This spicy crab salad is just like the filling of a crab salad sushi roll! Made with just three ingredients, I love this for meal prep to serve over rice or salad for a quick Japanese sushi rice bowl or poke bowl. Check out these crab salad sushi poke bowls for more spicy crab salad sushi fun!
Note: this recipe was originally published in 2013 and has been updated with new instructions and images.
You know how at sushi restaurants sometimes they have Crab Salad Sushi Rolls or Crunchy Crab Rolls but really it's just imitation crab mixed with mayo? And sometimes there are Spicy Crab rolls that really are just fake crab mixed with mayo and spicy stuff?
Welp, I love crab salad. And spicy crab salad. And when either of those things are made into a sushi roll? I'm a seriously happy human being.
How To Make Crab Salad for Sushi
This spicy crab salad can be as mild or as spicy as you'd like it to be. It tastes like lots of things I've had in various sushi restaurants, but is so easy to make at home.
Special Ingredients
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Three ingredients are: imitation crab, mayonnaise and Sriracha. Kewpie mayo is different than other types in that it is slightly more vinegary, and gives the recognizable flavor of spicy mayo from American sushi restaurants in particular. Mayo + sriracha is all you need to make spicy mayonnaise, and Kewpie makes a big difference in the final flavor.
I don't know why imitation crab is often found in sushi, but it is, here and in Japan. Don't be afraid of it! It's made mostly of white fish and tastes super delicious.
To make spicy crab salad, finely chop or shred the crab with your fingers. Add it to a bowl with the mayo and sriracha, and stir everything together. I like an even texture to the dish, but I've also chopped the imitation crab with a knife and loved the results as well.
I think this would be super delish on bread....sort of like an egg salad sandwich or something. Am I crazy? Let's do that.
I also think this would be delicious rolled into a burrito with rice, although my favorite use for this crab salad is rice bowls in the style of clean-out-the-fridge-call-it-sushi-bowls. It's a fake-out dinner recipe for sure, but a great way to get some extra veggies into dinner.
Here's our easy spicy crab salad! I love it plain over rice with some sesame seeds and soy sauce, for a quick crab salad sushi bowl, or with poke sauce for a DIY poke bowl situation. It's delicious no matter how you serve it. Enjoy!
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Spicy Crab Salad
- Total Time: 10 minutes
Description
Spicy crab salad just like at your favorite sushi restaurant, with just a few ingredients and tons of flavor. Look at you, making your own takeout!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces imitation crab meat, shredded or chopped
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise, Japanese-style if you can find it
- 2 tablespoons sriracha, more or less to taste
Instructions
- Combine the crab, mayo, and sriracha in a small bowl.
- Taste – add more mayo if you’d like a creamier salad, or more sriracha for spicier.
- Serve with white rice, on sandwiches, with rice cakes, or over a cabbage salad – you can’t go wrong with this one!
Equipment
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Notes
See my post on the crab poke bowls in these pictures. They are SO good!
Kewpie mayo is my favorite, and I think the flavor is definitely different enough to matter in this dish.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
Keywords: crab salad sushi, spicy crab salad, crab salad sushi roll, how to make crab salad for sushi
Excellent easy recipe that tastes so good. I added a sprinkle of Nanami Togarashi
★★★★★
I'm so glad that you liked it, and LOVE the idea of adding togarashi! I'm all about toppings on a bowl-style meal like this.
I added just a bit of shitaki dashi, freshly made (still hot) unagi & sushi vinegar to mine, just for unami and DANG it was good. I ended up going back to the grocery store to buy MORE imitation crab to make more and ate it dumped straight into my rice bowl☺️
I may have found my new favorite junk food
★★★★★
Yummmmmmm love the addition of the dashi and sushi seasoning!