Make this delicious restaurant-style Hibachi Fried Rice (Japanese Style Fried Rice) for a quick Asian-inspired meal. Serve it with Hibachi chicken and Yum Yum sauce and get transported to a Japanese Steakhouse.
If you are a fried rice fan just like me, here are some more recipes that you can make for your quick weekday meals – Thai Pineapple Fried Rice, Thai Fried Rice, Chinese Egg Fried Rice, Chicken Fried Rice, Bacon Fried Rice, and Vegetable Fried Rice.
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About This Recipe
Hibachi Fried Rice (Japanese Fried Rice) is a rice stir fry where cooked rice is sauteed in a wok or a large skillet with butter, soy sauce, and a few more ingredients. It is just like normal fried rice, plus the savory flavor from lots of butter.
The Japanese word Hibachi means “fire bowl”. It is also called Teppanyaki style cooking. Traditionally, this style of cooking refers to an open-top ceramic bowl that contains burning charcoal that is used for heating purposes.
These days electric barbecues are used instead of an open fire with a large griddle or wok on top. When we are preparing it at home, all you need is a large wok or a flat-bottomed large pan.
When made at home, this fried rice comes together in no time and at a fraction of the cost. It tastes just like the fried rice at a Hibachi restaurant and requires some very basic ingredients which are mostly available in the pantry.
This is also a great recipe to use up your leftover rice. Actually, this dish turns out better when made with one-day-old cold rice. So, whenever I have some leftover rice, I quickly whip up this Hibachi Style Fried Rice.
Serve it for a quick weekday meal or pack it for school or office lunchboxes.
Ingredients
Rice – Use leftover cooked and cooled white rice to make this recipe. If you do not have leftover rice and want to make it with fresh rice, cook the rice and cool it down completely to room temperature before using it.
You can use Jasmine rice, Calrose rice, Basmati rice, or any other white rice of your choice.
Cooling the rice is important otherwise the final dish will turn out mushy.
To make the cooling process faster, spread the cooked rice on a baking tray and cover the tray with a cling wrap. Then refrigerate for 20 minutes or freeze for 10 minutes.
Vegetables – I have used onions, green peas, and carrots, but you can also add in other veggies of your choice.
Cabbage, broccoli, snow peas, mushrooms, etc are some examples.
Garlic – You can increase the quantity of garlic in the recipe if you like the garlicky flavor.
Egg – Use any variety of eggs to make this recipe.
Butter – Hibachi fried rice recipe gets most of its flavor from the butter and therefore a lot of butter is added to this recipe. Butter gives it a nice savory flavor that makes it irresistible.
You can use salted butter or unsalted butter.
Soy Sauce & Toasted Sesame Oil – The only sauce used in this recipe is dark soy sauce. Along with the umami taste, it also adds a nice brown color to the recipe.
Toasted sesame oil also adds a nice flavor, so try not to miss out on this. If you are not a fan of sesame oil, then you can replace it with vegetable oil, rice bran oil, or olive oil.
You can use low sodium soy sauce in place of regular soy sauce. To make the recipe gluten-free, use Tamari.
Salt & Pepper – To add a little more heat add some white pepper powder along with salt.
If white pepper powder is not available easily, then replace it with black pepper powder.
How To Make Hibachi Fried Rice
Heat a large-flat wok, Chinese wok, or a large skillet over medium-high heat until it is very hot.
Add 4 tablespoon butter (salted or unsalted) to the wok and stir until it melts.
Add ½ cup cubed onions (¼-inch cubes) and 2 teaspoon minced garlic and fry for 10-12 seconds.
Now add ¼ cup green peas and ¼ cup cubed carrots (½-inch cubes) and saute for 15-20 seconds.
Push the veggies to the sides of the wok.
Add 2 whisked eggs and scramble them.
Mix the scrambled eggs with the veggies.
Add 4 cups of cooked and cooled white rice, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon white pepper powder, 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, and toss well.
Garnish with chopped green onions or chopped cilantro and toasted sesame seeds and serve hot with yum-yum sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
To make this recipe healthier, you can replace white rice with brown rice, quinoa, couscous, or cauliflower rice.
You can load up the Japanese fried rice with lots of veggies like mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers, corn kernels, green beans, green cabbage, purple cabbage, broccoli, snow peas, etc.
You can also add proteins like tofu, grilled chicken, shrimp, scallops, cooked pork, cooked beef, etc to it to make it even more filling and wholesome.
To make the rice even more flavorful, add some garlic powder, onion powder, and white wine vinegar (or lemon juice).
If you are not allergic to MSG (Ajinomoto), then you can add a teaspoon to enhance the flavor, many restaurants add it.
These two recipes are very similar in terms of ingredients. The main difference is that Hibachi rice is cooked in butter, and Chinese-style fried rice is cooked in oil. There are fewer sauces added to Japanese fried rice than in the Chinese version.
Serving Suggestions
Serve Japanese Fried Rice on its own with Homemade Yum Yum Sauce for a weekday meal.
You can also serve this Fried Rice Recipe with some Japanese Curries on the side. It also tastes great with Hibachi Noodles, Hibachi Chicken, Hibachi Salmon, and Hibachi Shrimp.
Storage Suggestion
This fried rice tastes the best when served right off the wok. But if you have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container for 2-3 days.
Reheat in a pan or microwave before serving.
You can also freeze the rice for up to 3 months. Thaw, reheat, and serve.
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Recipe Card
Hibachi Fried Rice Recipe (Japanese Style Fried Rice)
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted)
- ½ cup cubed onions (cut into ½ inch cubes)
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- ¼ cup green peas
- ¼ cup cubed carrots (cut into ½ inch cubes)
- 2 large eggs (whisked)
- 4 cups cooked and cooled white rice
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon white pepper powder (or black pepper powder)
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (use tamari for gluten-free)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (or any other cooking oil)
- chopped green onions, cilantro, or sesame seeds for garnishing
Instructions
- Heat a large-flat wok, Chinese wok, or a large skillet over medium-high heat until it is very hot.
- Add butter to the wok and stir until it melts.
- Add onions and garlic and fry for 10-12 seconds.
- Now add green peas and carrots and saute for 15-20 seconds.
- Push the veggies to the sides of the wok.
- Add eggs and scramble them.
- Mix the scrambled eggs with the veggies.
- Add rice, salt, pepper powder, soy sauce, and sesame oil, and toss well.
- Check fro salt and add more if needed.
- Garnish with chopped green onions or chopped cilantro and toasted sesame seeds and serve hot with yum-yum sauce.
LeAnn
Delicious!!! Even better than at the local hibachi restaurant!
Neha Mathur
Happy to hear 🙂
Jan
The butter is what really makes this dish delicious. I used day old sushi rice and the texture was great.
BriTanee
My kids says, “10 OUT OF 10!” ITS BETTER THAN THE RESTAURANTS TRUST ME! THANK YOU!
Ellen
I’m cooking it now, my first time!
Thanks, Inday