Hibachi Fried Rice (Japanese Fried Rice) with Egg Yolk

Check out my hibachi fried rice: Japanese fried rice the way the steakhouses make it, fried in garlic butter and soy with carrot and green beans. My twist is on top. Each plate gets two raw egg yolks, and you stir them into the hot rice at the table, so every grain ends up rich and silky.

It started as my take on tamago kake gohan, the Japanese breakfast of raw egg stirred into plain hot rice. The traditional version is simpler and has no fried vegetables. For me, the fun in cooking is being creative and listening to your taste buds, so I fried the rice first, kept the yolks for the top and the whites for the pan.

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What Makes It Hibachi Fried Rice

Hibachi fried rice is the fried rice you get at Japanese steakhouses in the US, cooked on a big flat griddle in front of you. The taste comes from butter, garlic and soy sauce, with onion, a few vegetables and egg scrambled on the hot plate and mixed through. At home a large wok or a wide frying pan on a high heat does the same job.

My version keeps that base and changes the egg. The whites are scrambled on the pan, the hibachi way. The yolks stay raw and go on top with a pinch of nigella seeds. The pink yum yum sauce goes on the side, as it does in the restaurants.

Equipment You’ll Need

One big pan and a spatula. The rice can be cooked the day before in whatever you normally use.

A Closer Look at the Ingredients

Here is what each part is doing in this recipe.

• Day-old rice Cooked the day before and kept in the fridge. Cold rice is firmer, so the grains stay whole and separate in the pan instead of turning to mush. Short or medium grain gives a softer, slightly sticky bite. Instead: Long grain or jasmine rice works too.
• Butter and a splash of oil Butter is what makes it taste like hibachi rice, and the splash of oil is there for the frying. Mixing them does not stop butter burning, whatever you may have heard, so keep the rice moving and watch the colour. Instead: All oil, for a lighter rice that tastes less like hibachi.
• Garlic and onion Garlic fried in the butter is the hibachi flavour. It only needs a minute, until it starts to turn golden. The onion goes in after it for a few seconds.
• Carrot and green beans My vegetables, cut small so they cook in four minutes and give colour and crunch in every bite. Instead: Peas, or peas and carrots from the freezer.
• Eggs Separated. The whites are scrambled on the pan the hibachi way and the yolks go on top, raw. Use the freshest eggs you can get.
• Soy sauce The main seasoning, salty and savoury. Mirin is optional and adds a little sweetness. Instead: Tamari, which is made mostly or only from soybeans, so it is often wheat free. Check the label if you need it gluten free.
• Nigella seeds Small black seeds with a mild taste, a little like thyme with a hint of caraway. They go on the yolks to finish. Instead: Black sesame seeds or sliced spring onion.
• Yum yum sauce The pink sauce you get with hibachi meals: mayonnaise, ketchup, a little sugar, paprika and garlic powder. It goes on the side.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Butter: all oil works. The rice will be lighter and taste less like hibachi.
• Rice: long grain or jasmine rice in place of short or medium grain. It must still be cooked the day before.
• Green beans: peas, or a frozen mix of peas and carrots.
• Onion: a small shallot, which is what I used in my first version.
• Soy sauce: tamari, which is made mostly or only from soybeans, so it is often wheat free. Check the label if you need it gluten free.
• Nigella seeds: black sesame seeds or sliced spring onion.
• Raw yolks: if you would rather not eat raw egg, scramble the whole eggs on the pan, or put a fried egg with a runny yolk on top.

Why the Whites Go in the Pan and the Yolks on Top

Egg whites and egg yolks cook at different temperatures. The white starts to set at about 63°C and only goes fully firm at around 80°C. The yolk thickens at about 65°C and sets at about 70°C. On a hot pan the whites cook in under a minute, so they go in the pan.

A yolk sitting on a plate of hot rice warms through and goes thick and silky, but it does not get hot enough to cook. Treat it as raw egg. Use the freshest eggs you can get: in the UK, British Lion eggs are the ones the Food Standards Agency says are safe to eat raw, and in the US the FDA advises pasteurised eggs for raw egg dishes. If you would rather not, scramble the whole eggs on the pan instead.

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How to Make Hibachi Fried Rice, Step by Step

Full quantities are in the recipe card below. The steps here carry the reasoning and my tips, so you know what you are looking for at each stage.

1. Prepare Everything. Separate the eggs before you turn the heat on: the whites into one bowl, the yolks kept whole in a cup. Then dice the onion and the carrot small, slice the green beans and mince the garlic.Fried rice cooks in about ten minutes, and there is no time to chop once the pan is hot.Keeping the yolks whole: leave each yolk in its half shell until the end. It slides onto the rice in one piece.
2. Scramble the Whites. Heat the oil with a third of the butter in a large wok or frying pan over a high heat. Pour in the egg whites and stir them for about a minute, until just set, then tip them onto a plate.That is the hibachi way with egg: cooked on the hot pan first, then mixed back through the rice. Whites need much more heat than yolks to cook, which is why they go in the pan and the yolks do not.Soft, not rubbery: take them off while they still look a little glossy. They warm through again when they go back in.
3. Garlic and Onion. Add the rest of the butter, then the garlic, and stir-fry for about a minute until it starts to turn golden. Add the onion and fry it for a few seconds.Watch the garlic closely. In butter it goes from golden to burnt very quickly, and the onion only needs long enough to lose its raw edge.Burnt garlic: if it goes dark brown, wipe the pan and start again with fresh garlic. Burnt garlic makes the whole pan bitter.
4. Fry the Vegetables. Add the carrot and the green beans and stir-fry for 4 minutes.Cut small, they cook through in that time and still keep a little bite.Cooking for four: use two pans, or cook in two batches. A crowded pan steams instead of frying.
5. Fry the Rice. Add the cold rice and break up any clumps with the spatula. Spread it out and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, turning it now and then, until it is hot right through.Cold rice is firmer than fresh, so the grains stay whole and separate instead of turning into mush. Keep the heat high and the rice spread out, or it steams.Crispy bits: leave the rice alone for a minute at a time between turns, so some grains toast against the hot pan.Only fresh rice: spread it on a tray to cool and dry for at least half an hour, then chill it before frying.
6. Season. Add the soy sauce, and the mirin if you are using it, and put the egg whites back in. Toss everything together for a minute.The soy goes in at the end so it coats every grain evenly.Taste first: start with the 2 tablespoons and add more only after tasting. Too salty cannot be undone.
7. Serve with the Yolks. Divide the rice between two plates, make a small dip in each and set two yolks in it. Sprinkle a pinch of nigella seeds over the yolks, and stir the yolks into the hot rice at the table.The yolks warm and thicken and coat every grain, which is the best part of this dish. The rice warms them but does not cook them, so they are still raw.No raw egg: put a fried egg with a runny yolk on top instead. You get nearly the same thing.
8. Make the Yum Yum Sauce. Whisk the mayonnaise, ketchup, sugar, paprika and garlic powder in a bowl until smooth, and keep it in the fridge until you serve.It is easiest to make first, before the rice, so it is cold when the rice comes off the pan.Thinner sauce: stir in a teaspoon of water at a time if you want to drizzle it.

Recipe Card for Hibachi Fried Rice

Recipe Card

Hibachi Fried Rice with Egg Yolk

Japanese fried rice the hibachi way: day-old rice fried in garlic butter and soy with carrot and green beans, the egg whites scrambled in, and two raw yolks on each plate to stir into the hot rice. Yum yum sauce on the side.

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Prep

15 min

Cook

12 min

Total

27 min

Serves

2

Per serving

548 kcal

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2 plates

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Equipment I Use

Large Wok or Frying PanSpatulaSharp KnifeMixing Bowl

Ingredients

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For the Fried Rice

400 g Cooked White Rice, cooked the day before and chilled 20 g Butter, about 1 1/2 tbsp 1 tsp Vegetable Oil, canola or any neutral oil 2 Garlic Cloves, minced 1/2 Onion, small, diced 1 Carrot, medium, in small dice 100 g Green Beans, sliced 4 Eggs, very fresh, separated, yolks kept whole 2 tbsp Soy Sauce 1 tsp Mirin, optional 2 pinches Nigella Seeds, to finish

For the Yum Yum Sauce (on the side)

6 tbsp Mayonnaise 2 tbsp Ketchup 1 1/2 tsp Sugar 1/2 tsp Paprika 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

Instructions

Tap a step to tick it off as you cook.

Fried Rice

1

Prepare Everything

Separate the eggs: whites into one bowl, yolks kept whole in a cup. Dice the onion and carrot small, slice the green beans and mince the garlic.

2

Scramble the Whites

Heat the oil and a third of the butter in a large wok or frying pan over a high heat. Pour in the egg whites and scramble for about 1 minute until just set, then tip them onto a plate.

3

Garlic and Onion

Add the rest of the butter and the garlic and stir-fry for about 1 minute, until the garlic starts to turn golden. Add the onion and fry for a few seconds.

4

Fry the Vegetables

Add the carrot and green beans and stir-fry for 4 minutes.

5

Fry the Rice

Add the cold rice, break up any clumps and spread it out. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes, turning it now and then, until hot right through.

6

Season

Add the soy sauce, and the mirin if using, put the egg whites back and toss for 1 minute.

7

Serve with the Yolks

Divide between two plates, make a small dip in each and set two yolks in it. Sprinkle with nigella seeds and stir the yolks into the hot rice at the table.

Yum Yum Sauce

8

Make the Yum Yum Sauce

Whisk the mayonnaise, ketchup, sugar, paprika and garlic powder until smooth. Keep it in the fridge until you serve.

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Chef’s notes＋

• Use rice cooked the day before and chilled within an hour of cooking. Cold grains are firmer and stay whole in the pan.
• Keep the heat high and use a big pan, so the rice fries instead of steaming.
• The yolks stay raw. Use the freshest eggs you can get: British Lion eggs in the UK, pasteurised eggs in the US.
• Eat it straight away. Rice that has been cooked, chilled and fried should not be reheated again.
• The nutrition is for the rice with the yolks. A tablespoon of yum yum sauce adds about 80 kcal.

Nutrition per serving＋

548 kcalProtein 20.4 gCarbs 69.4 gFat 20.5 gSat fat 8.7 gFibre 3.4 gSugar 4.9 gSodium 1094 mgServing 416 g

Hibachi Fried Rice with Egg Yolk · https://chefsbinge.com/hibachi-fried-rice/

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Serving and Storing

Serve it straight from the pan with the yum yum sauce on the side. It is a meal on its own, and it also goes well next to grilled chicken, steak or prawns, the way it comes in a steakhouse. If you like Japanese food at home, try my Japanese potato curry or my onigirazu rice sandwiches.

Eat it straight away. The rice was cooked and chilled the day before, and frying it is its one reheat, so do not keep the leftovers to reheat again. Cook the rice, cool it within an hour and use it within a day. My Chinese fried rice with smoked tofu works the same way with leftover rice.

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FAQ for Hibachi Fried Rice

A Few Words from the Chef

My fried rice started as my own take on tamago kake gohan, and the hibachi way with butter and garlic suits it. Use the freshest eggs you can, and stir the yolks in while the rice is still hot. If you make it, tell me how it went in the comments. Itadakimasu!