Last Updated on April 15, 2022 by Karen
Spam Musubi is a form of sushi and one of the most popular snacks in Hawaii!
Earlier this year, we hosted a luau themed party and spam musubi was the first thing that came to mind when we were trying to come up with a menu. Spam is a popular ingredient in Hawaii and spam musubi is the quintessential snack found at restaurants, grocery stores, and even coffee shops. During World War II, the processed meat was served to American soldiers and later adopted into local culture. If you haven’t had spam musubi before, you should give it a try – it’s delicious!
We had it for the first time on our vacation to Hawaii last year and have been making it at home since. At first, I thought it was just a matter of slicing up some spam and placing them over rice patties. Well, it turns out there’s a little more to it. Sliced luncheon meat is marinated in a sweet and savory sauce, pan seared until caramelized, and then placed on top of rice to form a giant spam sushi.
This recipe just serves as a guidance and you should feel free to make adjustments according to your taste preferences. I adapted the recipe from allrecipe and we prefer that the rice is not too vinegary. I also used reduced sodium spam since it is already getting a flavor boost from the marinade.
I hope I’ve convinced you to try it out!
Spam Musubi
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked short-grain white rice
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsps rice vinegar
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup oyster sauce
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 12- oz container spam
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 sheets sushi nori cut into 9 strips
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan or rice cooker, combine rice and water and cook until the rice is fluffy. Stir in rice vinegar, and set aside to cool.
- In a separate bowl, stir together soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved. Cut spam lengthwise into 9 slices, or to desired thickness, and marinate in sauce for 5 minutes.
- In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Cook spam slices for two minutes per side, or until lightly browned. Using the spam container as a mold, or with slightly moistened hands, divide and shape rice into 9 mounds. Top each rice mound with a slice of spam and wrap nori around it, tucking the ends on the bottom side. Serve warm or at room temperature.
One of my absolute favorite food memories of living on Oahu. Many of my rush hour breakfasts on H1 featured Spam Musubi.
Spam and rice go so well together! We tried McDonald’s “local breakfast”, which was spam and fried eggs over rice with soy sauce. That was definitely a different kind of Big Breakfast!