Oyakodon Recipe: How to Make an Egg and Chicken Rice Bowl
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Oct 14, 2024 • 2 min read
In Japan, oyakodon is a foolproof, one-pot comfort food that combines the best of a basic Japanese pantry and comes together in under an hour.
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What Is Oyakodon?
Oyakodon is a Japanese dish consisting of chicken, eggs, and veggies cooked together in a stock made from dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sake, served atop a portion of rice. The dish is a type of Japanese donburi, or rice bowl, like gyudon and katsudon, which was first popularized in Tokyo in the late nineteenth century. Oyakodon is known colloquially as the “parent-and-child” rice bowl since the dish features chicken and eggs cooked together in a sweet and savory broth.
3 Tips for Making Oyakodon
This Japanese chicken and egg rice bowl is renowned for its delicious simplicity. Here are a few extra steps to refine the process:
- 1. Use homemade dashi. If you can, whip up a batch of homemade dashi by simmering a sheet of kombu (dried kelp) in some water beforehand. It’s an extra step, but it allows another level of depth: If you want to imbue your oyakodon with an extra boost of umami flavor, add dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi) to make awase dashi, or hoshi-shiitake dashi, made by simmering dried shiitake mushrooms.
- 2. Slice the chicken. The beauty of oyakodon lies in how quickly it cooks. Slicing the chicken thighs into thinner cutlets will ensure a fast, thorough cook and results in meat that’s already in perfect bite-sized pieces.
- 3. Personalize with garnishes. Oyakodon is usually served over fresh, steamed rice and finished with an assortment of condiments, like mitsuba, a variant of Japanese parsley, or shichimi togarashi, a seven-spice seasoning that you can find in most Asian grocery stores.
Oyakodon Recipe
makes
prep time
10 mintotal time
25 mincook time
15 minIngredients
- 1
Combine dashi, mirin, sake, and soy sauce in a glass measuring cup, and whisk well to incorporate. Use chopsticks to whisk the eggs in a small bowl.
- 2
In a large sauté or frying pan with a lid, combine the sliced onion and dashi sauce over medium-high heat. Cook until the onions begin to soften, about 4 minutes.
- 3
Nestle the chicken among the onions and bring the liquid to a boil. Lower to a rolling simmer, and cook, turning the chicken occasionally to coat evenly in the sauce, about 5 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked.
- 4
Add the beaten egg to the pan in a slow, steady stream, evenly distributing it around the pan. Reduce the heat and cover. Cook until the eggs are just set; they should look a bit custardy.
- 5
Remove the lid, add half the sliced scallions, and slide the pan’s contents over one large bowl of rice, or individual portions.
- 6
Garnish with remaining scallions and, for an extra rich texture, an extra egg yolk.
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