• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Devour.Asia

Devour.Asia

Better Asian recipes for home cooks

  • Recipes
    • Cuisine
      • Chinese
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Thai
      • Vietnamese
      • Taiwanese
      • Filipino
      • Indonesian
      • Malaysian
      • South Asian
      • Fusion
      • Street Food
    • Ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Seafood
      • Meat
      • Rice & Grains
      • Noodles
      • Vegetables
      • Tofu
      • Mushrooms
      • Bread
      • Eggs
      • Fruits
    • Course
      • Breakfast
      • Snacks
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
      • Drinks
  • Kitchen
  • Stories
  • Cuisine
    • Chinese
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Thai
    • Taiwanese
    • Filipino
    • Indonesian
    • Malaysian
    • South Asian
    • Fusion
  • Main Ingredient
    • Poultry
    • Seafood
    • Meat
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
      • Noodle Soups
      • Noodles Stir Fry
      • Instant Noodles (Ramen)
    • Vegetables
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Bread
    • Eggs
    • Fruits
  • Course
    • Breakfast
    • Snacks
    • Salads
    • Soups
    • Main Courses
    • Side Dishes
    • Sweets
    • Drinks
  • Street Food
  • Kitchen Tales
  • Food Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
You are here: Home / All Recipes / Cheesy Tuna Onigiri

Cheesy Tuna Onigiri

Think tuna melt but, instead of bread, the tuna filling is enclosed in sushi rice. The rice with tuna filling is then lightly browned in butter and topped with a slice of mozzarella before going into the toaster oven where the cheese melts and flows down the rice.

Cheesy tuna onigiri in a shallow green stoneare bowl

The cheesy tuna onigiri is laid out on plates and sprinkled with kizami nori. You may just pick one up and start enjoying the beautiful flavors and textures right away. Lightly crisp rice, creamy tuna inside and that gooey cheese that envelopes both. But you can make your cheesy tuna onigiri experience even better.

Cheesy tuna onigiri wrapped in toasted nori

Serve them with small squares of toasted nori sheets. Wrap the onigiri in nori before taking your first bite and the flavors will really tickle your taste buds.

Cheesy Tuna Onigiri

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
Enter a convenience store in Japan and you'll be amazed at the variety of onigiri available. There seems to be no rule as to what you can hide inside the molded rice. In this recipe, the filling is canned tuna mixed with chopped onion and garlic, herb salt and just enough mayo to bind everything together.
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Total Time 25 mins
Course Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 12 onigiri
Tuna onigiri covered with melted mozzarella and sprinkled with kizami nori
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

Sushi rice

  • 4 cups newly-cooked Japanese rice
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar

Tuna filling

  • 1 can tuna chunks in water well drained
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
  • ¼ teaspoon grated garlic
  • herb salt
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons Japanese mayo

To complete the cheesy tuna onigiri

  • ¼ cup butter
  • 6 slices mozzarella

To garnish and serve

  • kizumi nori
  • 4 nori sheets cut into quarters and lighted toasted in an oil-free skillet

Instructions
 

  • Spread the rice on a tray, drizzle in the rice vinegar and toss well.
  • Leave to cool tossing every few minutes.
  • Make the filling by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl.
  • Brush the inside of the bottom half of your onigiri mold with water.
  • Half-fill the mold with the prepared rice and press down the center to create a groove.
    Stuffing rice and tuna into onigiri mold
  • Spoon tuna filling into the groove.
  • Cover the tuna filling with more rice.
    Forming tuna onigiri with a mold
  • Brush the top half of the onigiri mold with water then press down into the rice.
  • Repeat with the rest of the rice and tuna filling.
  • Melt the butter in a pan and brown both sides of the onigiri until toasted and lightly crisp (see notes after the recipe).
    Browning tuna onigiri in hot butter
  • Stand the browned onigiri on a baking tray about an inch from each other.
  • Top each onigiri with mozzarella and pop into a preheated 350F oven (or toaster oven) and heat just until the cheese melts.
  • Serve the cheesy tuna onigiri sprinkle with kizami nori and toasted nori sheets on the side for wrapping them.

Notes

Don’t overcrowd the pan when browning the onigiri because you don’t want them to stick to one another. A regular frying pan will accommodate five to six onigiri at a time so brown them in batches and divide the butter accordingly.
The exact number of onigiri you will be able to make depends on the side of the mold you use. Ours is about three inches.
Tuna onigiri covered with melted mozzarella and sprinkled with kizami nori
Keyword Cheese, Onigiri, Rice, Tuna
Published: July 3, 2021 • Last modified: July 4, 2021 ♥ All Recipes, Breakfast, Japanese, Rice & Grains, Snacks, Street Food
Further Reading
Fried and skewered quail eggs. Tamsui Old Street, Taiwan

Quail Eggs in Asian Cuisines

Coffee class at The Yellow Chair, Saigon

How to Grade Coffee and Make Cà Phê Đá: A Coffee Class in Saigon

Popcorn in bowl

How to Cook Regular Popcorn in the Microwave

Sidebar

Experience Asia

At Balaw-balaw, a museum of wood sculptures

Interpreting Folk Art at Balaw-Balaw Museum

The Great Buddha Hall at the Tōdai-ji Temple Complex in Nara

At Tōdai-ji Temple in Nara, I Touched Buddha’s Nostril

Deers roaming freely in Nara Park

In Osaka, When You Ask for Directions, the Locals Won’t Just Point — They Will Walk You to Your Destination

Backpack made of hemp

Hemp, Local Artisans and Thoughtful Consumerism

Laguna de Bay

Laguna de Bay: You Don’t Pronounce “Bay” as in Manila Bay

  • About
  • Privacy
  • Archive

Except for the occasional stock photo and blockquote, everything © Devour Asia. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.