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You may have queasy memories revolving the squishy meat product known as spam. But pan-fried, coated in teriyaki, and tucked into a rice and seaweed hug, it transforms into lunchtime hero spam musubi. #spammusubi #japanese #hawaiian #spam #rice #seaweed

Spam Musubi

Spam musubi, or Spam sushi, features crispy, teriyaki-glazed Spam, fluffy rice and briny seaweed.

Course Lunch, Snack
Cuisine Hawaiian, Japanese
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 8 people
Calories 643 kcal

Ingredients

  • soy sauce, sugar for seasoning the Spam
  • 1 can Spam preferably low-sodium
  • 1 package seaweed full size
  • 4 cups cooked rice I usually have leftovers, but better to have leftovers than not enough rice
  • furikake optional

Instructions

  1. Make teriyaki sauce: mix 1 part soy sauce to 1 part sugar until the sugar dissolves.

  2. Cut the Spam into 8 slices lengthwise. Fry in batches until golden brown on both sides. Dump the teriyaki into the pan with half the Spam and let it caramelize. Repeat with the other half of the Spam.

  3. Set a sheet of seaweed shiny side down on a cutting board. Place your Spam musubi mold on top, making sure the edge of the mold meets up with the edge of the seaweed.

  4. Have a small bowl of water ready: you can dip your hands in if rice starts to stick to them. Scoop some rice (I like to make about a 1/2" thick layer) into your mold. Press the mold’s plank on top of the rice to gently smoosh the rice down a bit. You want the grains to just stick together, not make rice mush.

  5. Place Spam on top of the rice. I have a big mold like the one I linked, so I use 2 pieces at a time. Use as many slices will fit in one layer in your mold.
  6. I like to drizzle some of the teriyaki from the pan (from when you caramelized the Spam) over the Spam. You could also sprinkle some furikake over, but I like to use the normal ones (so no umeboshi, aka pickled plum, or salmon here unless you’re daring).

  7. Make another layer of rice on top of the Spam. Place the plank on top and smoosh down a bit. Hold on to the edge of the mold and bring it up past the rice/Spam/rice stack while the plank is still on top. Remove the plank.

  8. Wrap the seaweed tightly around your rice and Spam stack. Use a bit of water to seal the edges of the seaweed. Let the musubi rest seam side down.
  9. Once all the musubis have been made, cut them. I like to make each piece of Spam equal to one musubi. I cut my big log in half crosswise. The halves are still pretty wieldy, so I cut those into halves on a diagonal.

  10. Wrap in plastic wrap tightly and place in an airtight container. Serve on the same day.

Recipe Notes

I recommend making this on the day you plan to serve, though you can keep it overnight in a cold garage (keep in mind that people do this in the Bay Area, not New York or Chicago or Korea where it actually gets cold and there's snow in the winter), just don't refrigerate it (otherwise the rice will get hard and sad).