Pepper Lunch is my go-to food court food when in Asia. It’s such a simple food concept, but it’s so irresistibly delicious. Whether it’s the fish or beef topping, it’s always a comforting treat and hits the spot. Inspired by the famous Japanese fast-casual restaurant chain Pepper Lunch, this Pepper Lunch Beef Pepper Rice recipe brings you the same bold flavours and comforting textures using a regular pan, making it an easy and affordable meal you can whip up in under 20 minutes. Once you try it, you’ll be making this on repeat.
What is Pepper Lunch
Pepper Lunch is an incredibly popular Japanese casual-dining / fast-food brand known for its “Sizzle It Your Way” concept, with numerous branches across Asia and beyond. Originally founded in Japan in 1994, Pepper Lunch became famous for serving DIY teppanyaki-style meals on a superheated iron plate with a sauce, where diners mix and cook the meat directly at the table. The result is an incredibly fragrant, slightly crispy, and deeply savoury dish that makes Pepper Lunch so well-loved in the East. The signature Beef Pepper Rice is the brand’s most iconic dish, featuring thinly sliced beef, rice, sweet corn, a generous hit of black pepper, butter, and a lip-smacking honey garlic soy sauce. It’s rich, it’s buttery, and it’s addictively delicious.
Why You’d Love This Beef Pepper Lunch Recipe
Amazing flavours aside, this Pepper Lunch copycat recipe takes less than 20 minutes to whip up with the simplest pantry ingredients. If you’re in need of an easy, quick, no-fuss weeknight dinner recipe, this is the one.
How to Make Pepper Lunch’s Beef Pepper Rice at Home Using a Regular Pan
Ingredients You Need
- Light Soy Sauce
- Oyster Sauce
- Garlic
- Black Pepper – ideally coarse black pepper (see recipe notes)
- Honey
- Sesame Oil
- Thinly sliced Beef – I use frozen hot pot beef slices
- Cooked Jasmine Rice / Japanese Rice
- Sweet Corn
- Spring Onions
- Butter
- Cooking Oil
Recipe Notes & Cooking Tips
- A cast-iron pan would replicate the best flavours, but you can totally just use your regular pan for this recipe.
- Coarse black pepper delivers a better flavour punch and sharpness compared to ground pepper.
- Using short-grain rice such as Japanese rice or Jasmine rice is essential for the recipe. They offer a slightly sticky texture that clings beautifully to the sauce in a way that long-grain rice couldn’t.
- You can use day-old rice for this recipe if you like. Using leftover rice would yield a more fried rice-like texture.
- To avoid the dish from turning soggy, only add half the sauce to the pan at the beginning. You can always add more sauce after everything is cooked properly.
- Not in the mood for beef? Why not try using salmon slices, chicken, or even tofu instead!
Discover more Japanese-inspired Recipes
Viral Japanese Cream Fried Sando
Easy Garlic Clam Miso Noodle Soup
Pepper Lunch Beef Pepper Rice Recipe (Japanese Sizzling Rice)
Ingredients
Ingredients for the Sauce
- 3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce
- 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
- 1 tsp Coarse Black Pepper
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 1½ tbsp Honey
- ½ tsp Sesame Oil
- 1 cup Japanese Rice / Jasmine Rice cooked
- 90 g Thinly sliced Beef
- ¼-½ Onion finely sliced
- ⅓ cup Sweet Corn
- 2 sprigs Spring Onions
- ½-1 tbsp Butter optional
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together soy sauce, oyster sauce, honey, sesame oil, minced garlic, and black pepper. Set aside.3 tbsp Light Soy Sauce, 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce, 1 tsp Coarse Black Pepper, 3 cloves Garlic, 1½ tbsp Honey, ½ tsp Sesame Oil
- Heat the pan over medium-high heat. Add a small drizzle of cooking oil to the pan and add the sliced onions.¼-½ Onion
- Saute the onions for 1-2 minutes, then flip a bowl of rice at the centre of the pan over the bed of onions.1 cup Japanese Rice / Jasmine Rice
- Add the beef slices around the rice, then top with sweet corn and spring onions.90 g Thinly sliced Beef, ⅓ cup Sweet Corn, 2 sprigs Spring Onions
- Drizzle half the sauce into the pan and add butter on top of the rice.½-1 tbsp Butter
- Toss everything together in the hot pan, allowing the beef to cook through and the butter to melt into the rice.
- Let the rice sit against the hot pan for about 30 seconds to create slightly crispy, caramelised bits at the bottom.
- Once the beef is fully cooked and everything is well combined, serve hot straight from the pan with the remaining sauce.
Notes
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