The Easiest Way to Make Beautiful Onigiri

Making onigiri rice balls (the beloved Japanese portable meal/snack) by hand is doable, but when you're in a rush to make your bento, don't want to get your hands sticky with rice, or just want to have neat, uniform onigiri, onigiri molds are the way to go!

With our selection of onigiri molds, making beautiful onigiri is easy as 1, 2, 3!
All you need to do is…

1. Rinse the mold with water, and shake off any excess. The moisture on the molds allow for easy removal of the onigiri.
2. Fill the mold with warm rice up to the brim, then place the lid on top, and push down slightly.
3. Remove lid, place mold on a surface (rice-side down) and push down on the back of the mold so that onigiri comes out.  And that's it! Neat, tasty onigiri ready for your bento, picnic, or party!

We have quite a selection of different onigiri molds with their own unique features. Let’s take a look at our three best-selling molds!

Easy Onigiri Push Mold ($4 USD)

The Easy Onigiri Push Mold features two triangular molds: a large and small one for convenient customization of portion sizes. These molds also feature an dimpled inner surface and a pushable section on the back of the mold so that the completed onigiri can be removed easily.


This time, we decided to add some tantalizing flavor with Kyo Rayu Furikake (15$USD), our bestselling furikake made right here in Kyoto!

Furikake, especially a high-quality, umami-rich one like this, is an easy way to transform simple onigiri into something that you can proudly make for a bento, share at a picnic, or party!

To take onigiri with you on the go, you can wrap it up in plastic wrap, for example Krewrap, the best-selling Japanese cling wrap.

For extra protection, place your plastic-wrapped onigiri into an onigiri case. Here we are using the Onigiri Box Medium | Kome ($9 USD).

Onigiri Mold Push | Sankaku ($2 USD)

Next in our collection is our Onigiri Mold Push | Sankaku which allows you to make two triangle onigiri at the same time! What is also unique about this mold is that it creates an indentation in the onigiri, making it easy to insert your favorite filling!

Some Japanese classics would be umeboshi (sour pickled plum), canned tuna mixed with mayonnaise and soy sauce, or some salty grilled salmon. Really, you can put whatever you think would taste good with rice, and there you have it—a yummy onigiri.

For this onigiri, we decided to wrap it up in nori seaweed (available at any Asian grocery store) using the Combini Onigiri wrappers ($3 USD).

These nifty plastic sheets allow you to recreate the combini (Japanese convenience store) onigiri experience! If you’ve ever tried an onigiri from a convenience store in Japan,  you will have encountered this initally puzzling but genius invention that keeps the rice from coming into contact with the nori until it’s removed. This allows the nori seaweed to stay delectably fresh and crisp!

Here is how to use the Combini Onigiri wrappers:                        

1. Place the nori (seaweed) sheet between the two layers.
2. Flip the sheet over so the side with instructions is face down
3. Place the onigiri in the upper half of the nori sheet.
4. Fold the bottom half of the sheet over the top half.
5. Fold the upper left edge of the wrapper sheet down over the left edge of the rice ball, and fold the bottom left edge of the wrapper back on top of it.
6. Apply the included sticker to secure the wrapper.
7. To remove the Combini Onigiri wrapper, grip the plastic between your thumb and forefinger, pull down, up and around. Pull both edges to take off the plastic.
   

Onigiri Mold Push | Kawaii ($2 USD)

Beloved by kids, and fans of all things cute, the Onigiri Mold Push | Kawaii allows you to make three mini onigiri in the shape of a heart, star, and bear!
If you want to make your rice taste a bit more exciting, try one of our furikake! Here we made onigiri using Yukari furikake ($3 USD), Japan’s best-selling furikake since 1970.

Yukari furikake is a salty, tart furikake made from the flavorful Japanese herb Aka-Shiso (Perilla red leaf). Simply mix rice with furikake before placing in the mold to easily create delicious flavored onigiri.