Healthier Crispy Rice Recipe!

Sharing my favorite Crispy Rice Recipe! Inspired by the dish we all love to order anytime it is on a menu.

Excuse me while I freak out and make this dish every single week!!! It is going to be your new go-to appetizer for entertaining. Or a killer way to use leftover rice you have too. And I promise – it looks 10x fancier than it actually is to make. I am still shook over how easy it is to make this at home fam.

This is hands down my favorite appetizer to order out to dinner. So making this at home is a game changer and it is also a bit healthier since I am not frying it in as much oil as the restaurants would. Typically these are pretty fried but I only need a little coat of oil to get things going. I also added jalapeño today but you can put some avocado too or anything else you are craving.

What ingredients you need to make homemade crispy rice:

• Short grain rice or sushi rice
• Rice vinegar
• Coconut sugar
• Sea salt
• Crab sticks (or use sushi grade tuna or salmon!)
• Mayo
• Hot sauce
• Coconut aminos
• Toasted sesame oil
• 1 jalapeño, sliced
• Toasted sesame seeds to garnish

How to make crispy rice:

1. Place the sushi rice in a colander, rinse throughly and let it drain
2. Cook rice per instructions on package
3. While rice cooks, mix together rice vinegar, coconut sugar and salt in a small bowl
4. Transfer the rice to a large bowl then mix the vinegar mixture in the bowl
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper then spread the rice out across so it is about 1 inch high (or however thick you want it!)
6. Add the sheet to fridge to set for at least 3 hours. I like to do this overnight
7. Next prepare the fish topping but cutting the crab into smaller pieces then add in the mayo, hot sauce, coconut aminos and oil and store in fridge
8. Remove rice from fridge and slice the rice into 2 inch pieces
9. Thinly coat a large pan with oil and heat over medium/high
10. Gently add the rice squares to the pan and crisp until golden (don’t flip too soon or rice will come apart – I crisped bout 3-5 minutes on each side)
11. Drain on a wire rack or paper towel lined plate/tray
12. Top the crispy rice with the crab, jalapeño and sesame seeds and enjoy!

Tips when making crispy rice:

• Make sure you sure you use short grain rice or sushi rice. I found this at my local store but it is also found online. It will ensure that this dish turns out good! I haven’t tested a brown rice or long grain rice yet.
• Don’t skip cooling the rice overnight or at least 3 hours. This is essential. As is seasoning it so it tastes perfect. If you don’t let the rice cool, it will fall apart.
• You can use crab or tuna or salmon. Just make sure it is sushi-grade if using tuna or salmon. I used an imitation crab that was made from Wild Alaskan Pollock and it was in crab stick form. Already cooked!
• This dish tastes best day of! At least to me. I am not a huge fan of leftovers with crispy rice. It isn’t as crispy the next day and the fish topping too tastes better day of.

A few other delicious appetizers to make:

Mini Potato Latkes with Smoked Salmon (paleo)

INSANE Creamy Whipped Feta Dip Recipe!

Crispy Herby DELISH Garlic Bread

How to Make Epic Whipped Ricotta Toast