The Boston roll is a brightly colored fancy sushi roll. Our homemade version uses tobiko fish roe as a topping and as a filling cooked shrimp, avocado, and cucumber.
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This recipe is in collaboration with Momoko, our Japanese food expert. Other sushi rolls in this series include the Salmon roll, Philadelphia roll, and dragon roll to just name a few.
What is a Boston Roll?
The Boston roll is an inside-out sushi roll inspired by the Japanese makizushi roll.
A traditional Japanese maki roll is prepared with rice on the inside and nori seaweed on the outside.
The inside-out sushi roll was invented on the American continent and contains rice on the inside and outside, with the nori seaweed in between.
The most well-known and first creation was the California roll.
A Boston roll is topped with brightly colored tobiko fish roe and the filling can be with something else.
In our recipe, we chose to use cooked shrimp with soft avocado and crunchy cucumbers as a sushi filling
Ingredients
Here are the ingredients that you will need listed in a nutshell. The complete recipe is located further below in the recipe card.
- sushi rice — cooked and prepared as per our sushi rice recipe
- nori seaweed — plain ones for sushi
- avocado — fresh and not all too soft
- shrimp — cooked
- cucumber — fresh
- mayonnaise — best option, Japanese mayonnaise
- tobiko — orange colored fish roe
Tobiko is like caviar but bright orange in its uncolored natural state. A similar and cheaper option is masago. A vegan option would be seaweed pearls, which come in black or orange.
Tip: Your tobiko can be dyed too with natural ingredients. Add a few drops of lemon or yuzu juice to your tobiko, to make them yellow.
How to make it?
Here is a helpful overview of how this homemade sushi comes together. The full recipe with US and metric measurements is located further below in the recipe card.
Step 1
Prep and slice avocado, cucumber, and tobiko ready. Keep cooked rice ready.
Cook butterflied shrimp in some boiling water.
Step 2
Spread most of your sushi rice over your nori sheet. It should stick.
Turn around and use the remaining rice on the other side. Keeping about ½-1 inch or 1-2 cm empty from the top and down border.
Step 3
Pour a line of mayonnaise over the rice.
Place and arrange cut avocado, cucumber, and cooked shrimp over the rice.
Step 4
Roll and press down sushi roll gently with both hands to form a tight maki roll.
Step 5
Arrange tobiko fish roe over sushi roll and shape it with a 2nd sushi mat so that tobiko sticks to the roll.
Step 6
Cut your sushi with a clean knife into slices.
Serve up.
📖 Recipe
Boston Roll Sushi Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Sushi Rice cooked, *see Notes
- 3 piece Shrimp small to medium sized
- ½ Avocado cut into 3 slices in the length
- ½ Cucumber cut into 2 slices in the length
- 1 sheet Nori Seaweed *see Notes
- 1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise Japanese Mayonnaise preferred
- ⅓ cup Tobiko Fish Roe
Instructions
Prep Ingredients
- Keep cooked sushi rice ready. Follow our instructions to make sushi rice.1 cup Sushi Rice
- Cut half avocado into 3 slices lengthwise. Peel the cucumber, cut it lengthwise into half and then quarter.½ Avocado, ½ Cucumber
- Butterfly shrimp and remove tail. Cook clean shrimp for 2-3 minutes in boiling water.3 piece Shrimp
Prepare Sushi
- Place your nori seaweed on your Sushi mat. Use a sushi mat wrapped in plastic so that the sushi won't stick.1 sheet Nori Seaweed
- Spread almost all of your cooked (keep about 2–3 Tablespoons aside) rice all over your nori seaweed. The rice has to cover the seaweed completely, and it needs to be an even layer. Stick it on the nori with your fingers.1 cup Sushi Rice
- Turn the rice covered seaweed and spread the 2–3 Tablespoons of rice over one half of your seaweed, but keep about 1 inch or 2-centimeter distance from the bottom end of your seaweed. Spread it out to an even layer.1 cup Sushi Rice
- Spread mayonnaise in one line in the center of the rice.1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise
- Place the shrimp and cucumber over the mayonnaise and arrange 3 avocado slices on that in one line.3 piece Shrimp, ½ Cucumber, ½ Avocado
- Take the seaweed with the toppings to the border of your plastic-wrapped mat, hold with both hands and start to roll in your sushi.
- Continue to roll in your sushi and press down with both hands to create a tight wrap. Roll until you have a tight sushi roll.
- Arrange tobiko over the sushi roll to create a topping.⅓ cup Tobiko Fish Roe
- Press down with another sushi mat to mold the roll and so that the tobiko sticks on the sushi.
- Take the sushi from the bamboo mat and cut into 1 inch or 2 centimeter thick slices, or so that you are left with 8 thick slices.
- Arrange the Boston roll on a serving plate and serve with soy wasabi dipping options and some pickled sliced ginger.
Notes
- Wrap your sushi mat into a clean wrap.
- Use cooked sushi rice only, and please follow my recipe to make sushi rice.
- Use fresh tobiko or masago fish roe. If you don't want raw fish, use vegan seaweed pearls.
- Nori is seaweed. Use unflavored plain maki sushi nori seaweed sheets to make this recipe.
- You can mix a few drops of rice vinegar or another mild vinegar into your classic mayonnaise to make it resemble Japanese vinegar, or just make Japanese mayo from scratch.
- It's important to roll in the sushi slowly and as tight as possible. Take your time and press carefully down with both hands while rolling in.
Equipment
- Sushi Bamboo Mat
- 8" Chef Knife
Nutrition
Serving
You are welcome to serve this sushi along with other sushi rolls, temaki hand rolls, or nigiri sushi.
I like my sushi rolls with regular soy sauce and wasabi paste mixed in. I then just dip the sushi slices each at a time with my chopsticks in the soy sauce wasabi mix and eat it!
You can also dip your sushi into a ponzu sauce.
Use pickled ginger slices to clean your palate after each bite or so.
Tips
- prepare the sushi rice as per our instructions for the best result.
- wrap your sushi mat in clean wrap, that way your rice won't stick to the mat, and it will be easier to roll.
- fish roe is expensive. As a budget alternative, and perhaps as a more sustainable option, use seaweed pearls.
- when rolling your sushi, press gently down for a tight and even roll
- when cutting the sushi roll into slices, clean your knife after each cut to make clean perfect slices
- eat it the same day and don't keep the sushi for too long in the fridge because the rice will get hard, and the rolls will fall apart. Sushi rolls don't keep that well and should be enjoyed when freshly made.
FAQs
You will need about 1 cup cooked and prepared sushi rice to make this sushi roll. Please follow our instructions to make sushi rice from scratch to get rice that sticks.
No, you can't roll an inside-out sushi without a mat. The roll is sticky with the fish roe on the outer side, and a sushi mat is required to roll a proper tight roll. Or else your roll won't be a roll. For a hand roll check out temaki sushi.
Inside-out sushi has sticky rice on the outside and inside. The plastic on the map helps in rolling this sushi variation with ease. The outer ingredients will otherwise get stuck in the mat, and you will struggle to roll a tight, even roll.
Roll slowly in with both hands while pressing down gently and equally. The pressure will make it all stick together, with the sticky rice and mayonnaise keeping it all glued. Continue to roll in while pressing down until you have a tight roll sitting in front of you. A little practice and time, and you will be a sushi master!
Use a sharp large knife. A sushi roll is usually cut into 8 even sizes, so either start at the center to get it right or envision when to cut each slice in advance. With a clean stroke, cut each slice without moving the slices too much (or else the mayonnaise will get smudged). We recommend cleaning your knife with some water after each slice has been cut, or else it will start to stick, and it will get harder to cut slices.
California roll has surimi imitation crab as a filling. The outside is typically just sesame seeds rolled into the sushi rice. Boston roll has a tobiko topping, and it is mostly made with cooked shrimp as a filling. Both sushi rolls have avocado and fresh cucumber in it.
Please, consult your physician.
The filling calls for boiled shrimp, so those are cooked. The topping uses Tobiko, which is fish roes, so those are raw. You can switch the fish roes with vegan caviar too.
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