat, and let it sit, covered, for 10 minutes.

Step 1: Sushi rice is short grain rice and needs to be rinsed free of some of its starch. To reduce water use, I recommend soaking the rice in cold water for 15 minutes before rinsing in a colander.

Step 2: Fluff the cooked sushi rice and spread on a cookie sheet to cool quickly in the refrigerator. (If you do this farther ahead of time, you can transfer the rice to a bowl and leave it loosely covered in the fridge until you are ready to use it.)

California Roll Crab Salad

Step 3: Make the crab salad by shredding the imitation crab pieces into bite sized shreds. This can be done by pulling it apart with two forks.

Step 4: Add mayonnaise, rice vinegar, and sriracha hot sauce and stir together until you have a nice creamy mixture.

Assembly

Step 5: Next, cut up the cucumber, seaweed snack sheets, avocado, and green onion.
Organize all of your California roll bowl ingredients to create a little assembly line.
Then, build the bowls by placing a layer of rice on the bottom of the bowl and adding your crab salad and California roll ingredients to the top.
Sprinkle a few sesame seeds on top with a drizzle of soy sauce and serve.

Diana's Tips for Success

Rinse the rice thoroughly. The water should get pretty close to clear if you’ve soaked it long enough.

Make rice well ahead of serving. Cold sushi rice is best for this dish.

Top Tip

You can make the crab salad with as little or as much hot sauce as you like. Add a few extra squeezes and you can have a spicy California Roll in a Bowl.

Make Ahead and Storage

California Roll Bowls are a great make ahead meal. The rice and crab salad can be kept in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to three days. The cucumbers and green onions can be cut and stored as well.

For best results, add fresh avocado and seaweed pieces each day.

For best results, add fresh avocado and seaweed pieces each day.