Avocado and cream cheese sushi is a simple and flavorful sushi roll with a creamy texture. The keys to getting the best sushi rolls are to make sure the rice is cooked and flavored well and that your ingredients are fresh.
Rolling sushi can be tricky if you’ve never done it before. But if you practice a few times, you’ll get the hang of using the bamboo sushi mat to create a beautiful sushi roll tucked with any ingredients, including avocado and cream cheese.
The ingredients you’ll need for this cream cheese sushi recipe are:
- 1 sheet roasted nori
- 1 cup sushi rice
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ avocado
- 1 – 2 oz cream cheese
- sesame seeds (optional)
- kombu (optional)
Looking for other light savory bites that are bursting with flavor? Try Parmesean Zucchini Bites!
Preparing Rice for Avocado and Cream Cheese Sushi
Making rice correctly is perhaps the most important step for getting the best sushi rolls. Choose “sushi rice” or a short grained Japanese rice. Then, cook it in either a rice cooker or in a covered pot on the stove top.
For the proportions, you generally want to use proportions that are 1 1/2 cup of rice to 2 cups of water. To make just one roll of sushi, you may want to make a smaller quantity of rice, so you can halve the proportions to: 3/4 sushi rice to 1 cup water.
With the rice cooker, you can just add the ingredients and press the start button. With the stove top method, you’ll put the ingredients in the pot, bring to a boil, and cook about 20 minutes until all the water is absorbed and the rice is tender.
You can add a strip of kombu, or seaweed, to the rice as it cooks for additional flavor.
Next, you’ll need to make some sushi vinegar if you don’t have any store-bought sushi vinegar. This liquid is essentially rice vinegar, which has a more mild flavor, with the addition of salt and sugar. For this avocado and cream cheese roll recipe, you’ll only need a couple tablespoons, but you can make a larger batch and keep some on hand to make other sushi rolls.
To make a larger batch of sushi vinegar, combine:
- 2 cups rice vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
Stir the sushi vinegar until the sugar dissolves. You may need to heat it briefly in the microwave or on a small pot on the stove top to help the sugar dissolve, but do not boil it.
Preparing Other Ingredients
Next, prepare your avocado filling to assemble in the sushi roll. First, cut an avocado in half and cut one half into thin slices but cutting the avocado lengthwise. Wrap the other half of the avocado in saran wrap and put it in the fridge for later use (unless you’re making another avocado and cream cheese roll!).
Then, cut small strips of cream cheese that are about the size of your avocado slices. For this purpose, it’s best to use the blocks of cream cheese and just use a sharp knife to slice off two or three thin strips.
Rolling Avocado and Cream Cheese Sushi
To roll a nice, tight sushi with avocado and cream cheese, you’ll need a bamboo sushi rolling mat, or a flexible place mat. There are a few steps to rolling sushi, but once you get the hang of it after a few practices, it’s easy.
For this recipe, you’ll use the full sheet of nori to make larger rolls, but if you want smaller rolls you can use a half sheet and follow the same steps.
Place a layer of saran wrap over the mat, then place one sheet of roasted nori on top of the saran wrap. Make sure the rough side of the nori is face up so it can better cling to the rice and keep the perforation lines running parallel to your sushi rolling mat.
Place one cup of the flavored sushi rice on the nori and spread it evenly on the whole sheet, leaving just a few centimeters of edge at the top so you can seal the roll.
Then, place a row of sliced avocados and cream cheese strips across the rice coated nori. Make sure they reach the edges so you don’t have any sushi piece without filling. If you’re using sesame seeds, sprinkle them lightly over the rice and avocado/cream cheese.
Gently fold the sushi roll mat over the avocado and cream cheese filling so that they are surrounded by rice and nori. squeeze to tighten the roll. Continue rolling and squeezing the sushi mat until the nori is full rolled. Moisten the edge of the nori that was not coated with rice and “glue” it to the roll. Tuck any extra avocado or cream cheese that may be slipping from the sides back into the sushi roll.
Use a very sharp knife to slice the roll into medallions, about ½ thick. Wet the knife periodically with water so the rice does not stick to it. You can cut the roll in half, then cut each half into thirds to get six pieces. Or you can just cut it into the size pieces you’d like.
Serve avocado cream cheese sushi immediately with soy sauce, wasabi, or pickled ginger.
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Avocado and Cream Cheese Sushi
Equipment
- 1 bamboo sushi rolling mat
- Sharp Knife
- rice cooker or pot
Ingredients
- 1 sheet roasted nori
- 1 cup sushi rice
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ avocado
- 1 – 2 oz cream cheese
- sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Cook sushi rice in a rice steamer. For most rice cookers, the proportions are about 3/4 sushi rice to 1 cup water. Add an optional piece of kombu (dried seaweed) for seasoning. Once the rice has cooked, spread add the sushi vinegar
- Once the rice has cooked, spread add 1 tablespoons of sushi vinegar and gently stir the rice so the vinegar coats each grain. (Don't over stir the rice or it will become gooey!)
- Place a sheet of roasted nori on a sushi roll mat. Make sure the rougher side is facing up and the lines of the sheet are parallel to the lines in the bamboo sushi roll mat.
- Spread 1 cup of sushi rice on the nori using a rice spatula or a spoon. Coat the nori evenly, spreading the rice to edges, but leave about ½ inch at the top.
- Slice ½ avocado into thin strips and align toward the bottom of the nori. Ensure the avocado pieces are spread from left to right. Add optional sesame seeds, sprinkling over the rice. Slice a few thin strips of cream cheese and align those next to the avocado, ensuring a full strip of cream cheese from left to right.
- Gently fold the sushi roll mat over the avocado and squeeze to tighten the roll. Continue rolling and squeezing the sushi mat until the nori is full rolled. Moisten the edge of the nori that was not coated with rice and "glue" it to the roll. Tuck any extra avocado or cream cheese that may be slipping from the sides back into the sushi roll.
- Use a very sharp knife to slice the roll into medallions, about ½ thick. Wet the knife periodically with water so the rice does not stick to it.
- Serve immediately with soy sauce, wasabi, or pickled ginger.
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