Easy Salmon Sushi Bake Recipe

Salmon sushi bake is the perfect dish for when you’re craving a baked sushi roll, but want to make something easier to put together. All it takes is assembling the rice and salmon mixture, baking it, scooping it onto a seaweed sheet, and eating it, like a wrap. 

This is a popular pot luck dish that is perfect to bring to your next dinner party.

✅ Why This Recipe Works

Easy to make – There's no need to try to roll the perfect sushi roll with this salmon sushi bake recipe. Just layer the ingredients in a casserole dish and bake.

Flavorful and well-balanced – Combines the perfect balance of textures and flavors to make a restaurant-quality salmon sushi bake

Low in calories and macro-optimized – This recipe was specially developed by yours truly to be low-calorie and macro-friendly

💭 What is the Salmon Sushi Bake?

Salmon sushi bake is a deconstructed sushi roll that is baked to perfection. It consists of flaky salmon mixed with a delicious creamy sauce layered on top of sushi rice. It is baked and served with sheets of seaweed, meant to be scooped and eaten like a wrap. It’s an easy sushi bake recipe that only takes about 20 minutes to put together.

This dish makes for a great healthy Japanese recipe. It would go deliciously with a side of okinomiyaki brussel sprouts or some healthy sashimi for additional protein.

🍎 Calories and Nutrition – Is It Healthy?

The salmon sushi bake is not usually a very healthy dish given that consists of several high-fat ingredients that bump up the calorie content of the dish. 

A whole salmon sushi bake dish can consist of up to 1,000 calories with 42 grams of protein, a whopping 56 grams of fat, and 80 grams of carbs. 

What makes the dish so high in calories is due to:

• Cream cheese or sour cream, which are relatively higher fat and calorie-dense ingredients
• Kewpie mayo, which is also a relatively higher fat and calorie-dense ingredient
• Salmon, which while is a healthy source of protein, packs a lot of fat content from its omega-3 fatty acids, making it more calorie dense
• Avocado, similarly to salmon, is healthy but can be very calorie dense. 
• Rice can easily add up in calories if not portioned mindfully

Looking at each component, it’s easy to see that the salmon sushi bake can easily be made into a high-calorie and high-fat dish.

But by using a heavier ratio of protein and portioning or omitting high-calorie ingredients, I'm able to make a healthy sushi bake at 592 calories with 27 grams of protein, 33 grams of fat, and 44 grams of carbs.

Here's how I achieved this:

• Used 4 ounces of salmon. This is a lot healthier compared to imitation crab meat, which is another popular option for sushi bakes, as imitation crab meat is largely made of carbs.
• Omitted usage of cream cheese. The mayo already gives this dish a creamy consistency. 
• Portioned 1 tablespoon of Kewpie mayo given that it’s a more calorie-dense ingredient 
• Portioned ⅛ of an avocado given that it’s a more calorie-dense ingredient 
• Portioned ¼ cup of rice for a manageable amount of carbs in the dish 

For a detailed breakdown of each ingredient, their portioning, and how they make up the nutrition profile of this healthy sushi bake recipe, you may refer to the table below:

📋 Ingredient Notes

Unagi Sauce – Sauce that is typically used on unagi. Can be bought at most Asian grocery stores or online.

Sushi Rice – Typically a short-grain Japanese rice, which is a type of white rice. You can also use short-grain Japanese brown rice, or any type of short grain rice. This is mixed with the sushi rice seasoning.

Sushi Rice Seasoning – Involves a mixture of seasoned rice vinegar and sugar.

Furikake seasoning – Used to top the rice to give a delicious seaweed flavor 

Seaweed Sheets – Used to serve the baked sushi in. You can get these at your local Asian market. These are usually sold in big sheets, so would require cutting them down into smaller pieces. Alternatively, you could use packaged seaweed snacks, but may need to layer them up since they tend to be flimsier.

See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.

📖 Substitutions and Variations

Switch up the protein – Unagi or crab meat would also go deliciously with this recipe.

Eat in casserole form – Ditch the nori sheets and enjoy this as its standalone casserole dish.

Make it spicy – Add in sriracha sauce with the salmon dressing to give it a kick.

Swap the rice – Short-grain Japanese brown rice would also go well with this.

Use traditional Western mayo – If you don’t have kewpie mayo, you can also use traditional mayonnaise.

Top with fish roe – Masago, or fish roe, would also make a great topping for this dish that will accentuate the seafood flavor

🍽 Serving Instructions

You can serve the sushi bake wrapped in a roasted seaweed sheet. Scoop some of the sushi bake onto the nori sheets and consume like a handroll or wrap. 

You can also season with soy sauce for additional flavor.

💡Tips and Tricks 

Salmon for sushi bake – Unlike other sushi recipes, you don’t need to get sashimi-grade salmon for this recipe given that the salmon is cooked. Any salmon from your local grocery store will do. 

Nori Sheets – Nori sheets typically come in giant paper-like sheets. Cut down the sheets into small pieces before serving. 

💭 Recipe FAQs

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