Salad Maki Recipe
If you love sushi and creamy, crunchy salads, you’re going to love Salad Maki Sushi Roll! This popular Japanese-style sushi roll is filled with imitation crab, tuna salad, tamagoyaki, cucumber, and lettuce, all wrapped in seasoned sushi rice and nori. It’s colorful, satisfying, and—best of all—there’s no raw fish involved.
Salad Maki is especially popular as a casual, family-friendly sushi. It’s easy to make at home and is a wonderful introduction to homemade sushi if you’re not quite ready to work with raw fish.
What Is Salad Maki?
Salad Maki (サラダ巻き) is a type of rolled sushi made with sushi rice and nori, filled with ingredients you might normally find in a salad. The combination may sound a little unusual at first, but the creamy, crunchy fillings work surprisingly well with tangy sushi rice.
You’ll commonly find Salad Maki at family-oriented and reasonably priced sushi restaurants in Japan, particularly kaiten sushi restaurants (回転寿司), also known as conveyor-belt sushi restaurants. It is less common at high-end, traditional sushi restaurants.
Salad Maki is not traditional sushi in the classic sense. Rather, it is an example of “arranged” or creative sushi, in which ingredients and flavors from outside traditional sushi are combined with sushi rice and nori. It has nevertheless become a much-loved type of sushi in Japan.
A Little History of Salad Maki
The origins of Salad Maki are often associated with Lettuce Maki, which is said to have been created at a sushi shop in the Kyushu region more than 50 years ago.
Lettuce Maki was a simple combination of boiled shrimp, lettuce, and mayonnaise. The idea of combining these familiar salad ingredients with sushi rice turned out to be surprisingly delicious, and the style became popular. Over time, the concept developed into the more elaborate Salad Maki commonly found today.
There is also an interesting similarity between Salad Maki and the California Roll. Both combine sushi rice and nori with ingredients that are more reminiscent of a Western-style salad than traditional Japanese sushi. The exact relationship between the two is difficult to establish, but the similarities are certainly fun to consider.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Sushi rice: Use Japanese short-grain rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. The slightly tangy rice is an important part of what makes Salad Maki so delicious. (See Sushi Rice Recipe)
- Nori: Dried seaweed sheets used to wrap the sushi roll.
- Imitation crab sticks: Called “kani kamaboko or kanikama” in Japanese, imitation crab is made from fish paste and flavored to resemble crab. It is one of the classic ingredients in Salad Maki. Real crab meat can be used, but imitation crab is much less expensive and works beautifully here. If you don’t like imitation crab or simply have shrimp on hand, cooked shrimp makes an excellent substitute.
- Tuna salad: Tuna mixed with Japanese mayonnaise adds a creamy, savory element to the roll. The rich tuna salad pairs particularly well with tangy sushi rice. Regular mayonnaise can be substituted, but Japanese mayo gives it a distinctive flavor.
- Tamagoyaki: Japanese rolled omelet adds more protein and makes the sushi more substantial. (See Tamagoyaki Recipe)
- Cucumber: Thin strips of crunchy cucumber provide freshness and texture.
- Lettuce: Crisp lettuce gives Salad Maki its signature salad-like quality. Be sure to dry it very well before rolling.
- Other vegetables: This is where you can get creative! Try shredded carrot, avocado, or cooked asparagus. In fact, many vegetables that you would normally put in a salad can work in a sushi roll.
Why You’ll Love Salad Maki
There’s nothing difficult or exotic about the ingredients in Salad Maki. You don’t need to buy expensive raw fish, and most of the fillings can be prepared ahead of time.
That makes this a particularly good sushi recipe for a family dinner, lunch, or casual get-together. Kids also tend to enjoy Salad Maki because of its familiar flavors and colorful fillings.
And you don’t have to follow the filling combination exactly. Think of Salad Maki as a sushi roll with a little room for creativity. Add your favorite salad vegetables, swap shrimp for imitation crab, or adjust the amount of tuna salad to your liking.
Serve your Salad Maki with miso soup, and you have an easy and delicious Japanese-style meal the whole family can enjoy!
More Sushi Recipes
- Futomaki Sushi Recipe
- California Roll Recipe
- Kanpyo Sushi Roll
- Hand Roll Sushi Recipe
- Chirashi Sushi
The recipe was originally published on April 25, 2017. The post was fully updated on August 31, 2026 with revised text and new photos.
Video
Ingredients
- 1 small can tuna
- 1 Tbsp Japanese mayo
- pinch salt
- 1 cucumber (cut into 1/2″ thick sticks)
- 1 Tamagoyaki (cut into 1/2″ thick sticks)
- Sushi Rice (1 recipe)
- 2 sheets Nori (Roasted Seaweed)
- 4 leafs of butter lettuce
- 4 sticks imitation crab meat
- Soy Sauce
Instructions
- Mix tuna, mayo, and salt well in a bowl. Cut cucumber and Tamagoyaki into thin long strips, about 8″ long and 1/2″ thick (8cm x 1cm). It’s OK not to have 8″ long pieces, just add pieces together to make the total length. Set aside.
- Put a sushi mat flat on your work surface with the bamboo slats left to right, so you can roll the mat away from you. Place a piece of seaweed on the sushi mat with one of the seaweed’s sides close to the front edge of the sushi mat (the edge near you). Spread sushi rice on the seaweed leaving a 1/2″ (1cm) space at the front and far edges of the seaweed. Place lettuce, imitation crab, cucumber, Tamagoyaki, and tuna salad next to each other in the middle of the rice. Holding the filling down, roll from the front end of the mat with the sushi mat toward the other end. Tighten the roll like a roll cake, pulling the mat to tighten. Remove the roll from the mat.
- Cut the roll into 1/2″ thick. Serve with soy sauce if you like.
