In recent decades, sushi has become one of the most popular meals for many Americans. Many people consider sushi as a healthy and trendy choice of food. Especially because Japanese cuisine has an image of healthy and fresh ingredients. Which is all true, but have you ever wonder about the calories in sushi. What are the sushi’s calories?

Let me share with you the details about all your favorite sushi and the sushi calories.

Is sushi a healthy choice?

Sushi is a very popular choice among Japanese food. With a wide variety of choices and fresh ingredients, there is definitely one that you will like. Have you ever wonder how much calories are in sushi? Is it healthy? Want to know more about sushi calories?

Well, unlike many other dishes, traditional Japanese sushi has minimal sauce and condiments, nor is it deep-fried and little amount of fat is added. Which allows the sushi calories to be much lower than other dishes. It is considered a rather healthier choice, however, like any food, eating too much can still have an unhealthy outcome. Also, with a wide array of sushi, the toppings and ingredients may result in different nutritional values and calories.

Sushi Calories: How much is in one?

Sushi’s calories are mainly based on the type of sushi it is and the ingredient of the sushi. For example, simple nigiri sushi would have much fewer calories compared to a sushi roll. Since nigiri sushi mainly consists of fresh raw fish meat on top of a ball of rice that is around 20~30 grams of rice. While in a sushi roll, there have a lot of ingredients such as crab stick, cucumber, and fish. Plus, if the sushi roll is a California roll, there might be additional sauces added for extra flavoring that would then increase the calories.

Nigiri Sushi Calories

There are a lot of choices when it comes to nigiri sushi, which is the same as their calories. Depending on the topping the calories are going to be varied.

Sushi calories: Low
• Salmon Roe (Ikura) = 39
• Squid (Ika) = 43
• Giant Scallop (Hotategai) = 43
• King Crab Leg (Kani) = 43
• Skipjack/Bonito (Katsuo) = 45
• Bluefin Tuna (Maguro) = 50
• Wild Salmon (Sake) = 50

Sushi calories: High
• Octopus (Taco) = 53
• Albacore Tuna (Shiro Maguro) = 55
• Farmed Salmon (Sake) = 56
• Sweet Shrimp (Amaebi) = 60
• Conger Eel (Anago) = 63
• Sea Urchin (Uni) = 64
• Japanese Omelet (Tamago) = 75

The sushi calories above are just an estimate of one piece of nigiri, also, depending on how big the rice ball is the calories might vary. These are just a few nigiri options and most of them do not have any other condiments on it, just a little bit wasabi and some soy sauce. Just keep in mind that, white fish meat tend to have lower calories in comparison to redfish meat. Also, fish roes and shellfish (scallop, crab leg…) often have lower calories too. However, in recent years, there has been a lot of creative choices of nigiri toppings such as roast beef, or smoked salmon with mayonnaise or avocado can result in higher sushi calories.

Sushi Rolls Calories

Nowadays, there is a very wide range of choices within the sushi rolls. Sushi rolls include the traditional Japanese makizushi, where simple ingredients are wrapped by rice and seaweed(nori) on the outside, or the American popular uramaki (rice on the outside) and futomaki(thicker sushi rolls). There are so many choices and each restaurant coming out with their own original sushi rolls.

The sushi rolls calories depend on the toppings and ingredients added. Unlike nigiri the calories are count by individual pieces, sushi roll’s calories are for the entire roll.
Below are some guides for the ballpark of sushi roll calories.

1. Futomaki and uramaki tend to have more rice than makizushi which can result in higher calories (1 roll has an average between 250~300 calories)
2. Look out for the word “crunchy” and “Tempura”, crunchy and tempura usually means the ingredient has been deep-fried, like shrimps or crab legs or include deep-fried batter.
3. Be careful of mayonnaise. A lot of rolls has mayonnaise drizzle all over it or mixed in to make spicy mayo for extra flavoring.
4. Take a look at the type of fish that is included, for example, rolls with eels can cause the calories to be higher in comparison to other fish
5. The more ingredients = higher the calories and price tag.
6. Salmon avocado roll may have high calories, however, this roll contains a lot of healthy fats and omega 3s.

• Shrimp Tempura Roll(deep-fried breaded shrimp with avocado) = 508
• Rainbow Roll (avocado, tuna, salmon) = 476
• Eel & avocado roll = 372
• Caterpillar Roll (avocado, eel, fish roe, and cucumber) = 330
• Spider Roll (battered crab with sauce) = 317
• Salmon & avocado roll = 304
• California Roll (uramaki with avocado, crab sticks and cucumber) = 255
• Tuna Roll (Simple makizushi with tuna only) = 184
• Avocado Roll (Simple makizushi with avocado only) = 140
• Cucumber roll (Simple makizushi with cucumber only) = 136

These are just estimates for sushi roll calories, depending on how the sushi was made there will be some differences. In addition, not all fat is considered bad, for example, avocado is a great source of healthy fat.

Healthy tips when eating sushi

Sushi is absolutely amazing and delicious. However, as mentioned some of the sushi rolls might contain a lot more calories than expected. So how should you eat these delicious dishes without overeating?
One of the main issues is that each piece of sushi is small and very easy to swallow. You can easily eat too fast and too much in a short period of time. It takes around 20 minutes for your brain to register that you are full. If you eat really fast, by then you might have already eaten more than you usually would or a lot more calories you expected to eat. One suggestion is to stick with one roll of 6 slices of sushi and pair with some soup and salad to get a balanced and filling meal. If it was nigiri, with 2 pieces per serving, around 3 plates would be quite enough and paired with some side dishes. Another way to reduce overeating is instead of having your sushi roll be cut into 6 pieces as they normally are, ask if the chef can cut it into 8 pieces. This way you would spend longer time eating and it will give an illusion that you have more food. One last tip for those sushi lovers, you should definitely make your own sushi, that way you can control the sizing, ingredient and be more aware of how much calories is actually in your sushi. You can even substitute white rice with brown rice for a healthier choice or use low-fat mayonnaise. Learn more about making healthy sushi in the next section.

Healthy sushi for everyone!

For those of you that are interested in creating a sushi place of your own offering healthy sushi, this section provides you with the information you need. Having your own sushi business can be quite hard, but with sushi machines, things can be a lot easier. Sushi machines are the best choice for those that want to share their delicious sushi with others but don’t necessarily have the skills to make sushi. Sushi machine is here to help you create amazing sushi. Sushi machines can produce both sushi rolls or nigiri sushi at high speed. They are cost-saving and manageable for 1~2 people. Sushi roll machine can produce up to 600 rolls of sushi in an hour and nigiri machine can produce up to 2000+ nigiri rice balls in one hour. Sushi machines are great options for people that want to create sushi with low calories. For more information about sushi machines or Top Sushi, check out our sushi machine home page!

Sushi Calories’ Recap

Compared to many other meal choices, sushi has relatively low calories and can be a healthy balanced meal. The type of fish and topping is essential to sushi calories. To sum up, white fish and shellfish nigiri tend to fewer calories, redfish meat and eel have more calories. With sushi rolls, the more ingredients and topping the higher the calories are going to be. Be careful of deep-fried ingredients and condiments. Find ways to slow down eating to prevent overeating and if possible make your own sushi’s for a more healthier option. Another way to reduce the sushi calories, maybe you can try out low carb sushi! Here is an article dedicated to low carb sushi!

More info on sushi machines or sushi related machines, feel free to contact us!