Japanese garlic rice (ガーリックライス) is a type of garlic fried rice made famous by the teppanyaki style of cooking. These Japanese steak houses are known as hibachi restaurants in the US, which is why this dish is also known as hibachi rice.
The high-temperature griddles used in these eateries create Maillard browning and caramelization around the rice, which gives it its toasty flavor. In this recipe, I want to show you how to recreate this flavor at home using a regular frying pan and stove.
Table of contents
Why This Recipe Works?
- Using leftover rice that’s been in the fridge for a few days makes the rice crumbly, making it easier to stir-fry.
- A double dose of garlic in the form of garlic oil/chips and garlic butter covers the spectrum of garlic flavor from fresh to caramelized.
- A splash of soy sauce added toward the end gives the rice a nice toasty flavor.
Ingredients
- Rice – Part of what differentiates this dish from Filipino garlic rice is the use of short-grain rice. It’s stickier than long-grain rice(such as jasmine rice or basmati rice), which can make it difficult to stir-fry when freshly cooked. That’s why it’s important to use stale white rice leftovers for this recipe. Rice that’s been left in the refrigerator for at least two days works best. You’ll know the rice is ready to use when the clumps of rice can be crumbled apart easily. Short-grain brown rice tends to be less sticky due to the bran so this is another option if you’re in a rush.
- Garlic – Fresh garlic has a very different flavor from caramelized garlic. I like adding garlic in a few phases to this dish. The first is through the garlic-infused oil used to saute the rice. The second comes in fresh form by adding some garlic butter at the end. Finally, this teppanyaki-style rice is topped off with garlic chips to provide some crunch and the marvelous flavor of browned garlic.
- Butter – Butter will burn if used for stir-frying, so I prefer using garlic-infused vegetable oil to make the fried rice. The butter gets added at the end to add flavor and help quickly distribute the fresh garlic into the rice. To make this plant-based, you can substitute coconut oil for the butter.
- Soy Sauce – I like adding a small amount of soy sauce to amp up the umami in my garlic fried rice. Any Japanese-style soy sauce will work, but you can also use tamari if you want to make this gluten-free.
- Seasonings & Garnish – Seasoning the rice with soy sauce alone requires so much soy sauce that the rice turns dark brown. That’s why I like to use some salt, so the soy sauce doesn’t overpower the other ingredients. Black pepper adds a nice kick, and I used smoked black pepper for a little something extra. I like to garnish this with a sprinkle of chopped fresh parsley and garlic chips.
How to Make Japanese Garlic Rice
Like any stir-fry, this garlic fried rice moves quickly, so it’s important to take care of all the preparation in advance. I usually start by crumbling the leftover rice, just wet your hands and press the clumps between your fingers to break them up. You can also do this with a fork.
To prepare the garlic, I start by slicing about two-thirds of the garlic into thin slices. To ensure the garlic browns evenly, they must be the same thickness, so I usually use a mandoline to do this.
For the garlic butter, just grate the remaining garlic and mash it into the butter.
Before making fried rice, you want to fry the sliced garlic over medium-low heat until it’s crisp. Then, just add the oil and garlic in a single layer and fry them while repeatedly flipping until they start to brown around the edges and aren’t sizzling as much. It takes a while for the garlic to begin browning, but once the color starts changing, it only takes a few seconds before the garlic burns, so you need to work quickly to get them out of the pan while leaving the oil behind. Chopsticks work best for this.
To make the garlic butter rice, turn up the heat as high as it will go and add the rice. Toss and stir-fry the rice with the garlic oil until it’s heated.
Season the rice with salt and pepper, and then drizzle the soy sauce along the edge of the pan and into the rice. This instantly caramelizes the soy sauce, giving the rice a gloriously toasty flavor similar to rice crackers.
To finish off the fried rice, add the garlic butter and toss it together with the rice to evenly coat each grain. Don’t overcook it, though, or the oil will separate out and make the rice greasy.
Garnish your garlic rice with crispy garlic chips and a sprinkle of chopped parsley.
Serve it With
In Japan, garlic rice is most commonly associated with teppanyaki restaurants or Japanese steakhouses, so any beef or chicken dish is a good call. Steak teriyaki and my Black Pepper Beef are no-brainers, but this would also work really well with Japanese Tofu Steak or Tofu Teriyaki.
Other Fried Rice Recipes
FAQ
Japanese-style garlic rice is a fried rice dish that’s often served as the final course at Teppanyaki restaurants in Japan. Teppanyaki is often mislabeled “hibachi” in the West, but it’s a genre of Japanese steakhouse created in 1945 by a restaurant called Misono in Kobe.
Garlic Rice is transliterated directly into Japanese, but it’s pronounced differently than in English. Although it’s only 3 syllables in English, it becomes 6-syllables in Japanese and is pronounced as follows (read the italicized parts).
ga- like guard
ri the “ri” sound does not exist in the English language, and the best way to make it is to say the word “ream” with the tip of your tongue at the front of your mouth.
ku like cool
ra the “ra” sound does not exist in the English language, and the best way to make it is to say the word “romp” with the tip of your tongue at the front of your mouth.
i like even
su like soup
This garlic rice recipe is vegetarian-friendly and can easily be converted to a vegan recipe by substituting coconut oil for the butter.
Units
Ingredients
- 345 grams cooked rice
- 9 grams garlic (1 large clove)
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon cultured unsalted butter
- black pepper (to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon umami salt
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- flat leaf parsley (chopped for garnish)
Instructions
- Wet your hands and crumble up the rice, so there are no big clumps.
- Use a mandoline or sharp knife to slice 2/3 of the garlic into thin, even slices.
- To make the garlic butter, grate the remaining garlic and mix it together with the butter.
- Add the oil to a non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat, add the sliced garlic in a single layer, and make sure it’s submerged in oil.
- Flip the garlic over repeatedly until it starts to brown around the edges and it’s not sizzling much anymore. Work quickly to remove the garlic chips from the pan, leaving the oil behind.
- Increase the heat to high and add the rice to the garlic oil. Stir-fry until the rice is heated through and fragrant.
- Season with salt and black pepper and then drizzle the soy sauce down the edges of the pan. Quickly toss and stir it into the rice.
- Finish the rice by melting the garlic butter into the rice. Serve the garlic fried rice garnished with garlic chips and chopped parsley.
Nutrition
iadoregon says
While I have not made this rice yet, I have had this rice at different Ukaitei restaurants in Japan and it is pure heaven alongside the Kobe beef. The addition of the butter at the end is key along with the garlic chips. I can’t wait to try this tomorrow with my old rice. Thank you so much for posting this.
Marc Matsumoto says
Ukaitei is one of my favorite teppanyaki restaurants here in Tokyo😄 If you want this to be more like theirs, fry up wagyu in the pan before you make this, and use the beef fat to make the garlic chips.
Connie says
Made this rice for the first time and it was really good. I served it with the tofu teriyaki and some cucumber slices. Wonderful meal! One of the things I like about no recipes is that I can make everything from scratch, even umami salt, so I know the quality of the ingredients..
Marc Matsumoto says
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it Connie! Thanks for taking the time to let me know. I try and minimize the amount of processed foods we eat in our household so I’m glad to hear you find the from-scratch recipes helpful too!