Hibachi fried rice combines flavorful, buttery rice with pieces of mixed vegetable, fluffy egg and grilled chicken. It is cooked quickly over high heat, making your homemade hibachi rice tastes just like one from a Japanese steakhouse.
This simple 15-minute hibachi fried rice recipe is just as delicious as what you get at restaurants, which makes it much more budget friendly and also healthier. There’s a lot of helpful information and step-by-step photos that shows you how to recreate this popular Japanese fried rice at home – but feel free to jump straight to the recipe!
If you enjoy this Japanese hibachi-style fried rice, also check out my other fried rice recipes such as Bulgogi Fried Rice, Spam Fried Rice Steak Fried Rice and Easy Chicken Fried Rice. I am a bit of a fried rice connoisseur if I may say so. 😉
Homemade Japanese Hibachi Rice
Hibachi is a Japanese style cooking technique. Traditionally, it features small portable grill with open grates.
In modern Japanese hibachi restaurants in America such as Benihana (which you can argue brought ‘hibachi fried rice’ to fame), a rectangular grill is set smack dab in the middle of a table while everyone sits around it while the chef cooks the meal.
This hibachi fried rice is a Japanese-American fried rice recipe inspired by the yummy hibachi fried rice we get at Japanese hibachi or teppanyaki style restaurants, with its distinct flavor made with butter, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame oil.
It is not exactly authentic, but it is nontheless, ridiculously delicious.
Signature features of hibachi fried rice include 1) it typically uses short grain rice or cal-rose rice (whereas Chinese fried rice uses long grain rice), 2) it uses butter – which explains why I cannot stop eating it.
Since there are no large iron grills at my disposal, all the heavy hibachi cooking at my home takes place …on the wok. Let’s be honest, it is probably one of the hot cooking surface most similar to a grill.
If you do not have a wok, just grab the largest skillet you own, preferably one that can withstand high heat. You can still make a pretty amazing hibachi fried rice. There’s no need to give up on the hibachi dreams. 😉
My favorite part about Hibachi fried rice is its distinct buttery umami smoky flavors. It is super versatile and can be made with your favorite protein and vegetables, or whatever leftovers you have at hand! It makes for a quick and delicious weeknight dinner that is ready under 15-quick minutes.
Ingredients
Introducing the ingredients that brings all that magic to a simple and yet delicious bowl wherever hibachi fried rice!
- Cooked rice – traditionally most Japanese cuisine use short or medium grain rice, but feel free to use any type of rice you have on hand. Using cold, 1-2 day old rice produces the best results to avoid a soggy or clumpy fried rice. If you end up using freshly cooked rice, just cook it longer in the skillet/wok to dry it out.
- Frozen vegetables – for the ease of it, I like to grab frozen veggies that typically consist of peas and carrots, corn and green beans , but you can use other veggies as well. It’s a great way to use leftover vegetables.
- Eggs – scrambled to add to the rice for fluffy texture and added protein.
- Salted butter – for the distinct buttery flavors in the fried rice
- Soy sauce – regular or light soy sauce works best. Avoid using dark soy sauce because it actually doesn’t bring much flavor to hibachi fried rice, and will make the fried rice a lot darker in color.
- Sesame oil – this is a deeply flavored aromatic oil that brings crucial flavors to the hibachi fried rice! It is a necessity to create that lovely smokey, nutty flavor into the rice. A little goes a long way here.
- Onions – used as an aromatic to bring lots of flavors to the rice. Do not use onion powder as a substitute. Sweet onions, white onions or yellow onions work great.
- Garlic – an important aromatic for making this fried rice recipe. Avoid using garlic powder for best flavor.
- Chicken bouillon powder – a crucial ingredient to really bring flavors to your fried rice! This is a highly concentrated chicken bouillon seasoning in powder form that will bring amazing umami flavors to the dish. Chicken bouillon cubes can be used as well.
- Salt – to open up the flavors in the dish. Adjust to taste!
- Cooking oil – use neutral oils with a high smoke point — like vegetable oil, canola oil, or avocado oil — for best results in achieving that restaurant-style sear.
How to Make Hibachi Fried Rice
Heat wok/skillet and line up ingredients
All good hibachi fried rice should start in the hottest wok or skillet that is lined with oil. The hotter your wok or skillet, the faster everything cooks, and the less time for your ingredients to become mushy and overcooked.
Best practice: I like to line up all of my ingredients next to me for easy reach. Because hibachi fried rice cooks pretty quickly, you will want everything near and ready to go as you are cooking them.
This means you’ll have your garlic, onions, uncooked chicken pieces, frozen mixed veggies, sauces, seasonings, and butter all by the wok or skillet before you get started!
Season Chicken
Pat dry chicken if needed. Cube chicken and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Scramble the Eggs
Crack eggs into a bowl. Whisk to combine.
Add oil to the wok or skillet, wait until it is hot, then add eggs to wok/skillet.
Wait for a few seconds so the bottom firms up, then scramble and fry the eggs.
Once eggs are no longer runny, promptly remove fried eggs from wok/skillet and set aside. This whole process shouldn’t take more than 1 minutes if your wok/skillet is hot.
Stir frying Japanese Fried Rice
Next, we will cook the aromatics. The role of aromatics is to bring flavors to the dish – do not skip this step and use fresh ingredients! Bring in the diced onions and minced garlic, stir to combine until they are fragrant and onions are soft.
After about 30 seconds of stir frying onions and garlic, bring in seasoned chicken pieces.
Stir fry for 1 minute or so, or until chicken is cooked.
Bring cooked rice immediately after, and keep stirring!
Add soy sauce, sesame oil and chicken bouillon powder to season the rice, stir to combine, then add a dollop of butter.
Add the frozen mixed veggies to the wok/skillet, and stir to combine.
Lastly, bring back scrambled eggs and give it one final stir before removing from heat promptly.
And there you have it, fragrant, fluffy, buttery Japanese inspired hibachi fried rice that is guaranteed to satisfy even the pickiest eater!
Substitution and Variations
Consider bringing additional textures and flavors to your hibachi fried rice using the following ingredients:
1) Protein – the most common proteins on hibachi fried rice are diced chicken, steak, fish, tofu, shrimp etc. Feel free to use your favorite!
2) Veggies – although mixed veggies a.k.a. peas and carrots are mostly used, add in your favorite vegetables as well! Mushroom, green onions, red bell peppers, asparagus (cut in small pieces). If you are using cauliflower or broccoli, cut them in really small pieces so that it cook through quickly.
3) Yum yum sauce – this is the pinkish orange sauce that is only served at Japanese restaurants that is delicious with everything!
5) Sriracha – if you are looking for a little kick in your rice, sriracha does a great job to help bring the punch and the flavor!
6) Chili oil/ Chili crisp – another sauce for the heat-lover if it just quite hot enough for you.
How to Serve
Here are some of my favorite sides to serve with Hibachi fried rice:
- Garlic Edamame
- Asian Carrot Ribbon Salad
- Asian Style Green Beans
- Air Fryer Crab Rangoons
- Asian Lettuce Wraps
Tips and Tricks
- Use cooked and cooled/cold rice: Use leftover rice or cook rice ahead of time and chill it. Cold rice prevents the final dish from being mushy.
- Pat dry all ingredients: Make sure all ingredients are dry before adding to skillet/wok to get the best sear.
- High heat cooking: Use a wok or skillet that can withstand high heat. This gives your fried rice that authentic smoky flavor. Because hibachi fried rice is cooked under high heat, the process goes fast!
- Ingredient prep: Prepare all ingredients and sauces before starting to cook. Stir-frying goes quickly!
- Avoid overcrowding wok/pan: If you are doubling the recipe or if your skillet is small, cook in two batches. Overcrowding can lead to steaming instead of frying.
- Stirring is key: Constantly stir ingredients to avoid burning and ensure even cooking.
- Garnish: For a clean, crisp finish, garnish with green onions or sesame seeds before serving. This adds both color and flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Short grain and medium grain rice are the most commonly used, however, feel free to use long grain rice if that’s what you have at hand.
No. Using a large skillet or any pan that will withstand high heat will work just fine to make a delicious hibachi fried rice.
Hibachi fried has a signature buttery taste and typically uses short-grain/medium-grain rice instead of long-grain rice.
Use cold day-old rice, avoid overcrowding the pan, cook over high heat, and don’t add too much sauce.
Cook the rice longer in the wok to dry it out before the next step of adding seasonings, sauces and butter.
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- Black Pepper Beef
Hibachi Fried Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- ½ sweet onion diced
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ lb chicken breast diced
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 3 cups cooked short grain rice or medium grain
- 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
- ½ tsp salt or to taste
- 1-2 dashes black or white pepper
- cooking oil
Instructions
- Season diced chicken with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Line up all of the ingredient near wok so that everything is ready to go.
- Heat wok or large skillet over high heat.
- Drizzle hot wok with ~1 tsp of cooking oil.
- Crack eggs into a bowl and whisk to combine, then add it to a wok. Wait for a few seconds so the bottom firms up. Stir and fully cook the eggs. Remove and set aside.
- Add more cooking oil to the wok.
- Add onions and garlic to hot wok. Cook for about a minute . Add chicken to wok. Cook another minute or until chicken is fully cooked.
- Add rice to the wok, followed by soy sauce, sesame oil and chicken bouillon. Stir to combine, then add butter.
- Add mixed vegetables. Stir to combine. Return the eggs to the wok. Stir again to combine. Add salt and black pepper to taste.
- Remove from heat. Serve and enjoy!
Delicious!
Followed recipe as written. Flavors are very light. Next time I will try increasing the sauce.
The recipe makes lot. Since I generally cook for one, I will also reduce the proportions by half.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing how it went for you!