The one thing that makes sushi rice stick
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The short version: use short grain Japanese rice, wash it until the water runs clear, season it while it is still hot, and never put it in the fridge. Cold rice will not stick, and no amount of technique fixes that afterwards.
I have watched a lot of people make sushi for the first time, and they almost always worry about the wrong thing. They worry about the knife, or the rolling, or whether their fish is good enough. Then the rice fails and everything else stops mattering.
Rice is the only part of this that genuinely needs care. Get it right and a first attempt looks surprisingly good. Get it wrong and the best fish in the world falls out of the roll.
Buy the right rice, and it is not negotiable
Short grain Japanese rice. It will be sold as sushi rice, or as koshihikari. That is it.
Long grain rice does not contain enough of the starch that makes grains cling together, so it will not hold a roll no matter what you do to it. Brown rice has the bran intact, which physically blocks the grains from touching. Instant rice has already been cooked and dried, and it collapses.
Wash it more than feels reasonable
Cover the rice with cold water, move it around with your hand, pour off the cloudy water, repeat. Most people stop after two rinses. Keep going until the water is nearly clear, usually four or five.
That cloudiness is loose surface starch. Leave it in and the outside of every grain turns to paste while the inside is still firm. That is the gluey texture people describe when they say their rice went wrong.
Season it hot, in a wide bowl
Rice vinegar, sugar and salt, warmed just enough to dissolve. Roughly one tablespoon of seasoned vinegar per cup of uncooked rice. More than that and the rice goes wet and sour.
- Do it while the rice is hot. Hot rice absorbs the seasoning. Cooled rice just gets wet on the outside.
- Cut, do not stir. Use a slicing motion with a flat spatula, turning the rice over rather than mixing it round. Stirring crushes the grains.
Use a wide bowl, wooden or plastic. Metal and glass hold heat, so the bottom keeps steaming while the top cools and you get two textures in one bowl.
The mistake almost everyone makes
They make the rice in advance and put it in the fridge.
Refrigerated rice goes hard and dry because the starch recrystallises. It will not stick, it tastes flat, and there is no way back. This one habit is behind more failed home sushi than every other cause combined.
Make the rice the day you eat it and keep it at room temperature under a damp cloth. A couple of hours is fine. Overnight in the fridge is not.
Quick troubleshooting
| What went wrong | Why |
|---|---|
| Rice will not stick together | Wrong rice, or it was refrigerated |
| Gluey, paste-like texture | Not washed enough, or stirred instead of cut |
| Tastes sharp and wet | Too much seasoning for the quantity |
| Dry and separate | Seasoned after it cooled |
If you are starting from nothing, our free step-by-step sushi guide covers the whole process with video. The kit below has the tube roller that solves even rice distribution.
Sushi Making Kit on Amazon $23.99 · 4.3★ from 293 ratings · profit pays for the care of Freeman, a rescued albino monkeyQuestions I get asked
Can I use normal rice for sushi?
No. Long grain rice does not have enough surface starch to hold together, so the roll falls apart when you cut it. Short grain Japanese rice, sold as sushi rice or koshihikari, is the only thing that works reliably.
Why is my sushi rice not sticky?
Almost always because it was refrigerated, or because it is the wrong variety. Chilling makes the starch recrystallise and the rice goes hard and dry permanently.
How much rice vinegar do I use?
About one tablespoon of seasoned vinegar per cup of uncooked rice, mixed in while the rice is still hot.
Can I make sushi rice the day before?
Not if you refrigerate it. A few hours at room temperature under a damp cloth is fine, overnight in the fridge is not.
More from me: the rest of the blog, or our free sushi recipes.