Lightly pan fried sticky rice makes a great gluten free bun alternative. There are so many uses for these. Nothing is off limits try everything from bun to cracker!
If you’re favorite part of fried rice are the crunchy pieces that come from the heat of the wok you’re in the right place. I’ll give credit where it is due. I did not come up with this idea on the fly. I was making hamburgers one night and my boyfriend came into the kitchen to be nosy help. I honestly was going to make it a kitchen sink kind of night and had pulled out all the leftovers to the counter to figure out what exactly I was going to make. He happened to see a bowl of rice and must think I dabble in some type of kitchen witchcraft because he asked if I would be making buns with the rice. My only possible response was that I had to now.
I threw on my kitchen thinking cap and dug through my drawers full of gadgets to bring you these delicious little crispy buns. The recipe below is just for the buns themselves. But there are so many different things you could do with them that I couldn’t let you guys go without offering up some suggestions.
First you have to decide do you want a thin or a thick bun? Thick buns (about 1/2-1 inch thick) have a nice crispy textured outside with a soft sticky inside. Thin buns (about 1/4-1/2 inch thick) are crispy all the way through almost with the texture of a cracker.
Second you get to decide what to put in between! Some of my favorite ideas are:
- Pulled chicken & spinach (top with a sunny side up egg for some deliciousness) (pictured thick bun, minus the egg)
- Teriyaki shrimp with carrot slaw (pictured, thin bun)
- Beef burger with all the trimmings
- Open faced spread with hummus/avocado top with bacon/tomato (thin style bun)
What will you use these rice buns for? Comment below to let me know! Don’t forget to follow my social channels and subscribe for exclusive content just for you.


- 1 cup sushi rice, prepared according to directions and chilled overnight
- 1-2 tbsp oil
- Using a ring mold (or cookie cutter, I used 2 3/8 in. for thick and 2 13/16 in. for thin but anything round will work) on a piece of parchment paper take roughly 1/4 cup rice and press it firmly into the ring mold. Rice will stick to fingers, keep a small bowl of water near by.
- Gently push rice out of ring mold. Continue making buns until all the rice has been used.
- In a medium fry pan heat 1 tbsp oil. Once hot, working in batches, gently peel rice buns from freezer paper and place into pan. They should sizzle immediately.
- Cook buns 2-4 minutes per side until crispy and golden brown. (If pan dries out between batches add 1 tbsp more oil as necessary)
- Make the buns however thick or thin you'd like. I'd recommend not going below 1/4 inch because it can be hard to get the buns to hold their shape without cracking.
I’m not easily imspesred but you’ve done it with that posting.