A classic Japanese confection, Dorayaki is a honey pancake sandwich filled with sweet red bean paste called anko. It‘s a wildly popular snack and dessert among children and adults alike in Japan.
Dorayaki (どら焼き) is best described as a dessert with red bean filling between two slices of sweet fluffy pancakes. If you are familiar with Japanese cartoons from the ’70s, you probably know this dessert from the anime character Doraemon who is crazy about this snack and falls for any trap involving them.
Different Types of Dorayaki
Besides Doraemon, my entire family including my children and husband all love this snack. This traditional Japanese confectionery is most commonly filled with sweet azuki red bean paste called anko; however, custard cream (recipe), chestnuts (kuri), and cream (matcha cream, cream with fruits, etc) are also popular.
The soft moist honey pancake with sweet red bean filling goes perfectly with warm and slightly bitter Japanese green tea. I am drooling just thinking about these tasty pancake snacks.
Golden Brown Dorayaki Pancakes
For perfect golden brown pancakes, make sure to wipe off all excess oil on the frying pan’s surface. If you leave oil streaks on the pan, the pancakes will not turn into nice golden color without spots. Don’t worry if the first few don’t turn out perfect, just keep going and you’ll get the hang of it very quickly.
Most of the Japanese confectionery stores in Japan carry these traditional sweets. Here in the U.S., Japanese and Asian grocery stores carry packaged dorayaki. They taste good, but homemade ones are very easy to make and I hope you give this homemade recipe a try!
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Dorayaki (Japanese Red Bean Pancake)
Video
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell)
- 140 g sugar (⅔ cup + ½ Tbsp)
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour (plain flour) (weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1–2 Tbsp water (adjust to achieve the desired batter consistency)
- neutral oil (for greasing the pan)
- 1.1 lb sweet red bean paste (anko) (you can make Homemade Anko)
Instructions
- Before You Start: I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.Gather all the ingredients.
To Make the Batter
- In a large bowl, combine 4 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell), 140 g sugar (⅔ cup + ½ Tbsp), and 2 Tbsp honey. Whisk well until the mixture becomes fluffy.
- Sift 1⅓ cups all-purpose flour (plain flour) and 1 tsp baking powder into the bowl with the egg mixture and mix until combined. Put the bowl in the refrigerator to rest the batter for 15 minutes.
- After resting, the batter should be relaxed and slightly smoother. Now, stir in half of the 1–2 Tbsp water and check the consistency. It should be similar to pancake batter. Add more of the water, as needed, until you achieve the right consistency. Depending on the size of the eggs and how accurate your flour measurement is, the water amount may vary.
To Cook the Honey Pancakes
- Heat a large nonstick frying pan over the lowest heat setting for 5 minutes. It‘s best to take your time and heat the pan slowly. When it is thoroughly heated with no hot spots, increase the heat to medium low. Dip a paper towel in neutral oil and coat the bottom of the pan with oil. Then, use another paper towel to remove the oil completely. This is the key to evenly golden brown Dorayaki pancakes. With a ladle or a small measuring cup (I use a 4 Tbsp measuring cup), pour 3 Tbsp of the batter from 3 inches (8 cm) above the pan to create a pancake that‘s 3 inches (8 cm) in diameter. Cook one pancake at a time.
- When you see the surface of the batter starting to bubble, flip the pancake over and cook the other side. (With my stove and frying pan, it takes 1 minute and 15–30 seconds to cook one side and 20–30 seconds for the other side.) When done, transfer it to a plate and cover it with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out. Grease the pan between batches, as needed. Continue making the rest of the pancakes; you can make about 12 pancakes.
To Assemble the Dorayaki
- Assemble the Dorayaki by making sandwiches using two pancakes and a scoop of the 1.1 lb sweet red bean paste (anko) as filling. Put more red bean paste in the center of the pancakes so the sandwich‘s middle is thicker than the edges and the Dorayaki's overall shape is curved. Wrap the Dorayaki with plastic wrap until ready to serve.
To Store
- The leftovers can be wrapped in plastic and stored in a cool place for 2 days. They also can be put in a freezer bag and stored in the freezer for a month.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on October 28, 2011. The new post includes updated images and the new video.
How much does the flour weigh? Thanks so much
Hi, Joy! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe.
To use metric measurements, please check the Metric option at the top of the recipe card. It will appear. We hope this helps! 🤗
Hi! This looks delicious… do you have a recipe for gluten free? I’d love to try it!
Hi, Jennifer! Thank you for reading Nami’s post.
Many of our readers tested this recipe with Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free flour and said it turned out fantastic. We hope you’ll give it a try!😃
Very good recipe! I made this and it turned out well!
Hi Clover! Wow! Your Dorayaki looks so delicious!
Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.
We are very pleased with your outcome. 🥰
best dorayaki recipe. made it for my school festival and it was perfect ☺️
Hi Emi! Aww! We are so happy to hear Nami’s recipe helped make the best Dorayaki!
Thank you for trying her recipe and for your kind feedback. Happy Cooking!
I am going to try this recipe, it looks simple enough though being a novice cook I am unsure if I’ll be able to cook the pancakes on the first try. If I wanted to make matcha cream instead of using anko, do you have any suggestions how to make the cream?
Hi Julia! Thank you so much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Nami has a matcha cream recipe in this post. We hope you enjoy this.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/matcha-swiss-roll/
This recipe was perfection. I use this recipe to make a few dozen for the Japanese nursing home residence and staff. They couldn’t believe I made these! They thought it came from a store. The old Grandma’s we’re so happy and said that is impossible to buy good ones around here. (Seattle) I had to make 4 batches to finally get them right. The pan heat and the consistency of the batter is very important. And they cook fast so you can’t really walk away at all. To the people who can’t get them to Brown evenly, it’s just going to take patience, and lots of nuanced trial and error. Pancakes turned out beautiful golden brown, fluffy and moist! Thank you!!
Hello, KayD! Aww. We are overjoyed to hear Nami’s recipe worked perfectly for you and we’re glad everyone enjoyed it.☺️
Thank you so much for the kind words and for sharing your experience.
Happy Cooking!
found this recipe minutes after having eaten a overly sweet restaurant dorayaki , is there a way to make this less sweet can i reduce the honey content for the panckae batter ? already making slightly less sweet Anko
and yes i too found out about dorayaki from doremon,that cartoon is extremly popular with kids and many young adults in india.
Hi Manas, Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe.
Depending on how sweet you like it, the amount of honey can be reduced. So, feel free to reduce it, but don’t omit the sugar or honey for a good brown color.😉 We hope this helps!
I halved the recipe, reduced the amount of sugar, and used sweet adzuki bean paste as the filling. I paired it with Japanese green tea and it was a match made in heaven. The dorayakis were sweet, flavorful, moist, and totally delicious!
Hi Linh! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed homemade Dorayaki!
Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback. 😊
I followed this recipe with the largest batch and made really good doriyaki, now I just can’t make it. Made it again but the mixture was too eggy, did it today with the smallest batch to play it safe and my mixture is staying watery
Wait it’s my fault I did metrics wrong
Hello, Laura! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We’re glad you figured it out. Happy cooking!🙂