You know Hawaii loves Spam. How much so? Well, Hawaii residents and visitors consume nearly 7 million cans of Spam each year. That’s a lot of Spam! With Hawaii’s love of Spam combined with an influence of Japanese cooking, the popular Hawaii snack, Spam Musubi, evolved.
What is Spam Musubi? The ingredients are rice, rice seasoning including sesame seeds, nori (seaweed wrap), and of course, Spam. You can add a sauce like soy sauce as you like. See this link for a recipe and this link for video instructions.
I’ve had Spam Musubi and it’s really good. It’s a portable filling snack or light lunch.
You can find Spam Musubi in local-style restaurants and even in 7-Eleven stores in Hawaii.
Have you tried Spam Musubi in Hawaii? Did you like it?
Sheila Beal
20 comments
I have tried it at the SPAM Jam and it was a bit too salty for my taste. I’m not a big fan of nori. That being said I tried other SPAM dishes and enjoyed them including several using rice and SPAM. I’ve purchased some SPAM at home here in PA a few times and honestly never got the nerve to actually cook with it myself. I guess it’s a Hawaii thing only for me. I’ll eat it when I’m there, but never at home. A bit odd, I know.
john –
what you can do with your spam is to slice it rather thickly and fry each slice in a little oil until it’s somewhat crispy then eat it with fried rice.
if you’re eating it sushi-style, do not put soy sauce on it as it will get too salty!
John – I would love to go to Spam Jam some time. Looks so fun!
loved it! we had it for breakfast too (just like the locals) when we were in paradise aptly named Maui!
Fidel,
Great tip. I’ve noticed that at most restaurants in Hawaii the soy sauce is really salty. At home we use low sodium soy sauce which you rarely find in Hawaii restaurants or used in dishes made with soy sauce.
In all the trips I’ve made to Hawaii I’ve never tried it; but next month when we’re there I plan to give it a try. I’m also not a fan of nori, but we’ll see.
Nori isn’t my favorite flavor either. It basically holds the Spam and rice together. I take nori nibbles occasionally, but I tend to eat around it. 🙂
I saw it at Food Lion in Kihei (on Maui) when I was there in August – but it had a brown sauce on it and looked SCARY unappetizing.
I DID have spam and eggs at McDonalds – just to say I had, and they were really good 😉
Carrie – I wonder if the brown sauce was soy sauce, sesame sauce or the brown gravy that they put on loco mocos? I can see how the brown stuff might have been off-putting.
The gals at the Maui Condo & Home office said it was “like” Teriyaki sauce…. I think I’ll stick w/ Mochi Ice Cream being my fave new discovery in HI – well that and AMAZING SUSHI 😉
mmmmm mochi! Don’t be jealous, but we had chocolate mochi last night for the first time in ages. I was in the vicinity of our local Trader Joes yesterday, so I made a mochi stop. 🙂
Ahhhh You’re SOOOO Mean! I liked the strawberry one….too much….
No. Actually we did not. Canned meat. No thanks!
But there were signs for it everywhere on our recent visit.
What does it resemble in taste?
Nancy & Shawn
What does it resemble in taste? I would say a combination of ham and rice with a touch of sesame.
I miss this all time since I live on the mainland now. Always loved how convenient is ones to get one at the local 7-11. Quick point of reference…it’s commonly spelled as musubi 🙂
Doh! Thanks for that correction Michael.I corrected the spelling.
i guess no matter how you spell it, as long as there’s spam in it, it’s still yummy!
Fidel – that’s so true. I don’t eat Spam outside of Hawaii, but when I do have it there, it’s so tasty!
I Love it! I’m a transplanted local. It took a couple of years for it to grow on me but now I like it so much that it’s become a “Problem Food” that I need to cut back on.
I am not a HUGE fan of spam but this is a very interesting dish, i am amazed that i have never seen it before while in hawaii. Selling 7 million cans a year .. They must be doing something right 😛 look forward to trying it out!