Delicate and savory, Chawanmushi is a classic Japanese steamed egg custard served in a cup. Learn how to make this appetizer for a true Japanese home cooking experience. Your guests will be impressed!
Chawanmushi is a Japanese egg custard appetizer which consists of ginkgo nuts, shiitake mushrooms, kamaboko (Japanese fish cake), and an egg mixture flavored with dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. The egg custard is steamed in a dainty little tea cup and often served as a cold or hot appetizer. With a lovely pale yellow and colorful toppings, it is as tasty as it looks.
Considered a classic appetizer, you will find Chawanmushi in the menu in many sushi or Japanese restaurants. There are many interesting variations and seasonal ingredients such as shrimp, fish, or veggies are often included. Because it’s highly customizable, this savory egg custard can be homey or fancy depending what goes into it. To get you started, I’ll be sharing a basic Chawanmushi recipe with chicken today.
The texture…
The steamed custard is smooth & silky, while the sweet savory meat and vegetables lend contrasting mouthfeel to the dish. And there’s juice from the broth, which makes each bite utterly satisfying and surprising.
The flavor…
You can expect a delicate yet complex flavor from a good cup of Chawanmushi. There is a balance of sweetness and saltiness from the different components. And the seasonings – dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sake attribute a umami taste, which is key to make a delicious custard.
For dashi, I highly recommend you use dashi packet or make it from scratch since that’s the soup base of this dish. However, you can follow this quick method with MSG-free instant dashi powder as well.
To serve Chawanmushi
Chawanmushi is typically served in small cup with lids. Otherwise, you can use ramekins, pretty little small bowls or oven proof mugs to prepare the steamed custard.
There is really nothing like a silky custard with a slightly sweet and savory broth topped with delicacies to soothe the hungry stomach while you wait for the main meal to be served. I hope you give this recipe a try because it is easy and practical to make at home.
We always like to eat chawanmushi with uni (sea urchin) and ikura (salmon roe) on top. It’s a little bit of a luxury and I can’t describe how delicious it is.
For more Chawanmushi recipes:
Before moving onto the recipe, I want to thank Amelia of Amelia’s De-ssert for the blog awards. Thank you Amelia!
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- 2 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 3 Tbsp water
- ½ cup dashi (click to learn more about this soup stock) (120 ml)
- ½ boneless skinless chicken thigh
- ½ Tbsp sake (for chicken)
- 1 large egg (50 g w/o shell)
- 6 slices carrot (thin round slices)
- 6 ginkgo nuts (pre-cooked; optional)
- 1 oz shimeji mushrooms (30 g)
- 6 slices Kamaboko (fish cake) (thin slices)
- 4 Mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (or 1 green onion/scallion)
- ½ tsp mirin
- ½ tsp soy sauce (Preferably use Usukuchi Soy Sauce (light color soy sauce so the egg mixture will not become too dark.)
- ¼ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- 2 pieces uni (sea urchin)
- 2 Tbsp Ikura (salmon roe)
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Gather all the ingredients. I use 2 chawanmushi cups (each can fill up to 200 ml). Please note that the size of the cups matters for cooking time. Also, do not choose thick cups as it takes a long time to cook through.
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In a small bowl, put 2 dried shiitake and 3 Tbsp water and rehydrate for 15 minutes. When shiitake becomes soft, squeeze water out and slice them thinly. Tip: This liquid is Shiitake Dashi. If you want to use this Shiitake Dashi as a part of your dashi in this recipe, remove 2 Tbsp from ½ cup dashi, and replace with 2 Tbsp Shiitake Dashi.
- Cut chicken thigh into ½-inch pieces and put them in a bowl. Add ½ Tbsp sake and set aside for 15 minutes.
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Cut out the carrot slices into a flower shape with vegetable cutters.
- Tie mitsuba like this.
- Whisk the egg in a medium bowl. Add the seasonings and ½ cup dashi. Mix well.
- Then strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve into another bowl.
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In a large pot, bring water to boil. The amount of water should cover ½ of chawanmushi cup. When boiling, reduce the heat to the lowest heat.
- Divide all the ingredients into 2 chawanmushi cups; I started with chicken, shiitake, ginkgo nuts, and shimeji. Then put more colorful ingredients like carrot, kamaboko, and mitsuba on top.
- Gently pour the egg mixture into the cups, keeping some ingredients on top uncovered with egg mixture. Cover with the chawanmushi lid (or cover with aluminum foil).
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Once the water starts boiling, reduce the heat to the lowest heat. Gently place the cups inside the hot water and cover the pot with the lid. Cook for 25-30 minutes on the lowest heat. If you do not add the chicken, the cooking time should only be 15-20 minutes. Insert a skewer in the center of the cup to check if the egg is done. Optionally, before serving, put uni (sea urchin) and ikura (salmon roe) on top.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Hi
I tried the recipe. But I have a problem – after steaming the egg, I find that the chawanshi taste more salty on the bottom of the cup than on the top. Seems like the soy Sauce did not blend well evenly? Can you share how can I avoid this problem?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Z! I made chawanmushi many times but I don’t have any problem with saltiness on the bottom. Maybe mix well until the liquid is all blended? If it bothers then maybe reduce the amount of soy sauce or salt. Or when you eat it, you can scoop from the bottom and mix chawanmushi gently so the flavor is more even. Hope this helps. 🙂
Hi! I always love your recipes 🙂 Can I ask where to get a cheap cup for steaming chawanmushi? Is it available at daiso? And is konbu available at daiso too? Cos I want to make dashi stock ^^
Could you make a video on how to make aijitsuke egg as well? Thanks! :))
Hi Elaine! Thank you so much for trying my recipes. 🙂
Yes, you can find the chawanmushi cups (usually they have a few designs) at Daiso. I had never paid attention to foods in Daiso, but I think they usually sell snacks and believe they don’t have konbu (I could be wrong). You can find konbu at Japanese/Korean or sometimes Chinese supermarkets. Hope you can find it.
About Ajituke Tamago, okay I’ll write it down on my list of requested recipes. Thank you! 🙂
This is my favorite dish to have when I’m in Tokyo. Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Diana! I hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
Hi Nami,
I made the chawanmushi and although it tasted great, the egg custard was not as smooth looking as yours. I was wondering if I should try steaming the egg custard the next time. Thanks, Darlene
Hi Darlene! You can steam it too if you have a steamer. My method works for everyone even without a steamer. From what you wrote, it sounds like the heat was strong. You need the LOWEST stetting. If you already tried with the lowest setting, you might want to turn off the heat as it looks like the heat was strong. But try with a steamer first. 🙂
Hi Nami,
Do you think it would be possible to use the steamer function on an Instant Pot to make Chawanmushi? I guess it might need a bit of experimentation to get the timing right.
Hi Alex! I think so! I haven’t done that before, but that’s a good idea… Let us know if your trial works! 🙂
Konnichiwa..
Nami san, would you make a video of Chawanmushi?
Thank you in advance.
Ps: Sorry for my bad english 🙂
Hi Krismiati! I’ll add to my list. 🙂 Your English is excellent! It’s my 2nd language too. 🙂
This recipe is absolutely amazing, Nami! I’ve been toying with the idea of making it because my husband ALWAYS orders this when we go to a Japanese restaurant. Him being Japanese, I was afraid I’d ruin it for him! Haha made this tonight and he asked for more! Another plus is that my mother in law approved!!! She said it was perfect! I’m so excited and my husband says he never has to order it from a restaurant again. Thank you so much for this! So delicious!
Hi Charity! Oh wow I’m so flattered and happy that your mother in law and husband approved of this recipe! Great job!!! I’m happy for you too! 😀 Try with seasonal ingredients – it’s much better than one in the restaurants as you can make your OWN version. 🙂
Hi Maya! From what you wrote, I believe your heat was a bit too strong or/and the cooking time was too long. Hope this helps!
Hi Nami,
Your suggestions were spot on. Ever since, I have been able to make it perfectly!
Yay! Thanks for your update! I’m so glad! 🙂
Video please. I think this pairs well with takikomi gohan (and maybe miso shiro) for a light meal.
Hi Li! Yeah that would be a perfect meal. I’ll think about adding video for this recipe one day. Thank you for your request!
It would be very helpful to know what size cup or ramekin is appropriate for this recipe.
Thank you so much.
Hi Anna! I just measured it and it can hold 3/4 cup liquid. With ingredients added to the cup, you will only need 1/4 to 1/2 cup liquid. Hope that helps!
Thank you, thank you. That is very helpful. Not many of us own chawanmushi vessels but most of us have something that will do the job. For me it was just a matter of knowing the size. .
Hi Anna! I should have written the info, and thank you for letting me know! xo Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Nami, I’ve made chawan mushi many times but the surface couldn’t be smooth like yours..What did I do wrong? I’ve tried steaming at very low heat as well, i’ve covered the cups with alumunium foil, but they still look ugly. Any suggestions?
Hi Fiona! Almost always it’s due to the strong heat. How about opening a small gap to release hot air a little bit? You need gentle heat to make Chawanmushi. Oh, how about cooking time? Do you think your cup is smaller and needs to cook less?
I tried this recipe today and it was delicious! But my chawanmushi had many holes and didn’t turn out as smooth as yours. I did use less fillings than you did (chicken, carrot, shiitake and naruto fishcake) and steamed it in a steamer on low heat. Any idea why mine had many holes?
Hi Jessica! Thank you for trying this recipe! From the description, it looks like the heat was too strong or cooked too long (due to less filling). You can either 1) lower the heat even more or 2) slightly open the steamer to let go some of the steam, so it’s not as hot. Holes are the indication of the egg being cooked too strong/overcooked.
Hi Nami,
I followed the recipe but the egg in the chawanmushi is very watery and didn’t form a custard, can you tell me what I did wrong please?
Casey
Hi Casey! The egg should be cooked if you add heat to it. Since you said “very watery”, I want to ask…
1) How big was your bowl? If it’s bigger than mine, it will take a long time to cook. Especially to get to the center of the mixture.
2) What was your method to steam this dish?
3) Did you use any frozen food that added to the egg mixture?
4) Any substitute or change of method?
It’s kind of impossible that egg didn’t cook after you cook, so I really want to know what has happened…
Hi Nami, thank you for your reply! I used ramekins for creme brûlée since I don’t have any small bowl. I think it’s too thick. I increased the heat and finished cooking the egg though! Didn’t look very pretty but tasted amazing, thank you for the recipe! 🙂
Hi Casey! Ohhhh I didn’t think of that as a reason. Really great point. I’m going to add that to my notes in the recipe. Thank you so much for your feedback!
Hello,
I was wondering, judging from the pictures, do you add the sea urchin and salmon roe as a garnish raw after the dish is steamed ?
Or do you steam it with everything else?
Hi Theophilus Ghoststone! Thank you for asking! It’s for topping only right before serving. I’ll add “Before serving,” to my sentence in the last step by step instruction. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. xoxo
Delicious! Tasted exactly like it was from a Japanese restaurant 🙂 I managed to steam them in my ramekins as well. It was a little watery for my liking- I prefer it more firm. Would add perhaps 1/3 cup of dashi instead of 1/2 next time! 🙂
Hi Gabby! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. 🙂 Hope the next one will be adjusted well. 🙂