Skip to main content

Tuna-Mayo Onigiri

Two tuna mayo filled onigiri wrapped in nori on a plate.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Drew Aichele

This is one of the most basic onigiri recipes. Tuna-mayo onigiri have revolutionized the onigiri world. While today tuna-mayo is counted as the most popular garnish in Japan, for about 100 years before its creation, it was unfathomable for Japanese people to enjoy any garnishes outside umeboshi (Japanese plums) or kombu (Japanese kelp).

This recipe was excerpted from 'Onigiri' by Ai Watanabe and Samuel Trifot. Buy the full book on Amazon.

What you’ll need

Read More
Leftover rotisserie chicken finds new purpose in this endlessly comforting dish.
Crispy tots topped with savory-sweet sauce, mayonnaise, furikake, scallion, and katsuobushi.
Bugak is the ideal light beer snack: It’s crunchy, salty, and the fresher it’s made, the better. Thin sheets of kimchi add an extra spicy savory layer.
Cool off with this easy zaru soba recipe: a Japanese dish of chewy buckwheat noodles served with chilled mentsuyu dipping sauce, daikon, nori, and scallions.
Kewpie Mayonnaise is the ultimate secret ingredient to creating a perfect oven-baked battered-and-fried crunch without a deep fryer.
Developed in the 1980s by a chef in Hong Kong, this sauce is all about umami.
“Soft and pillowy, custardy and light—they were unlike any other scrambled eggs I had experienced before.”
The kimchi brine is the secret hero here; just a splash of it brightens the cocktail while deepening it with a little funky je ne sais quoi.