Teppanyaki Hibachi Restaurant-Style Fried Rice Recipe (2024)

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Teppanyaki fried rice is rice that is cooked with sauce, eggs and vegetables. It goes well with leftovers because it can be mixed with a variety of proteins or vegetables.

Let’s get you started

In this post I’ll be covering how to make this delicious fried rice recipe at home and I’ll also share some useful Japanese rice tips further down the post you can use to improve your cooking knowledge.

Rules to keep in mind when cooking Teppanyaki Fried Rice

Get the right rice

This is probably the most important rule. Below are some of the types of rice you can look out for:

• Medium grain white rice: This is the most common in Japanese restaurants and it is strong. It is a bit more versatile than the other types because it has a less floral aroma.
• Jasmine: This type of rice is from Thailand and it has a thickness that makes it easy to eat. It is also known to have individual grains that give it a superior texture. It has a unique aroma that stands out, especially when used in very light stir-fries.
• Sushi rice: This type of rice is stickier than the other varieties and it is believed to have originated from Japan. It may be a little difficult to stir without clumping but the result definitely stands out, and it is the easiest to chew of the lot.

Can you use jasmine rice for hibachi?

The best type of rice is medium grain, but even though jasmine rice is long grain it has less amylose than traditional long-grain white rice, which means it will still cook up to be a bit sticky but won’t clump together or fall apart once it’s fried.

Rinse the rice

Excess starch makes the rice a bit clumpy and one effective way to get rid of the excess starch if you are cooking it from raw is to wash it before frying it.

Very few people prefer clumpy rice and a little dunking and shaking in a bowl of water, or rinsing it under tap water for about 30 seconds will do the trick.

Break up the rice

If by any chance the rice goes stale or clumpy, make sure to break it up before placing it in the wok.

Breaking up the rice will ensure that the rice turns into individual grains without getting crushed or breaking, making it easy to cook.

Make use of a teppan plate

Teppan plates have proved to be much more effective in preparing stir-fried rice compared to saucepans or skillets, even though they were not meant to be used on Western gas burners.

But if you don’t have a teppanyaki grill plate yet, make use of your wok.

Apart from offering different zones of heat which makes it possible to push ingredients away from the center when adding new ones, the wok also makes flipping and tossing a walk in the park.

Wok hei is the smoky flavor that is achieved from vaporization and combustion when the rice is tossed in the air and it can easily be produced in a wok.

Keep things hot

Just like with cooking beef for stew, it is important that the pan is hot before adding the rice when preparing fried rice.

This enables the rice to get some texture before it produces too much moisture, which may cause it to be more like steamed rice than fried.

Minimize the Add-Ins

Remember that fried rice is all about the rice itself and the Add-Ins come second. Go easy with the Add-Ins making sure that they don’t overpower the rice.

Manage the Sauce

Too much sauce is not necessary as long as the rice is of high quality and good technique.

Just a single teaspoon of soy sauce with the same amount of sesame oil is enough to awaken the much-needed taste.

A ton of sauce will only dominate the flavor making the rice taste like enhancers rather than the primary component.

Add salt to the rice

Soy sauce may add a little salty taste to the rice but it may not be enough for the whole wok-full. A little plain salt will produce much better results compared to adding more soy sauce.

Plain salt in the right amount will not interfere with the desired taste nor add excess moisture.

Make use of eggs

It’s not really a rule of thumb, but eggs have become a common component of fried rice that it has almost become a rule over time.

Toss it

A few tosses will get your dish in great shape.

All the seasonings and flavors should be equally distributed in the food, and each grain of rice should be separate from each other by the time its ready.

Is hibachi rice pre-cooked?

Hibachi restaurants pre-cook the rice because using sticky, warm, recently-cooked rice results in soggy fried rice. That’s why using chilled rice is so important. Cook the rice one day ahead of time and store it in the fridge. This dries the grains so your fried rice has a good texture.

Is hibachi rice brown or white?

The rice used for hibachi is white rice. The soy sauce that’s added makes it have a light to dark brown appearance, but it’s not brown rice but white that goes into the dish.

What sauce do they squirt on hibachi rice?

The most-used sauce on hibachi fried rice is soy sauce, but there are several other bottles they use as well. Those are: sesame oil to add a little extra flavor and cooking oil (often canola or peanut) along with rice wine.

What makes hibachi rice sweet?

Hibachi rice has a slight sweetness to it that comes from the rice cooking wine used along with soy sauce and sesame oil. It isn’t overly sweet though.

What vegetables go in hibachi rice?

When cooking hibachi, you can use anything from zucchini to onions, mushrooms, and broccoli. But the fried rice is usually made with carrots, bell peppers, onion, and edamame.

Also read: different types of Japanese food explained