These Sushi Donuts are such a fun appetizer to serve guests in the summertime! It's a fun twist on sushi served in the shape of everyone's favorite food...a donut!! The crispy rice is topped with creamy avocado and a shrimp spicy mayo mixture. It's the perfect sushi bite!
I love sushi. The sushi roll posibilities when dining out are always endless and fun to choose from! But even with the multiple sushi options, I always seem to end up with one type of roll.
Shrimp. I love shrimp. Top it with some spicy mayo and I am in sushi heaven. Add some pickled ginger and eel sauce? I'm yours.
And since I grew up in my parent's donut shop, I thought sushi donuts were the perfect combination!
The Rice
You do not need to use "sushi rice" for this recipe. Any SHORT GRAIN rice will work. In fact, I believe I used risotto rice since it is all I had. The shorter the grain, the more sticky it will be in the end which is what we want. Long grain is not an option.
Make sure to salt your rice water WELL. Rice lacks flavor on it's own so don't be shy. After your rice is cooked, I also flavored the rice with some rice wine vinegar and sugar. This adds a little flavor to the base of the donut and helps it stick together better.
The Donut Molds
I bought these donut pans from Amazon a few years ago to make some Baked Strawberry Donuts and haven't used them until today! The extra effort in adding the rice into each donut mold is SO worth it.
Once I added my cooked rice into my heavily greased donut mold, I popped the pan in a hot oven on the BOTTOM rack. This is key to making sure to bottom of our sushi donuts come out golden brown.
You'll know your donuts are ready to come out of the oven when the edges are golden brown like in the photo above. If you pull them out and realize they are falling apart of not crispy enough, you need to bake them longer.
You can see in the photo above the crispy exterior of the rice. I could have left these rice donuts in the oven for another 5 minutes or so to get an even crunchier exterior. They won't burn as easily as you may think!
The Sushi Topping
To save time, while the rice donuts were in the oven, I mixed up the shrimp mixture to go on top of the rice donuts. This is where the "sushi" part shines! 🙂
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Now you can really add ANY type of seafood you like here. Salmon, tuna, scallops, crab, or any other fish you prefer. If you don't like RAW sushi, you do not have to choose raw sushi.
I don't typically eat raw shrimp so I used precooked shrimp in this recipe. I would however use raw salmon or tuna if I wanted to make it more sushi-like. Either way, this recipe is versatile so go with what you like best!
Assembling
Assembling is easy. It just takes a little time.
First, layer your avocado sliced down. Based on the size of my avocado, I layered three slices onto each donut.
I then used a mini spoon to scoop the shrimp mixture onto the top. Next time to speed this up, I am going to try to use a piping bag with a wider hole to squeeze the topping on. (If you try this let me know how it works in the comments below!)
Then sprinkle some scallions and sesame seeds on top. I love adding BLACK sesame seeds and highly recommend buying some next time you are food shopping. It lasts a LONG time in your spice cabinet and adds a pop of color (and sophistication) to most Japanese dishes.
Variations
I suggest playing around with different sushi toppings!
- Tobiko
- Salmon thinly sliced laid over the avocado or mixed into the shrimp
- Raw tuna can replace the shrimp
- Krab mixed into the shrimp
- Cucumber sliced thinly laid over the avocado
- Drizzle eel sauce over top
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📖 Recipe
Sushi Donuts
Ingredients
- ½ lb shrimp, cooked, clean and peeled (*you can use raw shrimp if you prefer)
- ¼ cup mayo
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- ¾-1 tablespoon sriracha
- 2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
- salt to taste
- ½ medium avocado, thinly sliced
- sesame seeds
- 1 scallion, chopped
Rice
- ½ cup short grain rice
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400℉.
- Cook rice until cooked through (about 20 minutes).
- Strain and add to a medium bowl along with the rice wine vinegar and sugar.
- Spray donut molds with nonstick spray or brush oil into each cavity. Press rice into each mold filling packing them in tightly. Wetting your hands helps to keep the rice from sticking. You should get about 6 donuts.
- Place on the bottom rack for about 20-25 minutes. Remove when the edges are brown. They should be firm when you remove them! (If they are not firm enough, bake for another 5 minutes or so!)
- In the meantime, dice shrimp up and add to a medium bowl along with the mayo, sriracha, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and most of the chopped scallions. (Leave some for toppings.) Mix well. Set Aside.
- Now we're ready to assemble! Remove your rice donuts from the pan. *You may need to use a knife to loosen the edges. If the bottom of the rice is not golden brown, place back in the oven longer.
- Place donuts on a plate (brown side down). Add a layer of avocado followed by a layer of the spicy shrimp mixture.Finally, top with sesame seeds and scallions. Enjoy!
Ivonne
Thank you for the recipe
Aleka Shunk
You're welcome!!