Benihana Garlic Butter Recipe
Most Benihana garlic butter recipes online tell you to roast your garlic, add herbs, or throw in extra spices. The actual restaurant version uses three ingredients, and one of them is soy sauce.
I tracked down the exact product Benihana uses on their teppanyaki grills. It's a margarine called Sunglow European Style Butter Blend. They're not using it because it tastes better than real butter. The reason comes down to heat.
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Why This Garlic Butter Recipe Works
- Three ingredients, no extras. The restaurant version is raw garlic blended with soy sauce and folded into softened butter. You don't need to roast the garlic or add any herbs or spices.
- Soy sauce instead of salt. Most compound butter recipes use salt for seasoning. Benihana uses Kikkoman soy sauce, which adds umami alongside the salt. That's why their fried rice and grilled meats taste like... Benihana.
- Using real butter at home gives you better flavor. Benihana's teppanyaki grills hit 430°F. Margarine handles that temperature. Regular butter smokes at 302°F and would burn almost immediately at those temperatures. At home, you're working at much lower heat, so real unsalted butter is the way to go.
- No equipment needed for the home version. A knife and a container with a lid is all you need to make a smaller batch.
Ingredients You'll Need
Unsalted butter. The restaurant uses a margarine blend because of the extreme heat on their teppanyaki grills, but at home, real unsalted butter produces a better-tasting garlic butter. Let it sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours before you start.
Garlic. Fresh cloves, peeled, with the root end trimmed. For the home version, you'll use 6 to 8 cloves. The restaurant batch uses 15. You'll either make a garlic paste with your knife (home method) or blend the garlic in a food processor (restaurant method).
Kikkoman soy sauce. Benihana uses Kikkoman specifically. The soy sauce does double duty here: it seasons the butter and adds savoriness that plain salt doesn't provide. Two tablespoons for the home batch, a quarter cup for the restaurant batch.
How to Make Benihana Garlic Butter
This is the home version, which makes a smaller batch without any special equipment.
Step 1: Make the garlic paste. Peel 6 to 8 garlic cloves and trim the root ends. Finely chop the garlic by rocking your knife over it, then press down on the side of the blade and drag the tip across the chopped garlic. Keep chopping and dragging until you have a smooth paste.
Step 2: Combine garlic and soy sauce. Add the garlic paste and 2 tablespoons of Kikkoman soy sauce to a container with a tight-fitting lid. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds to a minute. You'll end up with a mixture very similar to the blended restaurant version.
Step 3: Fold into butter. Allow 3 sticks of unsalted butter to come to room temperature (1-2 hours). Using a whisk or spatula, slowly fold the garlic-soy mixture into the softened butter. Add a little at a time and make sure each addition is fully mixed in before adding more. When there's no liquid left at the bottom of the bowl, you're done.
For the restaurant-size batch: Use 6 sticks of butter, 15 cloves of garlic, and ¼ cup of Kikkoman soy sauce. Blend the garlic and soy sauce in a food processor or blender instead of making a paste by hand, then fold into the softened butter the same way.
Tips for the Best Benihana Garlic Butter
Room temperature butter matters. If the butter is too cold, the garlic-soy mixture won't incorporate evenly and you'll end up with pockets of liquid sitting at the bottom of the bowl. Give it a full 1-2 hours on the counter before you start.
Add the garlic-soy mixture in small amounts. Dumping the entire mixture into the butter at once makes it nearly impossible to get a smooth, even distribution. A spoonful at a time, fully mixed between each addition, is how the restaurant does it.
Kikkoman is the brand Benihana uses. Other soy sauces will work, but the flavor will be slightly different. Kikkoman has a specific salt-to-sweetness ratio that matches the restaurant version.
Storage
Keep the finished garlic butter in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to one week. For longer storage, freeze for up to six months. If you're freezing, portion it into tablespoon-sized amounts so you can pull out exactly what you need without thawing the whole batch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use salted butter for Benihana garlic butter?
You can, but reduce or skip the soy sauce to compensate. The soy sauce already provides the salt in this recipe, so using salted butter on top of that will likely make the finished garlic butter too salty.
Can I use pre-minced garlic from a jar?
It won't taste the same. Jarred minced garlic has a milder, slightly acidic flavor from the preserving liquid it sits in. Fresh garlic has a sharper, more pungent flavor that you can taste in the finished butter.
Do I need to use whipped butter?
No. Since this garlic butter gets melted when you use it, there's no advantage to starting with whipped butter. Regular unsalted butter works perfectly. If you happen to have whipped butter on hand, it'll work too.
More Benihana Recipes
- Benihana Fried Rice
- Benihana Hibachi Onion Soup
- Benihana Yakisoba
- Benihana Teriyaki Sauce
- Benihana Teriyaki Chicken
- Benihana Teriyaki Steak
- Benihana Spicy Teriyaki
- Hibachi Chicken
- Hibachi Steak
- Hibachi Shrimp
- Hibachi Vegetables
- Benihana Yum Yum Sauce
- Benihana Spicy Sauce
- Benihana Diablo Sauce
- Benihana Ginger Salad Dressing
- Benihana Mustard Dipping Sauce
- Benihana Ginger Dipping Sauce
- Banana Tempura
- Every Benihana Recipe (Complete Guide)
More Japanese Recipes
More Teriyaki Recipes
Recipe
Benihana Garlic Butter
Equipment
- 1 Whisk
- 1 Blender or food processor for restaurant-size batch only
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 3 sticks unsalted butter
- 6 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoon Japanese soy sauce Kikkoman
Instructions
- Peel 6 to 8 garlic cloves and trim the root ends. Finely chop the garlic by rocking your knife over it, then press down on the side of the blade and drag the tip across the chopped garlic. Keep chopping and dragging until you have a smooth paste.
- Add the garlic paste and Kikkoman soy sauce to a container with a tight-fitting lid. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds to 1 minute until well combined.
- Using a whisk or spatula, slowly fold the garlic-soy mixture into the softened butter. Add a small amount at a time, making sure each addition is fully incorporated before adding more.
- When there's no liquid remaining at the bottom of the bowl, transfer to a covered container. Refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 6 months.
