Make A Bento Box Lunch!

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By relache


Sweet, savory, fruity, spicy and more can be found in a bento box
Sweet, savory, fruity, spicy and more can be found in a bento box

A Bento Box Is...

... a traditional Japanese lunch box container.

... a multi-item mid-day meal, offering a mix of flavors, colors and temperatures.

Bento boxes are fast becoming popular as a lunchtime option. The small meals offer lots of variety and can be created from very healthy ingredients. Tired of sandwiches and brown paper bags? Try a Bento Box!




Make Your Own Onigiri Video

onigiri variations

Slices of carrot, bits of nori (seaweed) and rice stained pink as decoration
Slices of carrot, bits of nori (seaweed) and rice stained pink as decoration

Click thumbnail to view full-size

Easily shape your Onigiri!

Onigiri Plastic Sushi Mold Onigiri Plastic Sushi Mold
Price: $6.00
List Price:
Onigiri Sushi Mold Onigiri Sushi Mold
Price: $4.59
List Price:

Onigiri - The Building Blocks of the Bento Box

Onigiri are shaped rice balls that are easy to make and are a standard in Japanese lunches! In their most simple form, they are just cooked and seasoned rice, wrapped with a narrow strip of nori. Most often the rice is stuffed with some other flavor, a bit of cooked meat or vegetable, or an umeboshi plum.

  • 1 lb medium grain white rice
  • salt
  • water
  • nori (dried seaweed sheets)
  • sesame seeds, toasted (optional)
  • fillings - see below for suggestions

  1. Cook the rice and let it cool to the point where you can touch it without burning your hands.
  2. Wash your hands, leaving them wet, then rub your hands with salt. This keeps the rice from sticking to your hands too much.

  3. Take a palmful of rice (anywhere from 1/4 C to 1/2 C) and shape it into a ball, a triangular ball or a cylinder (see instructions below).
  4. To fill - press a hole into the ball with your fingers, fill with desired stuffing and press closed again.

  5. Finish by wrapping witha narrow strip of nori (trim down full sheets), or sprinkling on toasted seeds.

Flavorings/Stuffings

  • Onigiri can be flavored by mixing spices with the rice before it's shaped or by sprinkling it with vinegar. Once shaped, it can be sprinkeld with or rolled in sesame seeds (light or dark) afterwards
  • Fill with grilled and flaked fish, cooked beef or pork shreds, umeboshi (pickled plums), bonito flakes, cod roe, chopped vegetables and just about anything you like.

How to Make Different Onigiri Shapes By Hand

Here are pictures to show the different ways to shape round, triangular or cylindrical onigiri rice balls.  They can be left plain or stuffed with a filling.
Here are pictures to show the different ways to shape round, triangular or cylindrical onigiri rice balls. They can be left plain or stuffed with a filling.

recipe books

Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go
Price: $8.57
List Price: $14.95
Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes
Price: $7.49
List Price: $12.95
Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America
Price: $6.98
List Price: $15.95
Vegan Lunch Box Vegan Lunch Box
Price: $90.00
List Price:

Take A Tour of a Real-Life Bento Box!

Bento Box News

  • Spas at hotels in Mexico's Riviera Maya - Dallas Morning News

    Spas at hotels in Mexico's Riviera MayaDallas Morning News, TX - May 6, 2008Special treatments include the Cha Chac rain ritual, based on one performed by the Mayans. Spa food is in the Bento Box, with balanced amounts of protein, ...Supersized luxury at Riviera Maya's Mayakobá resorts Dallas Morning Newsall 2 news articles 6 days ago


Bento Food Traditions

Goshiki ("five colors) is an idea of balance found throughout Japanese Buddhist thought. In food, it is interpreted as a way of balancing nutrition and aesthetics by having each meal incorporate all of the five colors via the foods chosen: white, red/orange, yellow, green and black/brown/purple.

Goho adds further balance by having each meal incorporate five ways of cooking, choosing from boiling,frying, grilling, pickling, simmering or steaming.

The traditional ratio of contents in a bento box follows a 4-3-2-1 pattern. Four parts will contain rice, three parts have meat or fish ingredients, two parts will contain vegetables and the last part will be either something pickled or a dessert. Japanese desserts are not as sweet as what you'd find in Europe or the US.

What Else Goes In A Bento Box?

Bento boxes are starting to undergo the exploration and experimentation that sushi did back in the 1980s. As the concept becomes popular, people start to play with the ideas and they make their own bento box variations.

  1. Rice - steamed or fried, this is a mainstay of the bento box.
  2. Noodles - I like lunchtime noodles to be thinner and lighter than dinner noodles. Soba, rice noodles or even angel hair pasta is a good choice.

  3. Meat or fish - small portions of entrees leftover from dinner can be a great addition in your bento box. Foods that can be eaten without reheating are the best.
  4. Fruit - the compartments of a bento box let you bring along tasty fruit tidbits that might otherwise get squashed in a paper bag.

  5. Crackers - rice crackers can add a more traditional taste to your bento box

  6. Sauces - Having sauce in a little container that can be heated in a microwave and then poured over rice or noodles is a good option.

If you have a container that has stacking sections, remember to pack hot items on top and cold on the bottom to help them stay that way!


Bento Box Bulletin Board

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Veronica profile image

Veronica  says:
9 months ago

Thanks so much for the great article about Bento! I received my first bento box as a gift from a friend in Japan a couple of months ago. I've been trying out different things and enjoying the bento artwork of others. I even make a little bento box for my one dog when we travel.

bihargyan profile image

bihargyan  says:
6 months ago

Hope will be helpful for the kids.They are so demanding?

nori monster  says:
5 months ago

cool!! make one about sushi and sashimi next^^ or kimbop

nori monster  says:
5 months ago

btw nori is seaweed (japanese)

relache profile image

relache  says:
5 months ago

I know "nori" is seaweed.

daoine profile image

daoine  says:
5 months ago

Bento is a great reminder to slow down and appreciate simple arts like preparing food and making a "take-away" experience into something more memorable. Those pictures are so pretty, though, I'm sure I'd not want to spoil it by eating it! Although it does look really appetising.

relache profile image

relache  says:
5 months ago

I like to use bento themes especially when I make summer lunches. And the goshiki theories are great for putting together bits of dinner leftovers into a lunch combo.

Kylyssa Shay profile image

Kylyssa Shay  says:
4 months ago

Oh, this is awesome! The pictures are adorable and I love your ideas!

imarketing4s profile image

imarketing4s  says:
4 months ago

great resources, thanks for sharing! now this is making me crave japanese...

seamus profile image

seamus  says:
3 months ago

Interesting. I'd like to know more about how to get the cute shapes in the the little "rice people."

Decrescendo profile image

Decrescendo  says:
2 months ago

Do you have any more to recommend?

raphanius profile image

raphanius  says:
5 weeks ago

I love Bento Boxes they are so colorful and pretty.

Shy Nichols  says:
4 weeks ago

Wow! You really put this together well...it's like everything to is right at my fingertips to get started making the contents for a Bento Box. Do you have any favorite recipes?

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