How Much Does Sushi Weigh? Weight Calculator + Grams per Piece

How much does sushi weigh? Most single pieces fall between about 20 and 50 g (roughly 0.7 to 1.8 oz). In USDA survey data, a piece of tuna-topped nigiri is 35 g (about 1.2 oz), an egg-topped piece is 50 g (about 1.8 oz), and a cut maki or California roll piece is 30 g (about 1 oz). A slice of sashimi is typically about 20-30 g (0.7-1 oz) by my restaurant-style estimate, and a whole futomaki roll can weigh 300 g or more (an estimate). The exact number depends on the type of sushi, the chef, and how generous the rice and filling are.

If you are trying to plan an order, count calories, or just satisfy your curiosity, the weights below will help, and the sushi weight calculator can total up a whole order for you. I have separated what comes from published sources from what is only a reasonable estimate, because sushi is handmade and there is no single official standard.

Key Takeaways

• Nigiri: 35 g (tuna-topped, about 1.2 oz) to 50 g (egg-topped, about 1.8 oz) per piece in USDA data. As an unofficial estimate, a small hand-pressed piece is often described as roughly 15-20 g of rice plus 10-15 g of topping.
• Maki and uramaki: 22-30 g per cut piece in USDA data (30 g for a California roll piece); a standard roll is about 180 g.
• Futomaki: an estimate of 40-50 g per piece, so a whole thick roll is likely 300 g or more.
• Sashimi: an estimated 20-30 g (0.7-1 oz) per slice, with no rice.
• Calories: plain sushi is about 90-120 kcal per 100 g in USDA data. That is roughly 20-35 kcal per roll piece and 35-60 kcal per nigiri piece. Fatty fish, tempura and sauces push that up.

A single piece looks tiny, but the weights add up quickly across a full plate.

Sushi Weight Calculator: Add Up Your Order

Choose the pieces in your order to see the total weight in grams and ounces, plus an estimated calorie range. You can also work backwards: enter a target weight, such as 200 g, and see how many pieces that is. Pieces with a USDA weight give a single figure, and pieces with only an estimated weight give a range. The tables below show where each number comes from.

How Much Does a Piece of Sushi Weigh? (By Type)

Sushi is a broad term, and the types differ a lot in size. The table below pulls together the figures I could verify and gives ounces alongside grams. Anything labeled "Estimate" is a rough figure I worked out from other numbers, not a published standard.

The USDA figures come from FoodData Central's FNDDS survey entries (the California roll entry is one example), which list a "1 piece" gram weight for each sushi type. They are standardized averages for U.S. food surveys, not measurements of any particular restaurant.

How Much Does a Piece of Nigiri Weigh?

Nigiri is a small hand-pressed mound of vinegared rice (shari) topped with a slice of fish or other ingredient (neta). If you are new to the name, my post on whether nigiri counts as sushi covers the basics.

In USDA data, a piece of tuna-topped sushi is 35 g and an egg-topped piece is 50 g, according to the FNDDS entries for sushi topped with tuna and sushi topped with egg. Those are the figures I rely on, and in ounces they are about 1.2 and 1.8 oz.

Smaller pieces exist too. As an unofficial estimate, a hand-pressed piece in a traditional shop is often described as roughly 15-20 g of rice under 10-15 g of fish, or 25-35 g in total. I did not find an official rule from a Japanese trade body, so treat that as a rule of thumb: chefs vary the size to suit the fish, the diner and the shop. The USDA figures are survey averages, so a piece from a traditional shop may be lighter than them.

How Much Does a Maki Roll Piece Weigh?

Maki is nori wrapped around rice and fillings, then sliced. If you are wondering about the category, my post on whether maki is sushi answers it. The USDA lists a piece of California roll, tuna roll, salmon roll, shrimp roll, eel roll and avocado roll at 30 g each, while a vegetable roll piece is 22 g. For a deeper look at cut sizes, see my guide to how many pieces are in a sushi roll.

The same USDA entries give about 180 g as the default amount for an unspecified serving of roll sushi. That is roughly six pieces at 30 g each, or one standard roll.

For ordinary rolls, 22-30 g is the better range, and a piece with a heavy filling can be heavier.

How Much Do Hosomaki and Futomaki Weigh?

Hosomaki are thin rolls with one filling, such as cucumber or tuna. Futomaki are the thick rolls with several fillings, and the name literally means "fat roll".

Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) publishes regional recipes, and its Tochigi kanpyo roll recipe lists about 230 g of rice per futomaki and about 100 g per hosomaki. The recipe's batch total does not quite match those per-roll amounts, so this is one regional example and a rough guide only, not a standard.

Here is the arithmetic. It is an estimate, not a published figure:

• A futomaki with 230 g of rice, cut into 8 pieces, has about 29 g of rice per piece. With fillings and nori, a piece comes to roughly 40-50 g, and the whole roll to well over 300 g.
• A hosomaki with 100 g of rice, cut into 6 pieces, has about 17 g of rice per piece, so a piece is around 20-25 g with filling.

A separate MAFF Chiba futomaki recipe cuts each roll into 8 pieces, which fits the figures above.

How Much Does Uramaki (Inside-Out Roll) Weigh?

Uramaki puts the rice on the outside and the nori inside. This is the style behind the California roll, and the USDA's 30 g per piece applies to it. A typical 6-8 piece uramaki roll lands around 180-240 g. Specialty rolls with tempura, cream cheese or sauces can weigh more. There is no verified public data for them, so check the restaurant if it matters.

How Much Does Sashimi Weigh?

Sashimi is sliced raw fish served without rice, so the weight is almost all protein and fat. Sashimi is also a different dish from sushi, as I explain in is sashimi sushi. There is no published standard weight, so this is a typical restaurant estimate: roughly 20-30 g (0.7-1 oz) per slice, varying with the fish and how thickly the chef cuts it. A plate of 4-5 slices is therefore around 80-150 g.

Since sashimi has no rice, it is a very different food from nigiri even though the fish is the same. I explain this further in my post on whether sashimi comes with rice.

How Much Does Gunkan Weigh?

Gunkan ("battleship") sushi is an oval rice ball wrapped in a strip of nori with a soft topping such as sea urchin, salmon roe or chopped tuna. There is no published standard weight, so this is a rough estimate. Assuming a rice ball similar to nigiri (15-20 g) plus 10-20 g of topping and the nori strip, 30-40 g is a sensible estimate.

How Much Does Temaki Weigh?

Temaki is a hand-rolled cone, usually made with half a sheet of nori. There is no standard, because the filling spills over the top and every shop fills it differently. As a rough estimate with no published source, a cone weighs around 50-80 g. My post on the difference between a roll and a hand roll explains how the two compare.

Sauced and topped rolls like these usually weigh more than plain ones, but a single piece is still light.

What Is the Ratio of Rice to Fish in Sushi?

For nigiri, a common rule of thumb is that the rice is the larger share: roughly 15-20 g of rice under 10-15 g of fish. That means rice can make up 55-65% of the piece by weight.

I did not find a standard ratio, or a source for the "15-20 g" figure, from the Japanese government or a trade association, so treat it as an estimate. A chef may shrink the rice for a rich, fatty topping or enlarge it for a lean one.

For rolls, the picture depends on the style:

• Hosomaki: mostly rice, with a thin strip of filling.
• Futomaki: a thick roll still carries a lot of rice; the Tochigi recipe above uses about 230 g of rice for one roll.
• Sashimi: no rice at all.

If you are making your own rolls, my posts on how much rice to use in a sushi roll and how much fish you need for sushi give practical measurements.

How Much Sushi Is One Serving?

There is no single serving size, but you can build one from the piece weights:

• Light lunch, 6 pieces of nigiri: about 150-210 g. USDA's default for tuna-topped sushi is 210 g, which equals six 35 g pieces.
• One standard roll, 6-8 pieces: about 180-240 g. USDA's default amount for a roll is 180 g.
• A dinner combination of 8 nigiri and a roll: roughly 450-500 g. The arithmetic: 8 x 35 g = 280 g of nigiri, plus a roll of about 180 g, is about 460 g.
• Sashimi appetizer, 4-5 slices: an estimated 80-150 g.

The USDA defaults for an unspecified amount of sushi are 180 g for rolls, 200 g for egg-topped sushi and 210 g for tuna-topped sushi, so a modest meal sits near 200 g of food. Grocery trays vary by brand, so check the label.

How Many Pieces of Sushi Make a Meal?

A single piece is light, but a full dinner lands near half a kilogram of food. My post on how many pieces of sushi you can eat goes through typical appetites. A simple way to plan an order:

1. Decide on grams, not pieces. A 50 g egg nigiri is not the same as a 22 g vegetable roll piece.
2. Mix types. Pair a few pieces of sashimi or nigiri with one roll.
3. Start smaller than you think you need, because you can always add another plate.

How Many Calories Are in Sushi per 100 g and per Piece?

Because pieces are small, it helps to look at calories per 100 g and then scale to the real weight. The values below come from the USDA FoodData Central survey (FNDDS) entries and Japan's food composition tables.

Per-piece values are my own multiplication of USDA's calories per 100 g by its piece weight. The USDA entries are California roll, tuna-topped sushi, egg-topped sushi, salmon roll and eel roll.

How Many Calories Are in Sashimi per 100 g?

Raw salmon varies a lot with the type: USDA lists farmed Atlantic salmon at 208 kcal per 100 g and wild Atlantic salmon at 142. Japan's table gives farmed Atlantic salmon with skin at 218 kcal. Neither USDA nor Japan's food composition tables list spider or Philadelphia rolls, so no numbers are given for them.

Why Fatty Fish Can Have More Calories per 100 g Than a Roll

Rolls contain rice, which is mostly water and starch. Japan's Standard Tables of Food Composition (2020, eighth revision) list cooked white rice at 156 kcal per 100 g and lean bluefin tuna at 115 kcal per 100 g. Farmed Atlantic salmon is 218 kcal per 100 g and farmed bluefin tuna red meat is 153 kcal.

That is why a roll can weigh as much as a slice of fatty fish and still have fewer calories per gram. Sashimi has almost no carbohydrate, but a fatty fish such as salmon is dense in fat, so gram for gram it can be higher in calories than a roll. Lean fish like tuna is close to rice sushi per 100 g. Per piece it is still modest because the slices are small.

A Worked Example of a Nigiri Piece

Using the Japanese table values, here is an illustrative calculation. It is my own estimate, not a published figure, and it ignores the small amount of vinegar and sugar in sushi rice. Note that it works out to about 140 kcal per 100 g (42 kcal over 30 g), higher than the 93-119 kcal per 100 g in the USDA table above. That is expected: the USDA survey entries are averages that include nori, vegetables and lower-fat fillings, so they carry a smaller share of rice than a plain piece of nigiri, and the MEXT cooked-rice figure of 156 kcal per 100 g is the Japanese table's own value. Treat the two sets as different bases rather than one precise number:

• 18 g of cooked rice at 156 kcal per 100 g is about 28 kcal.
• 12 g of lean bluefin tuna at 115 kcal per 100 g is about 14 kcal, for roughly 42 kcal in total.
• 12 g of farmed Atlantic salmon at 218 kcal per 100 g is about 26 kcal, for roughly 54 kcal in total.

The sushi vinegar adds a little: Japan's table lists nigiri-style sushi vinegar at 81 kcal per 100 g, so the seasoning is a minor part of the total.

Is Sushi Good for Weight Loss?

Sushi can fit into a weight-loss plan, but the choice of roll matters more than the weight on the plate. Plain nigiri, simple vegetable rolls and sashimi sit at the lower end of the table above, at around 20-35 kcal per roll piece or 35-60 kcal per nigiri piece.

Where sushi gets heavy is in the extras. Tempura, cream cheese, spicy mayonnaise and sweet sauces add fat and sugar, and those rolls weigh more too. There is no verified calorie data for those specialty rolls, so check the restaurant's nutrition information if they are on the menu.

Fish also brings nutritional benefits. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements notes that fatty fish such as salmon are among the richest dietary sources of the omega-3s EPA and DHA. The figures here come from USDA and MEXT tables and are not dietary advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does one piece of sushi weigh?

It depends on the type. According to USDA survey data, one piece of California roll weighs 30 g, tuna-topped nigiri 35 g, and egg-topped nigiri 50 g. Most pieces fall in the 20-50 g range.

How much does a sushi roll weigh in grams?

A typical 6-piece roll weighs around 180 g, based on USDA's 30 g piece and default 180 g serving. A thick futomaki roll uses about 230 g of rice alone in one MAFF regional recipe, so with fillings the whole roll is likely over 300 g (an estimate).

How much rice is in a piece of nigiri?

About 15-20 g is a rule-of-thumb estimate, but I found no published source or official Japanese standard, and chefs vary the amount.

How much does a piece of sashimi weigh?

There is no published standard, but a typical restaurant slice is an estimated 20-30 g (0.7-1 oz), depending on the fish and the cut.

How many calories are in 100 g of sushi?

Plain sushi is typically about 90-120 kcal per 100 g in USDA data, for example 94 kcal for a California roll, 100 for tuna-topped nigiri and 116 for an eel roll. Fatty fish served as sashimi is higher per 100 g than rice sushi: 142 kcal for wild Atlantic salmon and 208 for farmed. Lean fish such as bluefin tuna (115 kcal in the Japanese table) is close to rice sushi.

How many pieces of sushi equal 200 grams?

About six pieces of tuna-topped nigiri (6 x 35 g = 210 g) or about six to seven pieces of a 30 g roll. That is a modest meal for most adults.

Does sushi rice weigh the same cooked and uncooked?

No. Cooked rice contains a lot of absorbed water. The MAFF Chiba recipe lists 5 go of white rice (the uncooked measure) and notes that it yields about 1,600 g of cooked rice. The exact ratio depends on the rice and the water; see my sushi rice water ratio guide.

Quick Weight Guide

A single piece of sushi weighs about 20-50 g (0.7-1.8 oz), and the exact figure depends on the type, the chef and how the roll is cut. Use the table above as a guide, remember that handmade sushi varies, and check the nutrition information when you need precise numbers.

Sources

• USDA FoodData Central: Sushi roll, California (FNDDS)
• USDA FoodData Central: Sushi, topped with tuna (FNDDS)
• USDA FoodData Central: Atlantic salmon, farmed
• MEXT Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan, 2020 (8th revision)
• MAFF regional recipe: Tochigi kanpyo roll
• MAFF regional recipe: Chiba futomaki zushi
• NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: Omega-3 fatty acids