Although the shrimp tempura roll is fun and delicious, check out our other challenging sushi roll recipes here or visit our entire library of sushi rolls sorted alphabetically!
What you need to know before ordering a Shrimp Tempura Roll…
Shrimp tempura rolls are made of lightly fried tempura shrimp, cucumber, and avocado. A shrimp tempura roll typically has spicy mayo sauce on top to give it an extra kick and is frequently paired with soy sauce. This roll is fully cooked and popular for its crunch! Below you will find FAQ, ingredients lists, and an easy at home recipe!
Main Ingredients
- Tempura Shrimp
SAUCES
- Spicy Mayo Sauce
VEGGIES & FILLING
- Creamy Avocado
- Crunchy Cucumber
Dipping Sauces
WANT THE RECIPE?
CANT DECIDE WHAT TO ORDER?
Attention all shrimp lovers! Also… attention all of you that are unnerved about the thought of eating raw fish, the shrimp tempura roll is a classic. With extremely simple ingredients that can be found at any grocery store, this is a popular roll found in restaurants and at-home sushi chefs alike! Does the thought of making shrimp tempura intimidate you and is keeping you from making this roll? Fear not! Click here for our tempura batter recipe. If that seems to challenging and you are just looking for a fun date night idea, shrimp tempura for the oven can literally be found in any grocery store frozen section.
Click here to visit our sushi roll library!
What is a Shrimp Tempura Roll?
A shrimp tempura roll is a fairly basic inside out sushi roll (meaning the rice is on the outside) that is made with tempura shrimp as the main ingredient. Other ingredients in the shrimp tempura roll include avocado and cucumber strips on the inside, and spicy mayo sauce on the top is highly recomended. The shrimp tempura roll is one of the easiest to make as there are few ingredients and they are cheap and easy to find. Tempura shrimp is very popular as you can buy it ready to put in the oven from any grocery store’s frozen section.
What is the best way to serve and eat sushi?
When Serving Sushi:
Sushi is one of those fun meals that you will frequently see pop up on friends snapchat or instagram stories or whatever social media companies sharing application. Whether it is at a restaurant or in your own kitchen, sushi is extremely instagrammable. Sushi is very trendy and typically served at higher end restaurants, therefore there is a high likelihood that the group is either on a date night or out on the town and dressed accordingly! Lots of pictures are flying around on these kind of nights therefore the presentation of the sushi tends to get some notice!
Typically sushi is plated in a very eye catching and palatable pattern on plates that have good visual appeal, frequently made of melamine in traditional japanese fashion. Restaurants tend to make a big deal of the presentation. Some ways sushi is presented can be on a small wooden boat brought out to the table or even lit on fire!
When Eating Sushi:
Experienced sushi eaters know that sauces can make or break your eating experience. There are two ways that sauces can be eaten with sushi:
Sauces on or in the sushi roll
This tends to be sauces that are either mixed in with other ingredients or added as a topping. Examples of this are spicy mayo sauce which is frequently mixed in with shredded imitation crab or drizzled on top of the sushi roll in patterns that are visually appealing. Some other sauces that are put on top or in the sushi roll are unagi eel sauce and teriyaki sauce.
Sauces that the sushi roll can be dipped in
The first sauce and most popular that probably comes to mind is soy sauce. (I have linked my favorite soy sauce to the right or below on mobile). Soy sauce is cheap and can be found at any grocery store or restaurant. Soy sauce is also an ingredient in numerous other recipes, not just sushi or even japanese based recipes.
Soy sauce can be given a little extra heat by mixing wasabi into the soy sauce.
Shrimp Tempura Roll FAQ and Tips
Is a shrimp tempura roll raw?
The shrimp tempura roll is not raw and is fully cooked with the only meat or fish being the lightly fried shrimp which is one reason it is so popular.
What fish is in a shrimp tempura roll?
Just shrimp! Lightly fried shrimp is the only meat in a shrimp tempura roll making it a completely cooked sushi roll!
How many calories are in a shrimp tempura roll?
Although there are several variations of a shrimp tempura roll, there are aroud 508 calories in the roll since the shrimp are breaded and fried. The 508 calories also includes the spicy mayo sauce which is optional.
Is a shrimp tempura roll spicy?
The short answer is that it can be! Spicy mayo sauce can be added to the top of the roll to give it an extra kick. Spicy mayo sauce is a mixture of mayonsaise and sriracha. If you make the spicy mayo sauce yourself you can control how spicy it is by adding more or less sriracha.
What other sushi rolls are like a shrimp tempura roll?
The staple ingredient in the shrimp tempura roll is obviously the shrimp. Other rolls that have similar ingredients are the dragon roll and the shaggy dog roll. If you are looking for a non-fried option but still love shrimp, a simple boston roll which is made of boiled shrimp could do the trick!
What is a shrimp tempura roll made of?
Sushi Rice: Using sushi rice is key to making sushi rolls. The difference between sushi rice and normal white rice is that sushi rice is short grain and has more starch and protiens than traditional long grain rices. The increased levels of starch and protein give sushi rice its stickiness factor which allows you to shape it into a roll. Check out our post about why you should use sushi rice instead of white rice!
Tempura Shrimp: There are two ways to make shrimp tempura. The easy way (but less fun) is to buy pre-battered tempura shrimp in the frozen section of your grocery store, then all you have to do is be smart enough to follow the directions on the box to cook it in the oven. The other option is to buy your own shrimp and follow our tempura batter instructions and cook them yourself.
Nori Sheets (Seaweed): These sheets of dried seaweed work best for making sushi, are very healthy for you, and have relatively little flavor. Sheets of nori can be found at most grocery stores like Walmart, Kroger, or HEB. You can even order sheets of nori off of Amazon.
Spicy Mayo Sauce: This delicious topping can add a kick to liven up numerous dishes, not just sushi! Spicy mayo sauce is just a combination of sriracha and mayonnaise. You can make the sauce spicier by adding more sriracha and mellower by adding more mayo. Check out our recipe here.
Avocado: Avocado is a staple in most sushi rolls, not just the shrimp tempura roll. Additionally, avocado is just down right delicious! To pick the perfect avocado, look for the ones with dark skin colors and place them in the palm of your hand. If it is to firm, it is not ripe yet. If it is to squichy, it is overripe. You should be looking for a dark skinned avocado that you can give a slight squeeze!
Cucumber: Cucumber is found in the majority of sushi rolls, not only in the shrimp tempura roll. The best cucumbers to use for sushi are what are called “japanese cucumbers” which are known to be straight, thin, and contain less water than a traditional cucumber. Cucumbers are known for numerous health properties.
Shrimp Tempura Roll Ingredients
- 2 Cups Cooked Sushi Rice (Click link for easy instructions)
- 1/4 Cup Seasoned Rice Vinegar
- 16 Pieces Tempura Shrimp Frozen (Can be bought at most grocery stores, or check out our tempura batter recipe and make your own)
- 4 Half Sheets Nori (Fold a full sheet hamburger style, Click here for folding instructions)
- 1/2 Cup Spicy Mayo Sauce (Click link for an easy recipe)
- 1 Small Avocado sliced into strips
- 8 strips of Cucumber
Cooking Equipment
- Bamboo rolling mat inside a gallon bag
- cutting board and a sharp knife
- Small mixing bowl
INSTRUCTIONS
Preparation
- Add the seasoned rice vinegar to the cooked sushi rice and mix together.
- Place your bamboo rolling mat inside a plastic gallon bag (trust us, this makes clean up much easier, all you have to do is throw out the bag!)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and cook frozen tempura shrimp until golden and crisp (about 6 minutes per side).
Making the Roll
- Once shrimp are cooked, remove tails from 8 of the shrimp, leave the tails on the other 8.
- Place one half sheet of nori on the rolling mat (remember we tore the full sheet in half hamburger style) with the rough side facing up.
- ONLY ONCE THE RICE HAS COOLED, grab a handful of rice and cover the rough side of the nori leaving a 1 inch gap at the top without any rice. If using sesame seeds, sprinkle them over the rice. Grab the nori by the top, and flip it over so the rice is against the bamboo rolling mat and the 1 inch gap is now on the bottom.
- Starting 1/3 of the way up from the bottom begin to align the “guts” of the sushi roll in a horizontal line beginning with the tempura shrimp. Add two tempura shrimp with the tails off in the middle, and add two more tempura shrimp with the tails on to the outside of the rolls with the tails hanging off of the side of the sheet. This is more for presentation than anything.
- Add the avocado and cucumber slices above the tempura shrimp.
- Grab both the sushi mat and the nori and roll the mat over from the bottom until the empty space we left at the bottom is touching the other side, squeezing down on the roll to make it nice and tight and allowing to hold its shape.
Sauces and Presentation
- Now it is time to add the Spicy Mayo Sauce! (This part is optional, it gives a great kick though!1) The easy way is to just spread it across the top of the roll with a fork2) The “Instagram-worthy-way” is to put the sauces in small bags, cut off the corner and then push the sauce out of the bag while doing zig-zags up and down the roll.
- Place the roll on a cutting board and get a knife and damp paper towel. Cut the roll into 8 equal sizes (easiest if you start by cutting the roll in half). Before you make each cut DAMPEN THE KNIFE WITH THE PAPER TOWEL or else the roll will fall apart when you slice through it.
- Serve with soy sauce, take some pictures for your friends, and enjoy!
If you enjoyed this recipe or have feedback, please scroll down and leave a rating, comment, or critique!
See our printer friendly recipe version below!
Here are some tips and tricks to keep in mind while making sushi
- Check out our easy rice recipe here!
- Always wet your hands before handling rice. Rice is extremely sticky!
- While on the topic of rice.. please wait for it to cool. Getting excited and touching hot rice is no fun.
- Use a wet paper towel and wipe down your knife between cuts while slicing your rolls! If you do not, the roll will fall apart!
Shrimp Tempura Roll- FAQ, Easy Recipe, & More!
Equipment
- Bamboo rolling mat inside a gallon bag
- cutting board and a sharp knife
- Small mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Cooked Sushi Rice (See below link in notes for easy sushi rice instructions)
- 1/4 Cup Seasoned Rice Vinegar
- 16 Pieces Tempura Shrimp Frozen (Can be bought at most grocery stores, or check out our tempura batter recipe and make your own)
- 4 Half Sheets Nori (See below link in notes for folding instructions)
- 1/2 Cup Spicy Mayo Sauce See link below for an easy recipe
- 1 Small Avocado Sliced into Strips
- 8 Strips Cucumber
Instructions
- Add the seasoned rice vinegar to the cooked sushi rice and mix together.
- Place your bamboo rolling mat inside a plastic gallon bag (trust us, this makes clean up much easier, all you have to do is throw out the bag!)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and cook frozen tempura shrimp until golden and crisp (about 6 minutes per side)
- Once shrimp are cooked, remove tails from 8 of the shrimp, leave the tails on the other 8.
- Place one half sheet of nori on the rolling mat (remember we tore the full sheet in half hamburger style) with the rough side facing up.
- ONLY ONCE THE RICE HAS COOLED, grab a handful of rice and cover the rough side of the nori leaving a 1 inch gap at the top without any rice. If using sesame seeds, sprinkle them over the rice. Grab the nori by the top, and flip it over so the rice is against the bamboo rolling mat and the 1 inch gap is now on the bottom.
- Starting 1/3 of the way up from the bottom begin to align the "guts" of the sushi roll in a horizontal line beginning with the tempura shrimp. Add two tempura shrimp with the tails off in the middle, and add two more tempura shrimp with the tails on to the outside of the rolls with the tails hanging off of the side of the sheet.
- Add the avocado and cucumber slices above the tempura shrimp.
- Grab both the sushi mat and the nori and roll the mat over from the bottom until the empty space we left at the bottom is touching the other side, squeezing down on the roll to make it nice and tight and allowing to hold its shape.
- Now it is time to add the Spicy Mayo Sauce! (This part is optional, it gives a great kick though!1) The easy way is to just spread it across the top of the roll with a fork2) The "Instagram-worthy-way" is to put the sauces in small bags, cut off the corner and then push the sauce out of the bag while doing zig-zags up and down the roll.
- Place the roll on a cutting board and get a knife and damp paper towel. Cut the roll into 8 equal sizes (easiest if you start by cutting the roll in half). Before you make each cut DAMPEN THE KNIFE WITH THE PAPER TOWEL or else the roll will fall apart when you slice through it.
- Serve with soy sauce, take some pictures for your friends, and enjoy!
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