Japanese savory pancake topped with cabbage, green onion, bean sprout, noodles, and sliced pork belly, this Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki is an absolute treat you can tackle at home. Watch the video tutorial for step-by-step instructions!
Have you tried okonomiyaki before? It’s a Japanese savory pancake that contains a variety of ingredients. “Okonomi” in Japanese means “as you like”, so it’s a savory pancake that contains whatever ingredients you want. Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki (広島風お好み焼き) is a type of Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) from Hiroshima, Japan.
Watch How to Make Hiroshima-Style Okonomiyaki
Okonomiyaki from Hiroshima – Delicious and easy Japanese crepe topped with cabbage, green onion, bean sprout, noodles, and sliced pork belly.
Osaka-Style Okonomiyaki (picture below; recipe here) includes batter, which is made of flour and water or dashi, shredded cabbage, egg, and green onion along with the protein of your choice, such as pork belly slices or seafood.
Hiroshima-Style Okonomiyaki uses almost the same ingredients, but they are layered rather than mixed in with the batter like Osaka style. Not only that, fried egg and yakisoba noodles (or sometimes udon noodles) are used as toppings.
Which one is tastier? Well, that’s up to your preference. If you like fried noodles and less doughy texture, Hiroshima okonomiyaki is definitely your choice.
I like both styles of okonomiyaki, so it’d be very hard for me to pick just one! At home, I just cook them alternatively.
The best part of both Hiroshima and Osaka style okonomiyaki for me is the Okonomi Sauce (お好みソース). Originally, Worcestershire sauce was used but throughout the years the flavor has evolved to current flavor. It has sweet and sour flavor that’s slightly different from Tonkatsu Sauce and it’s so delicious!
By the way, when you are in Hiroshima and order “okonomiyaki”, this layered okonomiyaki with noodles and fried egg come to the table instead of Osaka style okonomiyaki. Hiroshima style okonomiyaki has been around since 1950s. At that time, the country was quite poor and people only used a little bit of flour and vegetable to make Hiroshima okonomiyaki. The current Hiroshima Okonomiyaki with meat, egg, and noodles is a version that has evolved throughout the years. Now there are over 2,000 okonomiyaki specialized restaurants within Hiroshima area.
I’ve made a video tutorial on how to make Hiroshima Okonomiyaki! It’ll help you visually what the whole process looks like and it’s very easy to make (Flipping requires some practice…). Itadakimasu!
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- 150 ml water (150 ml = a little bit less than 2/3 cup)
- 1 tsp mirin
- 100 g all-purpose flour (100 g = between ¾ cup to 1 cup) (See Notes)
- 240 g cabbage (240 g = about 3 large cabbage leaves)
- 1 green onion/scallion
- 2 Tbsp katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
- 4 Tbsp Tenkasu/Agedama (tempura scraps)
- 60 g bean sprouts (60 g = handful)
- 2 Tbsp tororo kombu (optional, see Notes for buy online)
- 6 slices sliced pork belly
- 2 Yakisoba Noodles
- 2 large eggs
- Okonomiyaki sauce (See Notes for homemade recipe)
- Japanese mayonnaise
- Aonori (dried green seaweed)
- pickled red ginger (beni shoga or kizami beni shoga) (Beni Shoga, optional)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- In a large bowl, add water and mirin.
- Add the flour and whisk until combined. Chill the batter for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator so the texture will become smooth.
- Meanwhile, cut the cabbage and scallion into thin slices. A good sharp knife will help you cut the cabbage into thin slices.
- Grind katsuobushi in a mortar and pestle until it becomes fine powder.
- After chilling in the refrigerator, the batter becomes smoother.
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We will make one Okonomiyaki at a time (unless you are comfortable making two at the same time). Keep in mind the ingredients are for 2 serving so divide all the ingredients into two equal parts.
- Heat a large non-stick griddle (I use a Japanese electric hot plate) to 340°F (170°C). Pour about ¼ cup of the batter onto the hot griddle. Immediately using the back of the ladle, move in spiral motion from the center towards the edge of batter (see the video). This process will make the batter thin out and maintain the nice round shape. The width of “crepe” should be about the 8-9 inches.
- Sprinkle ground katsuobushi on the batter and place cabbage on top.
- Next put tenkasu, scallion, and bean sprout on top.
- Then put tororo kombu (optional) and 3 slices of thinly sliced pork belly without overlapping.
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Pour 1 Tbsp. batter on top (this will act as glue). Using two spatulas one on each side, carefully and quickly flip. Turn the heat to 390°F (200°C) to cook the meat. Don’t press down the “crepe” with the spatula yet (you will do it so on Step 13). When the pork belly is no longer pink, turn the heat down to 340°F (170°C) and move the Okonomiyaki to the side. If you are using a frying pan instead of the griddle, start heating up another frying pan.
- Separate the noodles with hands and place them in the open space on the griddle (or the 2nd frying pan). Stir fry the noodles until they are coated with oil. Add 1-2 Tbsp. okonomi sauce and coat with the noodles.
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Make the noodles into a round shape similar to the same size as the “crepe”. Now using two spatulas, transfer the Okonomiyaki on top of the noodles.
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Heat the oil in the open space and crack an egg. Quickly spread the egg into the same size as Okonomiyaki.
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Before the egg is completely cooked, place the Okonomiyaki on top of the egg (see the video).
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When the bottom of the egg is cooked, using the two spatulas, flip the Okonomiyaki for the last time.
- Season with okonomi sauce, mayonnaise, and aonori. Serve immediately.
All-purpose flour: Usually cake flour is used for Okonomiyaki, but I used all-purpose flour since it’s more readily available.
Tororo kombu: Buy online, click here.
Okonomiyaki sauce: Homemade recipe, click here.
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 and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
