Furikake Substitutes: Gomashio, Nori and Sesame, and When Shichimi Works

Furikake just means “sprinkle,” and it’s a family of Japanese rice seasonings, not one recipe. So your substitute only has to cover what it’s doing on your plate: salt, toasty sesame crunch, and the savory, sea-like flavor of nori and bonito. Crumbled nori with toasted sesame and a pinch of salt gets you most of the way. Gomashio covers the salt and sesame, and if you have bonito flakes, you can mix up a homemade batch from one of two published recipes.

Quick answer

How the ratios on this page are labeled

Every ratio carries one of four labels.

• Computed: based on a measurable physical relationship.
• Attributed: a named source publishes this ratio. We quote it as theirs.
• Disputed: named sources give different answers to the same swap. You get each one, side by side.
• Method: our starting point, based on how the two compare. Taste and adjust.

If you want the whole package

1. Make your own

Formula (Attributed): Two published home recipes show the range:

In Itoh’s noritama the bonito flakes give most of the flavor and the egg yolk is mostly there for color, so you can leave it out. She says her version is lower in salt, so you can pile it on rice.² Chen keeps hers 1 to 2 months at room temperature with a food-safe silica gel packet; without one, the nori and katsuobushi go stale, so she refrigerates it for up to 2 weeks.¹

Amount (Method): Sprinkle to taste, as you would the store-bought kind. A lower-salt homemade batch like Itoh’s can go on more heavily than a salty commercial one.²

If furikake is bringing salt and toasty sesame

Gomashio (sesame salt)

Makiko Itoh calls gomashio, sesame salt, “the most basic furikake.”³ It covers furikake’s salt and sesame, but has none of the nori, bonito or sugar. It’s a multipurpose seasoning for rice, stir-fries and grilled foods.

How salty gomashio is depends on the recipe:

These are recipes for gomashio, not substitution ratios, and they don’t need reconciling: each author’s mix is just saltier or milder.

Ratio (Method): Start with about half as much gomashio as the furikake called for, taste, and add more. A commercial 8:1 mix is mostly sesame by weight, but its salt isn’t diluted by the bonito, nori and sugar that fill out furikake. That’s reasoning, not a measured comparison. If you’re making it fresh, Itoh toasts the seeds until they start to pop and advises against grinding them, because ground sesame releases oils that turn rancid quickly.³

If furikake is bringing sea flavor and savoriness

Nori and toasted sesame, with a pinch of salt

Nori and sesame are the two ingredients both published furikake formulas share, along with some salt.¹ Nori is the seaweed used to wrap sushi rolls and onigiri. Crumble a sheet over rice with toasted sesame and you’ve got furikake’s sea flavor and crunch. If you have bonito flakes, add them: Itoh says bonito gives most of the flavor in her noritama.² Chen’s list of add-ins points other directions too, including salmon flakes, shiso and egg.

Ratio (Method): Crumble half a sheet of nori into 3 to 4 tablespoons of toasted sesame seeds with a small pinch of salt. Chen’s recipe pairs half a sheet of nori, plus a tablespoon of aonori, with 4 tablespoons of sesame.¹ Use the mix 1:1 for furikake and taste. A teaspoon each of sugar and soy sauce, as in Chen’s version, nudges it toward the commercial style.

Nori is rich in iodine. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements lists 116 mcg, 77% of the Daily Value, for 2 tablespoons (5 g) of dried, flaked nori, and notes that iodine content varies greatly among seaweed species.⁶ A sprinkle is a fraction of that.

If you want a finishing sprinkle and heat is welcome

Shichimi togarashi

Shichimi togarashi is a Japanese table blend built on chile, with sansho and sesame as standard ingredients and the rest varying by maker. Some versions share furikake’s sesame and seaweed: Kyoto’s Shichimiya Honpo lists chile, white and black sesame, sansho, aonori (green laver), green shiso and hemp seed.⁷ It goes on ramen, udon, soba, gyudon, tonjiru, yakitori and hot pots.

It’s a different seasoning from furikake. Chile leads, and sansho’s heat is tongue-numbing.⁸ Shichimi brings no bonito, no sugar and none of the salt that runs through the furikake formulas. It works where furikake would be a final sprinkle on noodles or a rice bowl, and less well on plain rice or in onigiri, where furikake’s salt and savoriness are the whole point.

Ratio (Method): Since chile leads, start with about a quarter as much shichimi as furikake, add a pinch of salt and some crumbled nori if you have it, and taste.

You may also see bottles labeled nanami togarashi. Either bottle stands in for furikake the same way.

Allergens

The FDA lists fish, soybeans and sesame among the nine major food allergens.⁹ Bonito is a fish, and sesame and soy sauce run through most furikake recipes; gomashio and shichimi both contain sesame. Check labels if you’re cooking for someone with an allergy.

What isn’t known

• Furikake varies a lot by flavor and brand, from simple sesame salt to egg-and-seaweed noritama,³² so the best substitute depends on which kind your recipe had in mind.

Related

• Furikake and gomasio vs. furikake
• Gomasio and gomasio substitutes
• Shichimi togarashi, shichimi togarashi substitutes, nanami togarashi, sansho pepper
• Sesame seeds, black sesame seeds vs. white, shiso

Footnotes

1. Namiko Hirasawa Chen, Homemade Furikake (Rice Seasoning), Just One Cookbook. justonecookbook.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Makiko Itoh, Homemade furikake no. 3: Noritama, JustBento. justbento.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Makiko Itoh, Homemade furikake no. 6: Gomashio, sesame salt, JustBento. justbento.com · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Sesame (Sesamum indicum), Gernot Katzer’s Spice Pages. gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com · Reference work ↩

5. Ruxandra Niță, How to Make Gomasio (Macrobiotic Sesame Salt), Gourmandelle. gourmandelle.com · Publication ↩

6. Iodine: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals, NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. ods.od.nih.gov · Regulator ↩

7. 京名物七味唐がらし, product page, Shichimiya Honpo, Kyoto. shichimiya.co.jp · Merchant ↩

8. 七味唐辛子の七つ全部言える？ (Japan Data), Nippon.com. nippon.com · Publication ↩

9. “Food Allergies”, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. fda.gov · Regulator ↩

Also drawn on

• Sesame Salt (Gomasio), Christopher Kimball's Milk Street. prod.177milkstreet.com
• Shichimi Togarashi, by Namiko Hirasawa Chen (updated 22 Oct 2023), Just One Cookbook. justonecookbook.com