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These vegan tuna onigiri are a fun AND filling snack. You can even make them look like candy corn for Halloween! Made with sushi rice, vegan tuna salad, and natural food coloring, these onigiri are the perfect mix of cute and delicious. They’re great for Halloween parties, bento box lunches, & family cooking projects.

This recipe makes 16 vegan tuna onigiri.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Sushi Rice Recipe
• Vegan Tuna Salad
• Make the Onigiri
• Tips and FAQ
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Video
• Nutritional Information
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

I think I had onigiri for my first time when I was in Japan. I didn’t have a tuna and mayo rice ball though. I stuck to the tofu ones to make sure they were vegan. But honestly, this onigiri recipe is better than the ones I had in Japan!

Seasoned Sushi Rice Ingredients

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 4 cups white sushi rice
• 4 cups water
• ½ cup (120g) sushi vinegar
• yellow and orange food coloring

Seasoned Rice Directions

prep time: 10 minutes | cooking time: 30 minutes

Rinse the sushi rice. Rinse 4 cups of white sushi rice under cold running water by measuring the rice into a strainer/sifter and spraying the water directly over that. I run the water for as long as I have patience for. Some people think it should be 2 entire minutes. I probably only do it for 20-30 seconds.

Cook the rice. Transfer the rinsed sushi rice to the instant pot liner and add 4 cups of filtered water. Lock the instant pot lid and set the release valve to the sealing position. On my instant pot, this means I push the valve to the back as far as it will go. Press the rice button. On my instant pot, the rice button sets the pressure to low pressure and the time to 8 minutes. Some people cook their rice on high pressure for longer than 8 minutes, but this setting has proven to work best for mine. Basically, it’s hard to mess this up, and you’ll probably be fine no matter what your rice setting does.

Make the filling. Make the filling for your onigiri while you wait for the rice to cook. I’m making a tuna salad with mayo filling for mine, but you can use eggless salad or spam or whatever you prefer.

Season the rice. Transfer the cooked rice from the instant pot liner to a medium sized bowl (choose a bowl that will have extra room for mixing). If you’re making normal onigiri with white sushi rice, add ½ cup (120g) seasoned sushi rice vinegar to all the rice and mix it in. If you plan to color your rice to make yours look like candy corn, measure or weigh out the vinegar. Divide the vinegar amongst multiple bowls to add your food coloring to.

Optional: Color the Rice. If you want candy corn onigiri, follow the steps I did to color your rice with vegan food coloring. I used Nature’s Flavors liquid yellow and liquid red, because they’re all-natural. Leave a little bit of the rice white for the tops of the candy corn. This is a perfect application for an all-natural food coloring since you add it after the cooking process is completed. See my guide to vegan food coloring for a list of all-natural food colorings.

Mix each color of rice. Mix each bowl of rice until the colors are evenly distributed. Cover the bowls, and set them aside until you’ve finished making your filling.

Tuna Salad Filling Ingredients

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 1 package layonna tuna chunk (~300g/10.5oz)
• ¾ cup (85g) finely diced celery (2 stalks)
• ⅓ cup (60g) diced pickles (~1 smallish pickle)
• ¼ cup (54g) vegan mayo
• 2 tablespoons (1 oz/30mL/30g) pickle juice
• 2 tablespoons (32g/30mL) mustard
• ½ teaspoon (2g) garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon (2g) onion powder
• ½ teaspoon (4g) salt
• ¼ teaspoon (1g) pepper

How to Make Tuna with Mayo for Onigiri

prep time: 10 minutes

Dice the veggies. Dice the pickle and celery finely. Do this by hand or use a food processor with an S blade. Transfer these from the food processor or the cutting board to a mixing bowl.

Process the tuna. Process the tuna using your food processor fitted with the S blade. If you don’t have a food processor, try grating the tuna chunk. Add it to the mixing bowl that has the pickle and celery.

Make the tuna salad. Add the rest of the tuna salad ingredients to the mixing bowl with the tuna and the diced veggies. They are ¼ cup vegan mayo, 1-2 tablespoons mustard, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Mix everything together.

How to Make Onigiri with Tuna

prep time: 40 min

Fill a bowl halfway with water. Use this bowl of water to dip your hands in whenever the rice sticks to them. I dip my hands in water in between each time I pick up some rice, to keep the rice from sticking to my hands.

Prepare the onigiri mold. Line an onigiri mold with a square of cling wrap. I got my Sanrio onigiri molds from a local store called Daiso. If you don’t live near a Daiso, you can get this kirby onigiri mold from Amazon.

Add the first layer of rice. Fill the mold about a third of the way to the top with rice. For the candy corn onigiri, make layers of the colors to mimic the design of a single candy corn, with white rice at the top point, orange rice in the middle, and yellow rice at the bottom. For regular onigiri, just add a layer of white rice.

Add tuna salad. Add a small scoop of tuna salad to the rice and use your fingers to flatten it out. I try not to push it all the way to the edges so you can’t see it on the edges of your finished onigiri.

Add the remaining rice. Fill the mold the rest of the way with rice, repeating the same method as you used with the first layer.

Make the onigiri. Wrap the ends of the cling wrap up so they overlap on the triangle. Close the onigiri case and shake it. I try to shake it in both directions to make sure it won’t come loose when it’s unwrapped. Remove the wrapped onigiri from the case.

Repeat these steps with the rest of the ingredients. Once you’ve made all the onigiris, cut strips of nori to serve with them.

Serve the onigiri. I leave them wrapped in cling wrap until I’m ready to eat them. To eat, unwrap from the cling wrap. Wrap the strip of seaweed around the front and back and bottom of the triangle. Hold the onigiri by holding that piece of nori while you eat it. I used 2 sheets of nori for this recipe, using scissors to cut them into strips.

Questions and Answers

What is a tuna mayo onigiri?

Onigiri are Japanese rice balls, but they’re triangle shaped. They’re made with short-grain sushi rice, also known as sticky rice. That type of rice makes it easy to shape it. Tuna mayo onigiri isn’t usually vegan in Japan, because of the fish and mayonnaise.

How do you make a tuna mayo onigiri?

This onigiri is so much better than just using canned tuna and mayonnaise. Layonna tuna chunk is already very flavorful on its own. And then you add the additional ingredients to take it over the top. Follow my instructions for easy onigiri assembling.

Ingredient Substitutions for Vegan Onigiri

• Rice: I always buy organic white sushi rice from the bulk section at the co-op. However, if you have a lot of space in your kitchen, you can get a 50 pound bag of white sushi rice from Costco for only like $25. Sometimes sushi rice is also called sticky rice, like when you buy the Ocean’s Halo brand. You can also use brown sushi rice or another short grain of rice, in a pinch.
• Sushi Vinegar: Sometimes this is referred to as seasoned rice vinegar. If you can’t find sushi vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar, you can make your own. Combine ½ cup rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of vegan, raw, or organic sugar, and 2 teaspoons of salt either in a saucepan on the stove or in the microwave. Heat and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. This can take 15 seconds in the microwave or 5 minutes on the stove.
• Food Coloring: I used Nature’s Flavors liquid food coloring because it’s all natural. If you prefer brighter colors, you can use other types of vegan food coloring.
• Vegan Tuna: My favorite kind of vegan tuna is the Layonna tuna chunk. It used to be only available at their store in Oakland, CA, but now they’re sold in stores. Here’s a list of stores that sell Layonna products. Not only is it the best tasting vegan tuna, but it’s also gluten free. If you avoid soy, substitute this with a can of rinsed chickpeas.
• Celery and Pickle: I always add these, but you can omit them if you don’t have any. Sometimes people will use relish in place of pickle. If you like raw onion, you can add a little finely diced raw onion too.
• Vegan Mayo: I buy Just Mayo, because I know they’re a decent company who isn’t doing shady sh*t, but it’s not organic unfortunately. You can use any vegan mayo you like. Traditional onigiri is made with Kewpie mayo which has more flavor than american mayo. But these onigiri are so flavorful with my secret Kakushi Aji (pickle juice and spices), that I don’t think you’ll notice a difference. Also, Kewpie mayo has MSG in it, and you don’t want to eat that.
• Mustard: Japanese tuna mayo onigiri sometimes uses ketchup, but I prefer mustard. If you like ketchup, you can replace half the mustard with ketchup.
• Pickle Juice: Pickle juice helps give it a salty and savory umami flavor. If you don’t have pickle juice, replace it with soy sauce. If you want to keep these onigiri gluten-free, use gluten-free tamari.
• Spices: I only add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. However, if you want yours to taste more fishy, you can add dulse flakes or powdered kombu or another type of seaweed. This will help mimic the dashi that’s typically in Japanese foods (but not usually vegan).

Nutrition Facts

This nutritional information is for one serving. For these calculations, I’m assuming that a serving is 1 onigiri. However, in reality, 1 onigiri is just a snack, and I usually eat 2-3 if it’s a meal.

• Servings: 16
• Calories: 231
• Fiber: <1g
• Saturated fat: <1g
• Total fat: 4g
• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 627mg
• Sugars: 3g
• Total Carbohydrates: 41g
• Protein: 7g
• Calcium: 8mg
• Potassium: 59mg
• Iron: <1g

Comments or Questions?

If you make this tuna mayo onigiri recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like this tuna rice ball recipe, you might also like my korean rice balls recipe, my vegan musubi recipe, and my vegan temaki recipe.

For other ideas of things you can make with sushi rice, I have a recipe for an easy vegan sushi bake, sushi cupcakes, and a vegan sushi bowl.

For a show stopper sushi meal, check out my savory rainbow sushi cake.

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I mostly cook with organic ingredients, but only specify organic when it’s necessary to ensure the item is vegan.

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