Made with pantry staples and a few simple steps, this homemade Spam Musubi is the perfect handheld snack or addition to your lunch box. Perfectly caramelized slices of spam on top of fluffy rice and furikake, all wrapped up in a nori sheet, you won’t be able to stop at eating just one.
Spam is my go-to comfort food. I can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even as a snack! Sometimes, H and I will just pan fry a few slices and have it for dinner with some rice and call it a day. This spam musubi is pretty much a step up from that as it involves a delicious glaze (the same glaze from my spam and eggs recipe), some furikake, and a huge sheet of nori.
Why You’ll Love This Spam Musubi Recipe
- It’s made with pantry staples. There’s always a can of spam lying around, and rice is a staple in my household. You can whip up this spam musubi within minutes (once the rice is cooked, of course).
- You can customize this however you want. I LOVE nori (seaweed sheets), so I wrap the entire spam musubi up in the sheet instead of cutting a strip. Go as heavy or as light as you’d like with the furikake. Make the spam as sweet or savoury as you’d prefer.
- Don’t have a musubi mold? I’ve got you! Check out down below to learn how you can make musubi without any special equipment.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- rice — I used sushi rice as I find jasmine rice does not stick together as well and it’ll fall apart.
- soy sauce — I recommend using low-sodium soy sauce as the spam can be salty on its own.
- mirin — mirin is a Japanese sweet rice wine, if you are unable to find it, you can try rice vinegar with honey. (See my what is mirin post for more recipes to use up your mirin!)
- sugar — you’ll just need a bit of white sugar for added sweetness.
- furikake — feel free to use any furikake seasoning. This one is my favourite furikake. I also use with for my sourdough discard crackers!
- spam — spam is technically the brand name for luncheon meat, like how kleenx is the brand name for tissue paper.
- nori — you’ll want to large sheets of seaweed and not the small packs.
How to Make Spam Musubi
- Rinse and cook the rice according to the package instructions. I use a rice cooker.
- Combine the soy sauce, mirin, and sugar and set aside.
- Slice the can of spam into 8 even slices.
- In a large non-stick pan, place the sliced spam in a single layer and cook on medium for 3 to 5 minutes, until it is golden. Flip over the spam.
- Add the soy sauce mixture to the skillet and let the spam cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
- To build the spam musubi, start with a sheet of plastic wrap laid over your workstation. Place the nori sheet, smooth-side down with the slightly longer side on your end and position the musubi mold just a bit under the center.
- Gently add the rice to the mold until it is almost full. Avoid packing it down too much in this step.
- Sprinkle furikake over the rice. You can be as generous as you’d like.
- Place two pieces of spam on top, side by side in the mold.
- Place the musubi mold lid on top and gently press down.
- Lift the mold off the musubi and then remove the lid.
- Optional: Brush a little bit of water on the top of the nori sheet to help the wrap hold. However, I find that I don’t need to do this if I wrap it with the plastic wrap.
- Fold up the nori sheet and wrap up the spam musubi. You can then roll up the musubi in the plastic wrap for a few minutes to help it hold its shape.
- Slice the whole roll into 2 or 4 before serving.
- Repeat with the rest of the spam and rice.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Medium and long grain rice are less starchy so they don’t hold together as well like short grain sushi rice does. Make sure to use the right rice to prevent the spam musubi from falling apart.
- If you do not have furikake, you could add some toasted sesame seeds to the rice instead.
- The glaze and the spam combined can be on the saltier side, so the rice will help balance that out. Always use low sodium soy sauce when possible and use less soy sauce if you’re worried about the saltiness.
- There’s no need to add any oil to the skillet when you brown the spam. There’s enough fat on the spam that it’ll render off to brown the slices.
- Brown the spam as much as you prefer as it’ll become crispier the longer you keep it on the skillet before adding the sauce.
- Add some eggs and make my spam musubi with egg recipe!
Make Ahead Tips
- Leftovers: It’s best to eat spam musubi the same day you make it as the rice will harden in the fridge and reheating it in the microwave will make the nori a bit soggy. However, you can store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container and reheat it if you don’t mind the nori being soft. It’s perfect to make for a lunch box or picnic if you’ll be consuming it on the same day.
Musubi translates to rice ball in Japanese, so spam musubi is pretty much spam rice balls!
According to Time magazine, “Barbara Funamura, a Japanese-American woman from Hawaii, is credited with having invented Spam musubi, a slice of grilled Spam on top of a block of rice, wrapped together with nori.” However, the Star Bulletin shared that in “Hawaii’s 2nd Spam Cookbook,” Mitsuko Kaneshiro first made them for her children before selling them in the ’80s.
If you don’t have a spam mold, you can still easily make spam musubi. Start by rinsing out the tin can that the spam came in. Then line the inside (roughly, no need to be precise) with plastic wrap. Press the rice into the plastic wrap, using the tin as a mold. Then add the furikake and spam on top. Press down to gently pack everything into the shape of the tin. Cut the nori in half and transfer the rice and spam onto the nori half-sheet by lifting the plastic out of the tin. Wrap it as instructed and repeat with the rest of the spam. The tin is essentially the same shape and makes for the perfect mold.
Spam Musubi
Ingredients
Equipment
- Musubi Mold or the tin can from the spam
Instructions
- Rinse and cook the rice according to the package instructions. I use a rice cooker.
- Combine the soy sauce, mirin, and sugar and set aside.
- Slice the can of spam into 8 even slices. I do so by cutting it in half first and cutting each half in half again, twice.
- In a large non-stick pan, place the sliced spam in a single layer and cook on medium for 3 to 5 minutes, until it is golden. Flip over the spam.
- Add the soy sauce mixture to the skillet and let the spam cook for another 3 to 5 minutes.
Assembly
- Start with a sheet of plastic wrap laid over your work station. Place the nori sheet, smooth-side down with the slightly longer side on your end and position the musubi mold just a bit under the center.
- Gently add the rice to the mold until it is almost full. Avoid packing it down too much in this step.
- Sprinkle furikake over the rice. You can be as generous as you’d like.
- Place two pieces of spam on top, side by side, in the mold.
- Place the musubi mold lid on top and gently press down. Lift the mold off the musubi and then remove the lid.
- Fold up the nori sheet and wrap up the spam musubi. You can then roll up the musubi in the plastic wrap for a few minutes to help it hold its shape. Repeat with the rest of the spam and rice. Slice the whole roll into 2 or 4 before serving.
- Optional: Brush a little bit of water on the top of the nori sheet to help the wrap hold. However, I find that I don’t need to do this if I wrap it with the plastic wrap.
Nutrition Per Serving
More Recipes to Try
- Japanese Corn Rice
- Teriyaki Chicken Skewers
- Teriyaki Salmon (Air Fryer)
- Tempura Udon
- Yaki Udon
- Agedashi Tofu
- Hibachi Shrimp with Fried Rice
- Hibachi Chicken with Fried Rice
- Soy Sauce Eggs
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