The Different Kinds of Sushi: Types, Names, and Photos

Author:
Brittany Kennedy
Updated:
May 11, 2023 1:28 AM EDT

Types of Sushi

If you didn't grow up eating sushi, you may be confused when looking at a sushi roll menu if the restaurant chooses to leave out the descriptions. This guide will break down some common sushi terms and recipes so you can know what to order when visiting a sushi bar or restaurant.

Did You Know?

Feel free to eat your sushi rolls or nigiri with your hands! This is, in fact, how many in Japan eat their sushi. When eating nigiri, it's also recommended to turn the roll upside-down to dip in soy sauce to avoid absorbing too much into the rice.

Different types of sushi: maki, temaki, uramaki, sashimi, and nigiri

5 Main Types of Sushi


Type of Sushi	Description	Notes
Nigiri	A topping, usually fish, served on top of sushi rice	Not all nigiri is raw, though this dish is best for people who want to appreciate the flavor of the fish, shellfish, or other toppings
Sashimi	Fish or shellfish served alone (no rice)	This is best for people who really love to taste the fish or shellfish since it comes with nothing else
Maki	Rice and filling wrapped in seaweed	This is what most people think of when they think of sushi rolls
Uramaki	Similar to the above, but rice is on the outside and seaweed wraps around the filling	These rolls often have lots of toppings and sauces — they may either be cooked or raw
Temaki	Sushi that has been hand-rolled into a cone shape	The cones are not as easy to share as the rolls (though very delicious!)

Here's a brief run-down on what's what. For pictures and more information about each type, you can scroll to the sections below.

What's the Difference Between Sushi, Sashimi, and Nigiri?

Sashimi is just the meat, served without other ingredients.
Sushi features the meat and adds rice and other ingredients, such as vegetables, which are all rolled up in a sheet of nori (seaweed) and then sliced into pieces. You'll either see it as maki (which means roll), where the seaweed is on the outside, uramaki, where the seaweed is on the inside and rice is on the outside, or temaki, a cone-shaped piece of sushi that's rolled by hand.
Nigiri is a dish that's halfway in between sashimi and sushi. Nigiri is sashimi that's served on a molded rectangle of rice.

Lastly, while most sashimi is raw fish, some sashimi is not raw, and some sashimi is not fish. For example, unagi is cooked freshwater eel, and sashimi also encompasses other types of seafood, which you will see below.

Types of Sashimi

There are many different kinds of sashimi — these are some of the more common items that you might see. Spellings might vary.
Sashimi Name	What Is It?
Ahi	Tuna (raw)
Aji	Spanish Mackerel (raw)
Amaebi	Sweet Shrimp (raw)
Anago	Saltwater Eel — usually deep-fried or boiled
Aoyagi	Round Clam (raw)
Bincho	Albacore White Tuna (raw)
Katsuo	Skipjack Tuna (raw)
Ebi	Tiger Shrimp (cooked)
Escolar	Butterfish (raw)
Hamachi	Yellow Tail (raw)
Hamachi Toro	Yellowtail Belly (raw)
Hirame	Halibut (raw)
Hokigai	Surf Clam (cooked)
Hotate	Scallop (raw)
Ika	Squid (the body is served raw, the tentacles are cooked)
Ikura	Salmon Roe (fish eggs)
Iwashi	Sardine (raw)
Kani	Crab Meat (cooked)
Kanpachi	Amberjack (raw)
Maguro	Tuna (raw)
Saba	Mackerel (raw)
Sake	Salmon (raw)
Sake Toro	Salmon Belly (raw)
Tai	Red Snapper (raw)
Tako	Octopus (cooked)
Tamago	Sweet Egg Omelet (cooked)
Toro	Blue Fin Belly (raw)
Tsubugai	Whelk Clam (raw)
Umi Masu	Ocean Trout (raw)
Unagi	Barbequed Freshwater Eel
Uni	Sea Urchin (raw)

Sashimi is to sushi as a fillet is to a taco. Any sashimi meat can be made into a sushi roll. And any chef can get creative and create specialty sushi rolls by combining multiple meats and vegetables. However, there are a few specialty sushi rolls that can be found at most restaurants, though the exact preparation can differ significantly.

Types of Popular Sushi Rolls

Most of these are uramaki — the kind where the rice is on the outside. Sushi rolls vary fairly significantly from one restaurant to the next, even though the names might be the same. You can always ask what is in a roll at a particular restaurant
Roll Name	What's in It?	Contains Raw Fish?	You Should Order If . . .
Tiger Roll	Avocado, shrimp tempura, cucumber, tobiko (flying fish roe — fish eggs)	Usually not — double check to make sure	You like fried shrimp and avocado
Philadelphia Roll	Salmon, avocado, cream cheese	Yes	You like cold and creamy
Crunch Roll	Spicy tuna, crispy seaweed, tempura	Yes	You like crispy, crunchy and raw tuna
Dynamite Roll	Shrimp tempura, yellowtail, bean sprouts, carrots, avocado, cucumber, chili, spicy mayo	Sometimes	You like warm, creamy, and crunchy
Rainbow Roll	Fish cake/imitation crab, avocado, cucumber, tuna, avocado, salmon, shrimp, yellowtail	Yes	You like different kinds of sashimi
Dragon Roll	Eel, crab, cucumber / avocado outside, eel sauce	Sometimes	You love eel — which is warm, buttery, and a little sweet
California Roll	Crab or imitation crab, avocado, cucumber, sesame seeds	No	You don't like raw fish and like avocado
Spicy Tuna Roll	Tuna, mayo, chili sauce	Yes	You like cold and spicy
Caterpillar Roll	Eel, cucumber, avocado	No	You like eel (cooked and warm) and avocado
Spider Roll	Soft-shell crab tempura, cucumber, avocado, spicy mayo	No	You like crab and crunchy tempura
Vegetable Roll	Cucumber, fresh carrot, scallion, avocado, asparagus, cream cheese	No	You like veggies
Shrimp Tempura Roll	Shrimp tempura, avocado, tempura flakes, eel sauce	No	You like crunchy and fried shrimp
Surf and Turf Roll	Cucumber, fish cake/imitation crab, beef, carrot, tuna, salmon, avocado	Yes	You like raw fish and cooked beef
Tempura Roll	One or more of the parts is deep-fried in a light batter	Sometimes	You like crunchy, fried foods.
Volcano Roll	Contents will differ, but it will have some kind of topping that makes it looks like the roll is exploding.	Sometimes

Vegetarian Sushi Ingredients

There are also vegetarian sushi ingredients that have the added bonus of being on the cheaper side. These include:

Egg (tamago)
Cucumber (kappa)
Avocado

Common Sides and Condiments

Before we begin, you must know what to eat with sushi.

Common Starters

Miso soup: Traditional Japanese soup made with dashi stock and miso paste.
Edamame: Young soybeans in their pods.
Tempura: Fried vegetables or shrimp in a crunchy batter.

Condiments

Wasabi: Green paste made from Japanese horseradish. This should be mixed with shoyu (soy sauce) as a dipping sauce for your sushi.
Pickled ginger: The Japanese use ginger to clear their palettes between courses.

Spicy Tuna Roll

Ahi (tuna) rolls usually have a dark pink layer of raw tuna in them.

However, spicy tuna (or spicy ahi) usually includes diced or shredded tuna with hot peppers. The spicy sauce that sushi chefs use is usually orange and is about as hot as a banana pepper or sandwich jalapeño.

Tempura Roll

Tempura is a Japanese style of deep frying that uses a light batter. Tempura rolls can be made in two ways.

As shown in the photo above, one way to make this crunchy delight is to make the entire roll tempura. In the photo above, the chef created a sashimi roll, covered it in tempura batter, and deep-fried the whole thing.

Tempura Style #2

Another way to make this crunchy delight is to prepare the contents tempura. For those rolls, shrimp tempura or some other kind of vegetable tempura is put inside the nori (seaweed paper).

Unagi Sushi

Unagi is a saltwater eel. Sushi usually uses a grilled slab of unagi coated or marinated in either oyster sauce, teriyaki sauce, or some other sweet-and-salty glaze. Unagi tastes like tender steak.

California Roll

A California roll is usually made with crab and avocado. If you purchase a California roll in a supermarket, you may get one with mayonnaise in it. In the California roll above, there is crab, ahi (tuna), and avocado. Sometimes it will be served with a slab of ahi on top.

Inari

Inari is breaded-rice sushi. The bread is thin and sweet and sometimes filled with vegetables such as carrot strips or cucumber.

Rainbow Roll

A rainbow roll is a sushi roll topped with many different types of sashimi.

The sushi roll underneath the sashimi is usually a California roll (avocado and crab).

To make this type of sushi, the chef prepares a California roll and adds the toppings afterwards.

Dragon Roll

Dragon rolls are usually unique to the chef, and many get creative with the appearance of the dragon roll—some making them look like dragons. So there is some variation as to the ingredients chosen by different chefs, but dragon rolls are usually filled with eel and cucumber and topped with thinly-sliced avocado, producing a scale effect.

Philly Roll

The Philly roll is a popular kind of sushi that you will find on many menus around the country. It usually has salmon, cream cheese, and cucumber, though it might come with other ingredients like avocado, onion, and sesame seed. It's named the Philly roll because of Philadelphia Cream Cheese, not because it's from Philadelphia.

Temaki With Crab

This is an example of a cone-shaped hand roll, which is called temaki. This one has crab in it—you can tell it's real crab because it's stringy. Imitation crab usually comes in stick form and is not stringy.

Spider Roll

The spider roll has soft-shell crab tempura, cucumber, avocado, and spicy mayo on it. Sometimes the chef will construct it so it looks like it has spider legs coming out of the sides.

Vegetarian Roll

There's even something at sushi restaurants for people who don't eat fish! Many places offer a veggie roll, which will—no surprise here—contain different kinds of vegetables like cucumber or avocado.

Volcano Roll

The contents of volcano rolls tend to vary, but the one thing they have in common is that there is usually some kind of topping on the rolls that makes it look like the sushi is exploding—hence the term "volcano roll."

Other Common Words on Sushi Menus


Item	What Is It?
Agedashi	Soft tofu coated with potato starch and deep fried
Chirashi	Bowl of rice mixed with fish, vegetables, and additional ingredients of your choice
Daikon	A type of radish
Donburi	Japanese "rice bowl dish" consisting of fish, meat, vegetables or other ingredients simmered together and served over rice
Edamame	A dish made of unripened soybeans
Gomae	Vegetable dish made with sesame dressing
Gyoza	Japanese pan-fried dumplings
Ika	Cuttlefish
Ikura	Salmon roe
Kaki	Persimmon
Kanikama	Imitation crab meat
Kappa	Cucumber
Katsu	Deep fried cutlet
Kushiyaki	Generic term for skewered and grilled meat and vegetables
Maki	Rice and fillings wrapped in seaweed (commonly called sushi roll)
Masago	Capelin roe (fish eggs) — orange in color
Miso	A traditional Japanese seasoning
Mochi	Chewy dessert made from rice
Nasu	Eggplant
Negi	Green onion
Nigiri	Raw fish served over pressed, vinegared rice
Omakase	Chef's choice
Poke	Raw fish salad served as an appetizer in Hawaiian cuisine, and sometimes as an entree
Ponzu	A Japanese dipping sauce made from soy sauce, lime juice, vinegar, and fish flakes
Roe	Fish eggs
Sashimi	Thinly sliced meat served without rice
Shiso	A kind of Japanese herb
Sriracha	A type of sweet and spicy sauce
Teba	Chicken wings
Tekka	A type of Japanese condiment
Temaki	Hand-roll: rice and fish in a cone-shaped seaweed wrapper
Tempura	Japanese breaded frying preparation
Tentsuyu	A Japenese tempura dip
Tobiko	Flying fish roe
Toro	Belly area of fish
Udon	Type of thick noodle made with wheat flour
Ume	A type of pickled plum
Uzura	Quail
Wakame	A type of seaweed
Wasabi	A type of Japanese herb similar to horseradish
Yaki Tori	Japanese type of skewered chicken
Yakisoba	Fried buckwheat noodles
Yamagobo	Japanese pickled burdock root
Yuzu	A type of citrus fruit