Flawless Sushi Rice

The key to making perfect sushi at home starts with perfectly cooked sushi rice. This easy and highly rated recipe uses basic ingredients and can be made quickly on the stove.

What Exactly Is Sushi Rice?

Sushi rice is less about a specific rice variety and more about a method. It’s short-grain white rice seasoned with rice vinegar and other ingredients, then cooled and ready for making sushi rolls.

What’s the Ideal Rice for Sushi?

The best rice for sushi is short-grain Japanese rice, which is often labeled as 'sushi rice' in stores.

This glutinous rice variety contains more starch than others, providing the sticky texture needed for perfect sushi.

Seasoning Your Sushi Rice

Traditional sushi rice is seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. This recipe uses vegetable oil, allowing the simple seasonings to stand out beautifully.

How to Prepare Sushi Rice

You can cook sushi rice on the stove, in a rice cooker, or using an Instant Pot. Our stovetop method is the simplest. Below is the full recipe, but here’s a quick overview of the process:

Cook the Rice

Place the rinsed rice in a saucepan with water, using a 3:2 ratio of water to rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook covered until the rice is soft and all the water is absorbed.

Prepare the Vinegar Mixture

In a separate saucepan, combine the rice vinegar, oil, sugar, and salt. Heat over medium until the sugar is fully dissolved.

Season the Rice

Let the vinegar mixture cool, then gently stir it into the cooked rice. Mix until the rice becomes sticky — it may appear wet at first, but it will firm up as it cools.

Dinogo Community Reviews and Feedback

"I absolutely loved this recipe," shares Phillippa Molnar. "At first, I thought it was too sweet when I added the sugar, but then the rice absorbed it and the flavor became more balanced, just like it should be. I've actually made it several times now because it's such a light, enjoyable meal, and it's so much fun to prepare with family and friends for a laid-back evening."

"This sushi rice recipe is spot on," says Mandy. "I always use it when I'm making sushi rolls for my family. The only change I make is reducing the salt to ¼ tsp, because we dip our sushi in soy sauce, which adds enough salt for our taste."

"This recipe is fantastic," according to SamX. "I've used it several times with just a pot on the stove, and it always turns out perfectly. I did make one change that was a game changer for me: I swapped the vegetable oil for 1 teaspoon of TOASTED sesame oil in the seasoning mix. All I can say is WOW! If you try it, just be aware of nut allergies. It's totally worth making a separate batch for the flavor!"

Editorial contributions by Corey Williams

Ingredients List

• 2 cups uncooked glutinous white rice (sushi rice)

• 3 cups water

• ½ cup rice vinegar

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• ¼ cup white sugar

• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Prepare all your ingredients.

Rinse the rice in a fine mesh strainer or colander under cold running water until the water runs clear.

Place the rice and water in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the rice is tender and all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit until it cools enough to handle.

In the meantime, combine rice vinegar, oil, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then allow the mixture to cool. Once cooled, stir it into the cooked rice. Initially, the mixture will seem very wet, but keep stirring and the rice will firm up as it cools.

Stir the seasoning into the cooked rice. It may look quite wet at first, but keep stirring and the rice will become drier as it cools.

Enjoy your sushi rice!

Nutritional Information (per serving)