16 Best Furikake Rice Seasonings in Japan

Have you tasted Japanese furikake seasoning?
It dramatically upgrade a bowl of rice or onigiri (rice balls).

Actually, there are numerous types of furikake. Some of you might be wondering what is the best furikake in Japan.

Here, I would like to introduce the list of the best furikake!

If you are interested in what exactly is furikake seasoning, please check here.
What Is Furikake Seasoning and How Is It Used?

1. Egg and Nori

It’s made from egg-flavored granules and shredded nori (seaweed laver). I think most Japanese people have eaten once in their life. I believe it has been very popular since egg dishes always match with white rice.

2. Yukari (Red Shiso)

It’s made from red shiso (red perilla), salt, and sugar. Therefore, its color is beautiful dark purple. The flavor is very refreshing, and a little sour taste matches so well with rice.

3. Gomashio (Salt and Black Sesame)

The salt is granules, and mixed with black sesame. It matches with rice, furthermore, people often eat this with sekihan (rice boiled with red beans).

4. Sukiyaki

This is furikake with the image of sukiyaki (Japanese beef hot pot). The main ingredients are beef-flavored granules and egg-flavored granules. The sweet-salty taste of sukiyaki furikake absolutely makes you feel as if you are eating real sukiyaki.

5. Hon-katsuo (Bonito)

It’s made from bonito-flavored granules and nori. Putting dried bonito shavings and soy sauce on rice is very common way to eat. Therefore, furikake that can reproduce great bonito flavor has been very popular as well.

6. Ajidoraku

This is very similar to (5) hon-katsuo. The difference is that ajidoraku contains egg-flavored granules in addition to bonito-flavored granules. Also, it seems like you can feel more sesame flavor in it. On the other hand, (5) hon-katsuo seems like you can feel the taste of bonito more strongly.

7. Salmon

It’s made from salmon-flavored granules. You can feel delicious flavor of salmon and sweetness. Salmon furikake can be both soft and crunchy depending on the manufacturers.

8. Vegetable

It’s made from various types of vegetable, for example, carrot, daikon leaf, spinach, kabocha squash, etc.
It also contains some fish powder, kombu powder, and various seasonings. You can take vitamins with delicious taste at the same time.

9. Ground Chicken / Beef

Flavored ground meat is called “soboro” in Japanese. There are various types of furikake that are made with chicken soboro or beef soboro. These types of furikake usually have sweet-salty taste made from soy sauce based sauce. Moreover, egg-flavored granules are added especially when it’s chicken soboro furikake.

10. Cod Roe

It’s made from cod roe-flavored granules. You can feel great flavor of cod roe as if you are eating real cod roe.
If the package says “tarako”, it should be non-spicy version. If it says “mentaiko”, it could be spicy cod roe flavor.

11. Green Leafy Vegetable

The raw material for this depends on the manufacturers. For example, it’s made from mizuna greens, daikon leaf, and nozawana. It also contains salt, sugar, and kombu powder, etc to make it more tasty.
Furthermore, green leaf with shirasu (baby sardines) furikake is very common too. Shirasu and a little salty green leaf are the perfect combination.

12. Curry

It’s made from curry-flavored granules. Since there are so many kinds of curry in Japan, curry furikake is so diverse as well. For instance, there are different levels of pungency, and there is Thai curry version too.

13. Wasabi

It’s made from wasabi-flavored granules and nori. Have you known that some people like to eat rice topped with grated wasabi? Actually, you can experience that with this furikake. It tastes pungent, but really delicious.

14. Chirimen-sansho (Dried Baby Sardines with Sansho Pepper)

It’s made by simmering dried baby sardines and Japanese sansho pepper in soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar. Crunchy texture of dried sardines is nice, and refreshing flavor of sansho pepper matches so well with sweet-salty taste. There are both granules type and raw type of it.

15. Crispy Plum

It’s made from crispy plum with some other ingredients. It’s mixed with red shiso, hijiki (seaweed), baby sardines or green vegetables depending on the manufacturers. You can enjoy the crispy texture of plum with salty taste.

16. Wakame

Wakame is extremely popular ingredient for furikake. It could be not only the main ingredient, but also combined with various types of other ingredients. For instance, there are furikake made from wakame + salmon, wakame + baby sardines, and wakame + shiso plum. In Japan, making rice balls (onigiri) with wakame is very popular.

How was the 16 best Japanese furikake? Which flavor do you like?

I think you can get most of those furikake at Asian or Japanese stores near you.

So, please try some of these if you have a chance!