Sometimes there’s nothing better than just a warm bowl of rice. It’ll usually be on a chilly, rainy day, and I’ll just get hit with that carb-craving of either rice or pasta, and nothing will do until I have a steaming bowl of either in my hands. And, of course, I love taking recipes and healthifying them using whatever tricks I can, which is how this vegan fried rice recipe was born.

It all started with a hibachi grill. I love learning how my favorite foods are made, so I always watch the hibachi chefs with a fierce concentration, sometimes even asking them what they’re using in their recipe. Through many visits to the Japanese grill, I finally nailed down the ingredients to their hibachi rice – white rice, oil, minced garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and sake. While I love the classic, short-grain Japanese white sticky rice, it has little to no nutritional merit. But through research I discovered that brown rice is actually the same grain as white rice, just with the outer hull kept on, making it a whole grain. This outer hull is what provides the brown rice with so much fiber, making it more satiating and nutritious than white rice. Brown rice is also a great source of Vitamins B1, B3, and B6, in addition to containing minerals like iron and magnesium. So it was a no-brainer to replace the white rice in the recipe with brown rice. Everything else I pretty much kept the same, except the sake (of which I didn’t have any). The result was an awesomely delicious, decently healthy, and pretty accurate copycat recipe of hibachi rice!!

This bowl of rice is super satisfying and is wayyy better than takeout (in my humble opinion). I hope you all love it as much as I do!!

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A Healthier Take on Vegan Fried Rice

This better-than-takeout vegan fried rice is healthified using brown rice and minimal oil, but doesn’t skimp on the taste!

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

The Rice

• 1 1/2 Cups Long-Grain Brown Rice
• 3 Cups Water
• Drizzle of Olive Oil

The Mix-Ins

• 3 Large Cloves Garlic about 1 1/2 tbs, minced
• 2 Tbs Neutral Oil like coconut or grapeseed
• 1 1/2 Tbs Shoyu or Tamari soy sauce
• 1/2 Tsp Dried Ground Ginger
• 2 Tbs Sesame Seeds I used black and white
• Shichimi Togarashi optional but recommended

Instructions

• Start by cooking the rice. Bring the rice, olive oil, and 3 cups water to boil together. Then, reduce to a simmer and cook for about 20-30 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed.
• Note – the cooking time may vary depending on the type of rice you use. When in doubt, follow the package directions.
• When the rice is done cooking, let rest in the pot for about 10-15 minutes. This ensures that all of the water is absorbed.
• Next, bring the neutral oil to medium-low heat in a pot (I used the same pot that I used to cook the rice, just wiped down a bit). Add in minced garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until the garlic becomes fragrant. Be careful not to let garlic brown!!
• Once garlic is fragrant, add in the rice and stir well. Then add in soy sauce, powdered ginger, and sesame seeds (and shichimi togarashi if using). Mix well and sauté for about 2-3 minutes.
• When done, serve rice in bowls and garnish with more sesame seeds.
• Enjoy!