Soy Paper substitute

Best substitute

Nori Sheets

Use 1 sheet for every roll, used exactly as the recipe directs

Best for maki rolls

Taste and texture differ

The default sushi wrapper, in every supermarket, and structurally better at the job than soy paper is. Toast it for a few seconds over a low flame or in a dry pan if it feels limp, which makes it crisper and easier to roll tightly.

Other soy paper substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Rice Paper (Spring Roll Wrappers)
Different texture
Use 1 sheet for every roll, dipped in warm water 2 to 3 seconds only
The closest thing to soy paper in spirit: translucent, almost flavourless and pliable, and available in any Asian grocery and plenty of supermarkets.
What changes
Dip it far more briefly than you would for summer rolls, because it keeps softening while you work.
Best for
sushi rolls without seaweed flavour, gluten-free rolls, colourful rolls, rolls for people who dislike nori
Neutral in flavour like soy paper, but noticeably stickier and chewier, so it clings to your fingers, to the bamboo mat and to the knife, and it has a faint slippery tackiness where soy paper is dry and smooth. It also seals itself shut a little too eagerly. Wipe the knife between every cut with a damp cloth, and if the sheets tear, use two. Roll and eat within an hour, because rice paper stiffens as it dries.
3Thin Sweet Omelet Sheet (Usuyaki Tamago)
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 thin omelet, about 6 by 8 inches, for every roll
A traditional Japanese wrapper rather than a workaround.
What changes
Beat two eggs with a pinch of sugar and salt and a teaspoon of water, strain them, and cook in a wide oiled pan over low heat until just set, then cool flat.
Best for
fukusa zushi and datemaki style rolls, rolls for children, sushi without seaweed, bento sushi
Soft, tender and mildly sweet, with a warm yellow colour that looks lovely against pink and green fillings. It is richer than soy paper, so it adds real egg flavour rather than staying out of the way, and it is more delicate, so it tears if you roll too tightly. It also will not hold a roll as firmly, so a thin line of rice pressed at the seam helps it stay closed.
4Thin Cucumber Sheets
Taste and texture differ
1 long ribbon peeled from a cucumber on a mandoline or wide peeler, overlapped to make a sheet
Peel long continuous ribbons from a seedless cucumber, overlap three or four of them slightly on the mat to make a sheet, pat them dry, then roll.
What changes
Widely done in restaurants as a naruto roll.
Best for
low-carb rolls, fresh light rolls, sashimi-forward rolls, rolls without any wrapper flavour
Genuinely refreshing and pretty, but it changes the roll from something soft and sealed to something crisp, cool and wet. Cucumber sheds water, so the rice on the outer edge gets damp and the roll slides apart if you cut it clumsily. Pat the ribbons dry, roll firmly, and cut with a very sharp wet knife. Eat immediately rather than making these ahead.
5Yuba (Dried Bean Curd Sheets)
Taste and texture differ
Use 1 sheet for every roll, rehydrated in warm water for 2 to 3 minutes and patted dry
The closest thing to soy paper by ingredient, since both come from soybeans.
What changes
Look for the flat dried sheets rather than the sticks, soften them briefly in warm water, and blot them well.
Best for
soy-based rolls, vegan rolls, rolls with a savoury wrapper
Beanier and much more assertive than soy paper, with a distinct soymilk flavour and a slightly chewy, faintly creamy bite. It is also thicker and stiffer, so it cracks along fold lines and needs a gentler hand. Do not oversoak it or it goes to mush. Worth trying if you like the taste of tofu skin, but it is not the invisible wrapper soy paper is.
6No Wrapper At All
Different texture
Often the best answer, and honest about it: there is no truly close substitute for soy paper, and the alternative to a mediocre wrapper is no wrapper.
What changes
Press seasoned rice into a small ball with a piece of fish on top for temari or nigiri style, roll it inside out and coat the outside in toasted sesame seeds or tobiko, or simply build a chirashi bowl with the same ingredients over rice.
Best for
sushi bowls and chirashi, temari sushi balls, nigiri, inside-out rolls coated in sesame, feeding people who dislike seaweed
You lose the neat cylinder and the wrapper's structural help, so an uncoated roll needs firm pressure and a genuinely sharp knife, and it will not survive a lunchbox. What you gain is that the fish and the rice taste of themselves, which is the whole reason to prefer soy paper in the first place. A tight layer of toasted sesame seeds does much of the wrapper's job of stopping the rice sticking to everything.

What is Soy Paper?

Soy Paper is Soy paper, known in Japanese as mamenori, is a thin pliable sheet made from pressed and dried soybean solids, often tinted pastel colours, and used in place of nori to wrap sushi rolls without any seaweed flavour.

Cooking tips

Do not toast soy paper. Nori benefits from a pass over a flame, but soy paper scorches and turns bitter and brittle almost instantly, and it does not need crisping because it is already dry and pliable. Take it straight from the packet to the mat.
Use soy paper for sushi that has to wait. Its real advantage over nori is that it does not go leathery when it meets damp rice, so it stays pleasant for hours. If you are making bento, a packed lunch or a platter for a party, this is the reason to choose it, and it is the reason a nori substitute will disappoint in the same situation.
Seal the seam with a damp fingertip, not with water on a brush. Soy paper needs only the slightest moisture to stick to itself, and too much water makes it slimy and stretchy so the roll slumps. A single wet fingertip run along the far edge is enough.
Keep the sheets flat and sealed. Soy paper cracks along folds and dries out at the edges once the packet is open, so store the stack flat in a zip bag with the desiccant sachet that came with it, and do not fold it into a drawer. Cracked sheets can still be used inside out, where the split is hidden against the rice.
Cut with a wet, very sharp knife and wipe it between slices. Soy paper is smoother and slightly more slippery than nori, so a blunt knife pushes rather than cuts and squashes the roll flat. Dip the blade in water, cut in one long draw rather than sawing, and rinse it every couple of cuts.

Frequently asked questions

Does soy paper taste like anything?

Barely, and that is exactly why people buy it. It has a very faint sweetness and a slight beany background note, and it is often lightly seasoned with vinegar and sugar in the manufacturing, but next to nori it is effectively neutral. If you or someone at your table finds nori too fishy, oceanic or bitter, this is the difference you are paying for. It also means soy paper adds no savoury depth, so the rice seasoning and the filling have to carry the whole roll.

Is soy paper gluten-free and vegan?

It is made from soybeans, so it is vegan, but you have to read the label for gluten. Many brands are seasoned with soy sauce or include wheat-derived ingredients, and some are simply produced on shared lines. Most soy paper sold for sushi is gluten-free, but the only way to know is the packet. If someone has a soy allergy, soy paper is obviously out, and rice paper is the neutral wrapper to use instead.

Can I just use nori even though I do not like the taste?

Yes, and there is a technique that helps a great deal. Roll the sushi inside out, with the rice on the outside and the nori inside against the filling, which is how a California roll is made. The seaweed still holds everything together but it never touches your tongue directly, and the rice, sesame and filling are what you taste. Using half a sheet instead of a whole one, and toasting it briefly to drive off some of the marine smell, also both help.

Can I just leave the wrapper out and make sushi without it?

Easily, and it is often the better move. Temari sushi is a small ball of seasoned rice with a topping pressed onto it, made in a twist of cling film, and it needs no wrapper. Nigiri is just rice and fish. A chirashi bowl puts everything over rice in a bowl. All three taste of the fish and the rice rather than the wrapper, which is presumably what you wanted. The only thing you cannot do without a wrapper is a portable roll that holds its shape in a bag.

Where do I buy soy paper, and does it keep?

Japanese groceries and larger Asian supermarkets stock it near the nori, in flat packets of ten or twenty sheets, sometimes as an assorted colour pack in pink, green, orange and yellow, labelled mamenori or soy wrappers. It keeps for a long time unopened in a cool dry cupboard. Once open it dries and cracks, so reseal it flat with the desiccant inside, and it will stay usable for a few months rather than a few weeks.

Related substitutes

More pasta & noodles substitutes

Soy Paper substitute

Other soy paper substitutes

2Rice Paper (Spring Roll Wrappers)

3Thin Sweet Omelet Sheet (Usuyaki Tamago)

4Thin Cucumber Sheets

5Yuba (Dried Bean Curd Sheets)

6No Wrapper At All