Easy Vegan Sushi Bake with Tofu Crab Topping

If you’re a sushi lover and looking for a simple vegan option to satisfy your sushi cravings (and traditional sushi is out of the question of course) then you need to make our easy vegan sushi bake with tofu crab topping. Our plant-based version of what started out as a TikTok trend, is now our favorite way to enjoy sushi flavors in a simple weeknight dinner. From the sticky texture of the white rice to the subtle nori seaweed sheets, and the bold sushi-style flavors of the tofu crab topping, we love this dish. 

It’s not the first time we’ve tried to bring eat-out classics into the comfort of your home. We’ve made some great vegan alternatives for a Chinese-style “beef” in black bean sauce and Indian-inspired “chicken” tikka masala. Using simple ingredients, and keeping it as easy as possible, we’ve created a fun dish that we are really into, and we hope you will be too.

We thought we should talk through a few of the specifics about some of the ingredients that we used to make our easy sushi bake recipe. It’s no secret that if you read our blog often enough, you’ll know that both of us live in the United Kingdom. So the next few items are going to be specific to England. Firstly you need to use extra firm tofu for the “crab” topping, if you don’t then it will fall apart when you try and grate it, and your topping is going to be soggy and not the right consistency at all. We use ToFoo Companies “naked” extra firm tofu.

So as a simple but suitable substitute, we’ve opted to use precooked microwaveable rice for this dish, and we stand by it. It saves time and dishes, with honestly no sacrifice, and who isn’t all about that easy life? Just make sure you’re buying plain sushi rice, you’re going to be adding the flavor from the sushi-su, so don’t want to buy seasoned sushi rice. Next up there are plenty of plant-based alternatives for mayonnaise and cream cheese so you can pick and choose your favorites. For us in England, that is Hellman’s mayonnaise (which you can get in the USA too) and Violife cream cheese. When we lived in the USA, we would buy the Daiya plain cream cheese, it was always a favorite on crackers.

Old Bay seasoning is another one of those vegan happy accidents. It’s always been there and is readily available in the US and in the UK. Its made from a great blend of spices and is ideal of this dish, it’s a really familiar flavoring for seafood and just enhances the authentic flavors we are chasing in our vegan version of imitation crab meat topping.

Vegan Sushi Bake Ingredients

500 g microwavable Sushi Rice

Nori sheets

Sushi-su Ingredients

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Tofu Crab Topping

200 g extra firm tofu (grated)

1 tsp capers (finely chopped)

1 tsp dill (finely chopped)

80 g vegan mayonnaise

30 g vegan cream cheese

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

1 tsp nori flakes

1 Tbsp sriracha sauce

Extra Sushi Bake Toppings

1/4 avocado (small cubes)

1/4 cucumber (small cubes)

How to Make a Vegan Sushi Bake

1. You’re going to begin by preparing the baking dish or baking tray that you’re going to build up you’re sushi bake into. We’ve used an 8-inch square baking tray (and 2 inches deep) which you can see in most of our process photos. You need to cut a piece of parchment paper the width of the baking tray (8 inches for our tray) and then about 6 inches longer the other way. Doing this will make sure you have a rectangle that will leave some paper sticking out of two sides of the tray, making it easy to pick up your cooked bake out of the tray once it’s ready. Otherwise, you’re going to make one significant mess trying to scoop it out with spatulas.

2. The pre-cooked microwaveable sushi rice we used came in 250 g pouches, so we needed two pouches for 500 g of sushi rice. Take each pouch and squeeze the rice around in the packet until it feels well separated, and like there are no clumps. Now you should empty one pouch at a time into the baking tray before using a fork to break up any rice that is still stuck together.

3. Preheat your oven to 240°C / 220°C Fan / 475°F / Gas Mark 9

4. To get those classic sushi flavors in a microwaveable mixing bowl add all of the sushi-su ingredients and stir them together briefly. Then microwave for 30 seconds and stir again. If the salt and sugar do not completely dissolve into the sushi vinegar mixture after stirring then you can microwave everything again for 10 seconds at a time. For us it only took 30 seconds at full power in our 800 W microwave.

5. To make your tangy sushi rice pour the sushi-su evenly over the top of the rice and then smooth it out in the baking tray into one even layer, but don’t press down too hard, you don’t need to compress the rice when, just spread it out evenly.

6. Lay out one single nori sheet on top of the rice. The sheets we bought were almost 8″ square and just needed trimming on one edge (which we then kept to chop up into nori flakes for the tofu crab topping).

7. Now while your oven finishes warming up is the perfect time to do some prep work for the tofu crab topping. You want to finely chop a single teaspoon of capers, and the same for one teaspoon of dill. Then from the excess nori sheets you have, you want to chop some into small pieces, enough for one teaspoon of flakes. If you are using fresh lemon juice as well, this would be a good time to squeeze one teaspoon.

8. Next you should drain the extra firm tofu and then grate enough for 200 g of coarsely grated tofu.

9. Add all of the tofu crab topping ingredients (but not the grated tofu) in a medium bowl. This includes all of the seasonings you just chopped and squeezed, as well as the combination of vegan mayo, cream cheese, Old Bay seasoning, and sriracha. Stir well until they are all combined, and you have a light orange, flavourful spicy mayo sauce with a nice creamy texture.

10. Now you can combine the grated tofu with the sauce, turning it over gently until all the tofu is well coated. If you are too vigorous then the tofu will break apart and lose some of the great texture it would’ve had otherwise.

11. Spread the tofu crab topping evenly over the top of the nori sheets, but don’t flatten it, let it have texture. 

12. Place your uncooked sushi bake into the centre of your preheated oven for 15 minutes until the top of the sushi bake has started to turn golden brown in places. During this time you can dice the avocado and cucumber into small cubes ready to scatter over the top layer of your warm sushi bake.

13. Once cooked, take your sushi bake out of the oven, and if you leave yourself enough parchment paper to do so, you should be able to just lift your bake out of the baking tray, and it will hold itself together with no issues. Then add your final toppings (cucumber and avocado slices or cubes) and consider making some extra sriracha mayo too, just mix up some more mayonnaise with a dash of sriracha.

EASY VEGAN SUSHI BAKE WITH TOFU CRAB TOPPING

An easy vegan sushi bake with sticky short grain rice, seaweed flavoured nori sheets and a creamy tofu crab topping, oven baked until golden brown.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 12 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 27 minutes mins

Course Dinner

Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

• 1 baking tray 8-inch square
• 1 Grater
• 1 Parchment Paper 8-inch by 14-inch rectangle
• 1 Microwavable Bowl

Ingredients

  

VEGAN SUSHI BAKE INGREDIENTS

• 500 g microwavable Sushi Rice
• Nori sheets

SUSHI-SU INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

TOFU CRAB TOPPING

• 200 g extra firm tofu grated
• 1 tsp capers finely chopped
• 1 tsp dill finely chopped
• 80 g vegan mayonnaise
• 30 g vegan cream cheese
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning
• 1 tsp nori flakes
• 1 Tbsp sriracha sauce

EXTRA SUSHI BAKE TOPPINGS

• 1/4 avocado small cubes
• 1/4 cucumber small cubes

Instructions

 

• Prepare the baking dish or baking tray that you’re going to build up you’re sushi bake into. We’ve used an 8-inch square baking tray (and 2 inches deep). Cut a piece of parchment paper the width of the baking tray and then about 6 inches longer the other way. Doing this will make it easier to pick up your cooked bake out of the tray.
• Take each pouch of pre-cooked sushi rice and squeeze the rice around in the packet until it feels well separated with no clumps. Now you should empty one pouch at a time into the baking tray before using a fork to break up any rice that’s still stuck together.
• Preheat your oven to 240°C / 220°C Fan / 475°F / Gas Mark 9
• In a microwaveable mixing bowl add all of the sushi-su ingredients and stir them together briefly. Then microwave for 30 seconds and stir again. If the salt and sugar do not completely dissolve into the sushi vinegar mixture after stirring then you can microwave everything again for 10 seconds at a time.
• To make your tangy sushi rice pour the sushi-su evenly over the top of the rice and then smooth it out in the baking tray into one even layer.
• Lay out one single nori sheet on top of the rice.
• While your oven finishes warming up finely chop a single teaspoon of capers, and the same for one teaspoon of dill. Then from the excess nori sheets you have, chop into small pieces enough for one teaspoon of flakes. If you are using fresh lemon juice as well, this would be a good time to squeeze one teaspoon.
• Next you should drain the extra firm tofu and then grate enough for 200 g of coarsely grated tofu.
• Add all of the tofu crab topping ingredients (but not the grated tofu) in a medium bowl. This includes all of the seasonings you just chopped and squeezed, as well as the combination of vegan mayo, cream cheese, Old Bay seasoning, and sriracha. Stir well until they are all combined, and you have a light orange, flavourful spicy mayo sauce with a nice creamy texture.
• Now you can combine the grated tofu with the sauce, turning it over gently until all the tofu is well coated. If you are too vigorous then the tofu will break apart and lose some of the great texture it would’ve had otherwise.
• Spread the tofu crab topping evenly over the top of the nori sheets, but don’t flatten it, let it have texture.
• Place your uncooked sushi bake into the centre of your preheated oven for 15 minutes until the top of the sushi bake has started to turn golden brown in places. During this time you can dice the avocado and cucumber into small cubes ready to scatter over the top layer of your warm sushi bake.
• Once cooked, take your sushi bake out of the oven, and if you leave yourself enough parchment paper to do so, you should be able to just lift your bake out of the baking tray, and it will hold itself together with no issues. Then add your final toppings (cucumber and avocado slices or cubes) and consider making some extra sriracha mayo too, just mix up some more mayonnaise with a dash of sriracha.

Keyword mayonnaise, rice, sriracha, sushi, tofu

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