Healthy Quick

Onigiri おにぎり

Onigiri, a staple of Japanese food culture, is a simple yet profoundly appealing dish. Simply form fluffy cooked rice in your hands and wrap it in nori seaweed to create a convenient snack you can enjoy anywhere. Onigiri’s appeal also lies in the endless variety of fillings— such as salmon or tuna mayo—allowing you to customize it to your taste. This article explains how to form delicious onigiri in a way that is easy even for beginners. How about making your own onigiri, a beloved favorite in Japanese homes and convenience stores?

日本の食文化を代表する「おにぎり」は、シンプルながら奥深い魅力を持つ料理です。ふっくら炊き上げたごはんを手で握り、海苔で包むだけで、どこでも手軽に楽しめる一品になります。具材のバリエーションも豊富で、鮭やツナマヨなど、好みに合わせて自由にアレンジできるのが魅力です。今回は、初めての方でも簡単に作れるおいしい「おにぎり」の握り方をご紹介します。日本の家庭やコンビニで親しまれている「おにぎり」を、自分の手で握ってみませんか？

Ingredients (Makes four balls)

400g: Pre-cooked rice pack (or cooked rice)
To taste: Salt
4 pcs: Nori seaweed (20 cm × 5 cm per pc)

Filling for two tuna mayo onigiri

35g: Tuna
2 tsp: Mayonnaise
To taste: Salt
To taste: Pepper

Filling for two salmon onigiri

1 cut: Salmon

Prepare the rice.

Please prepare pre-cooked rice (packaged rice) in advance. If you plan to cook rice yourself, please refer to this.

How to Cook お米の炊き方

Watch the recipe video

How to cook

※When adding a filling to the onigiri

1. Prepare the ingredients before forming the onigiri.

[Makes two tuna mayo onigiri]
Add 2 tsp mayonnaise (or however much you like) and salt and pepper to taste to 35 g of tuna and mix well.

[Makes two salmon onigiri]
Salt the salmon, grill both sides, and then break it apart.

Shape into balls

Microwave the pre-cooked rice and loosen the rice while letting steam escape.

Dampen your hands and then dip two fingers in salt and spread it on your palms.

※You can use disposable gloves or plastic wrap.

Put about 100 g of rice in your hands, then shape the corners with your right hand and the sides with your left hand.

Be careful not to mash the rice. Shape it about five times.

Partway through forming the ball, make a well in the center.

Put 1 tsp of filling (salmon or tuna mayo) in the well, and carefully enclose the filling and shape the onigiri.

Wrap about 20 × 5 cm nori seaweed around the ball as if dressing it.

監修：尾田衣子(oda kinuko)

Culinary researcher, Onigiri Society ambassador

Supervision: Kinuko Oda

Obtained a Diplôme de Cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu Tokyo, then traveled to Florence, Italy to study home cooking. Has Health Management Specialist General Instructor and Olive Oil Sommelier qualifications and presides over the Assiette de Kinu cooking school that focuses on easy-to-make hospitality dishes based on European home cooking, olive oil recipes, and parent and child cooking that incorporates food education. Editor of Onigiri Japan (The Official Book of the Onigiri Society) from Tatsumi Publishing, and develops recipes like onigirazu (rice sandwiches) for the Onigiri Society.