Furikake – Guide to Japanese Rice Seasoning (Sprinkles!)

Rice too bland? Never again.

Meet furikake – cheap and ready-to-eat Japanese seasoning blends for an instant level-up on your rice, eggs, fish, ramen, popcorn, sandwiches, or anything else, really. With the array of furikake available, you can always have the perfect seasoning on hand to make even the simplest meal an umami adventure.

You can buy pre-made furikake from convenience stores or make your own at home – either way, you get an affordable, flavorful, and healthy addition to any meal, without extra cooking.

Let’s sprinkle in some tasty furikake facts.

sprinkling furikake on top of steaming bowl of white rice — *sprinkling furikake on top of rice bowl*

What Does “Furikake” Mean?

The name is straightforward. “振り掛け” (furikake) means “sprinkle” in Japanese. You’ll understand why the moment you hold a bag of the stuff in your hand – it’s just so easy to sprinkle this dry condiment over a bowl of rice, cold soba, cup ramen, fried eggs, onigiri, baked potatoes, or anything else you’re eating.

multi-colored furikake with dehydrated egg, sesame seeds, and nori seaweed

Furikake – The Best Friend of Rice

Simply said, furikake is a dry condiment.

But it’s not just one thing, it comes in so many forms: furikake is a type of mix used to top rice (and many other things), but it comes in a wide variety of different flavor profiles and textures.

Understanding how furikake became such a large part of Japanese day-to-day eating is easy with a bit of historical background.
Sometime in the early 1920s, during a period of poverty in Japan, a pharmacist called Suekichi Yoshimaru addressed the widespread problem of malnourishment by creating Gohan no Tomo (御飯の友) – “Friend of Rice”. The mix was designed to provide essential nutrients like calcium and other minerals, and it contained ground fish bones, sesame and poppy seeds, and seaweed.
This was an affordable addition that made a simple bowl of white rice a more nourishing meal.

To this day, the idea stays the same: furikake is a simple addition sprinkled on top of rice, to make it tastier and more nutritious.
But today, there’s a type of furikake for everybody’s taste:

In its most basic form, furikake is a mix of sesame seeds, chopped seaweed, and some salt and sugar.
It may be even simpler: my personal favorite is made of ground leaves of a plant called shiso (red perilla) and salt.
Nowadays, new types of processed furikake show up on the market all the time – like the dehydrated egg or wasabi-flavored granules. There’s so much variety out there, you can never get bored of it.

wakame seaweed and mentaiko nori furikake on top of two onigiri — *wakame and mentaiko furikake on top of onigiri*

Is Japanese Furikake Healthy?

The very idea of furikake is supplementing nutrition with minerals. So yes, furikake is good for you. Depending on the ingredients, furikake can be a great source of calcium, iron, iodine, protein, and healthy fats.

Of course, as with everything else in life – moderation is important.

If you have high blood pressure, kidney issues, or other reasons not to consume salt, store-bought furikake may not be the best choice. Luckily, you can make your own furikake at home using very simple ingredients, and adapt the salt content to your dietary needs!

katsuobushi furikake sprinkled on top of steaming bowl of white rice

How to Use Furikake?

Basically, you sprinkle some furikake on top of your rice.

Japanese rice is quite tasty as-is, but furikake can make it a delicacy. For those of us without a regular supply of Japanese rice, furikake is a savior that makes any regular supermarket brand of rice a tasty, tasty meal.

But if you like furikake as much as I do, you’ll want to also try sprinkling it over: fish, fried eggs, popcorn, rice balls, soba noodles, or ramen. Or anything else, really. Furikake can level up almost any savory dish, but it goes especially well with neutral-tasting foods.

spoonful of katsuboshi furikake on top of steaming bowl of white rice — *katsuobushi furikake with sesame seeds and nori*

Types of Furikake

The sheer amount of furikake varieties is incredible, so I can only cover the classic types and ingredients of furikake:

gomashio furikake in dish and package — *gomashio furikake*

Sesame – Gomashio (ごま塩)

Japanese grandmas across the country swear by this simple recipe. Gomashio is the most basic furikake, and it’s often used on traditional rice dishes like onigiri or the celebratory red bean rice - sekihan.

It combines two ingredients – sesame (goma) and salt (shio). Crushed and lightly toasted, the sesame gives off a lovely aroma, and salt makes everything tastier. Sometimes, a bit of sugar or MSG powder is added to the mix.

Sesame is very common in furikake, and you can find it mixed with many other ingredients – the seaweed nori being a very common choice.

shiso furikake in dish and package — *shiso furikake*

Red Perilla – Shiso (紫蘇)

A distant relative of mint, shiso is an aromatic plant known for its deep purple-red color. Its potential for furikake goodness was discovered accidentally, as the tasty leaves are in fact – a byproduct of something completely unrelated.

The leaves are used to color umeboshi, Japanese pickled plums. During the pickling process the leaves get treated in the plum vinegar, they get a tasty umami flavor. After the process is finished, shiso leaves are dried and ground, giving us an incredibly tasty furikake that will color your rice pink!

Shiso furikake is also sometimes called by its branded name – Yukari – after an old and popular Mishima brand product.

Shiso often comes just salted, but it’s also mixed with other ingredients for a unique-tasting furikake. A mix of shiso, sesame seeds, and seaweeds like nori is a common and super tasty furikake mix.

katsuoboshi furikake with sesame seeds and nori on top of steaming bowl of white rice

Fishy Furikake

I found that many people ask Google “Is furikake fishy?”. Well if it contains fish, it certainly is!
But, I hope that by now we established that furikake is not a single thing, rather, it’s a category of condiments – so some furikake is very fishy, some slightly, and some not at all!

The fish most commonly found in furikake are:

Katsuobushi – or the Japanese bonito flakes, made of skipjack tuna. This is a super common addition to many Japanese meals, so we can safely say – it’s the taste of Japan.
Sea bream – known as Tai in Japanese. It’s considered a high-quality fish (so much so that taiyaki, a sweet treat, was made to imitate the noble fish’s shape) with a delicate flavor.
Salmon – or Sake. It’s often found as furikake of its own (without other ingredients) thanks to its unique flavor.
Chirimen – refers to tiny whitebait – baby fish, rich in calcium and protein. It may refer to baby anchovies, sardines, and herring, or a mixture of these.
Roe – fish roe is a specialty in many parts of the world, including Japan. Tarako, cod roe, is a particularly popular ingredient in furikake. It tastes like the sea – very salty, it has a strong briny, fishy, and even somewhat sweet flavor.

Seaweed

Nori is a seaweed often found in furikake, usually cut into short, thin strips.
You’re probably familiar with the umami goodness of nori – it’s the same type of seaweed used to wrap sushi. The usually dry and crinkly nori soaks in moisture quickly, so it becomes soft and chewy as soon as it touches cooked rice – creating a flavor explosion.

Nori is extremely common, but other types of seaweed are used in furikake too. You’ll find kombu seaweed, often re-used after cooking dashi broth; and wakame, a seaweed often used in soups and salads.

Dehydrated Ingredients

Today, we get to enjoy brand new flavors of furikake, mainly thanks to the advanced dehydration technology. Whether it’s eggs, wasabi, or all and any kind of vegetable, you can find a furikake with that flavor, shelf-stable and ready to enjoy.

sprinkling multi-colored furikake with dehydrated egg, dried seaweed, and sesame seeds on bowl of steaming bowl of white rice

Reinvent Flavors With Furikake Seasoning

Furikake exists in so many forms. From the simplest combo of sesame and salt to sophisticated mixes of seaweed, fish, and plants – there is a kind of furikake out there to suit every taste.

With so many ways to enrich your food with Japanese-style sprinkles furikake, you never have to eat bland food again. Sprinkle a bit over your rice, eggs, baked potatoes, cooked veggies, or anything else on the menu, and you’ll have yourself a delicious, healthy dish with a dash of Japanese flavor.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dunja Djuragic Dugandzic

Dunja believes simple, straightforward, a little cheeky, and very informative writing can change the world. From teenage years, her fascination with the Japanese way of life continues to grow - and so does her research. Since 2015, she writes content about Japan, travel, world cultures and heritage, crafts and art, printing technologies, and a variety of digital products.

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER

Eri Nakamura Kobe-Based Freelance Photographer Specializing in Culinary Art

With roots in Kyoto and training from the Japan Institute of Photography and Film, Eri has built a career capturing the beauty of food. Eri is passionate about creating images that make culinary creations shine, helping brands tell their story through stunning visuals.