Spicy Kani Salad
Spicy Kani Salad Recipe: A sushi shop favorite you can make at home! Kani Salad tastes just like the popular dish you order at your neighborhood Japanese restaurant.
Balance
Let’s talk about this Kani Salad, but first balance…
Japanese food is an enigma. A delicate balance between the overcooked and the uncooked, between the overly seasoned and the unseasoned… A balance of extremes. Japanese cuisine reflects its culture. A graceful symmetry between the old and the new. A level scale holding on to the past and pressing into the future.
A close friend of mine lived in Japan for the last couple of years and talks about these extremes. She tells of their home high in the mountains, bitter cold in winter due to no insulation. Yet they had fiber optic internet, go figure. In Japan, balance doesn’t mean duplication; it means hot and cold dancing together in perfect rhythm.
I like balance. A lot. I would say it is one of my utmost goals in life. To give myself completely to the purposes and people I hold dear, yet not choose one over the other. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in one pursuit, one relationship, or one mindset, and allow others to suffer.
I want my life to be bold, yet reserved. Graceful, yet edgy. Wise, yet adventurous. Complex, yet simple. Ah balance, sometimes you are nowhere in sight!
Thankfully every morning is a fresh chance to step out on that tightrope again.
Spicy Kani Recipe
I appreciate Japanese cuisine because I feel it encapsulates this concept. Extreme textures and flavors come together in harmony.
Spicy Kani Salad is a tribute to balance: cool and spicy, silky and crisp, sweet and tart, light, and filling.
The spicy dressing caresses the smooth cooling ribbons of cucumber, crab meat, and mango, sprinkled with crunchy panko. A symphony of contradiction in every bite.
Our Spicy Kani Salad Recipe with mango is a nod to a sushi bar fav favorite. Now you can make it at home!
What is Kani?
Kani is the Japanese word for crab. However, when used it is usually referring to imitation crab meat.
For this Kani salad recipe, you can use either real crab or imitation crab. Although the imitation is more true to the recipe and has a distinctly different flavor than the real kind.
How to Make Spicy Kani Salad
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (chile sauce)
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- Pinch salt
For the Salad:
- 4 Kani sticks (1/2 pound imitation crab)
- 1 mango peeled and shredded
- 1 large cucumber (or three baby cucumbers) peeled and shredded
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Whisk mayonnaise, rice vinegar, sugar, sriracha, paprika ginger, and salt together for the dressing. Taste for seasoning and set aside.
- To make the Kani Salad shred the crab sticks by hand and place them in a large bowl. Shred the cucumber and mango in a food processor (or julienne by hand) and place in the bowl.
- Toss with the dressing and top with panko immediately before serving.
- Voila!
See The (Printable) Recipe Card Below For How To Make Spicy Kani Salad. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Imitation crab is traditional for this kanikama salad, but you could definitely substitute REAL crab. It doesn’t shred as well, but you can’t beat the flavor. Although I will say, imitation crab has come a long way. It’s much more flavorful (and sustainable) than it used to be.
To store this main dish/side dish recipe, transfer it to an airtight container. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
You might have the Japanese mayonnaise sauce, Kewpie, available in stores near you, but it is not always accessible where I live. However, you can find it online!
Some people like to add julienne-style vegetables with a crunch, like carrots or Persian cucumbers, to the creamy, spicy mayonnaise dressing and shredded thin strips of imitation crab sticks. Other recipes call for corn kernels and soy sauce.
You could also turn this into a lettuce wrap or top this dish off with some sesame seeds and tobiko fish roe.
Looking for Even More Salads? Try These!
- Vietnamese Banh Mi Salad
- Grilled Romaine Salad with Buttermilk Dressing
- Smoked Trout Salad with Avocado Dressing
- Duck Confit Salad
- Ginger Salad Dressing from Spicy Southern Kitchen
Check out the printable recipe card below for the nutrition information including calories, carbohydrates, protein, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, fiber, vitamin c, and calcium percentages.
Spicy Kani Recipe
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon sriracha sauce (chile sauce)
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- Pinch salt
For the Salad:
- 4 kani sticks (1/2 pound imitation crab)
- 1 mango peeled and shredded
- 1 large cucumber (or three baby cucumbers) peeled and shredded
- 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
Instructions
- For the Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk the dresing ingredients together until smooth. Taste for seasoning and salt and pepper as needed. Set aside.
- For the Salad: Shred the crab sticks by hand and place in a large bowl. Shred the cucumber and mango in a food processor (or julienne by hand) and place in the bowl.
- Toss with the dressing and top with panko immediately before serving.
I just love the spicy kani salad. I first tried it at a Japanese restaurant and now every time we go, I have to order a bowl of it. The one I order doesn’t have mango in it but they do have carrots instead shredded just like the cucumbers. And it does taste wonderfully.
Nice recipe. I will try at home soon!
I don’t like mango, co you please give me some other options for a substitute please. Thank You !!
looks good, can i do it without the mangos?
Not a very popular salad in US, only a hand full of Japanese restaurants that i have been to even serve it. But strangely enough it was always very popular in Russia (just without mango) even during the soviet times, my mom was making it since i was young and its my 2nd favorite salad after yet another “Russian” salad with a French name Olivier aka Olivie :)
I wish I could make sushi at home!
Great recipe! Next time I’m gonna make a little more sauce and add some chilled soba noodles.
This was wonderfully written. You made me ponder on my current situation vs how I want it to go moving forward. I was only looking for a highly rated salad recipe but ended up realizing more things and thinking about others just to find my center, my balance. Thank you! :)