According to a method for producing a surimi by adding a protease inhibitor when producing a surimi from fish meat that contains kidney or tissue thereof, such as backbone meat, that is left over when using a filleting and deboning method to extract fillets from fish from which the head and internal organs have been removed, it is possible to produce a surimi and a paste product having stable quality from backbone meat obtained as a residue when producing fillets. The protease inhibitor is preferably a cysteine protease inhibitor.