Garlicky and buttery, this simple Japanese Garlic Fried Rice topped with garlic chips is a dish I have cooked many times over the years as one of my go-to rice dishes. This fried rice recipe matches so well with a delicious side like succulent grilled shrimp.
Japanese Garlic Fried Rice, or what we call Garlic Rice (ガーリックライス) in Japan, reminds me of my college days when I used to cook this dish over and over. I craved comfort foods like this rice dish that was easy and quick to prepare, and super flavorful and delicious.
With a salad and meat, seafood, or other protein dishes on the side, it was a nice home-cooked meal that kept me healthy and kept me going on those long study nights. Now many years later, I’m still cooking this Japanese Garlic Fried Rice for my family and they love it as much as I do.
What’s in Japanese Garlic Fried Rice?
As the name suggests, the rice is stir-fried in garlic-flavored oil. What makes it uniquely Japanese? It’s the simplicity of the dish (i.e. not overpowered with seasonings), as well as the use of Japanese short-grain rice that is slightly stickier than other types of rice generally used in fried rice recipes.
Ingredients:
If you have been cooking Japanese recipes, you may have realized that the amount of garlic used in Japanese cooking is very small compared to other cuisines. One to two cloves of garlic is considered a “good” amount of garlic in Japanese dishes. So keep that in mind when you make this dish, especially if you’re used to using a lot of garlic in your cooking daily. It might not be “garlicky” enough for your taste so feel free to increase the amount of garlic to your liking. Just make sure it doesn’t overpower the side dish you plan to enjoy it with.
Besides garlic, other common ingredients in Japanese Garlic Fried Rice are butter and parsley. You can omit butter if you’re vegan, or use a substitute. If you don’t like parsley, you can replace it with scallions. Also, like other fried rice recipes, you can add fried eggs, but if you are going to serve this garlic rice as a side dish, I would recommend keeping it simple.
Seasonings:
The seasoning for Garlic Rice is usually just salt, black pepper, and a little drizzle of soy sauce. Remember that soy sauce is NOT to season the entire rice, but to add umami and char taste created from stir-frying in the hot frying pan.
What to Serve with Japanese Garlic Fried Rice
Garlic Fried Rice is really delicious on its own, but it’s often served with Yoshoku, a Japanese-style western meal. Here are my recipes on the blog that I sometimes serve Garlic Rice with:
- Hambagu (Japanese Hamburger Steak)
- Japanese Chicken Curry or another version with bone-in chicken
- Keema Curry
- Loco Moco
- Omurice (Omelette Rice)
- Pressure Cooker Seafood Curry
- Seafood Doria
- Sous Vide Japanese-style Steak
- White Stew
Wine Pairing with Japanese Fried Garlic Rice
We previously paired FEL’s pinot noir with our Waygu post, and it was really delicious so we were excited to try their 2015 FEL Chardonnay Anderson Valley. The Chardonnay didn’t disappoint and paired perfectly with the garlic fried rice and grilled shrimp.
As you smell the wine, it is refreshing, pure, with a hint of sweetness. You can already dream of how delicate the wine will taste. As you take the first sip, it feels like sipping peach juice on a warm sunny day, with flavors of melons and pear fruits. The mouthfeel is light, like drinking spring water and we love how it’s not syrupy and overly sweet. Finally, it finishes with a hint of citrus with no lingering aftertaste.
If you are looking for a bottle of white to pair with seafood, or to enjoy on a warm sunny day with friends, give this bottle a try.
Watch How to Make Japanese Garlic Fried Rice
Garlicky and buttery, this simple Japanese Garlic Fried Rice topped with garlic chips is full of flavors! You can enjoy this fried rice recipe with many dishes including grilled shrimp.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Japanese Garlic Fried Rice
Video
Ingredients
- 2 rice cooker cups uncooked Japanese short-grain rice (2 rice-cooker-cups (180 ml x 2 = 360 ml) yields roughly 4 servings (4 US cups); see how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, a pot over the stove, an instant pot, or a donabe)
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- ¼ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt) (or more for taste)
- freshly ground black pepper
- 3 stalks parsley
Grilled Shrimp Skewer (Optional – see below)
- 6 pieces shrimp (medium size)
- ½ Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp sake
- kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
To Prep
- Gather all the ingredients first.
- Cook the rice (stovetop, rice cooker, or Instant Pot). Transfer to a large bowl or baking sheet (more surface) and set aside uncovered to remove moisture. Roughly 60 minutes should be added to the total cook time. You can also reheat the frozen rice to save time as well.
- Cut half of the garlic cloves in thin rounds widthwise (so you see a hole in the center) and mince the other half.
- Remove the parsley leaves from the stems and mince them.
To Cook Garlic Fried Rice
- Add the olive oil to the large frying pan over medium-high heat (or medium heat on a professional stove). Slowly fry the thinly sliced garlic pieces until golden brown. If you add the garlic slices in hot oil, they would burn too fast and you may end up with burnt garlic slices. Transfer to a dish lined with paper towel and keep the garlic infused oil in the pan.
- Add the minced garlic in the same pan and stir fry until golden brown and fragrant.
- Add in butter and swirl around to coat the pan. Then add warm steamed rice. Cold rice would take too long to warm up and the garlic would get too dark (and may burn).
- Break the chunk of rice to separate. The Japanese short grain rice is stickier than other types of rice, so it’s normal that rice is stick to each other, but should not be in huge chunks. Once the garlic oil is coated with the rice, add the soy sauce and toss the fried rice.
- Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Taste the rice and make sure it is seasoned to your liking.
- Lastly add the chopped parsley and mix all together.
To Serve
- Put the garlic fried rice in a rice bowl, pressing gently to make sure there is no space in the bowl, and invert the rice on a serving plate.
To Make Grilled Shrimp Skewer (Optional)
- If you like to serve the garlic fried rice with grilled shrimp skewers, shell, and devein the shrimp. You can keep or remove the tail. Add sake and coat well with shrimp.
- Skewer 3 shrimp on each damp skewer without leaving spaces. Sprinkle kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Lay skewers flat on a greased cast iron pan (or regular frying pan). Cook the shrimp with the lid on about 2 minutes per side or just until cooked through and no longer transparent. Remove the shrimp from the grill and serve with garlic fried rice.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and in the freezer for a month.
Hey Nami,
Love your recipes! My family and I are big fans!
What do you recommend on how to prepare the rice? Do you use rice that has been cooked the day before? Do you recommend a certain brand? We have been eating the Tamanishiki brand for the past couple of years.
Thanks and cheers!
Brian
Hi Brian! Thank you so much! Tamanishiki is good, I used to eat that brand when I was in college too. Nowadays we have more choices, but I think it’s a good brand. I make it in a rice cooker. You “can” use a day old rice too, as the rice is more dehydrated and easier to separate the rice, and texture is less sticky. If you use a day old rice (and cold), make sure to warm up so the rice gets heat up fast in the frying pan. If you use cold rice, it takes to long to warm up, and meanwhile the garlic will burn.
Recipe looks great. I have a few questions: 1. Most fried rice recipes I have seen involve using rice refrigerated overnight. Would this help or hurt this recipe. 2. What kind of pan are you using? Does the design of the bottom with the little squares help? For fried rice I usually use a round bottom wok. Is the pan you are using a better choice? Thanks.
Hi Clarl! Thank you!
1) You can definitely use a day-old rice. Only suggestion I have is to make sure you warm up the rice before adding to the frying pan. If the rice is cold when you add to the pan, it takes forever to heat up the rice. If that happens, the garlic in the frying pan will burn by the time the rice is hot. Then it will be too bitter.
2) This one is non-stick by T-Fal. I could use my round bottom carbon steel wok too, but for the video it was too big and hard to shoot… so the largest frying pan that rice doesn’t stick is that one. Use your regular pan/wok that you use for making fried rice is great. You can make fried garlic in there too. 🙂
Tried out this recipe last night, so simple but so delicious!
Hi Chelsea! I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
Nami, this looks lovely! I love garlic but only eat it sparingly. Not a good dish with a date but a personal indulgence to enjoy! But then I pay the price later. Oh, well.
Having a Japanese mother, we ate fried rice a lot! Back in the mid to late 60s, it was common to use hotdogs, ham, and even Spam. I actually preferred just egg. She was creative and used leftovers sometimes. Peas would end up in there somehow and I hated peas. Peas are spherical and green and pleasant to look at but I didn’t like to eat them. They are more like “plate decorations.” I used to pick mine out and give them to my sister. One time, during the summer and school was out, my dad wouldn’t let me go outside to play unless I ate all the peas. I pushed them around on the plate for nearly an hour and he finally let me go outside. Just my memories from childhood. Omuraisu was like the same fried rice wrapped in egg. She never added ketchup to the rice but it was served at the table as a condiment. Thanks for not having peas in this recipe!:D
Hi Chieko! I think Japanese cooking involves almost no or 1-2 cloves garlic, at most so we don’t digest too well. Whenever I go to Taiwan, I always have issue with indigested garlic in my stomach. LOL.
Hahaha you’re welcome about the peas. Thank you for sharing your lovely memories and I really enjoyed your story!
Looks wonderful nice and simple too thanks. I was just curious what kind of a pan you are using it looks nice and non-stick even with the rice.
Hi Danielle! It’s a T-fal brand. You can see the link on http://www.justonecookbook.com/shop/ 🙂
Just a comment about Nihonjin and garlic of course I don’t know about every other parts of Japan. I was born and raised in Hokkaido and many of us use garlic in our cooking (not as much as Italians) and many in Yokohama as well probably from the Chinese influence.
Though from seeing the many Japanese cooking recipes on the web especially the ones written in English the majority of dishes are basic city food etc. Except for you and a few others most of these English speaking or offered in English food blogs are done by non Japanese or non Asian people who understandably only seem to know about dishes they saw on TV or had when in Osaka or Tokyo etc or most what most mainstream traditional Japanese restaurants offer . I only see the same 20 dishes online same goes Korean or Chinese it seems.
My point is many times a blogger will see things here in Japan and assume the entire country is the same way. Like the nonsense of how most westerners think we all eat KFC for Christmas etc.
Thank you for your feedback, Kazunori-san!
Wow this is so delicious! Thank you! Just one question – do you think vegetable oil is better for Japanese style cooking than olive oil? Many thanks
Hi Sam! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! It depends, good quality of extra virgin olive oil has a strong flavor to it, and if that doesn’t affect the dish (like this one), it’s okay. But I wouldn’t use olive oil to make… for example… Nikujaga or Oyakodon. 🙂
Hi there,
Firstly, thanks for your recipe. It looks awesome! I tried but i dont know why my japanese short grain rice became sticky after frying. 🥺. Could you share your thoughts?
Thanks!
Best Regards,
Cheng
Hi Sook! Japanese rice is sticky than other types of rice. And depending on the amount of water and the type/kind of rice, stickiness varies. Make sure to evaporate the moisture so it’s less sticky. If you have time, you can keep the rice in the fridge to make rice hard before frying. 🙂
Thanks for the excellent recipe! Had garlic fried rice for the first time in an izakaya (sadly not in Japan, but in Singapore, where I’m from) and didn’t know it was this easy to make. It went very well with your miso salmon!
Hi Enid! Awesome! So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you very much for your kind feedback. 🙂 xoxo
Hello,
I’d love to try your recipe out, but unfortunately, I cannot eat white rice. Is there a brown rice substitute I can use?
Thank you
Luba
Hi Luba! You can use brown rice for this recipe. 🙂
Just made this for lunch and it was amazing!! Thank you so much!
Hi Ralph! Thank you for trying this recipe! So happy to hear you enjoyed it and thanks for your kind feedback. xoxo
I made this for supper tonight, and it is a five ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ recipe! My husband is already asking when we’re having it again.
Hi Tammy! I’m so happy to hear your husband enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Just one quick question, when you transfer the rice to a baking sheet to help remove the moisture, how long do you leave it out uncovered? Thanks and can’t wait to try this recipe!! I’ve made many of your recipes previously and they were all great!
Hi Tony,
Roughly 60 minutes should be good. (Step 2) We hope you would like this dish!😊
What temp do you cook the garlic and rice at? I didn’t see it in the recipe or video but assuming low based on the flame from the stove?
Hi Adam!
Thank you for bringing this to our attention!
We rewrite the instruction; “Add the olive oil to the large frying pan over medium-high heat (or medium heat on a professional stove).”
Thank you! ☺️
Thanks for the quick response! I think I did medium heat to start with as a safe temp since that seems to be the most common temp setting for most fried rice settings.
Hi Adam! It’s our pleasure! We are glad to hear you start it with medium heat.
Thank you very much for trying this recipe. We hope you enjoyed this dish! 🙂
Nani, thank you.
I made this to Night for my family that spent 6years in tokyo.
It got a THUMBS up from all four of them.
Definitely a keeper.
Hi Betty, Thank you very much for trying this recipe! We are so happy to hear your family enjoyed this Fried Rice.😊