Everyone needs a good one-pan meal in their back pocket. Something that can be whipped up with minimal effort, time, and cleanup. My favorite approach is usually to cook something that’s served over rice.
(Considering everything that you all know about myself and my family at this point, I suppose that doesn’t come as much of a surprise. WHAT? I LIKE RICE.)
One of the best “over rice” dishes you can make with just 9 ingredients is this Oyakodon, a Japanese rice bowl dish of chicken, steamed egg, and onions.
An Easy Japanese Dish
Similar to the gyudon recipe we posted a while back, oyakodon is flavored with mirin, soy sauce, and a bit of sugar. But instead of frying an egg in a separate pan and putting it over the top, beaten egg is poured over the simmering chicken and steamed right into the rest of the dish.
Actually, it’s also a very similar method to the one used in our Katsudon Recipe, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, because they’re in the same “family” of dishes.
The nice thing about Japanese Oyakodon, though, is that all you need to do is cut up a few chicken thighs (best friend to all of us cooks looking for convenience and ease) and add them directly to the pan. No breading or frying required!
The result is a luscious, flavorful, hearty dinner (Or lunch. Or…breakfast. Eggs, right?) that can be prepped and cooked in 30 minutes. It’s what I like to call a sweatpants & TV kind of meal.
Because that’s usually what I’m wearing/watching when I’m eating it.
Right, Oyakodon. Here’s how to make it!
Oyakodon: Recipe Instructions
In a non-stick frying pan or cast iron skillet over medium high heat, add the dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Bring to a boil.
Add the chicken, and simmer in the stock for 10 minutes.
Spread the sliced onion over the chicken and cook for 2 minutes.
Pour the beaten egg over the top, and simmer, covered for 2-3 minutes, until cooked but slightly runny.
Serve your Oyakodon over freshly steamed medium grain rice and garnish with chopped scallions. For the “full experience,” try making our miso soup to go with it!
Oyakodon (Japanese Chicken & Egg Rice Bowls)
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup dashi stock
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon mirin
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs (450g, cut into bite-sized pieces)
- 1 medium onion (thinly sliced)
- 2 large eggs (beaten)
- 2 1/2 cups Steamed medium grain rice
- 1 scallion (chopped)
Instructions
- In a non-stick frying pan or cast iron skillet over medium high heat, add the dashi stock, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Bring to a boil.
- Add the chicken, and simmer in the stock for 10 minutes. Spread the sliced onion over the chicken and cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour the beaten egg over the top, and simmer, covered for 2-3 minutes, until cooked but slightly runny.
- Serve over freshly steamed rice and garnish with chopped scallions.
nutrition facts
This is one of my favorite dishes to make and eat. It makes me want to work in a restaurant again. I add a little extra rice and put it on a plate instead of a bowl but I am converting myself slowly to the fully proper method.
I made this dish tonight and I made a few mistakes while making it but, overall it was pretty edible and I would really like to try again because, I love the idea of this recipe and also the ease of cooking it. Here are some of the things I noticed while making it/some of the problems I personally ran into as a user error – I don’t have dashi stock local to me nor did I think it was feasible to make it so, I ordered mushroom stock thinking that it would give it some of that correct flavoring, overall it was okay but, I think the flavor was a teeny bit too mild for what I think Oyakodon should taste like. Secondly, I think I made the chicken chunks way too big so they took longer to cook within the sauce mixture, while cooking I tried to add a bit more soy sauce and mirin to give it more flavor but, overall the final product still came out kind of bland. Are there any suggestions aside from next time making the pieces smaller to make this dish better. Perhaps next time I should spring for Amazon for dashi and plan ahead better. But, was generally curious if there was another alternative?
Hi Allegra, dashi is a pretty essential flavor. It comes in packaged granules that you can just add water to! Otherwise, I would just use chicken stock, which will keep the flavor a little more pure than mushroom stock.
Just want to say your website is simply fantastic. I cant wait to try more recipes.
Thank you so much, Tony! Glad you’re cooking with us!
I made this for the first time ever last night. Oh my! It was more delicious than anticipated! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful and easy recipe!
You’re welcome, karen! So glad you enjoyed it. :)
I used to eat oyakodon at least once a week in my last city. Haven’t found it on any menu in this one, and have really missed it.
Halved most of the recipe and used just the one thigh and it worked perfectly (just with some extra sauciness for the rice!)
Thanks for this one, will now have to trawl the rest of the blog for other recipes to try
Nice! You’re so welcome for the recipe, Felicity. Please let us know if you ever have a question about any of our recipes. :)