Easy Sweet Potato Sushi Rolls

What to expect?

Sweet potato sushi rolls are not a typical type of Japanese sushi. You probably do not find them in restaurants. Nonetheless, it is a delicious sushi filling if you are looking for an easy sushi recipe.

This recipe was inspired by maki sushi that are rolled and wrapped in a nori sheet. Nori is actually a dark green and very thin paper-like sheet of pressed and dried seaweed. Nori has a distinctive taste that will remind you of eating a seafood dish.

Sushi likes to awaken your senses by combining sweet, savory, and umami elements. We just love this sushi recipe because it has maple roasted sweet potatoes, vibrant roasted beets and creamy avocado. They just work together, and go perfectly with the seaweed sheets. I dare to say it is one of the most kid-friendly sushi recipes out there.

Ingredients

There are so many types of sushi. Several may seem very intricate and hard to make. However, these sweet potato sushi rolls are quite easy. We show you a delicious filling combination, but other than that it is up to your imagination what else you add there.

• Sweet potato
• Beet
• Avocado
• Maple syrup
• Soy sauce → choose tamari if you need this recipe to be gluten-free
• Sesame oil
• Vegetable oil
• Nori seaweed sheets
• Sushi rice (rice vinegar, water, sugar, and salt)

🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Instructions

Making sushi rice

1. Rinse short-grain rice under cold water using a fine-mesh sieve.
2. Take a pot and pour in fresh cold water and rice vinegar. Add rinsed rice and salt.
3. Bring it to boil. Once boiling, turn the heat low.
4. Simmer until the water disappears, then remove it from heat and cover with a lid. It should stay covered for 5 minutes. Now, you have perfectly cooked sushi rice.

Roasting sweet potato

1. Make a quick marinade with soy sauce (or tamari if you need it to be gluten-free), maple syrup, sesame oil, and vegetable oil.

2. Peel and cut sweet potatoes into strips of approx. ½-inch thick. 
3. Brush the sweet potato strips with the marinade, then turn and brush the other side as well.

3. Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit (ca. 204 °C) and roast the sweet potato strips until soft and tender. It will take approx. 30 minutes.

Roasting beets

We recommend roasting sweet potato and beet separately. The beet will color the sweet potatoes purple during baking if they are too close.

1. Wash, peel the beet and cut it thinner approx. ¼-inch strips.
2. Place them in an oven-safe glass dish.
3. Sprinkle the beet with olive oil and with some black pepper. Toss and turn.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit (ca. 204 °C) and roast the beet strips until soft and tender for approx. 30 minutes.

How to roll sweet potato sushi rolls

So you have prepared the sushi rice, the roasted sweet potato, and beet fries. You sliced up the avocado and grabbed some nori sheets. Now, the last step is to roll the sushi. Let us show you how to do that.

1. Take a bamboo mat and place a dry nori sheet on it.
2. Take 2-3 spoonfuls of cooked sushi rice and using your fingers (make sure your fingers are wet) spread it evenly and thinly over the nori sheets.
3. Make 3 lines horizontally around ⅓ of the nori sheet by placing one line of sweet potato strips, one line of beet strips, and one line of avocado slices.

4. Fold the bottom of the nori sheets with the help of the bamboo mat at the height of the filling.

5. Gently roll it further until the bottom side hits the other side of the sushi.
6. Apply a bit of pressure through the bamboo mat to squeeze the filling a bit together.

7. Roll the bamboo mat back a bit and tuck in any overflowing filling.
8. Wrap it up with the bamboo mat again and roll it all the way to the end of the nori sheet.
9. Apply a bit of pressure again and you are done! Here is your first sushi roll. Sprinkle it with sesame seeds if you want to.

10. Once it is tightly rolled, cut it into 1-inch wide sushi rolls. Repeat with the rest of the nori sheets. You should have approx. 25-30 sweet potato sushi rolls.

Cooking tips

• Moisturize your fingers– To prevent the rice from sticking to your fingers when spreading it over the sheets, dampen your fingers with water.
• Keep it uncomplicated– Sushi is typically straightforward and not overloaded with ingredients or flavors in a single roll. It is recommended to utilize a maximum of 3-6 ingredients. The more ingredients you include, the harder it becomes to roll the sushi.

Variations

• Rice substitutes: Sushi rice is actually short-grain white rice. I have also seen and tried to make sushi with brown rice, wild rice, or even quinoa. Long grain rice tends to be drier and less sticky, so we don’t recommend choosing that.
• Other filling options: In order to roll the sushi easily, we recommend 4-6 ingredients at most. Try other vegetables like cucumber, carrots, and shiitake mushrooms, or check out the delicious combination in our sushi without fish recipe.
• Tofu is an excellent addition to sushi. Try our smoked tofu sushi rolls.
• Unique Japanese ingredients like gourds, dashi or fermented soybeans, wakame (kelp), and mirin.
• Rice paper instead of nori – If seaweed is not your favorite, you can also use rice paper wrappers or soybean sheets as an alternative. See our sushi without seaweed recipe on how to roll sushi in rice paper.

Serving ideas

Before I was turned into a sushi lover, during a couple of my first tries I didn’t dare to try soy sauce or wasabi. But now, I would say they are must-have condiments. So what else you can serve with this sweet potato sushi roll recipe?

• Soy sauce – You can also use tamari for a gluten-free.
• Wasabi
• Pickled ginger – It is a palate cleanser.
• Hot mustard
• Chili oil

Equipment

• Bamboo mat
• Beginner’s sushi kit
• Sushi-making kit with roller machine
• Rice cooker
• Stockpot
• Hangiri (wooden bowl for sushi rice) – If you want to go down the traditional route, use a hangiri or a wooden salad bowl.

Storing tips

• In the refrigerator: Store your sweet potato sushi rolls in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
• In the freezer: Depending on your ingredients, you can freeze sushi for months. However, freeze each roll separately to avoid the pieces sticking together and getting soggy when defrosting.
• Reheating: Sushi is served cold, so no need to reheat it.

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Sweet Potato Sushi Rolls

Nandor Barta

The star of these sweet potato sushi rolls are maple roasted sweet potato, earthy beet, and creamy avocado wrapped up in sushi rice and nori sheets. It is the perfect combination of something sweet, savory, and umami that the whole family will love. 

5 from 13 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Roasting 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Servings 4 servings

Calories 325kcal

Equipment

• Bamboo mat
• Beginner’s sushi kit
• Sushi making kit with roller machine
• Rice cooker
• Stockpot
• Regular parchment paper
• Non-stick baking sheet

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

Roasting sweet potato and beet

• ▢ 1 Sweet potato (large)
• ▢ 1 Tbsp Maple syrup or agave or any other liquid sweetener
• ▢ ½ Tbsp Soy sauce or tamari
• ▢ 1 Tbsp Vegetable oil
• ▢ 1 tsp Sesame oil
• ▢ Salt and Pepper
• ▢ 1 Beet (medium) roasted as per instructions
• ▢ 1 Tbsp Olive oil

Sushi rice

• ▢ 1 cup Sushi rice
• ▢ 1 + ⅓ cup Water
• ▢ 1 + ½ Tbsp Rice vinegar
• ▢ ¾ Tbsp Salt

To assemble the sushi

• ▢ ½ Avocado sliced as fries
• ▢ 4 Nori sheets

Optional condiments

• ▢ Wasabi optional (to taste)
• ▢ Soy sauce or tamari
• ▢ Pickled ginger
• ▢ Hot mustard
• ▢ Chili oil

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Instructions

 

Cooking sushi rice

• Rinse rice under cold water using a fine-mesh sieve.
• Take a pot and pour in fresh cold water and rice vinegar. Add rinsed rice and salt.
• Bring it to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat low. Simmer until the water disappears, then remove from heat and cover with a lid. It should stay covered for 5 minutes. Now, you have cooked sushi rice.

Roasting sweet potato and beets

• Peel and cut sweet potatoes into fries approx. ½-inch thick. Do the same for beets, but cut it thinner approx. ¼-inch. Place them in a single layer on separate sheet pans or on baking trays, or on parchment paper (the beets will color the sweet potatoes purple if they are too close during baking).
• Make a quick marinade with soy sauce (or tamari), maple syrup, sesame oil, and vegetable oil. Brush the sweet potato fries, and turn and brush the other side as well. Brush the beet fries with oil only and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
• Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit (ca. 204 °C) and roast the sweet potato and beet until soft and tender.

Rolling sushi

• Take a bamboo mat and place a dry nori sheet on it.
• Take 2-3 spoonfuls of cooked sushi rice and, using your fingers, spread it evenly and thinly over the nori sheets. Make your fingers wet to avoid the rice sticking to them too much.
• Make 3 lines horizontally around ⅓ of the nori sheet. One line should be sweet potato fries, one beet fries and one avocado sliced also as fries.
• Take the bamboo mat and roll the sushi as tight as you can manage. (You can watch our video on how we do it, or check out the step-by-step photo collage above the recipe card.)
• Once it is tightly rolled, cut it into 1-inch wide sushi rolls.
• Repeat with all 4 nori sheets. You should have approx. 25-30 sushi rolls.

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Video

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Sweet Potato Sushi Rolls

Amount Per Serving (1 serving)

Calories 325 Calories from Fat 81

% Daily Value*

Fat 9g14%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Polyunsaturated Fat 1g

Monounsaturated Fat 6g

Sodium 1492mg65%

Potassium 440mg13%

Carbohydrates 57g19%

Fiber 5g21%

Sugar 7g8%

Protein 5g10%

Vitamin A 8189IU164%

Vitamin C 6mg7%

Calcium 40mg4%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in October 2020. It has been updated with more tips, steps, and details and republished in Mar 2023.