Oyakodon is a Japanese one bowl rice dish. Steamed white rice is topped with a combination of onions, chicken and softly cooked eggs that’s been simmered in a broth of dashi, sake, mirin and soy sauce.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Table of contents
Scroll down for the YouTube video.
Oyakodon is a Japanese one bowl rice dish. Steamed white rice is topped with a combination of onions, chicken and softly cooked eggs that’s been simmered in a broth of dashi, sake, mirin and soy sauce. Simple, rustic, but so, so satisfying.
“Oyako” means mother and child, a reference to the egg and chicken that tops the rice, while “don” is short for donburi, which means bowl in Japanese.
There are many other donburi dishes, here are just some examples:
Katsudon – breaded pork cutlets (tonkatsu) on rice
Gyudon – beef (gyuniku) on rice
Kaisendon – seafood on rice
Unadon – grilled eel on rice
Perfect as a quick fix lunch but can also be the star for your Japanese menu!
I find it easier to cook one portion at a time as you can then just tip all the contents of the pan onto your rice. However, there is no reason why you can’t divide it up over a few bowls if you have a few mouths to feed. Just double, triple, whatever, the ingredients here.
Cooking Oyakodon at Home
Dashi
Dashi is Japanese for stock, and is the mainstay of many Japanese soups, sauces and a host of other dishes. Dashi is so easy to make from scratch that after reading this, you’ll never reach for a sachet or ready made version – ever! Click here for our various dashi recipes.
Shichimi Togarashi
Togarashi is not only the Japanese word for chilli (pepper), but it also encompasses a range of mixes that have chilli as a main ingredient. In Japanese, the word shichi (or nana) means 7, depending on the context and where the speaker happens to be from.
So Shichimi Togarashi refers to a spice mix or condiment that has 7 different ingredients in it, heavy on the chilli. This should be found easily online, in large supermarkets and specialist Japanese stores. Or click here for our homemade recipe.
Shall we get cooking?
If you like the recipe and article, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood
Lin xx
Oyakodon – Japanese Chicken and Egg over Rice
Ingredients
- 100 g chicken thigh meat off the bone
- 125 ml dashi or light chicken stock
- 1 Tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp mirin
- 1 tsp sake or rice wine or dry sherry
- 1 small onion halved, then sliced thinly
- 2 eggs slightly beaten
To serve
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1 spring onion scallion, sliced as in the image
Instructions
- Heat a frying pan over medium high heat and pour in the dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sake and bring to a gentle boil.
- Add the onions and cook for about a minute.
- Add the chicken, stir and simmer on low heat, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked, about 5-10 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken.
- Pour the beaten egg all over the chicken, don’t stir, cook it, covered for 1-2 minutes, until the egg is set. I prefer mine a little on the runny side still. If you want a fully cooked egg, go for 1 more minute.
- Fluff up the rice and dish it up into a bowl.
- Tip the chicken and egg mix onto your rice, top with spring onions and serve immediately. Sprinkle with some togarashi schichimi or crushed nori, if you like.
Looks so easy and delicious too dear. Save it to try it later. Thank you for this recipe and the knowledge about japanese food❤
Thank you Rose.
very nice and good helpful information
Thank you.