Cooked Salmon Hand Rolls with creamy chipotle sauce, avocado, and fresh crisp cucumber. These easy cooked hand rolls are fun to make at home with friends and family and are a great option when you don’t have access to sushi grade salmon.
For my fellow salmon lovers and sushi enthusiasts, I have a fun little tutorial for you on how to make homemade hand rolls in the comfort of your own home.
If you love a sushi hand roll and enjoy culinary adventures with friends and family, you’re going to love this easy breezy method for getting your hand roll fix, with or without sushi grade fish.
My favorite part about this recipe is it can be prepared using cooked fish or raw fish. I offer a cooked option because I recognize that most people don’t have access to sushi-grade raw fish without completing a finely tuned scavenger hunt or hoping for a miracle.
Before we get started…
Listen, I’ve got a controversial opinion on deck.
I often see recipes on the internet and social media for “sushi bowls” or “sushi hand rolls” that involve cooked fish.
Now, I’m not a sushi chef, but after enough years of gorging myself at all-you-can-eat sushi, I feel there has to be an element of raw fish in order for something to be considered sushi.
Just my opinion, doesn’t need to be yours.
So to me, these cooked hand rolls are not sushi, but they are an incredible alternative when you’re craving a sushi-like experience but you don’t have access to fresh fish that is sushi grade.
Let’s dive into the details of what you need in order to make hand rolls at home. Most grocery stores will have everything from the ingredients list, however, I’ll note where you may have issues sourcing an ingredient and offer alternatives.
Without further delay, here is what you need to make hand rolls.
Hand Roll Ingredients:
Full Seaweed Sheets: The outside wrap of a hand roll is made out of seaweed. It is identical to what is used in order to make sushi rolls.
Be sure to pick up the full sheets of seaweed located in the aisle that carries Asian-inspired ingredients (such as rice noodles, sauces, etc.).
These seaweed wrappers are also known as sushi nori (or just nori). Be sure they are raw, not toasted or else they will break apart when you try to roll them.
If your local grocery stores don’t carry seaweed wrappers and you don’t have a local Asian market, you can buy seaweed sheets online.
Again, remember you will need the full-sized sheets, as opposed to the small seaweed snacks that are sold in individual snack packs. These small sheets are toasted, which causes them to break and a lot of crumbling, and they are too small to make hand rolls.
Salmon (or fresh fish of choice): Pick up one pound of salmon or ahi tuna to cook up for hand roll sushi! Since we are cooking the fish, you don’t need it to be sushi-grade fish unless you plan on leaving it raw or undercooking it.
If you love spicy tuna at Japanese restaurants, go with tuna instead of salmon and mix the fish in with the spicy sauce.
Short-Grain Sushi Rice: For the best results, use sushi rice which is a sticky rice that holds together magically well.
This will help the other ingredients stay put inside of the sushi rolls.
That said, I often use brown rice that I cook with extra water to help it stay sticky.
I don’t recommend using a long grain white rice such as basmati rice or jasmine rice because it won’t stick to the nori and will fall right out of the top of the hand rolls.
Avocado: Creamy avocado adds a most magnificent texture and richness to hand rolls. If you enjoy avocados, I highly recommend you add sliced avocado to all of your hand rolls.
Vegetables: Fresh vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, and microgreens are magnificent additions, as they add fresh flavor and crisp texture.
You can also use pickled vegetables, but be cautious that they don’t overpower the flavor of the rest of the ingredients.
The best hand rolls involve a delicious sauce. Here’s one option for a creamy, spicy sauce.
Creamy Chipotle Sauce Ingredients:
Greek Yogurt or Mayonnaise: Use plain Greek yogurt or mayonnaise as the base of your creamy sauce.
I like using plain yogurt with 2% milkfat, which contains enough fat to taste rich but isn’t as calorie dense or fatty as mayo.
Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce: The spicy element of our sauce is chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.
This ingredient comes canned and is near the other Mexican-inspired ingredients in the grocery store. Often, chipotle peppers are in the same aisle as the seaweed wrappers.
Pure Maple Syrup: I like adding a liquid sweetener like pure maple syrup to the sauce to bring a sweet balance to the spicy, tangy sauce. If you prefer cooking without sugar, omit this ingredient.
Fresh Garlic: One clove of garlic gets minced up and added to the sauce to bring a slight hint of garlicky flavor.
Recipe Additions:
- Chop up some green onions and add them into the handrolls.
- Sprinkle the hand rolls with sesame seeds if you enjoy them.
- Make traditional sushi rice using seasoned rice vinegar and a little sugar. You can follow this Sushi Rice recipe for amazing seasoned sushi rice.
- Use your favorite Temaki roll additions such as various sauces and other kinds of fish to unlock different ways of making hand-rolled sushi for your at-home sushi bar.
Now that we’ve covered everything you need to make hand rolls, let’s make them!
How to Make Cooked Salmon Hand Rolls:
Cook the rice ahead of time so that it has time to cool off before using it in the handrolls. If you have a rice cooker, now is a great time to use it.
I recommend preparing it several hours or up to 3 days in advance so that it has time to chill in the refrigerator to avoid using warm rice. This is where leftover rice goes to thrive!
Remove the salmon from its packaging and place it in a large casserole dish or baking dish. Pat off any excess moisture with paper towels.
Drizzle the salmon with avocado oil and use a silicone brush or your fingers to coat the full surface of the salmon flesh with a little oil.
Sprinkle the salmon filet with sea salt, garlic powder and onion powder.
Place the salmon on the rack that’s third from the top of the oven. Broil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through.
The FDA considers salmon to be fully cooked once it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Insert a digital thermometer into the thickest part of the salmon filet and wait until the numbers stop moving to get an accurate read.
Allow salmon to cool for 15 minutes, or until it is cool enough to handle. Break it into small chunks using a fork or knife. Note: You can cook the salmon ahead of time and refrigerate it if you want your hand rolls to be completely chilled.
While the salmon is cooking, prepare the spicy chipotle sauce. Simply combine all of the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and stir well.
Taste the sauce for flavor and add more chopped chipotle chilis if you’d like. Refrigerate the sauce until you’re ready to use it.
Use a sharp knife to cut full sheets of nori (seaweed wrapper) in half using a sharp knife. You can also cut them in half with kitchen scissors.
Similarly, peel the cucumber then cut it into thin match sticks.
Slice the avocado into slices.
Place a half sheet of nori in one hand, then press some cooked rice in a diagonal from the top of the paper to the bottom right.
Avoid filling the full left side of the sheet with rice, as it will be harder to roll.
Sticking with this diagonal, layer the cooked salmon, a drizzle of sauce, avocado slices and cucumbers in the same direction as the rice.
Take the lower left corner of the seaweed and fold it upward toward the top of the sheet of seaweed, stopping ⅓ of the way from the top. Now, finish rolling the hand roll into an ice cream cone shape.
You can seal the hand roll by dabbing a small amount of water on the edge of the nori sheet to encourage it to stick to itself.
Serve immediately and enjoy!
If you’re looking for a visual aid, this video on YouTube showing How to Make Hand Rolls is excellent!
How Long Do Hand Rolls Keep?:
If you have leftovers, store the individual ingredients in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend making a lot of hand rolls in advance and storing them, because the seaweed papers get soggy very quickly.
Tips for the Best Hand Rolls:
- Avoid Soggy Hand Rolls: To ensure your hand rolls don’t get soggy, keep the seaweed in your hand the whole time as opposed to laying it on a flat surface or cutting board. Work fairly quickly, as seaweed becomes soggy the longer it sits with moist ingredients inside.
- Arrange the ingredients at a diagonal: While it might be tempting to arrange the rice and other ingredients in a square shape on the rectangular seaweed paper, doing so will create a challenge when you go to roll everything up. In order to keep everything tight in a cone shape, the ingredients should be in a diagonal starting at the top left of the paper, moving toward the bottom right. This is the easiest way to roll everything into the shape of a cone.
- Use Flavorful Ingredients: The best hand rolls are made with the best ingredients! Fresh vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, micro greens, and pickled vegetables add a fresh element. Be sure to include a delicious sauce and of course, avocado.
- Eat Immediately!: Rather than making a big batch of hand rolls to serve (to yourself or guests), eat each hand roll very soon after making it. If you’re having a dinner party where everyone is making their own hand rolls, encourage an eat-as-you-go sort of situation.
Now, if you’re like me and you’re a big fan of raw fish, you may be wondering how to turn this into a true sushi experience.
The great news is you absolutely can using this same recipe with a couple of caveats. Read more below.
Can I Make Sushi Hand Rolls?:
If you want to stick with the raw fish version (Temaki hand rolls or Temaki sushi), you can easily swap out the cooked salmon for raw sushi-grade salmon, ahi, or any fresh sushi-grade fish you enjoy. I encourage you to verify that the fresh fish is sushi grade, which means it has been frozen at an incredibly low temperature to kill bacteria and parasites.
For my fellow poke lovers, you can make Salmon Poke or Ahi Poke in place of cooked salmon or slabs of raw fish.
If you love seared tuna, prepare the tuna portion of my Seared Ahi Salad recipe.
The key here is making sure you’re buying sashimi-grade fish to prevent any food born illness.
Can I Add Crab Salad to Hand Rolls?:
Look, I have no qualms about being the first person to admit the fact that I love crab salad, and I don’t even care if it is imitation crab.
If you enjoy crab salad at sushi restaurants on your sushi rolls, you’ll love it in your hand rolls too. Follow my recipe for crab salad from my Salmon Poke Bowls with Crab Salad.
How Much Does This Recipe Make?:
This recipe makes enough for 8 hand rolls. In my opinion, this is enough to feed two people, provided you aren’t like my husband and I and require an enormous amount of food. We would need the full recipe plus a side dish or two.
To feed more than two, you will either need some side dishes (such as a green salad, Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce, miso soup, ramen or pho) to feed more individuals, or you will need to double or triple the recipe as needed.
If you’re cooking for one, halve the recipe and you’ll have enough for one delicious meal.
And that’s it! Your ultimate tutorial to making hand rolls at home, whether they be cooked or raw.
You don’t have to have an expensive night out at your local sushi restaurant to enjoy some delicious hand rolls.
Enjoy them for a date night on your own, or with your loved ones for a fun activity and conversation piece.
The best part is you can make your own sushi at home, with or without the raw fish for a budget-friendly approach to your favorite culinary adventure.
What will you put in your nori roll?
Cooked Salmon Hand Rolls
Ingredients
For the Salmon:
- 1 pound salmon*
- 2 tsp avocado oil
- Sea salt garlic powder, and onion powder
Spicy Chipotle Sauce:
- 1 (5-oz) container plain Greek yogurt
- 2 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce finely chopped
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup optional
- 1 small clove garlic minced
For the Handrolls:
- 2 cups cooked sushi rice or brown rice
- 4 full seaweed sheets cut in half
- 1 ripe avocado
- ½ medium-sized cucumber peeled, and julienned
Instructions
Cook the Rice:
- Cook the rice ahead of time so that it has time to cool off before using it in the handrolls. I recommend preparing it several hours or up to 3 days in advance so that it has time to chill in the refrigerator to avoid using warm rice.
Prepare the Salmon:
- Remove the salmon from its packaging and place it in a large casserole dish or baking dish. Pat off any excess moisture with paper towels. Drizzle the salmon with avocado oil and use a silicone brush or your fingers to coat the full surface of the salmon flesh with a little oil.
- Sprinkle the salmon filet with sea salt, garlic powder and onion powder.
- Place the salmon on the rack that’s third from the top of the oven. Broil for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked through. The FDA considers salmon to be fully cooked once it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. Insert a digital thermometer into the thickest part of the salmon filet and wait until the numbers stop moving to get an accurate read. Allow salmon to cool for 15 minutes, or until it is cool enough to handle. Note: You can cook the salmon ahead of time and refrigerate it if you want your hand rolls to be completely chilled.
Make the Sauce & Prep Hand Roll Ingredients:
- While the salmon is cooking, prepare the spicy chipotle sauce. Simply combine all of the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and stir well. Taste the sauce for flavor and add more chopped chipotle chilis if you’d like. Refrigerate the sauce until you’re ready to use it.
- Use a sharp knife to cut full sheets of nori (seaweed wrapper) in half using a sharp knife. You can also cut them in half with kitchen scissors.
- Peel the cucumber and cut it into match sticks and slice the avocado into slices.
Make the Hand Rolls:
- Place a half sheet of nori in one hand, then press some cooked rice in a diagonal from the top of the paper to the bottom right. Avoid filling the full left side of the sheet with rice, as it will be harder to roll.
- Sticking with this diagonal, layer the cooked salmon, a drizzle of sauce, avocado slices and cucumbers in the same direction as the rice.
- Take the lower left corner of the seaweed and fold it upward toward the top of the sheet of seaweed, stopping ⅓ of the way from the top. Now, finish rolling the hand roll into an ice cream cone shape.
- You can seal the hand roll by dabbing a small amount of water on the edge of the nori sheet to encourage it to stick to itself.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
