The Ultimate Guide to Kirimochi
Have questions about kirimochi? This kirimochi guide in my “ultimate guide” series will tell you everything you need to know. You’ll learn what kirimochi is, when it’s used, where to find kirimochi, and how to use kirimochi in recipes. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
What is Kirimochi?
Kirimochi is a shelf stable mochi. Like fresh mochi, it is made only with glutinous rice. In other words, there is no added sugar, and it is NOT sweet, as most Americans mistakenly believe mochi to be. It comes in a rectangle shape and wrapped individually in plastic. When you take it out of the package, it feels like a hard brick; you have to cook it to soften it up. Because kirimochi is shelf stable, it lasts for a long time unopened. I make sure to always keep a bag in my pantry.
When Do People Eat Kirimochi?
People eat kirimochi year round, BUT you probably will see it the most around New Years. During the New Year, Japanese people often put up a decoration called kagami mochi. You might have seen this at Japanese stores before – it consists of two mochi on top of each other with a small orange at the very top. Traditionally, the kagami mochi is placed at an altar in the home as an offering for gods. After the New Year, you break the mochi and eat it. Obviously, many people don’t love the idea of eating food that’s been sitting out in the open for days, and these days it’s common to find plastic kagami mochi molds when January gets close. I’ve even seen them at Daiso! The plastic molds usually come with kirimochi inside, so you can still do your kagami biraki (the mochi breaking and eating).
Where Can I Buy Kirimochi?
Around New Year’s Day, our local Japanese market has bags of kirimochi all over the store in special displays. Any other time, though, you can find bags of kirimochi usually in the rice aisle. I’ve also been told that HMart has kirimochi as well.
If you don’t have any Asian markets near you, you can find kirimochi on Amazon. However, it is very expensive online.
Recipes to Use Kirimochi
So what do you cook with kirimochi? TONS of things! Recipes with kirimochi range from very common Japanese snacks and dishes to more wild Asian American mochi fusions. Take a look below for some kirimochi inspiration.
Yakimochi
My favorite way to cook kirimochi is to make yakimochi. See my Ultimate Yakimochi Guide for FIVE different yakimochi toppings and more yakimochi information.
Zenzai
You can cook kirimochi to make yakimochi as a snack eaten by itself, OR you can use the yakimochi as a component in another dish. Zenzai is a Japanese red bean soup that is topped with yakimochi.
Chikara Udon
Another way to use yakimochi is to use it as a topping for udon in chikara udon! Rice cake on top of chewy noodles is kind of heavy for me, so I don’t eat it that often.
Oden
Mochi is a common ingredient in the fishcake hotpot known as Oden. Kirimochi gets wrapped in an age pouch and boiled with the other ingredients. But to be honest, I usually buy these prepackaged instead of making them myself.
Ozoni
If you don’t have access to fresh mochi on New Year’s Day, you can use kirimochi for your ozoni soup.
Grilled Mochi Skewers
I mentioned this in my Ultimate Yakimochi post, but I love to savory mochi skewers. This is definitely getting into the Asian American side of kirimochi. I slice mine thin, microwave them, then skewer them along with pork belly and shishito peppers.
Arare
Arare is the name for Japanese rice crackers. If you cut your kirimochi into super small bite size pieces and then bake or air fry them, they will puff up into crunchy little rice puffs! Season these puffs, and you’ve got arare! I’ve got a recipe currently in development.
Mochi Chips?
I haven’t done this myself, but I saw a viral video of someone shaving kirimochi into super thin slices and then cooking them until they’re super crispy and curly. Maybe mochi nachos should be on my “future recipes” list?
That’s all I have for this Ultimate Guide, but I’m sure there are many other ways to use kirimochi. Did I miss one of your favorite kirimochi recipes? Let me know in the comments below!
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Can I make kirimochi at home using glutinous rice flour and water and a steamer? Once it is steamed, does it need to be kneaded to make it stretchy before it’s cut into pieces? I can’t find this information anywhere. There’s always a second step of adding sugar and cooking it in a saucepan, which I don’t want to do. I want to make the same product that is purchased in the store using the glutinous rice flour. Help??
Hi Deborah, anything made from glutinous rice flour would not be considered “mochi,” as mochi (including kirimochi) is only made from pounded rice. There is no sugar in kirimochi. I have many other desserts that use glutinous rice flour, though, so please feel free to browse through those and maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for!
While Americans would consider it to be mochi it technically isn’t. It doesn’t have the same flavor or texture when made with glutinous rice flour. It’s more gummie than chewy and it’s flavor is lacking that of the mild rice flavor you getting of traditional or kirimochi. Honestly I use that flour for making fried foods and gravy instead of using it for making mochi
We were gifted with some prepackaged presealed kiri mochi squares a couple of years ago and had no idea what it was or how to prep and eat. Threw it in the freezer planning to find out mire about it. Is it still good?
We were gifted with some prepackaged presealed kiri mochi squares a couple of years ago and had no idea what it was or how to prep and eat. Threw it in the freezer planning to find out more about it. Is it still good?
Depends on what the expiration date on the package was. Could still be good if the expiration isn’t more than 6 months ago but honestly if it was me I wouldn’t risk it. Just get a fresh bag of the mochi to work with.
As long as it’s not moldy or completely dried out, it’s probably fine. Actually, even if it’s dried out, you can break it into small pieces and deep fry it to make crackers. I’d let it come to room temperature first before trying to cook it!
You can get various Japanese ingredients including Kirimochi on Nijiya Market at shop.nijiya.com at a fair price of $13 for 1kg package. That’s two pounds of mochi. Buying from Amazon is what stupid people do especially since they sell it for between $20-$40 for 1kg and there is a chance it’s already hit the expiration date.
thank you! i made a vegetarian oden for the first time (not great unfortunately) and had 7 lonely ones left and so we fried them and drizzled maple syrup over then dipped in the tamari/sugar mixture. YUM!