How to Make Japanese Fried Rice (Yakimeshi) At Home
Yakimeshi is the Japanese take on fried rice. It is a stir-fried dish consisting of rice, finely chopped meat, vegetables, and eggs and is seasoned with soy sauce and chicken stock powder.
Yakimeshi is a common home-cooked dish for Japanese people because it can come together quite quickly and is leftover friendly. Since Japanese people cook and consume rice on a daily basis, they tend to always have cooked rice on hand. With the addition of leftover meat and vegetables in the refrigerator, a tasty yakimeshi can be prepared in almost no time, making it the perfect dish for weeknights or busy people.
Yakimeshi also often appears on the menus of Chinese restaurants in Japan. It can be ordered as a main dish, but it is also common for it to appear as a side dish for Chinese ramen or in a set menu with other dishes such as karaage and Chinese-style soup.
In this recipe, we’re going to use bacon, but you can use other proteins such as chashu, sausage, chicken, shrimp, tofu, or even leave it out. For vegetables, we’ll use carrots and green onions, but other common ingredients in yakimeshi are shiitake mushrooms and green peas. Alternatively, you can use any other vegetable you see fit.
Now, we would like to introduce our simple egg-Yakimeshi recipe that is often eaten in Japanese homes. We hope you’ll enjoy our recipe and try it out for yourself!
Overview
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Total time: 20 mins
Total servings: 3
Difficulty: Easy
Ingredients
- 500g Cooked Rice
- 1-2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
- 150g Bacon
- 40g Green Onions
- Half of a medium sized carrot
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Tbsp Chicken Stock Powder
- 1 Tbsp Oyster Soy Sauce
- Salt, to taste
- Black Pepper, to taste
Expert's Tip
Soy sauce and oyster sauce are typical sauces used for seasoning fried rice. This sauce from Asamurasaki is a hybrid of soy sauce and oyster sauce, meaning that you won't need to whip out two sauces when you want to make fried rice. This sauce also contains mirin and dashi to give it more of a Japanese flair. It's the perfect sauce to use whenever you're making Japanese fried rice or other stir-fried dishes.
Instructions
1) Gathering the Ingredients
Gather all of the ingredients together.
If using leftover cold rice, reheat it in the microwave until it is slightly lukewarm. Using freshly cooked rice is also okay.
2) Preparing the Ingredients Before Stir-frying
Chop the bacon, carrots, and green onions into fine pieces. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and beat them thoroughly.
3) Frying the Bacon and Vegetables
Add the cooking oil in a large fry pan and heat it over medium-high heat. Fry the bacon and vegetables together for a few minutes and lightly season with salt and pepper.
4) Frying the Eggs
Once the bacon has gotten some color and the vegetables are slightly softened, create a well in the center of the pan for the eggs.
Add a bit of oil to the center of the pan, and then pour in the beaten eggs. Scramble the eggs around until they are mostly cooked and then begin to incorporate them into the bacon and vegetables.
5) Adding the Rice
Once the eggs are combined with the bacon and vegetables, add in the rice and mix to combine. Make sure that there are no lumps of rice and that it is evenly distributed throughout the pan.
6) Seasoning the Yakimeshi
Now, season the yakimeshi with the chicken stock powder and oyster soy sauce. If you don't have oyster soy sauce, you can also use a combination of soy sauce and oyster sauce. Once seasoned, it's done! Pack yakimeshi into a small bowl, place a plate over it, and then flip the bowl over the plate to serve yakimeshi like how its served in restaurants!
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