Picked With Passion

These Spicy Vegetarian Sushi Bowls can stand in for your favorite sushi takeout and take no time to toss together.  Packed with plenty of whole grains, veggies, and protein, these bowls check all the boxes for an easy healthy meal.

Even though I eat seafood, I always get the veggie roll when I go out for sushi. So last week when I was craving sushi I decided to make a homemade vegetarian sushi bowl instead. Knowing that I wanted some protein, I decided to add tofu and edamame to the mix as well.

For the tofu, I used a simple packaged baked tofu so that I would have to take any extra steps to cook it. Regular tofu would work as well and it doesn’t have to be cooked if you are ok with the texture. To give the tofu some flavor, I tossed it in a semi-homemade spicy mayo. The sauce mimics the sauce used to make a spicy tuna or spicy salmon roll It’s a simple combination of mayo, Sriracha, rice vinegar, and soy sauce. You could also make a poke sauce if you don’t like mayonnaise. Just combine soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and Sriracha to taste. Some people add a touch of sweetener as well.

Then came the veggies. I decided to go with a mix of carrots, cucumber, edamame, avocado, and seaweed. You can use seaweed sheets, like the ones in the snack aisle, or a seaweed salad. I added some fresh pea shoots for the photo as well but didn’t include those in the recipe since they can be hard to find. The last step is the rice. To make the rice similar to sushi rice, I tossed it with some rice vinegar. You can skip this step, but it definitely adds a nice flavor to the rice.

Meal Prep Vegetarian Sushi Bowls

If you decide to make these for meal prep, which I highly recommend, you can make pack everything in advance except for the avocado. To make sure the veggies don’t get soggy, sometimes I pack it with the tofu on the bottom of the container. Then I place the right on top of that. Then all the veggies. This ensures that the spicy mayo sauce won’t make any of your vegetables mushy. This works great in a mason jar as well.

Vegan Sushi Bowl Option

To make a vegan sushi bowl, you just have to make a few small changes to the recipe. First, you will want to swap out the mayonnaise for a vegan mayo. If you don’t like vegan mayo, you can make a vegan poke sauce instead with soy sauce (or coconut aminos), sesame oil, rice vinegar, and Sriracha. If you like a sweet sauce, add some maple syrup or brown sugar.

Tofu Alternatives for Vegetarian Sushi Bowls

Not everyone loves tofu so I wanted to offer some alternatives in case you fall into that camp. 

• Hearts of palm: I love chopping up hearts of palm and tossing it with the spicy mayo. It is so good and has a similar texture to fish, which is kind of fun.
• Jackfruit: Now that you can get canned jackfruit almost everywhere, it is another good option. Tossed with the spicy mayo, it is pretty delicious.
• Tempeh: Tempeh is another good option. Personally, I like to cut it up into very small pieces since it can be rather chewy in large chunks.
• Chickpeas: Although not my favorite for this recipe, chickpeas do work and add fiber and protein.