Whether you're in Hawaii or on the mainland, my Hawaiian family's recipe for Homemade Spam Musubi is the best! Sliced planks of rich and salty canned spam are pan-fried until golden, then glazed in a simple teriyaki-style spam musubi sauce. From there, the spam is wrapped in nori seaweed with fluffy white rice and lots of furikake seasoning, making the perfect handheld snack.
If you've never made homemade spam musubi before, this is a great recipe to start with! We wanted it to be as approachable as possible, so the directions are very detailed and we've provided step-by-step photos to help you along the way. A rice cooker and a double musubi mold are especially helpful for beginners – they streamline the process and make shaping the musubi quick and foolproof.
We hope you love it as much as we do! ♡
Recipe by Jess Larson on May 9, 2022
Prep time: PT25M
Cook time: PT20M
Total time: PT45M
Rating
4.8 stars ( reviews)
Keywords
hawaiian food recipes, spam recipes, local-style food, hawaii-style recipes, how to make spam musubi
Ingredients
2 cups Calrose rice, rinsed well
simple teriyaki sauce, below
nonstick cooking spray
one 12-ounce can Spam, sliced lengthwise into 7 pieces
3 ½ sheets sushi nori
heaping ⅓ cup furikake
⅓ cup dark brown sugar, can sub light brown sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Categories
Main Dish
Cuisine
American
Steps
Cook the rice: Place the rice in a fine mesh colander and rinse it well with hot water until the water runs clear. This will take a good minute or two—feel free to jostle the rice with your hands as you rinse it to help speed this process along. Once the water runs clear, drain any excess water from the rice, then transfer it to a rice pot. Following the ratios provided on the rice package directions, add water to the rice pot. Cover and cook. Once the rice is done, let it steam and rest for 5-10 minutes before assembling Spam musubi.
Combine all listed ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to combine. Microwave for 30 seconds – 1 minute to dissolve the sugar. Stir to combine then set aside to cool slightly. (Alternatively, you can combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved, 4-5 minutes.)
Pan-fry the Spam and glaze with the teriyaki sauce: Place a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Very lightly spritz with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange the sliced Spam in a single layer in the skillet. Cook 4-5 minutes, until lightly browned. Flip the Spam. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the prepared teriyaki sauce over each slice of Spam. Cook 2-3 minutes longer. Repeat flipping and spooning sauce on the Spam 1-2 more times, until the Spam is as browned and saucy as you like and the teriyaki sauce is reduced to a thick glaze. Remove from the heat and set aside for Spam musubi assembly.
Place a large piece of plastic wrap or wax paper on your work surface. Grab a piece of sushi nori. Sushi nori has 2 distinct sides—one is rough and textured while the other is shiny and smoother—and is ever-so-slightly rectangular. Place a piece of sushi nori on top of the plastic wrap/wax paper such that its shiny and smooth side is facing down and one of its slightly longer sides is closest to you. Place the outer box of the musubi mold on the center of the nori such that its long edge runs parallel with the longer sides of the nori.
Build the Spam musubi: Use a rice paddle to scrape a small amount of rice off the top of the rice pot. Be sure to scrape off the top rather than digging, which compacts the rice—we want our musubi rice nice and light! Gently add the rice to the musubi mold, filling it almost entirely full. As you fill the mold, use the edge of the rice paddle to gently pat the rice down into a uniform level but, again, avoid pressing down on the rice too much. Once the mold is filled with rice, sprinkle a generous amount of furikake seasoning over top, about 1-2 tablespoons. Arrange two slices of the teriyaki Spam side by side in the musubi mold.
Assemble and wrap the Spam musubi: Place the musubi mold lid on top of the Spam. Press down on the lid firmly, starting at the center and working your way to the outer edge. Once you reach the outer edge, press down on the lid firmly with your thumbs and pointer fingers while using your pinky fingers to simultaneously pull the musubi mold box up. Set the box to the side, then remove the musubi mold top off of the Spam and set aside. Gently-yet-firmly pull the side of the nori sheet facing you up and tautly fold it over the Spam—the nori should stick to the Spam. Brush a little water over the opposite edge of nori, then tautly roll the musubi away from you, sealing the musubi shut. The musubi should be seam side down at this point. Set aside—it will continue to tighten up as it sits.
with the remaining rice and teriyaki Spam. Your last musubi will only have one piece of Spam, so simply slice the sushi nori in half crosswise and assemble the musubi using only one half of the mold.
Run a sharp knife under warm water, then slice the double musubis in half crosswise (between the two pieces of Spam), creating 2 individual Spam musubi. Be sure to rinse the knife with warm water before slicing the next musubi—this helps create a clean cut. Enjoy immediately!
Nutitrion
Calories: 295 calories
Carbohydrates: 31.6 g
Protein: 9.6 g
Fat: 14 g
Saturated Fat: 4.4 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 37.7 mg
Sodium: 915.5 mg
Sugar: 13 g
Reviews
John O on 2025-07-24 (5 stars): When I was a kid, my dad used to fry Spam and have it with eggs for breakfast but it was way too salty for me.
When I moved to Kauai in my 30s, I’d see spam mush I for sale everywhere and think, “Yuck! Spam!” I never ate it the entire five years I lived there.
Now at the age of sixty, I’ve been playing with making sushi at home and thought to myself, “I wonder if I could make Spam musubi?” I saw your video with your mom and her easy teriyaki sauce and wondered if it was as good as it looked. I had all the ingredients in my pantry so I cooked some medium grain white rice, whisked up a batch of her teriyaki sauce and finally got to try out my Spam musubi mold. First, hug your mom for me… that sauce is incredible! Never buying teriyaki sauce again! Second, the musubi were SO GOOD! The rice, sauce, furikaki and nori wrap really counterbalance the saltiness of the Spam. Absolutely delicious! Thanks for curing my Spam aversion, you’ve made my tastebuds very happy!
Nate on 2025-08-05 (5 stars): I’ve followed this recipe over 30 times; AMAZING! Never miss.
If you want an outsider to fall in love with musubi, this is it.
Chris S on 2025-08-07 (5 stars): I was so happy I found your video and recipe! I became obsessed with Spam musubi after I tried it while in Hawaii. I had to find a way to make it back home in Ohio! I especially love the tip about dividing into 7. Everytime I make it I hear the words of your mom on the video about cutting into 7 instead of if 8, "You can do it." Thanks for sharing!
Gilbert on 2026-01-13 (5 stars): I will never purchase teriyaki sauce again! Secondly, the musubi were exceptionally delicious! The combination of rice, sauce, furikake, and nori wrap effectively balances the saltiness of the Spam. Truly delightful! I appreciate you for alleviating my aversion to Spam; you have greatly pleased my taste buds!
Joe on 2026-04-05 (5 stars): This is a great recipe
Lynne on 2026-04-15 (5 stars): I make this often. My nori gets rubbery though. Should I let the rice cool completely?
Carol on 2026-06-14 (5 stars): OK, I KNOW that you and everyone who loves and eats musubi is going to absolutely cringe when they read this.
I have been to Hawaii 4 times:
When I was 11, 1964 Summer vacation, alone to visit Uncle
When I was 17, 1970 Family vacation
When I was 28, 1981 With my husband and 2 toddlers to replace Uncles roof
When I was in my 40’s (1996-7?) Met with youngest daughter who was a Marine doing training on the Big Island
In all those visits, I never once heard of Musubi. Sad to say, as I could have eaten it as made.
Now, I’m diabetic and can’t have rice!
BUT, I have been reading about musubi for awhile now and really want to try it.
I would love to know what you think about using cauliflower rice to replace the rice with? Again, I KNOW you are cringing about this! I use Mirin and tamari all the time, and I love spices, the ONLY problem is the rice. (And yes, I do know that rice is a VERY important ingredient!)
Recently I have begun buying SPAM, Zwan (a chicken or beef/pork Norwegian version of SPAM), and turkey SPAM. Tried a couple of the flavored SPAMs, but I’ll have to stick with the classic. I found musubi, and even bought a musubi maker kit…2 individual molds. This recipe is probably one of the most detailed and yummy looking to me and I WANT TO MAKE it!!!
Let me know if you think it could possibly work and what I could do to make it low/no carb and still be “true” to the food.
Thank you so much for letting me reminisce about my times in Hawaii
Aside: when I was 11, my Uncle lived in the Manoa Valley. Where I live we didn’t have a public bus system. I was entered in a summer class that my Uncle dropped me off at while he worked, and I walked over to the AlaMoana Shopping Center for awhile, after it was through for the day. I was supposed to take the bus home, but as I said, I had NO IDEA HOW to, so, I knew, generally, where the house was and I walked there all alone. I got there, but it took me several hours. It was kind of fun. Uncle was on the phone to the police when I walked in, to say the least, not too happy with me!!!
This post has brought back so many memories! Thank you.
Carol L on 2026-06-23 (5 stars): I am recently new to Musubi. I have become very interested in this “new” food. However, I’m diabetic and can’t have rice, so I’ve been using cauliflower rice instead. My problem is that my finished product ifs quite wet…I re-heat the cauliflower rice with no oils or fats, so it isn’t wet. I saw one recipe that had vegetables between the rice and spam and wanted to reproduce that recipe, so I have some drained, re-hydrated carrots and chopped drained green beans. I finally got the sushi nori sheets, but I think I put my 2 musubi molds the wrong way as they didn’t completely wrap around. I’m probably using too much of the sauce for the spam, but want it to have good flavor….what am I doing wrong? The flavor is great, but my final product is a bit of a hot/wet mess!
Thank you for any advice you could give me!
