You would think that Spam wouldn’t go well with rice. Often seen hiding at the back of our kitchen cupboards, this unassuming little tin of processed meat was a product of a bygone era.
But as Spam Musubi and this list will soon show you, that couldn’t be more wrong.
The origins of this little dish are a little foggy. Some say that it was Asian-Americans who wanted to create a perfect fusion of the tastes from their old and new homes combined.
Others say that it was originally made in Hawaii, where the lack of easy access to natural meats, and an abundance of spam cans leftover from American soldiers stationed there, lead to a creative combination of rice, spam, and nori seaweed sheets becoming a traditional staple of the island’s food.
Whatever the true story, spam became very popular in Hawaii in just a few years after spam musubi was invented, and is still widely sold across the island to this day, with Spam musubi even taking the rest of the world by storm too!
To help you scratch that sweet and savory itch, take a look at these 8 amazing Spam Musubi recipes for you to try at home!
Want to have a go at making this tasty little treat, but not sure if you think you have the skills? Don’t worry: As the name of the recipe suggests, this is an easy spam musubi that anyone can try.
To start us off, we go with a great, simple take on this age-old snack. The deliciously salted and spicy meat sits in the center, slathered in teriyaki and whatever other hot sauces you might want to add.
This sweet and spicy seasoned center is laid on that trademark bed of sushi rice, all wrapped by the nori sheet, ready to go straight in your mouth. It’s as simple as musubi can get, and it’s all the better for it.
And because it is so simple, you can change this simple dish up however you want. Want extra spices? An easy task; just throw some more on the spam or in the rice when you lay it out.
Want to try a different seasoning? Just dust the center of your roll before you wrap it up, and you’re ready to go!
Want to add some extra fillings, like avocado? As long as your rice bed is big enough, and your nori sheet is long enough, there’s no end to what you can add to this superbly simple snack!
For a good old-fashioned take on this favorite snack of Hawaii, you’ll want to take a peek at this recipe!
With such a big serving coming out of this recipe, you’ll be snacking on spam musubi for days to come after you’ve made this!
Remember to cut your spam nice and evenly once it’s out of the tin. A steady hand when preparing these ingredients will do wonders for its presentation!
The recipe recommends that you stick with short-grain rice for this dish. If you’re a newcomer to making these snacks, try not to substitute your rice with a different kind if that is all you have. The short rice sticks together much better than long-grain will.
For that extra kick of heat, make sure you add the hot seasoning of your choice, whether it’s a spice or a sauce, at the same time you add the teriyaki sauce to your spam, before rolling up your ingredients.
For another classic take on the spam musubi recipe, check out this recipe, guaranteed to make a great musubi that will fill your belly!
Because the ingredients that make up this recipe are relatively simple, making this sweet and savory dish is as simple as preparing your rice, slicing up your spam, pouring your sauces over your spam, wrapping up your food in the nori sheet, and hey presto!
You have your lunch ready and waiting to be chowed down on.
In fact, it will probably take you longer to prepare your short-grain rice to a nice, fluffy texture, than it will take to wrap them all up together.
For the best teriyaki sauce, you’ll want to combine the raw ingredients that make up the sweet flavor from their raw ingredients, rather than buy it from the grocery store.
Store-bought will work fine, but if you are making it yourself, you will be able to add as much extra spice as your heart and your taste buds will allow!
If you’re looking for a spam musubi recipe that’s true to the original food, you can’t get much more authentic than from SPAM itself!
The tinned meat manufacturer has their own version of the Hawaiian dish, complete with extra spice and chilies for that extra bit of hot punch that you’re here for.
With a simple list of ingredients and just six steps in the recipe itself, you’ll be making these tasty little morsels in no time flat!
Just remember that SPAM recommends using chili paste in its version of the Spam musubi, rather than dried powdered spice, with the garlic adding extra flavor, along with just that little of heat those classic bulbs bring to any food they are a part of.
SPAM also recommends giving your musubi a sprinkle of black pepper before you serve, for that little extra kick! Remember, dd as little or as much spice as you want. You don’t just want your food to be hot, you want it to be tasty too!
If you’re looking to take your preparation for spam musubi to the next level, then you need to see this gourmet recipe by Omnivore’s Cookbook.
With a few tips from Chinese cooking, they turn this widespread little lunch food into a high-class dish that looks good on any plate of food, whether that’s at lunch, or part of an East Asian, or American meal!
Spam is not just a popular meat in the US; It’s also used and eaten in a variety of ways across the world. Especially in many recipes in China, where it is the centerpiece of many food dishes, rather than just a cheap or easy way to package and eat meat in hard-to-reach places.
The recipe also suggests trying to use sushi rice, instead of the normal short-grain that is used most often, for the extra Japanese experience that can sit amongst the best sushi and sashimi rolls you can think of.
For another recipe that does a great job of walking you through making your first spam musubi, check out this food blog! They do a great job of breaking down the steps you’ll need to follow to make the best first-time musubi you can!
And with just over 300 calories packed into one of these tasty rolls, this is the perfect food to have in your lunchbox if you’re tired of the same old salad or sandwiches.
Not only does it give some great advice for beginners, but the recipe even explains and shows you how to make your own musubi mold from an old SPAM tin, along with a great marinade to coat your spam in when you prepare your food.
If you’re looking to add some extra heat with some chili sauce or flakes, when you are mixing your oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar is the best time.
If you have any leftovers, make sure to wrap each piece individually with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator, to stop them from going bad. But with food this good, you probably won’t even need to save much, if any, in the first place!
Do you have the extra time to prepare the perfect marinade for your spam musubi? Then maybe you’d like to see this version of the dish from allrecipes.com, for those extra flavors that can be tailored to your taste buds.
The bulk of the time in this recipe is taken up by preparing the rice. Don’t let that fool you into thinking you can just use precooked store rice, though.
For everything to stick together well, from the marinated Spam to the nori seaweed shirt, you’ll need a wonderfully fluffy rice mix to bring all these different parts together.
For your marinade, the recipe recommends you let your sliced spam sit in the mix of oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar for at least 5 minutes, before taking it out. That way, your spam meat you be juicy and full of that classic teriyaki savory-sweet flavor.
For a salty and sweet spam musubi that will be leaving you begging for more, take a look at this amazing take on the classic food by Allison Robicelli on foodandwine.com.
This dish, the recipe says, is an amazing way of showing what a seemingly looked down upon food can really do, when it is given the time, energy, and flavors to work with. Given just how great her recipe books are, we’re inclined to agree with her!
This recipe uses the spam can mold your musubi food to perfection, whilst giving this novel sandwich appearance to its nori, which sets it apart from almost any other recipe on this list in terms of looks.
For the teriyaki, the recipe recommends using brown sugar, for that extra strong sweetness in your packed up little rice and meat slice snack.
