Japanese Spicy Kani Salad is a sushi lover's dream! It's light, flavorful, and just a little bit spicy. Pair it with Vietnamese spring rolls for a refreshing and filling lunch.
So what is Kani salad? Well, Kani, or カニ, is Japanese for "crab". Kani salad is usually made with imitation crab, but you know what they say: tomato/tomahto.
This Japanese crab salad recipe is the perfect side dish, especially for sushi lovers. This salad is like a deconstructed California roll with an added creaminess from the spicy mayonnaise dressing.
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🧐 Why This Recipe Works
- Spicy Kani salad is the perfect thing to whip up when you're in a hurry. It only takes a few minutes to assemble!
- You can adjust the heat of the spicy Kani salad dressing by leaving out or reducing the amount of sriracha.
- Kani salad will last 3 to 5 days when refrigerated in an airtight container.
- Adding crabsticks to a salad is a great way to up the protein content of your salad!
🛒 What You Need For This Recipe
🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Cucumber: Persian cucumbers or English seedless work best but you can use any kind.
- Carrots: I used pre-shredded carrots but if you want to julienne fresh ones that would be even better.
- Imitation crab sticks: If you want to be boujee, replace the imitation crab meat with real crab meat!
- Kewpie Mayo (Japanese Mayonnaise): Regular mayonnaise will suffice in a pinch but there's really nothing as good as Kewpie mayo.
- Soy sauce: You can use ponzu sauce if you want, just leave out the mirin and lemon juice because they're already in ponzu.
- Mirin: This can be used interchangeably with rice wine vinegar.
- Sriracha: Sriracha sauce adds some heat to this Kani salad recipe. Adjust the amount if you want it hotter or milder.
- Tobiko (fish roe) & Nori: I encourage you to try adding tobiko and nori. They add a nice umami flavor that I personally love.
🦀 How To Make This Recipe
Step 1: Using clean hands, peel crab sticks into thin strips. Place them in a bowl along with carrots, kewpie mayo, soy sauce, lemon juice, mirin, and sriracha. Stir to combine.
Pro tip: I recommend using your hands to thoroughly mix your ingredients together.
Step 2: Julienne the cucumber and place it at the bottom of a deep bowl. Top with a mound of crab mix. Garnish with a few avocado slices, toasted sesame seeds, a quick drizzle of sriracha, and kewpie mayo.
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Pro tip: Try garnishing your Japanese Kani salad with tobiko, nori, or furikake. Especially if you love sushi.
🔖 Recipe Variations
If you're a fan of mango sushi, you might want to try adding thin strips of mango to your Kani salad. This is a pretty common variation that you'll love if you like a little hint of sweetness in your food.
You can also include sweet corn kernels or apple slices for a subtle touch of sweetness.
Another common way to make Japanese spicy Kani salad includes mixing in panko breadcrumbs for added texture and crunch. If you'd like your Kani salad to be a bit more filling, you can add kelp noodles or glass noodles.
🤷🏻♀️ FAQs
Kani salad is a cold salad made from imitation crab, cucumber, and carrots mixed with a dressing made of Kewpie mayo, soy sauce, lemon juice, and rice vinegar. It is sometimes topped with avocado, sesame seeds, tobiko, nori, and sriracha. I often compare Kani salad to a deconstructed California roll. 
Although Kani is Japanese for "crab", it almost always refers to imitation crab which. Imitation crab is usually made of surimi which is pulverized white fish, often pollock.
Kani, sometimes called "crab surimi", is almost always pre-cooked and therefore safe to eat cold. It's great as an addition to cold salads, or even by itself as a high-protein snack!
👩🏻🍳 Pro Tips
- You can make Kani salad 3 to 5 days in advance, but of course, the fresher it is the better it will taste!
- You can use regular mayo if you don't have Kewpie, but I promise that Kewpie is worth all the hype! You'll never want to go back.
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📖 Recipe
Japanese Spicy Kani Salad
Ingredients
- 1½ oz imitation crab
- 3 oz shredded carrot
- ¼ cup Kewpie mayo
- 2 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon mirin
- 1½ Tbsp sriracha
- 2 Persian cucumbers (10 oz)
- ½ small avocado
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
- 2 teaspoon tobiko (optional)
- 2 small strips nori (optional)
Instructions
- Using clean hands, peel crab sticks into thin strips. Place them in a bowl along with carrots, kewpie mayo, soy sauce, lemon juice, mirin, and sriracha. Stir to combine.
- Julienne the cucumber and place it at the bottom of a bowl. Top with a mound of crab mix. Garnish with a few avocado slices, toasted sesame seeds, a quick drizzle of sriracha and kewpie mayo, and tobiko (optional).
Notes
- I recommend using your hands to thoroughly mix your ingredients together.
- If you love sushi, try garnishing your Kani salad with nori or furikake.
- You can make Kani salad 3 to 5 days in advance, but of course, the fresher it is the better it will taste!
- You can use regular mayo if you don't have Kewpie, but I promise that Kewpie is worth all the hype! You'll never want to go back.
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