Spam Musubi with Egg

Hawaii’s iconic spam musubi gets the breakfast treatment with the addition of gently cooked scrambled egg in this recipe. 

Spam musubi is the ubiquitous local snack sold all over Hawaii. From corner shops and 7-11s to grocery stores and high-end restaurants, you’ll find the spam and rice sandwiches everywhere.  It’s an absolute classic.  

This recipe makes one, ever-so-subtle change to the classic recipe by adding a thin layer of scrambled egg.  The egg doesn’t steal the show.  Instead, it works in the background to provide a mild, almost buttery taste that helps balance the sweet, salty spam.  

And it turns out that this combination of spam and egg is a winning one.  You’ll still be eating a spam musubi, and it’ll still taste almost the same.  But the egg adds just one more small dimension to the dish that’s worth a try if you haven’t had it yet.

What is spam musubi

Spam musubi was first made in Hawaii and is a play on the Japanese onigiri.

It starts with a piece of fried spam glazed in a sweet teriyaki sauce.  The spam is then laid on a bed of rice and sandwiched together with a piece of nori.  

It’s a super simple, casual snack eaten all over Hawaii.  And because it’s often enjoyed with friends and family at parties and picnics, spam musubi has a nostalgic, happy feeling for many islanders.  

Origin of spam musubi

Spam was introduced to Hawaii during World War II by the American military while it was stationed in Pearl Harbor.  The military used the canned meat as a ration, and surplus spam made its way to local residents who incorporated it into their cooking.

The origin of spam musubi is heavily disputed.  But its earliest form is traced back to Japanese residents of Hawaii, who began adding the canned meat to rice.

Years later, by the 1980s, local restaurants started to sell spam musubi. Two people are cited as potential creators. The first was Mitsuko Kaneshiro, who was selling the musubis from City Pharmacy in Honolulu.  The other was Barbara Funamura who made the snacks in the Joni-Hana restaurant in Kuai.

Over the next 15 years, the spam musubi became popular across all of the Hawaiian islands.  And by 1999 the Hawaiian BBQ chain restaurant L&L added spam musubi to its menu and introduced the snack to its restaurants on the mainland United States.

Since then, spam musubi has become a globally-recognized icon of Hawaii.

Hawaiians today eat more spam per person than any other state in the US.  But spam is also popular in other places across the Asia Pacific region, such as Korea (like in this Korean Army Stew), the Philippines, and Guam.

Ingredients in spam musubi with egg

Sushi rice.  Similar to the Japanese onigiri, spam musubi uses a bed of gently pressed rice as the base.

Rice vinegar and sugar.  Just like sushi, you’ll add a mixture of rice vinegar and sugar to the rice to provide a subtle acidic sweetness.

Spam.  Salty, fatty spam with a sweet teriyaki glaze is the defining ingredient.

Egg.  Make a thin omelet with scrambled and gently cooked eggs.  The mild, bouncy eggs give the final dish a more balanced flavor and an additional texture.   

Nori.  Use umami-packed nori to wrap the musubi, creating a portable dish worthy of any party or trip to the beach.

Teriyaki glaze (soy sauce, brown sugar, and sake).  A simple glaze of soy, brown sugar, and sake provides sweetness to cut through the salt and fat of the spam.  

Why add egg?

Lightly scrambled eggs provide a subtle earthy and buttery flavor to spam musubi.  The eggs work in the background and don’t overpower the spam.  Instead, they provide just a bit of balance to the final dish, perfectly complimenting the sweet, salty spam.

And it’s no surprise that this combination works so well.  Hawaiians serve spam and eggs for breakfast all over the islands. Even McDonald’s serves it.  This recipe just takes that combination and puts it into a musubi.

How to make spam musubi with egg

1. Make the rice.  Prepare sushi rice according to the rice’s instructions. Add a mixture of rice vinegar and sugar on top of the cooked rice. 
2. Make the teriyaki glaze.  Add soy sauce, sake, and sugar to a small bowl. Mix until the sugar fully dissolves.
3. Cook the egg.  You’ll cook the eggs in two batches.  Add half of the scrambled eggs to a lightly oiled nonstick pan on low heat.  Cover the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until just done.  Remove the first omelet and then repeat the process to make the second omelet.  Slice the omelets into eight long strips.
4. Fry the spam.  In the same pan, heat one tablespoon of neutral oil over medium-high heat.  Once the oil is hot, add the sliced spam and fry for two minutes.  Flip the spam and fry for an additional two minutes.  Next add the teriyaki glaze directly to the pan and fry the spam in the glaze for 2-3 minutes more, flipping the spam once.
5. Assemble the rice for the musubi.  Place down a sheet of plastic wrap.  Place the musubi mold (or spam can) on top of the plastic wrap.  Add a small handful of rice to the musubi mold and use the press (or your fingers) to gently but firmly pack the rice.  
6. Assemble the egg and spam for the musubi.  Next remove the mold from the rice and lay the egg on top, folding it over once.  And lay the spam on top of the egg.
7. Wrap the musubi.  Place the musubi on top of nori, and wrap the nori around the sandwich with the seam side on the bottom.  Use a bit of water on the nori to close the seal.

Do I need to rinse the rice before cooking it?

Yes!

Rinsing your rice before cooking it is such an easy step that you can take to up your rice game and start producing restaurant-quality rice.  

The rinsing process removes excess starch from the rice granules, resulting in fluffier rice without any gumminess.  Without all that excess starch, your rice will be just a bit more toothsome and the individual grains will maintain their consistency.

To rinse your rice, add it to a bowl with cool water and use your hand to mix it around.  Drain the water.  And repeat this process a few times, until the water runs clear.

Special equipment: spam musubi press

You can use a special spam musubi press to help pack the ingredients and achieve the musubi’s signature rectangular shape.

These presses are available on Amazon for a few dollars.

What if I don’t have a spam musubi press?

I’ll admit that spam musubi presses are pretty niche, and you likely won’t have one.

The good news is that you can easily use the can from the spam to make a beautifully rectangular musubi.

Just use a can opener to remove both ends of the spam can and pack your rice, spam, and egg into the can.

Is spam musubi served hot or cold?

Spam musubi is super casual. You can eat them any way you want: warm, at room temperature, or even cold!

I personally love to eat musubis when the spam is still warm and the teriyaki glaze is dripping from the meat.

But it’s also sold out of the refrigerated section of grocery shops and corner stores, and enjoyed cold directly from the refrigerator.

How to serve spam musubi

Serve spam musubi alone as a snack or eat it with other Hawaiian foods like this meat jun (marinated and fried thinly sliced beef) or this creamy sushi bake.