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Vegan, gluten-free, no-bake colorful sushi cups are a fun way to enjoy all the flavors of sushi, but in the form of a savory cupcake. These are fun for any occasion, but I recommend these sushi-in-a-cup for birthdays, picnics, or a potluck. With a base of healthy superfood-colored rice, you can top them with anything to make them unique to you. No chopsticks needed.

This recipe makes 12 sushi cups.

Table of Contents

(click the links below to skip to the section you’re looking for)

• Recipe
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Ingredient Substitutions
• Nutritional Information
• Contact Me with Questions
• Similar Recipes

I used to have a cupcake blog before VeganDollhouse was born (ieatcupcakes.com). I just figured I could eat everything in cupcake form for the rest of my life, but, eventually, I wanted to branch out to other food shapes. One kind of vegan savory cupcakes I never made for ieatcupcakes.com was a kawaii sushi cupcake. Better now than never, right?

I used dried butterfly pea flowers to naturally color the sushi rice, and they’re gluten-free by nature, so we can probably even go as far as to call these healthy (at least compared to everything else I make).

Ingredients for Sushi Cups Recipe

(jump to the substitutions section to see ingredient details and suggestions for substitutions)

• 1 cup (240g) water
• small handful of butterfly pea flowers
• 1 cup (216g) white sushi rice
• 2 tablespoons (30g) sushi vinegar
• veggies or other toppings
• 12 sheets (24g) of nori

How to Make Sushi Cups

cook time: 30 min | prep time: 30 hour

Rinse the rice. Put the rice into a sifter and run it under cold water to rinse it for a few seconds.

Make instant pot sushi rice. Add 1 cup of water, 1 cup of white sushi rice, and a small handful of dried butterfly pea flowers to the liner of your instant pot and lock the lid, making sure the vent is sealed. If you don’t want to pick the flowers out of the rice later, you can put your flowers into a nut milk bag or a reusable tea bag and toss that in with the water and rice. Or use butterfly pea flower powder since that will dissolve into the rice. Press the rice button. Turn it down to 6 minutes if it’s not already there. Turn off the keep warm button if it’s on.

Prepare the toppings. Gather and chop your toppings while the rice cooks. I used carrots, cucumber, sunflower sprouts, and pickled cauliflower.

Season the sushi rice. Transfer the rice (once the pressure has released naturally) to a large pan so it can cool off more quickly. I used my lasagna pan for this, but you can use a cookie sheet, a parchment paper lined cutting board, or a rolling mat (or whatever you have that’s convenient). Sprinkle seasoned sushi rice vinegar over half of the cooling rice. After a few minutes, you should notice an obvious color change. You’ll want to use both colors of rice in each cupcake to give it more depth of color.

Cut nori. Set a bowl on a stack of nori sheets and trace around the perimeter of the bowl with something sharp. Cut (with scissors) through as many sheets of nori as you can at a time following the circle that you traced onto the top sheet. You want 12 of these seaweed circles.

Assemble the sushi cups. Place one nori circle into one of the cubbies of a muffin pan or cupcake pan. Set your bigger veggie pieces into the nori cupcake wrapper first. Wet your hands, and then grab a ball of rice, trying to grab some of each color, and set the ball into the nori cupcake paper with veggies. Add the smaller toppings to the top Repeat with the other 11 cupcakes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I bake these no-bake sushi cups?

I like this recipe as a no-bake sushi cup, because I live in California and summers are hot. To make these with baked sushi rice, skip the nori, and press the cooked sushi rice into the cupcake pan cubbies after you coat them in oil. Then bake them before filling them with your toppings. If they don’t crisp up quickly enough, broil them in your oven. VeganBunnyElle shows you how she does this in her instagram reel.

Can I make these sushi cupcakes ahead of time?

You can make the rice and chop your toppings 1–2 days in advance. Store them all separately in airtight containers, and assemble the sushi cups just before you serve them. This will make sure they stay fresh and crisp and the seaweed won’t get soggy.

What can I use instead of butterfly pea flowers to color the rice?

You can skip the butterfly pea flowers altogether if you don’t mind your sushi cupcakes having white rice. Or try alternatives like adding red cabbage to the rice cooker or instant pot. The flavor won’t change much, just the color.

Is there a low-carb version?

For a lower carb version of this recipe, you could try using cauliflower rice, an almond pate, or tofu. Or omit the rice and just make them out of veggies.

Can I make these more bite-sized for party appetizers?

Make these into baby nori bites by using a mini cupcake pan, and cutting 4 nori circles from each nori sheet.

Ingredient Details and Substitutions

• Butterfly Pea Flowers: I use these dried butterfly pea flowers because the color comes out so pretty and they last forever in the pantry. If you don’t have the flowers, you can use butterfly pea flower powder or tea bags. Or you can make white sushi rice and add vegan food coloring to the cooked sushi rice. Or just make the sushi cups with white rice. They’ll still be pretty with all the colorful veggies.
• Sushi Rice: You can use white or brown sushi rice in this recipe, but if you plan to color the rice like I did, then use white.
• Sushi Vinegar: If you don’t have sushi vinegar, you can quickly make your own. Combine 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 1 teaspoon of vegan, raw, or organic sugar, and ½ teaspoon of salt either in a saucepan on the stove or in the microwave. Heat and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar. This can take 15 seconds in the microwave or 5 minutes on the stove.
• Toppings: I used carrot, pickled cauliflower, sunflower sprouts, and cucumber when I made these no-bake sushi cups. If you want some protein in yours, add small bits of marinated tofu, vegan tuna, or vegan shrimp. You can fill these with literally anything you want. Other toppings that work well besides the ones I used are diced bell pepper, avocado slices, pickled ginger, pickled red onions, beets, scallions, shredded beets, and edible flowers.

Nutrition Facts

• Servings: 12
• Calories per serving: 80
• Calcium per serving: 33mg
• Cholesterol per serving: 0mg
• Dietary Fiber per serving: 2g
• Iron per serving: 1mg
• Potassium per serving: 167mg
• Protein per serving: 2g
• Total Carbohydrate per serving: 18g
• Total Fat per serving: < 1g
• Total Sugars per serving: 2g
• Sodium per serving: 86mg

Comments or Questions?

If you make this recipe, I would love it if you’d snap a pic, post to instagram, and tag me @vegandollhouse. It seriously makes my day/week/month!

Please message me (instagram or email) if you have any questions or feedback about the recipe.

Similar Recipes

If you like this sushi cupcake recipe and you like cute food, you might also like my korean rice balls recipe, my vegan musubi recipe, my temaki recipe, and my tuna onigiri recipe.

For other ideas of things you can make with sushi rice, I have a recipe for an easy vegan sushi bakeand a vegan sushi bowl recipe.

If you love the challenge of how to make rainbow sushi, I have a show stopper sushi meal for you. It’s my savory rainbow sushi cake recipe.

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I mostly cook with organic ingredients, but only specify organic when it’s necessary to ensure the item is vegan.

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