Soy sauce and butter rice may sound like something a starving college student would whip up, but in Japan, butter rice is a deliciously addictive comfort food beloved by people of all ages. Known locally as butter shoyu gohan (バター醤油ご飯), this dish effortlessly turns a humble bowl of white rice into a luxuriously flavorful meal. Making it is as simple as nestling a generous pat of butter into hot fluffy rice and allowing it to soften before drizzling on umami-packed soy sauce. It’s the perfect easy Japanese recipe to reach for when your pantry is empty, yet you’re craving something irresistibly comforting.
- Why My Recipe Works
- Ingredients
- How to Make Butter Rice
- Serve it With
- 📖 Recipe
- Comments
Why My Recipe Works
- The combination of butter and soy sauce adds richness and savory umami to plain white rice, transforming it into a decadent meal in seconds.
- By reheating stale rice with a pat of butter, you can breathe new life into the grains, making them moist and delicious once again.
- You can create endless variations by topping Japanese butter rice with ingredients like scallions, toasted sesame seeds, furikake , etc.
Ingredients
- Japanese Short-Grain Rice - With its sticky texture and mild sweetness, short-grain rice is the key to the key to this decadent dish. Check out my tutorial on how to cook Japanese rice for everything you need to know to select and cook this staple. If you want to make this a little healthier this butter rice recipe also works with brown rice. I don’t recommend using long-grain white rice like basmati, but I do like making this with more flavorful cultivars like Riceberry or Jasmine rice.
- Butter - The richness of butter transforms plain rice into something luxurious and deeply satisfying. I recommend cultured butter because the fermentation process boosts the level of diacetyl in it, which is the compound responsible for making butter taste buttery. If you use unsalted butter you’ll want to add a little more soy sauce.
- Soy Sauce - Soy sauce contributes salty umami, and because the dish is simple, I recommend using a high-quality dark soy sauce for the best flavor.
How to Make Butter Rice
Making this Japanese butter rice recipe is simple, but there are a few important points. First, you want to start with a piping hot bowl, straight from the rice cooker. If it’s been a while since the rice finished cooking or if you’re using leftover rice, no worries! Just top the rice with a pat of butter and microwave for about a minute or until the butter melts and the grains are steaming hot.
If you’re starting with freshly cooked rice, nestle a generous pat of butter on top and let it soften for a minute. You can also bury it in the rice to speed this up. Once the butter has softened, swirl a generous drizzle of soy sauce onto the rice before stirring the mixture together. You want to ensure each grain is coated with the silky emulsion of butter and soy sauce.
This recipe is incredibly versatile, so feel free to customize your rice by sprinkling on toppings like nori, katsuobushi, chopped scallions, toasted sesame seeds, or even a fried egg.
Serve it With
If you’d like to turn this into a more balanced meal, I recommend serving this butter rice with vegetables. Simple side dishes like Kinpira Gobo , a sweet-savory stir-fry made from crunchy burdock root and carrots, or Spinach Goma-ae , featuring tender blanched spinach tossed with nutty ground sesame seeds, are perfect. For a lighter, refreshing option, pair it with Tsukemono , Japanese pickled vegetables, which offer a crunchy, palate-cleansing contrast. And if you’re looking to dial up the comfort even more, a steaming bowl of Miso Soup is always a winning choice.
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients1x2x3x
- 170 grams cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- 1 ½ tablespoons butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Make sure your rice is steaming hot. Heat the rice up in a microwave oven if it’s not freshly cooked.
- Nestle 1 ½ tablespoons butter on top of 170 grams cooked Japanese short-grain rice and let it soften for about a minute. You can also bury the butter in the rice to speed this up.
- Drizzle the butter rice with 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce and stir until the butter and soy sauce are evenly distributed.
Nutrition Facts
Japanese Soy Sauce Butter Rice
Ingredients
- 170 grams cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- 1 ½ tablespoons butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
Instructions
- Make sure your rice is steaming hot. Heat the rice up in a microwave oven if it’s not freshly cooked.
- Nestle 1 ½ tablespoons butter on top of 170 grams cooked Japanese short-grain rice and let it soften for about a minute. You can also bury the butter in the rice to speed this up. 170 grams cooked Japanese short-grain rice, 1 ½ tablespoons butter
- Drizzle the butter rice with 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce and stir until the butter and soy sauce are evenly distributed. 1 ½ teaspoons soy sauce
