Yes, you read it right! Keto sushi is here and it truly is amazing. I used to be a big eater of sushi and have missed it greatly. I put off trying keto sushi for a long time because I thought it would be a huge time sink and a massive headache to be able to make it properly. I had never rolled sushi either, so I had some sort of fear holding me back from trying it.
Well, I tried it, I liked it, and I’ve made it numerous times since. It’s really not as hard as I thought it’d be, and it’s SO good! I definitely recommend this to anyone that loves sushi – you won’t regret it. You can use practically any seafood you want (I’ve done a few more rolls since with crab and also sashimi grade tuna).
A big tip I have is to not rice the cauliflower too far. You have to make sure you don’t over-process it otherwise you will have more of a paste, rather than have some sort of texture to the “rice” once you mix the cream cheese in. When cooking the cauliflower, make sure to have a very hot pan. You want to essentially steam it and then get some of the extra moisture out by cooking it.
I would also recommend grabbing a bamboo roller for this as it really helps keep the sushi tight and keep the roll whole. If you use your hands, it will turn out okay but it’s not going to be as tight as if you used a roller.
Yields 3 servings of Keto Sushi (about 5 rolls)
The Preparation
- 16 ounces cauliflower
- 200 grams cucumber
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce, or coconut aminos
- 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1/2 medium avocado
- 5 whole nori sheets
- 5 ounces smoked salmon, or seafood of choice
The Execution
1. Using a food processor, rice the cauliflower into rice-sized pieces by pulsing. Make sure not to over-processes the cauliflower and do in smaller batches to ensure you get a good consistency.
2. Slice the cucumber on each end, then place the cucumber upright and slice off each side. You want to discard the middle and slice about 2 side pieces into small strips. Set aside in the fridge.
3. In a very hot pan, add cauliflower rice and cook. Season with soy sauce as the cooking process happens, about 1 tbsp.
4. Once the cauliflower is finished up and dried out some, add to a bowl with cream cheese and rice vinegar (1-2 tbsp. depending on how seasoned you want it to taste). Mix together well and set in the fridge until cool.
5. Once the rice mixture is cooled, slice 1/2 an avocado into small strips and scoop out of the shell.
6. Put a nori sheet down on a bamboo roller covered with saran wrap (this helps with sticking). Spread some of the cauliflower rice mixture over the nori sheet, leaving about 3/4 inches of space at the top. Make sure this is quite a thin layer.
7. Place all of the filling items into the sushi roll, layering whichever flavors you want.
8. Roll sushi tightly using bamboo. You can see many videos on YouTube on how to do this if you aren’t sure.
9. Serve and enjoy! Feel free to pair with pickled ginger, wasabi, or a spicy mayo you make yourself if you want to up the fat content in this.
This makes a total of 3 servings of Keto Sushi. Each serving comes out to be 359 calories, 26.8g fats, 7.9g net carbs, and 18.3g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 16 ounce cauliflower | 104 | 2.3 | 18.6 | 10.4 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| 200 gram cucumber | 30 | 0.2 | 7.3 | 1 | 6.3 | 1.3 |
| 1 tablespoon soy sauce | 8 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 1.3 |
| 6 ounce cream cheese | 582 | 57.8 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 10.5 |
| 2 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1/2 medium avocado | 150 | 13.9 | 7.8 | 6.1 | 1.7 | 1.8 |
| 5 whole nori sheets | 30 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 ounce smoked salmon | 166 | 6.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25.9 |
| Totals | 1076 | 80.4 | 47.4 | 23.7 | 23.7 | 54.9 |
| Per Serving (/3) | 359 | 26.8 | 15.8 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 18.3 |
Keto Sushi
Ingredients
- 16 ounce cauliflower
- 200 gram cucumber
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 6 ounce cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- ½ medium avocado
- 5 whole nori sheets
- 5 ounce smoked salmon or seafood of choice
Instructions
- In a food processor, rice the cauliflower in batches, taking care not to overprocess it.
- Cut the ends off of the cucumber and slice the outer edges into thin strips, discarding the middle portion. Set aside in the fridge to cool.
- Transfer the cauliflower rice to a pan over high heat, adding the soy sauce as it cooks.
- Once the cauliflower is cooked and has dried out some, add it to a bowl along with the cream cheese and rice vinegar. Combine well, being careful not to mash the cauliflower completely, and set aside in the fridge until cool.
- Once the rice mixture has cooled, halve and pit the avocado, leaving the skin on. Carefully slice the meat into thin strips and scoop them out with a spoon.
- Place a nori sheet down on a bamboo mat covered with plastic wrap to keep it from sticking. Spread the cauliflower rice mixture thinly over the nori sheet, leaving about 3/4" of space at the top.
- Place the cucumber strips, avocado, and smoked salmon on top of the cauliflower rice mixture.
- Roll the sushi tightly and slice. Repeat with any remaining nori sheets.
- Serve and enjoy!
Or, if you’re on the road and need to get some tasty food , just look for Sashimi, which means “pieces of uncooked seafood *without* rice”. I have that all the time. If that’s not available, order Sushi but either tell them to leave off the rice, or just ignore the rice and eat the meats.
This looks awesome! Sushi is one of the hardest things to give up when cutting carbs.
I’ve made this two times now! So delicious! My only problem I’ve had is spreading the rice thin enough for five sheets of nori. Any tips?
I tried this over the weekend and I must say it is amazing!!! I had fun assembling the sushi with my boyfriend and he loved it even if he’s not into the keto diet. It was also our first time assembling some sushi.
I will be making it again tonight because I have left over cauliflower rice and because I can’t get enough of it. In fact im craving for some right now!!
Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Thanks so much for the amazing compliments. It definitely makes for a fun date day/night experience – glad you liked it!
Fantastic recipe! I was planning to make a sushi with cauliflower but had not yet figured out how I was going to keep it in the roll. Thank goodness I didn’t have to share with anyone. Flavor is perfect. And the calories didn’t end up as high as I expected.
Thank you.
I did try this using Miracle Rice. I rinsed it really well, then parboiled it for 3-4 minutes, then pan fried it until all the water was gone. Then I tried a bit of a variation by treating it like sushi rice – I used equal parts sugar free rice vinegar and Erythritol, heated it in the microwave until dissolved, then added half a teaspoon of tamari and added it to the rice. I let that cool down, and then made up spicy mayo recipe for spicy tuna, and added some of that to the rice until it was sticky enough to spread on the nori. I put regular tuna and avocado inside and rolled them up. This was my first attempt at rolling and it was pretty bad, but I have to say with a side of more tamari and drop of the spicy mayo on each piece, it didn’t taste half bad. It would probably work well with the cream cheese too, but I am not such a big fan of cream cheese in my sushi, so I went with the spicy mayo instead…
That sounds great – I think I’ll try out the miracle rice sometime and see if I like it. Thanks for sharing!
let me know what you think…. 🙂
If there’s one thing I’m willing to break keto for–it’s sushi, now I don’t have to! I made this recipe tonight and IT’S AWESOME! Going to make it again this weekend as I have half a cauliflower head left over. Really glad I found this recipe, thanks for posting it and with such beautiful photos too! (Mine came out a little more ovaloid in shape, but it’s also my first time making sushi, so I’ll get better!)
Thanks again, going to look for more great ideas around your site!
Really, really glad to hear. It was much better than I thought it was going to be, too!
Thank you so much for this. I tried it today and it tasted absolutely delicious. I didn’t have smoked salmon so just used a regular salmon filet that I cooked quickly in the microwave. So happy to have found this recipe! I can stay on keto! Yay!
What a great idea! I like sushi a lot and for some time now have ordered sashimi to avoid the rice. Now I can make sushi at home. Plus it sounds as though it will taste very nice indeed.
Thank you for posting this recipe. I appreciate it so much. If I had to change one thing, I would have used a little less cream cheese. It overpowered my favorite flavor (rice vinegar), but it has saved me from gorging on sushi inin restauran. Great recipe!
Agreed! But overall really good!
hi! this is so exciting! i cannot eat dairy though. can i sub the cream cheese for something else?
I think avocado could work functionally, but would obviously make everything taste strongly of avocado…
Could also make a homemade cashew cheese. We just posted a recipe for that here:
https://www.ruled.me/roasted-celery-and-macadamia-cheese/
I think avocado could work functionally, but would obviously make everything taste strongly of avocado…
Could also make a homemade cashew cheese. We just posted a recipe for that here:
https://www.ruled.me/roaste…
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Loved this! But I thought there was about an ounce too much cream cheese in the rice mixture. Also added some sesame seeds, fish oil and ground ginger to the mix in addition to the rice vinegar. Overall a total win!
Glad to hear it! If you make it again with less cream cheese, let me know how it goes!
This worked out really well. I made a single roll so just cooked up about half to 3/4 cup of frozen cauliflower rice, added a dash of soy sauce and rice vinegar, and then maybe half a tablespoon cream cheese after cooking, just enough to make it sticky. Chilled ‘rice’ while I prepped my other ingredients and made spicy crab mix with a bit of Sriracha and mayo (plus cuc and avo). All I had on hand was imitation crab which was a carb splurge, also why i only made one roll (trying to find sushi grade fish near me)! I am not a huge cauliflower fan but I tasted zero of it, perfect. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
How long does this keep in the fridge? I’ve always found traditional sushi isn’t as nice if not eaten fresh on the day…
I wouldn’t put it in the fridge for more than a few days.
Made this today. It’s delicious but I agree with other posters that there is a tad too much cream cheese.
Also, I had a hard time spreading the mixture which means the rolls were too thick (too cream cheesy) and as a result, I only used 3 sheets of nori.
However, the taste was awesome. I’ll try this again with less cream cheese. Thank you! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
I made this again but this time I made the cauliflower rice without the cream cheese by using mayonnaise with a little chili garlic sauce to bind it. It worked out great and made it cheese free for those trying to skip it.
Can you freeze this? If you wanted to meal prep it?
I’ve never tried freezing it and haven’t heard from others that have tried it either. If you do try it, let me know how it goes. Looking up some information, it definitely won’t taste as good when defrosted and make sure that you defrost it in the fridge.
add wasabi paste
Great idea, Joel! Just don’t forget to consider the carbs in the wasabi paste you use.
My husband made this for us. I must confess, I was skeptical, it it was SO, SO good!!! All the flavors of standard sushi rolls