Vegan watermelon “tuna” sushi is made by roasting watermelon in the oven with sake and nori and letting it cool. Once cool, the watermelon slices just like tuna.
Here is the base recipe for creating watermelon “tuna” sushi. The recipe is super simple and only uses seedless watermelon, sake, and a sheet of nori.
Make this the day before you need it because of the 3-hour long cooking time and the watermelon needs time to cool and release excess water.
Treat this watermelon sushi ingredient as you would with raw bluefin tuna. You can use it in sushi rolls, nigiri, sashimi, poke, or tartare. One of my favorite ways to show off the watermelon sushi is with this recipe- Watermelon “Tuna” with Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette and Fennel Salad
I’ve made a quick video below to show the steps. The recipe follows the video.
Ingredients
- 1 small seedless watermelon
- 3 ounces sake
- 1 sheet nori seaweed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300°F
- Cut the rind off the watermelon and then cut it into 1.5-2” thick slices.
- On a parchment lined sheet pan, place the watermelon slices on top of the nori sheet. Pour the sake over the watermelon and then bake in the oven for 3 hours.
- Let the watermelon cool and discard the nori sheet. Pour off any excess water. Slice into your desired “tuna” slices or dice for tartare.
Video
Nutrition