Homemade furikake, seasoned with miso and gochujang powder, fried garlic, bonito flakes, toasted sesame seeds, and nori seaweed.

One of the best things about furikake is how much flavor it can add to food. It is such a versatile seasoning with so much substance (and texture!) that can be sprinkled on rice, eggs, pasta, popcorn, congee, soups, or salads. The sky is the limit as long as you're willing to be creative.

This furikake recipe is quite easy, but it's definitely not a quick process. The miso/gochujang powder takes about 2.5 hours to dry out in the oven before you can use it. It makes about 2 cups but you can easily double it if you think you will be going through it quickly.

Since the drying process for the miso/gochujang powder takes quite a bit of time, I made this recipe to create double miso/gochujang powder than the recipe calls for so you can have extras to season your meats, create a second batch of furikake or sprinkle it as a seasoning on other foods. (Your oven is already on, you might as well right?)

Ingredients & Substitutions

Miso and Gochujang - these 2 ingredients are what will be the flavor bombs of this recipe. They provide a bulk of the savoriness as well as a lot of umami. You cannot substitute them out but you can use 1 or the other but I find using both gives this furikake a lot more flavor. Alternatively, you can also buy miso powder as well if you want to skip the process of making your own.
Bonito Flakes - bonito flakes give this seasoning a slightly smoky flavor. You can find this at any Asian grocery store or online.
Soy Sauce - I use soy sauce to coat the bonito flakes to give it additional umami flavor. It also provides a bit of savoriness as well.
Mirin - this is used to sweeten the furikake seasoning. If you cannot find this at an Asian grocery store or online, you can dissolve sugar into the soy sauce instead.
Sesame Seeds - sesame seeds will give everything a very nice nutty flavor, especially since they will be toasted.
Garlic - garlic adds additional flavor and aromatics.
Nori Seaweed - You can't have furikake without nori seaweed! 🙂

How To Make Furikake

Dry the Miso/Gochujang Paste Into Powder

To make the miso/gochujang paste, simply just mix the 2 pastes together in a bowl. It is very important that you spread the paste very thinly on parchment paper before drying it. It will reduce the drying time significantly. I spread mine 1 mm thick.
Using parchment paper to line the pan will help make it easier to remove the dried miso/gochujang paste once it has been dried.
Once you have the dried miso/gochujang paste broken up, blitz it into a fine powder in a food processor or blender. This recipe will make extra powder - use it to flavor anything that you would normally use salt on for an added umami flavor boost! 🙂

Toast the Rest of the Ingredients

Crisping up the rest of the ingredients was the easiest part. Just make sure you toast the garlic and sesame seeds during the second half of the toasting so they don't burn. The goal for this is to make everything 'candied' by drying out the soy sauce and mirin right onto the bonito flakes and then toasting everything to give it a bit more of a nutty flavor.
Once everything is candied and cooled, you should be able to easily crumble it with your fingers into even smaller pieces. If the ingredients still feel a bit wet to you after it has cooled, add it back onto the heat and dry it up for a few more minutes by toasting it.

Shred up the Seaweed

Rip the seaweed into small manageable sizes; stack them up into a pile; cut them into long strips ½ width in size and stack them up again, then cut them up into smaller pieces.

How To Store It

Store your furikake in an airtight container. Any moisture in the air will make it clump.

How To Use Furikake

You can sprinkle this on anything and it will taste fantastic!

Rice or Noodles - It can be sprinkled into a bowl of ramen, all sorts of rice dishes like our easy tuna mayo deopbap rice bowl, poke bowls, or over some pasta.
Protein - It can also be added to any delicate protein dishes like fish, scrambled eggs, omelettes, sunny side fried eggs, or sushi.
Soups and Salads - I love adding this to congee, tuna salads, our roasted garlic blue cheese pasta salad, any type of creamy soups like our garlic mushroom soup.
Snacks and Dips - This can be sprinkled over popcorn but you'll need to spray it with a bit of oil so that will stick to it. I also love sprinkling this on top snack dips, avocado toasts, and making cheeseballs with it!

Tips

If your furikake does clump together, it's also not a big deal you can easily break it apart by running a fork through it a few times or shake the container vigorously.
Add this to plain rice with some Kewpie Japanese mayonnaise for an easy meal.
If you want to make this more quickly, you can skip making your own powder and purchase miso powder.
For an umami boost, you can also add in some shiitake mushroom powder as well.

Recipes That Use Furikake

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Homemade Furikake Seasoning Recipe

Homemade furikake, seasoned with miso and gochujang powder, fried garlic, bonito flakes, toasted sesame seeds, and nori seaweed.

Ingredients & Substitutions