These Shrimp Dynamite Sushi Bowls are a healthy 20-minute dinner idea and a play on your favourite sushi roll with homemade spicy mayo.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Sushi rice – sushi rice is best but jasmine rice or another white rice may work in a pinch. A different type of rice may change the cook time.
- Rice vinegar – white wine vinegar is a great alternative to rice vinegar.
- Sugar – use a sugar substitute like stevia. The sugar helps to balance the acidity so it's recommended.
- Mayo – any variety of mayo (light, vegan, etc.) will work.
- Sriracha – any chili pepper sauce can be used as a substitution. The closest substitution is sambal oelek.
- Shrimp – dynamite rolls are made with shrimp, but any sushi-grade salmon or tuna may work in place of shrimp.
- Cucumber – replace with a veggie of choice or leave out altogether.
- Avocado – replace with a veggie of choice or leave out altogether.
- Picked ginger – if you're in a pinch, leave this out altogether.
- Nori sheets – roasted nori seaweed snack sheets or large nori sheets cut up will work well for this recipe.
- Soy sauce – coconut aminos or tamari can be used in place of soy sauce.
- Scallions – to garnish.
- Sesame seeds – to garnish.
How to make sushi bowls
- Cook the sushi rice.
- Assemble your toppings.
- Make the spicy mayo.
- Divide the ingredients among the bowls.
- Pour soy sauce and spicy mayo over top.
- Serve and enjoy!
How to make sushi rice
Making the sushi rice is easy – all it takes is 10-15 minutes in the rice cooker. I definitely recommend using a rice cooker because it makes meal prep so much easier. You just dump all the ingredients in and press a button! No burning and no overcooking. This is the rice cooker I use.
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After your sushi rice has finished cooking, stir in some rice vinegar and sugar to get that traditional flavour of sushi rice. If you didn't add salt while making the sushi rice, you will want to add up to 1 tsp of salt to the rice along with the vinegar and sugar. Fluff the rice slightly and you're ready to make your bowls!
Frequently Asked Questions
A dynamite roll is typically made of shrimp tempura, avocado, cucumber and mayonnaise. This version is a bit lighter since it uses cooked shrimp instead of shrimp tempura.
The main difference is that a poke bowl is Hawaiian and a sushi bowl is Japanese. Other than that, they have the same components – rice, some kind of seafood, a variety of vegetables and soy sauce or spicy mayo drizzled over top.
Yes! Each sushi bowl has just 345 calories per serving, so it’s a filling and low-calorie meal option. It’s healthier than your traditional dynamite sushi roll, which uses battered shrimp tempura. If you want to make this bowl even healthier, you can use low-fat or vegan mayo to make the spicy mayo.
Storing and reheating
You can store these bowls in the fridge for up to 5 days in airtight meal prep containers. These sushi bowls are definitely a low-maintenance meal prep dish because you don't have to reheat them!
Since you won't be reheating them, store them in the containers fully prepped. When you’re ready to enjoy your bowl, eat them cold, similar to sushi!
Freezing components of this recipe
While you can’t freeze these sushi bowls, you can freeze components of the recipe. The cooked shrimp and sushi rice will both freeze beautifully in their own airtight glass containers or freezer-safe Ziploc bags. All you have to do is stick them in the fridge overnight to let them thaw then assemble your sushi bowls fresh!
More shrimp sushi recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this recipe into your weekly lunches.
- You can order sushi rice online.
- You can order nori online too.
- This is the brand of tamari I like, and I love this low-sodium soy sauce!
Shrimp Dynamite Sushi Bowls
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked sushi rice
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 1 tbsp Sriracha
- 1 lb cooked shrimp, defrosted
- 1/2 cucumber, cut into matchsticks
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp pickled ginger
- 1 sheet nori, cut into thin strips
- 4 scallions, thinly sliced
- Sesame seeds for garnish
- Soy sauce to taste
Instructions
- Cook sushi rice according to package directions either on the stovetop or in a rice cooker.
- Meanwhile, prepare ingredients so all you have to do is assemble your bowls once the sushi rice is done cooking. Mix sriracha and mayo together to make spicy mayo then spoon into a plastic bag and cut a tiny hole at the bottom for drizzling.
- Once sushi rice is done cooking, mix it with rice vinegar and sugar, stirring well to combine. Add 1/2 cup rice to each bowl and sprinkle with sesame seeds, then divide shrimp, cucumber, avocado, pickled ginger, nori and scallions among bowls.
- Pour soy sauce overtop to taste, and garnish with more sesame seeds. Drizzle a bit of spicy mayo overtop and serve!
Stephanie says
Wow and wow again! This was really something else. All the taste and texture with none of the fussy and frustrating construction. The only thing I did different was drizzle just a touch of sesame oil over the dish as I didn’t have the seeds. So so good. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
Taylor Stinson says
I’m so happy you loved this Stephanie! The addition of the sesame oil at the end sounds fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing with me 🙂
Carmy says
The dynamite roll is my FAVOURITE. I literally had it yesterday for lunch at work haha. I’ll have to pin this for later 😀
Taylor Stinson says
RIGHT?! Like there’s any other roll to even order? Hahaha thank you so much Carmy! I promise it’s super easy to make 🙂
Natasha @ Salt & Lavender says
You know, I’ve always been pretty skeptical about these type of bowl meals. They usually seem overly fussy to me, but this one does pique my interest! I totally agree with you about not messing around making sushi at home unless it’s like a special evening project or something. Making sushi this way is totally doable and practical. And it looks seriously delicious! That avocado and spicy mayo especially!!
Taylor Stinson says
Thank you so much Natasha! I made a sushi bowl last year that was OKAY but not exactly my favourite, but there were aspects of the bowl I really loved so I knew I had to re-do it. I think if you add in the spicy mayo and special ingredients you can get at the sushi counter it makes the bowls really special. Yes, I am totally the type of person to spend $6 on pickled ginger (but at least it lasts forever right? LOL)