Soboro Don (そぼろ丼) is an easy and delicious Japanese rice bowl with seasoned ground chicken and scrambled eggs. It’s easily one of my favorite bento lunch menus growing up!
The sweet-savory flavor of tender chicken and eggs that get mixed in with steamed rice score big on the comfort level. And what’s not to love when you can put a meal together in just 30 minutes? That’s the virtue of rice bowls! Simple, fast, and well-thought-out, you can never go wrong with it.
What Does Soboro Mean?
The Japanese word Soboro (そぼろ) refers to ground meat, fish, or eggs that are cooked into fine, crumbled pieces.
Often served over steamed rice and eaten together, you’ll find soboro donburi (そぼろ丼ぶり, or don for short, meaning rice bowl dish) and soboro bento (そぼろ弁当) on the menu in Japan.
Ground chicken is the most commonly used protein for this dish, so we call it tori soboro (鶏そぼろ), literally “chicken ground.”
If you happen to dine at a yakitori restaurant where they serve grilled skewers of different parts of the chicken, try their soboro don. It always tastes the best as yakitori restaurants usually have the freshest and high-quality chicken.
Ingredients for Ground Chicken Bowl
- Ground chicken
- Eggs
- Seasonings: sugar, salt, mirin, sake, and soy sauce
- Steamed rice
- Blanched green vegetables — I used green peas, but you can also use spinach, green beans, okra, or snow peas.
How to Make the Best Soboro Don
- Cook the chicken: Place ground chicken and all the seasonings in a saucepan or frying pan. Cook the chicken until no longer pink.
- Cook the egg: Cook scrambled eggs in a saucepan or frying pan.
- Serve the steamed rice in the bowl, then put seasoned ground chicken, eggs, and green vegetables over the rice.
4 Important Cooking Tips to Remember
- Use a saucepan instead of a frying pan. I used to use a non-stick frying pan to make this dish but I found it it’s more effective when I cook in a smaller saucepan. You can stir the chopsticks a bit more vigorously, which allows the eggs or ground chicken to break into even smaller bits.
- Use multiple pairs of long (cooking) chopsticks. Have you tried scrambling your eggs using chopsticks? That’s how we make soboro (cooked ground meat) in Japan! Hold at least 3 pairs of long chopsticks and move them vigorously to jostle the eggs into fine scrambles. Do the same for the ground chicken!
- You don’t need cooking oil. To make soboro, we do not use cooking oil for both eggs and ground meat. Just place the ingredients directly into the saucepan and start cooking! An aluminum pan or yukihira nabe (above) is a bit difficult to wash the residual egg attached to the saucepan. Use a stainless steel or non-stick coating pot so it’s easier to clean.
- Cook on medium-low heat. We always cook the eggs or ground chicken over medium-low heat. Slowly and gently cook while you stir vigorously with chopsticks. This is how you make fine scrambled eggs and Cook on medium-low heat. We always cook the eggs or ground chicken over medium-low heat. Slowly and gently cook while you stir vigorously with chopsticks. This is how you make nice scrambled eggs and ground chicken. Scrambled eggs should not be chunky, and chicken should be well-seasoned, so take your time to make this dish.
FAQs
Why do you sweeten eggs and chicken?
In Japanese cooking, you’ll find that it’s a common practice to season the eggs and meat with some sugar. The reason we do that is to bring out the flavors of the ingredients, especially when we prepare food that we enjoy at room temperature. The use of sugar also helps to balance the savory seasoning, so you’d achieve full umami for the meal.
Since soboro is served with bland steamed rice, the flavor of the dish would come from the well-seasoned eggs and meat.
You can choose to leave out the sugar or reduce the amount to suit your taste. But if you plan on packing soboro don into a lunch box, don’t skimp on the seasonings. Foods served at room temperature require stronger seasonings to attain the flavors.
How about other protein choices besides chicken?
You can definitely use ground pork or beef (or ground turkey). For creative variations, you can finely chop shrimp or crumble firm tofu, too!
If you’re stumped on what to make for dinner tonight, you can count on soboro don for a quicker-than-take-out option. It packs beautifully for your bento lunch box too!
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Soboro Don (Ground Chicken Bowl)
Ingredients
For the Soboro Chicken
For the Scrambled Eggs
- 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell)
- 1 Tbsp sugar (see Notes for why we add sugar)
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For Serving
- 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- 2 Tbsp green peas (cooked)
- pickled red ginger (optional)
Instructions
- Before You Start: Make sure you have 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice ready. If not, start cooking it now, as it will take about 1 hour from rinsing and soaking to cooking and steaming. See my guide on how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe. Now, gather all the ingredients and prepare 3 pairs of long cooking chopsticks and 2 saucepans (see Notes for why we use them—even though the mixture may stick).
To Cook the Soboro Chicken
- Grate the ginger (I use a ceramic grater). Measure 1 inch ginger (grated, with juice).
- DO NOT turn on the heat yet. In a medium saucepan, combine the grated ginger with juice, ½ lb ground chicken, 1 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp mirin, 1–1½ Tbsp sugar, and 2½ Tbsp soy sauce. Mix the chicken with the seasonings using 3 pairs of long cooking chopsticks, breaking up the ground meat into smaller bits.
- Now, TURN ON the heat to medium-low and cook the ground chicken, stirring constantly, until it is no longer pink.
- As it cooks, the chicken will release its juices. Continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. Turn off the heat and set it aside.
To Cook the Scrambled Eggs
- DO NOT turn on the heat yet. In a medium saucepan, combine 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell), 1 Tbsp sugar, and ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Using 3 clean pairs of long cooking chopsticks, beat well until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Now, TURN ON the heat to medium-low. Cook the egg mixture, stirring constantly, to loosen and lift the cooked egg from the bottom and sides of the saucepan.
- Break up any large curds into small, fine pieces as you stir. Continue cooking until eggs are soft, fluffy, and no longer runny. Be careful not to overcook. Once done, remove from the heat and set aside.
To Assemble
- Serve 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice in individual donburi bowls. Spoon the ground chicken over half of the steamed rice and the scrambled eggs on the other half. I line up 2 Tbsp green peas down the middle. Garnish with pickled red ginger on top, if you'd like.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days or in the freezer for a month.
Notes
- Ground chicken: Use any ground meat you like, such as beef, pork, or turkey. You can also finely chop chicken thigh or a mix of breast and thigh with a knife or pulse it in a food processor until minced.
- Soy sauce: Use tamari or gluten-free soy sauce if you need a gluten-free option.
- Mirin: If you don’t have mirin, substitute with 1 Tbsp sake (or water) + 1 tsp sugar for every 1 Tbsp mirin. The flavor won’t be exactly same, but it’s close alternative.
- Sake: Substitute dry sherry, Chinese rice wine, or simply use water.
- Sugar: In Soboro Don, the scrambled eggs are meant to be slightly sweet. The sugar balances the savory soy-seasoned chicken and creates that classic sweet-and-savory contrast that Japanese donburi dishes are known for. That said, taste is personal. If you prefer a less sweet flavor, reduce the sugar or skip it altogether. The dish will still be delicious!
- Cooked Japanese short-grain white rice: A typical donburi serving uses about 1⅔ cups (250 g) of cooked rice per bowl. For two servings, you’ll need about 3⅓ cups (500 g). If you make 2 rice cooker cups (1½ cups / 300 g) of uncooked short grain rice, you should have enough.
- Saucepans: We use a saucepan (traditionally an aluminum yukihira nabe) because its deep, rounded sides make it easy to stir continuously and scrape from every angle. The shape keeps the ingredients contained while you break them into fine crumbles with chopsticks. It’s normal for some bits to stick to the pan. As you scrape them up, they naturally break into smaller crumbs—that’s actually the key to creating the delicate, fluffy soboro texture. See the Q&A above for how to clean the saucepans.
Nutrition
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Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on April 11, 2011. The pictures and content have been updated and the recipe has been slightly revised on June 21, 2022.