This quick one-pan recipe featuring chicken, egg, and onions in a savory dashi-based broth is as easy to cook as it is comforting.
One parent and child bowl, coming right up.
The Chef
Even though the dish features just a handful of ingredients and is quick to prepare, it does have some pitfalls. For one, you should use a small pan that can fit just about one layer of onions, which is barely covered after adding all the broth. Also, don’t make more than two servings in one pan, as the timings will be messed up with an overcrowded pan, and the dish will come out too wet.
There is a special pan just for this dish called “Oyako Nabe”. It features a vertical handle, and its size is meant for exactly one serving, so you can slide it right onto a bowl of rice. You don’t need one to make Oyakodon at home by any means. Just about any smaller nonstick or carbon steel pan should work, for example.
On the flip side, it’s an easy mistake to leave the dish to simmer for too long. You don’t want chicken to be undercooked, after all. Be careful not to overcook the egg and not to evaporate most of the broth. There should be enough broth in the end to yield a few spoons worth, and the egg yolk should still be very runny. The ideal end result is a juicy bowl with all the rice soaked in broth and egg as you mix it up while eating. That being said, the taste will still be great either way, so don’t stress about it too much. One cheat code to guarantee some runny egg is to add a raw egg yolk at the very end, so I included it in the recipe.
Togarashi can give this otherwise pretty uniform dish a nice kick. I personally add a lot from the get-go, and sprinkle on some more as I eat. (If you can’t find any, plain chili flakes should be an okay replacement.)
Oyakodon
Equipment
- 1 Oyakodon pan or regular small to mid-sized pan
Ingredients
For the stock
- some dashi powder enough for the amount of water
- 200 ml water
Seasonings
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin
- 2 tsp sugar
For the bowl
- 1 tbsp sake
- 400 g chicken legs or breast no bones or skin
- 100 g onions peeled
- 1 cup Japanese short-grain rice uncooked
- 4 eggs
- 2 sprigs green onions or mitsuba
- some togarashi spice mix
Instructions
Prepare the ingredients
- Cut the chicken into bite-sized squares (2-3 cm) and mix it with the sake in a bowl. Let it marinade while preparing the rest.
- Wash the rice and pop it into the rice cooker.
- Prepare the dashi broth according to instructions on the dashi packet.
- Mix all the seasoning ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cut the onion(s) in half and then slice into thin wedges.
- Thinly slice green onions. If using mitsuba, chop the sprigs into ~1cm long pieces.
- Separate one egg yolk for each bowl and set aside. Put the whites from those eggs into a mid-sized bowl.(This is optional. I like adding the yolks raw at the very end. You can also simply mix all eggs together in the next step and add all of it while cooking.)
- Crack the remaining eggs into the bowl with the egg whites. Lightly mix using chopsticks or a fork. Break the yolks and whites and keep going for a few seconds, but don't overmix.
Cook
- The following assumes you are using a regular small to mid-sized pan. If making more a larger amount of servings, you should split them into (no more than) 2 servings at a time in one pan.If using an Oyakodon pan, servings should be prepared individually.
- Put the pan on a stove without turning it on.
- Add onion slices and distribute evenly. Your pan is the right size for the amount you're cooking if the onions just about fill the pan in a single layer.
- Stir the seasoning mixture into the dashi broth and pour into the pan. It should be 100ml per serving in the pan and just about cover the onions.
- Turn on the heat to medium and bring it to a simmer.
- Add the chicken in an even layer on top of the onions.
- Let it simmer uncovered for about 2-3 minutes without stirring.
- Stir now to flip the chicken and let simmer for 2-3 longer until the chicken is no longer pink on either side.
- Drizzle the egg mixture into the pan, distributing evenly. If you didn't reserve an yolks for the end, hold back some egg mixture now and pour it in later, right before removing the pan from the heat.
- Sprinkle with mitsuba (or green onion) and keep simmering.
- Take the pan off the stove. The egg on top should still be runny. (If you don't like it too raw, keep simmering for however long you prefer.)
- Distribute the rice to the bowls, then slide the chicken and egg mixture on top.
- Pour the remaining sauce from the pan over the bowls to your liking.
- If you reserved an egg yolk, make a little hole in the middle and add it there.
- Sprinkle with some togarashi and serve!
