Best Copycat Benihana Japanese Chicken Rice

"If you've ever been to Benihana you will know that one of the highlights is the Chicken Rice they serve. It is tasty and served right after their onion soup. I enjoy eating 1/2 the rice as an appetizer while waiting for my food to be cooked. I have read several recipes and have found an ingredient that makes this recipe more authentic. Hope you enjoy."
 
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photo by Chef Simply Delish photo by Chef Simply Delish
photo by Chef Simply Delish
Ready In:
1hr 5mins
Ingredients:
15
Serves:
6
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ingredients

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directions

  • The rice could be pre-cooked the night before and stored in fridge or cook the rice using package directions -- Note: double the water per each cup of uncooked rice. For this recipe you would use 4 cups of water and 2 cups of uncooked rice, pinch of salt and once you bring it to a boil, turn the heat down and cook for 20 minutes covered. You must spread the rice out after it is cooked in a shallow pan and cool it off in the fridge (or freezer if you have room). Needs to be at room temperature or cooler.
  • Make your garlic and butter compound. Put softened butter in a bowl large enough to allow you to mix the garlic into the butter. Needs to be well blended. Use a potato masher to mash the butter or use a hand mixer if you wish. Peel garlic by hitting each clove with the side of a knife being careful and keep sharp end of knife away from you. It is now easy to peel and you will do this with both cloves (or 1 if you want less of a garlic flavor) and then finely mince. After garlic is minced you will use the side of the knife and run the side of the blade in each direction to mash the garlic. You want to make a paste out of the garlic. Add the garlic to the butter and mix really well. Keep the bowl on the counter ready for use.
  • Wash and dry your chicken breast and cube it into small bite size pieces.
  • Dice your onion. Thinly cut the greens on the green onion.
  • Scramble the eggs in a frying pan with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Then cut the cooked eggs into small pieces and put aside.
  • In a large frying pan or a wok add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil and cook the onion on medium heat for 5 minutes stirring often. You just want it soft and don't burn it. Now add your cubed chicken and stir often. You don't want to burn the chicken but a little color is fine. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Cook chicken about 5-7 minutes on medium heat. It will cook fast because it is cubed small. Add 1 tablespoon of the garlic butter compound. Add the peas, carrots, and green onions. Cook for 5 minutes or until just tender. (you can taste a carrot to test for desired taste) Do not overcook. Stir often. Leave in pan.
  • Add 2 tablespoons of garlic butter compound and add the rice a handful at a time. Carefully stir everything together and keep adding rice until all the rice is added and well mixed together. At this time add 1 more tablespoons of the garlic butter compound. Cook rice for 5-7 minutes stirring often. Add the cooked eggs, stir well carefully. Now add your soy sauce. Mix well to distribute evenly. Add remaining salt and pepper to taste.
  • If you wish to add the toasted sesame seeds do so now and stir and serve. Since we used sesame oil in the recipe the seeds are optional.

Questions & Replies

  1. What is specific kind of rice you buy for this?
     
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Reviews

  1. My family loved this recipe. It was easy to make and just delicious. Thank you for the detailed instructions.
     
  2. Oh my goodness! Fantastic. The only thing I found is that 4 cups of rice was way too much for the 2 of us, but hey, we have dinner tomorrow night! I used shrimp instead of the chicken, it is just divine. I also used 4 eggs. Have saved to favorites and will eventually make with chicken. Thank you!
     
  3. I've tried and failed at making chicken fried rice more times than I can count. I had a craving today and searched for the "best Benihana chicken fried rice" and this recipe came up. I was scared, but went for it based on the reviews. I'm SOOOOOOO glad I did! Fantastic flavor, easy to follow recipe. I used chicken thighs instead of breasts (personal preference) and it came out fabulous. Thank you for putting this recipe together. It will become my go-to!
     
  4. I have the original benihana chicken fried rice recipe this isnt even close to it. Good try though..
     
  5. Definitely a really close match to the real recipe. I used an extra clove of garlic and added 2 tsp of lemon juice to the garlic butter. I would recommend making a little more garlic butter than asked for. Delicious and great!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I was looking for a way to use up some Easter ham and wanted to make some fried rice. This recipe worked great! I had everything on hand except the peas and I subbed the ham for the chicken. I only used one clove of garlic, next time I will use the two you initially suggested. Thanks for posting, the garlic butter definitely puts this one over the top.
     

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