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Oyakodon (Chicken and Egg Bowl) 親子丼

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Oyakodon (Chicken & Egg Bowl) | Easy Japanese Recipes at JustOneCookbook.com

The literal translation of Oyakodon (親子丼) means “parent-and-child rice bowl.” The typical ingredients include chicken (as in parent), egg (as in child), and onions. The ingredients are simmered together in a sauce then served on top of a bowl of rice. It’s a very common Donburi dish and served at most traditional Japanese diners.

I first learned how to cook the dish during home-making class in middle school (although this recipe is not from the textbook). It’s very easy to cook so I hope Oyakodon will be your go-to recipe when you are busy.

Oyakodon (Chicken & Egg Bowl) | Easy Japanese Recipes at JustOneCookbook.com

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Oyakodon
Print
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
20 mins
 
Course: Main Course
Servings: 2
Ingredients
Instructions

  1. Gather all the ingredients.

  2. Slice the chicken diagonally and cut into 1" (2.5 cm) pieces (Use Sogigiri cutting technique)
  3. In a large frying pan, add mirin and sake and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
  4. Add dashi, soy sauce and sugar, and bring to a boil again.
  5. Add the onion in a single layer and place the chicken on top. Cover and bring to a boil.
  6. Skim off the scum and fat, and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
    Oyakodon 1
  7. Slowly and evenly drizzle the beaten egg over the chicken and onion. Cook covered until the egg is done. Shake the pan occasionally so the egg and chicken don't stick to the pan.
  8. Add the mitsuba (or green onion) right before removing from the heat. Pour the chicken and egg on top of steamed rice and pour desired amount of sauce.
    Oyakodon 2
Recipe Notes

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.

Editor’s Note: Picture updated on July, 2012.

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  1. Saukok

    Hey Nami, I just made Oyakodon this week, and I went on your site looking for a recipe! I ended up using my mom’s, which is chinese-ized oyako don. I’ll try your recipe next time and compare. 🙂

    1
    Reply to Saukok'> Reply

    • Nami

      Hi Sau! My Oyakodon has rather traditional and authentic taste. Some people like it to be more salty and sweeter, but mine has good Dashi taste. I cook chicken and onion in Dashi-Jiru and that makes this dish very flavorful, not over killed by say sauce and sugar. I’d love to try your Chinese-ized Oyakodon too!

      2
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  2. Angel Hsieh

    I just looked at your website. It is AMAZING!! I expected to see one photo of the finished dish. I never thought you would be able to put so many details and photos of each step. I am truely impressed and inspired. I wanted to try the Oyakodon at my dads house one day soon.

    3
    Reply to Angel Hsieh'> Reply

    • Nami

      Thanks Angel! I wasn’t sure if those big pictures of each step is too much (esp. if you are going to print out). But I wanted to show how easily we can prepare most of the food I cook. I get motivated by feedback people give me, so thank you for writing! Good luck with Oyakodon!

      4
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  3. Valerie

    Hi, I made this dish today – just one thing didn’t work out that well: the eggs. I don’t know if there was maybe too much liquid still in my dish?, but they just seemed a bit scrambled, even though I had hardly stirred them! (Only initially, to make sure that eggs would disperse evenly). Do you have any idea what might have gone ‘wrong’? The dish was very tasty btw!! 🙂 Thanks!

    5
    Reply to Valerie'> Reply

    • Hi Valerie! Hmm hard to tell without a picture, but do you mean the egg was overcooked like scrambled eggs? Not sure how you pour the egg, but like the #6 picture, you pour (well beaten) egg slowly… so the egg will float fluffy. It’s very thin layer that it will cook quickly. If you didn’t pour egg like a string (sorry don’t know how to explain), it will create a large spot of egg mixture in one spot… Hmm I really want to help you, but I don’t know enough about the situation and it’s a bit hard to advise. Sorry Valerie I’m not helpful here. If the egg was cooked too fast, then maybe you needed to lower the heat? Japanese like to eat Oyakodon with a little runny eggs. I know we don’t eat raw eggs here for safety reason…so I sort of cooked egg. But you can stop cooking eggs early if you like it more runny (and using fresh eggs). Let me know if I can help you further. I love feedback and that’s how I can make my recipe better. Thanks again!

      6
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  6. Morgan

    Yum! I have been looking at your recipes almost every day this week – wondering what to make next. Everything that I have tried so far has been delicious: it looks as if it’s Oyakodon tonight!

    10
    Reply to Morgan'> Reply

  7. Alfredo Di Stefano

    What a lovely website that you have. Thank you for your hard work on this website.

    Twice now I have tried the Oyakodon recipe and both times came out great. For the broth I went to a Japanese market here in Los Angeles and used Hondashi for the broth. Worked out great for me. I also used a perforated flat ladle to scoop out the Oyakodon from the pan leaving behind the excess liquid. Quick to make recipe and yet so wholesome!

    Thank you.

    12
    Reply to Alfredo Di Stefano'> Reply

    • Hi Alfredo! Thank you so much for leaving your feedback here. LA has several Japanese supermarkets that you will find all the ingredients I use for my recipes. 🙂 I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you so much for writing!

      13
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  13. Jasmine B

    Hey Nami, oyakudonburi is one of my favorite Japanese dishes and I am so glad I found your website. I made the dish tonite for dinner for my family and it blew me away! My hubs never had it before and he loved it :). Thank you, it tastes just like the ones from the Japanese restaurants here (live in Hawaii) and I always, ALWAYS, wanted to learn to make it!. Thanks again!

    24
    Reply to Jasmine B'> Reply

    • Hi Jasmine! I’m really happy to hear that you found my site looking for this recipe! It’s very easy once you know how to make it and thank you for trying this recipe. I am happy you and your husband enjoyed this dish! Thank you for your feedback! 🙂

      25
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  14. Sue

    Hi,
    I enjoyed reading your recipes. Just wondering what’s the difference between sake and mirin? Reason is because I also came across mirin as sweet sake. Is it the same?

    Look forward to your advice. Thanks.

    26
    Reply to Sue'> Reply

    • Hi Sue! You can read more about Sake here and Mirin here. But basically mirin is a kind of rice wine similar to sake, but with a lower alcohol content (14% instead of 20%) and it’s sweet and syrupy. You can substitute mirin by sake and sugar (3:1 ratio). Hope this helps.

      27
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

    • こんにちは Jelani! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and giving me feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed it! Are you on JET program? I still remember my English teacher in Elementary school. 🙂

      29
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  16. Weston

    I lived on Oyakodon as a college student in Tokyo so I know a good Oyakodon when I taste it. Last night, I followed this recipe and was immediately transported back to Japan! This is Oyakodon as it was meant to be. Kudos to Nami! The one thing I might point out to others is that the dashi really is key to this recipe. An inferior dashi will dull down the flavors in this dish. Also, the liquid should boil down by at least a quarter of a cup. Finally, me being me, I didn’t completely follow Nami’s instructions on agitating the eggs in the skillet. My method wound up almost scrambling the eggs in the liquid. It tasted alright but it doesn’t look very attractive. Next time I will follow Nami’s instructions without deviation. Oh, one other thing, mitsuba is an authentic garnish for this dish but it may be hard to find. An alternative, which is kind of the “working man’s” version of Oyakodon, is to garnish with pickled red ginger, available in most Asian markets. In any case, looking forward to exploring the rest of this great site!

    30
    Reply to Weston'> Reply

    • Hi Weston! Thank you for your feedback! I’m so happy to hear that my recipe worked for your taste! I also have been cooking Oyakodon for a long time too. 🙂 I change little things around and came to this recipe and I stick to it so we can always eat good Oyakodon! 🙂 I think my recipe will leave you more soup because I like to have extra sauce over the rice. Yeah mistuba can be very hard to find outside of Japanese grocery stores but it adds nice fragrance and hope they become more common herb one day. The red ginger is always good with donburi. I love them too! Thank you for making my day with your kind comment. Thanks for following my blog!

      31
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

      • Weston

        Nami,
        Thanks for your nice reply. I think your experimentation with the ingredients ratio paid off. The sauce is perfectly balanced. I’m looking forward to trying your nikujaga recipe next!
        Weston

        32
        Reply to Weston'> Reply

        • Thanks Weston! Hope you will enjoy my Nikujaga recipe. I adjust the amount of sweetness depending on the day (for bento I prefer sweeter Nikujaga as it’s eaten cold/room temp, etc). Have fun cooking! 🙂

          33
          Reply to Nami'> Reply

  17. Catherine

    Hello Nami!
    I just wanted to say THANK YOU for sharing this recipe – oyakodon has long been one of my favourite dishes at my local Japanese restaurant and I found your website while hunting for the recipe. Your instructions were easy to follow and the result was delicious (and tasted like it does in the restaurant). Now I just have to decide which of your other recipes I’ll try next!

    34
    Reply to Catherine'> Reply

    • Hi Catherine! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this oyakodon recipe! It’s pretty easy to make, right? Chicken, egg, onion, rice… Pretty much staple ingredients so you can prepare it when you are busy etc. Thank you for your kind feedback! Gyudon is similar to oyakodon if you can get thinly sliced beef. With chicken, I like chicken katsu don. 🙂

      35
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  18. Hi Nami,
    I spent some time in Japan a few years back, and I ate tons of these dishes since they were available almost everywhere and the quality seemed to be consistently good.

    So, I finally decided to cook it back home in Scandinavia, and your recipe is absolutely delicious. One question, though. When I make it, it seems to come out somewhat “darker” than your pictures and the ones I had in Japan (think light brown as opposed to yellow’ish). I suspect that it may be the mirin. The one I use is dark in colour (not quite as dark as soy sauce, but still), which is the only one I was able to find around here, but I’ve seen some bottles of almost clear mirin earlier. Could this be it?

    Keep it up 🙂
    /Casper

    36
    Reply to Casper'> Reply

    • Hi Casper! Thank you for trying this recipe! So glad you liked it. 🙂 Mirin is always light color, like clear color and I’ve never seen “dark” color mirin before. I wonder what type of mirin it is… I assume that’s the reason. If you can have an access to clear one, try that one instead. 🙂 Hope that helps!

      38
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  19. dani

    I love this site! I loved this recipe… the only changes I made the second time was to not add any sugar at all as it tasted too sweet. It made an excellent start of lets try a full day of Japanese foods now that we live near an asian market and get ingredients without the expense of shipping them!

    ^_^

    37
    Reply to dani'> Reply

    • Hi Dani! Thank you so much for your kind message. 🙂 Donburi recipes are usually a little bit sweeter side, but of course you can adjust to your liking! Hope you enjoy making and eating Japanese food at home! Thank you so much for your feedback! 🙂

      39
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

    • Hi Yusi! You can use sugar for mirin, and can omit sake (what’s “angciu”?). However, I won’t omit dashi because it’s a big part of oyakodon flavor. But if you cannot make dashi from scratch or find dashi powder/packet, then you can use chicken stock. 🙂

      41
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  22. Jasmine

    Hi, for this recipe do we really need both sake and mirin? As I only have mirin.
    And I’m really confused about the difference between mirin and sake, some website call for both but some call for either one. Can’t wait to try this recipe though, thanks for sharing!

    44
    Reply to Jasmine'> Reply

  23. Finally tried making oyakodon tonight after having this recipe bookmarked for ages.
    Loved how straightforward it was to make something so tasty! Think this might become a bit of a staple in our house so thanks!

    48
    Reply to Kat'> Reply

  24. A I

    I stumbled upon your site last week while searching for a Nikujaga recipe. I haven’t attempted that yet but today I made oyakodon. It was a success & my family enjoyed it. Thank you for making Japanese cooking less intimidating. I can’t wait to try making some of your other recipes!

    49
    Reply to A I'> Reply

    • Hi A I! I’m so happy to hear you found my site and thanks for trying this recipe! I’m glad to hear you feel less intimidating with my recipes. Hope you enjoy Nikujaga and other recipes too. 🙂

      51
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  25. My first favorite Japanese dish was oyakodon! I’ve made it several times but this is the first time I’ve seen dashi included in the sauce. It must add a great flavor and make it much lighter than using just mirin, sake, and soy sauce! Totally making this today!

    52
    Reply to Felice'> Reply

  26. Ruby

    Hello Nami,
    Thanks for posting all these lovely dishes. I am from Ghana, and I live in Switzerland. I love Japanese food and I have been looking for easy typical Japanese dishes. You see, I just lost a Japanese best-friend, 2 months ago. She left behind 2 little kids and I cook for them everyday. As they are only use to Japanese food, I have been trying to make the few dishes my best-friend thought me, but its been a struggle. I just found your website today and I am going to a Japanese Shop today to find ingredients like (dashi, sake for cooking etc. I will be following you from now on….. Thanks again.

    53
    Reply to Ruby'> Reply

    • Hello Ruby! Thank you so much for writing! I’m so sorry to hear about your best friend and how kind of you to take care of her children. I hope my recipes will be helpful for you to make some new dishes. Thank you!

      54
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  28. Sofia

    Hi!
    I’m new to japanese food and I find your website very helpfull! Thanks alot
    I was curious, what’s the “flowery” thing in your miso soup? So adorable! I find your recipes so beautiful and I think thats very important for japanese serving, alot of attention to details.

    57
    Reply to Sofia'> Reply

    • Hi Sofia! I’m so glad to hear you enjoy reading my blog! Thank you for following! 🙂

      The flower in the soup is called “fu” (we write like this 麩) . It’s made from gluten of wheat flour. There are many shapes and color.

      I hope to introduce a soup dish that contains beautiful color/shape fu one day… 🙂

      58
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  29. Kari

    Hi Nami,

    I’m sorry if this has been asked already, but if I wanted to double the recipe, are there any adjustments to cooking, etc that I should pay attention to? Does the cook time need to double, as well?

    Thanks,
    Kari

    59
    Reply to Kari'> Reply

    • Hi Kari! If you double the recipe, I recommend you to use two frying pans because it’ll be too hard to fit everything in one pan. Traditionally, we cook oyakodon in a special donburi pan and it’s cooked for one serving at a time. That way, one person gets the right amount of meat, sauce, and egg etc over the rice. Hope this helps! 🙂

      60
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  31. Natalie

    Hi Nami, I just want to say a big thank you for sharing all your recipes on this blog! Your delicious spread and step-by-step instructions made it so much easier for me to step into the kitchen and try cooking something! I usually wait for my hubby to cook for us…..I could only handle salads and instant noodles. But in the past few weeks, I have tried quite a couple of dishes from here!!! So far nothing turned out bad, in fact my hubby was pretty impressed! So THANK YOU!!!

    Oyakodon was one of the first dish that I attempted from your blog! The first time, I found it still too salty for my palate but we enjoyed the flavour of it. Last week when I tried it again, I diluted the dashi with water and also reduced the soy sauce. It was just perfect for us! My hubby had such a big grin on his face. =)

    64
    Reply to Natalie'> Reply

  32. Patience

    Hi Nami,
    I have cooked this several times now and it has become a real staple for my family. So simple! So tasty! My daughters (5 and 2) can never get enough of it. A wonderful quick and easy weeknight meal when everyone is a bit tired, and we just feel like something warm and delicious.
    Thank you so much for sharing – oyakodon has become part of our lives.
    Patience

    66
    Reply to Patience'> Reply

    • Hi Patience! I’m so happy to hear that your family enjoy this dish! It’s a great quick meal for sure. Thank you very much for writing a kind comment. I really appreciate it. I hope you enjoy cooking other dishes from my site. 🙂

      67
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  33. Linda

    Another great one. Pulled this together in less than 30 minutes (excluding rice cooking time). I used leftover rotisserie chicken and added edamame on top of the onions. The munchkins cleaned their plates, as did my husband. Cleanup was the pan and the cutting board. My idea of PERFECTION!

    68
    Reply to Linda'> Reply

  35. Vanessa

    Hi Nami, I’ve made Oyakudon several times for my family and we always enjoy it. Today, may daughter requested it for dinner but sadly, we are out of chicken thighs. I have on hand chicken tenderloin, will that work, too?

    72
    Reply to Vanessa'> Reply

  36. Ling

    Hi Nami,

    Thank you for sharing so many wonderful recipes that are easy to follow and recreate. Most of all, it really delicious. I’ve been using your recipes (oyako don, chicken meatball and honey soy chicken) to cook for my 2 year old gal and they are always a hit! When she have the first bite, she wii close her eyes n say delicious!

    Here wishing your family and you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

    Ling

    74
    Reply to Ling'> Reply

    • Hi Ling! Your story about your daughter made me smile! How cute! I’m so happy to hear you and your family are enjoying my recipes and thank you for trying them and writing feedback! Merry Christmas to you and your family! xo

      75
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  38. Hi Nami-san,

    I just tried this recipe and loved it. Okay, I did change a number of things in the ingredients so my recipe is a bit different and it looks different too. Oh well, still, I loved it. Thanks for sharing this.

    78
    Reply to Cath'> Reply

  40. Bridgette

    I made this today and I think you made a mistake on the amount of dashi (you wrote 1 cup). It was the saltiest thing ever when I made it and the sauce completely over took the eggs. If I’m wrong I’d love to know how I could better prepare this dish for next time. thank you and have a nice day.

    82
    Reply to Bridgette'> Reply

    • Hi Bridgette! No, 1 cup dashi is correct. I just want to check with you. Did you make homemade dashi or dashi powder or maybe some other type?

      Because dashi can’t be salty if you make dashi normally. It’s just water +kombu/bonito flakes. Nothing salty…

      Here’s dashi recipe: https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi/

      IF your other ingredients are less than mine, you probably need to adjust the amount of seasonings as it could be salty. If you increase the amount of ingredients, then increase the seasoning..etc etc.

      Hope this helps!

      83
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  41. Douglas

    Konichiwa Nami!

    I tried your recipe and used flapsteak instead of chicken, but after using 1 cup of dashi, my dish turned in to a soupy mess with more liquid than eggs. Any suggestions on how to prevent this from happening again? (apart from maybe using 1/2 cup of dashi)

    Other than that, I your blog is SUGOI and I even bought your book at the iBooks store 🙂

    Doug

    84
    Reply to Douglas'> Reply

    • Konnichiwa Douglas! From what you mentioned, I wonder if your pot/pan was smaller than mine. If the opening surface is smaller, the liquid doesn’t evaporate much. Or my heat is stronger so it evaporate faster, etc… I don’t usually have any problem with 1 cup, and if I reduce to less than 1 cup, then the oyakodon becomes more dry and there is no extra sauce to drizzle…

      Arigato for your kind comments and for purchasing my ebook! 🙂

      86
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  42. Juliana

    Hi Nami, I’ve made oyakodon following various recipes but since I came across your recipe 3 years ago, it’s my go-to recipe now. I’m not very inventive and follow your instructions to a T – the result is always the same, YUMMILICIOUS!!! My husband always asks if I’ve cooked extra after he licks his bowl clean. Thanks for all the step by step photos that makes cooking so easy! 🙂

    85
    Reply to Juliana'> Reply

    • Hi Juliana! Thanks so much for your kind feedback and I’m so happy to hear that you’ve been cooking my oyakodon recipe for 3 years and you liked the recipe! Glad to hear step by step pictures help! 🙂

      87
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

    • Hi Graeme! I manually added your email address to my subscriber list. However, you still have to “CONFIRM” the subscription. Please check your inbox (or spam folder) and make sure to click the link provided to confirm.

      Thank you!!!

      89
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  44. Anna

    Hi Namiko-san,
    I just made this recipe and it came out as good as the what I get from the restaurants here in Japan! I used chicken tenderloins and it came out wonderfully. I simply let the onions simmer a few minutes before adding the tenderloin chunks, which cook very quickly.
    I let my sauce boil a good 10-15 minutes before adding the onion/chicken/egg, which allowed it to reduce. The final product had just the right amount of liquid. This tip may help your readers who end up with too much liquid.
    Thank you again for such an おいしい recipe and 凄い blog!
    Anna

    90
    Reply to Anna'> Reply

  47. Renee

    Thank you so much for your recipes. I was already using your Miso Ramen & miso egg recipes (which my 12 yr old loves) but we just came back from Japan, had a great time eating the food…today I made your oyakodon, which turned out & tasted fantastic. I will be trying your omurice recipe & green tea desserts next as I bought heaps of green tea powder.

    96
    Reply to Renee'> Reply

  49. Alline

    I just came across your website through searching for Japanese food. Where I currently live there are no Japanese restaurants, and I’m seriously having withdraws. I love your website, and I can’t wait to make some of your recipes!

    100
    Reply to Alline'> Reply

  50. Hannah

    I always love oyakodon and would like to make it myself. So I decided to give it a try on your recipe and IT was great!! love the recipe, easy to follow n great taste! Thanks for sharing the step by step picture it is so helpful 🙂

    102
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  51. Tyrone

    So I was wondering is there a substitute I could use for Dashi in case I am unable to get my hands on any? I know it won’t be quite the same, but I was mostly curious as to whether you had any recommendations to things that could work in its place?

    104
    Reply to Tyrone'> Reply

    • Hi Tyrone! It’s really hard question. 🙂 Without dashi, it lacks authenticity. I won’t consider you can actually replace dashi with other type of stock (chicken, vegetable, beef, etc) for 99% of Japanese food. When it requires dashi, you really need that umami flavor from dashi. Most of the time, dashi is the key to Japanese foods, it’s the thing that makes it unique Japanese flavors. So… I highly recommend making dashi with one of these 3 methods.

      https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-dashi-3-ways/

      Hondashi or powder dashi is easy to find, even on Amazon (http://amzn.to/1UuW32Z).

      I’m so sorry my answer is not really answering to your question…

      However, if you really don’t want dashi, then you can use chicken broth in this recipe because it has chicken already. But I have to say it won’t taste the same as real Oyakodon… 🙂

      105
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  52. Audrey

    Hi Nami!
    Oyakodon is my favorite donburi and my go-to restaurant has gone out of business so I thought why not make my own. Oh my, oh my. Your recipe is so easy to follow and the taste is even better than the restaurant’s. Even my husband (former Japanese restaurantier) really loved it! He hardly compliments. 😉 Thank you so much!

    106
    Reply to Audrey'> Reply

    • Hi Audrey! I’m so happy to hear you gave this recipe a try at home! With homemade, you can use the best ingredinets and you can even adjust the flavor as you like (little sweeter or saltier etc) and it’s really great! Now you can enjoy your favorite donburi more frequently. 😀 Thank you for your kind feedback!

      107
      Reply to Nami'> Reply

  53. Julie

    I have made this twice now and I am obsessed! I want to make this for my family but some will one eat white meat. Do you know if I should cook the chicken for a shorter amount of time or will 10 minutes still work?

    108
    Reply to Julie'> Reply

  55. Hannah

    My “picky eaters” who will eat anything from tapanade to stir fried mushrooms will not eat onions unless they are in spaghetti sauce. So I used bean sprouts instead! And I am allergic to seafood so I used beef broth instead of the dashi I might try it using the vegan seaweed dashi, but maybe not because it was a huge hit at my house with everyone saying they wanted me to make it again soon. Even my 3 year old who is a total food snob and never wants the same thing twice wanted me to make it the next night

    112
    Reply to Hannah'> Reply

    • Hi Hannah! Great substitute! I’m happy to hear your family enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I love that your 3 year old is a food snob!!! he heee! I feel honored and flattered. Thank you for your sweet and kind feedback! xoxo

      113
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  56. Ricky

    Hi Nami,
    Tried your oyakodon recipe tonight. I must say it turned out delicious and perfect. My family loved it so much. I substitute the chicken with shabu shabu pork and used 2 tablespoon mirin instead of 3 tablespoon.

    Thank-u

    114
    Reply to Ricky'> Reply

  59. THANKS Nami again for a WONDERFUL RECIPE! Just made this easy dish TWICE this week! Always wiped clean and gone. The chicken was so tender! I subbed the mirin with apple cider vinegar and it worked perfectly and omitted sake for a non-alcoholic version! SUPER DELICIOUS! Here is our link to our gluten free, paleo version:
    https://sprinkleofvanillasugar.wordpress.com/2016/07/29/japanese-comfort-food-1-pan-oyakodon-gf-paleo-oil-free-dairy-free-nut-free/

    120
    Reply to Zoe and Mia'> Reply

  60. Deborah Sakamoto

    I made this tonight and it was totally delicious. My daughter LOVED it. Her friend loves Oyakodon; it’s her favorite food (and she loves all kinds of food). My daughter packed up some of the Oyakodon I made to take it to her friend.

    122
    Reply to Deborah Sakamoto'> Reply

  61. Stephanie

    Hello! Thanks for this recipe. Do you know about how many grams/ounces “2 chicken thighs” would be? I have giant chicken breasts I got for a good price and don’t want to overwhelm the dish.

    Also, most times I’ve made or eaten oyakodon, the chicken as a whole tends to be pretty bland. I’m considering a light seasoning of salt or pepper, but have you experimented with the chicken at all before?

    Thank you!

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    Reply to Stephanie'> Reply

    • Hi Stephanie! I’m sorry my older recipes don’t include the weight. I’m going to re-do this recipe and will include the correct weight then.

      I googled and it looks like one chicken thigh weigh about 2 ounces or 56 grams, not counting the skin or bone. I think some can be a little heavier than that too.

      Chicken breasts tend to taste more bland than thigh and gets harder and drier, so we usually use thighs for this recipe.

      Normally we do not put salt or pepper for Oyakodon but you could add. Oyakodon’s key is good dashi and the sauce. 🙂

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  63. Jacquie

    I lived in Japan for 7 1/2yr.s & loved every minute. I immersed myself amongst the people, learning the language; (well as best as a Geigen can); studied the music & art; kimono & doll making; & took 2 different styles flower arranging each week. I got MOST of lessons FREE in exchange for English lessons. I NEVER learned to cook anything EXCEPT Japanses dishes, but 1 dish I have forgotten. FEW Americans like it–it’s called “Okazu”, I Think. It is vegetarian with I think pumkin. I ate it frequently at my Okinawain friends’ homes, so perhaps it’s Okinawain. It is extremely healthy for people with stomach issues. Keep up the good work. Tho’ cooking Asian is VERY physically debilitating for me, my husband & I both love so many of the dishes.

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    • You can divide the recipe to one serving and use a smaller frying pan to make it. 🙂 I also want to suggest that you can make 2 serving, and save one serving in freezer for future meal. 🙂

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  67. HeatherHH

    My 11 yo daughter is very interested in Japan and asked if we could start making some Japanese recipes. I was very happy to find your website.

    We just tried this recipe tonight. Of my 8 children, 6 adored it, 1 thought it was okay, and 1 mildly disliked it (but he doesn’t like soy sauce flavor). With that many children, those are really good numbers. I expect we’ll come back to this recipe again and again in the future.

    I’ve appreciated all the ingredient information and tips that you have. I haven’t been able to find anything on how to eat with chopsticks. We ate this meal with a spoon, but would like to try chopsticks (hopefully successfully!) in the future.

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    • Hi Diana! It’s been on my to do (to make) list for some time. I’ll work on it soon! So many dishes that I have to work on…. sorry for taking a long time. I’m happy to hear you like this dish! 🙂

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  70. Amy

    Aloha Nami,
    We enjoyed this for dinner tonight! We had a favorite oyakodon recipe a friend gave me years ago, but it was always hit or miss with the chicken being tender or dry, and the egg always looked ugly. I followed your recipe exactly and it was perfect. Thank you teaching me a great way to cut chicken and giving us a new oyakodon favorite! 😋🌺🌴

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      • Aloha Amy! I apologize for my late response here. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed Oyakodon recipe and it worked perfectly. 🙂

        It’s funny, but in Japan, we cut chicken mostly in Sogigiri because we pan fry food a lot and not in the oven. It’s important that chicken is evenly cooked. So anything pan fry, you can do that. Here I see people cut chicken like block or long strings. We can’t really eat a big piece with chopsticks… so sogigiri for pretty much everything. 😉

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  71. Char H.

    Hi Nami,

    I’ve been looking for a great authentic oyako donburi recipe for ages but never found one that I liked in any of my local cookbooks (the one I had was bland). I’m glad I googled the internet and found your recipe. Made this dish tonight. I was excellent. I doubled the recipe and I’m glad I did. The only thing I would change is that because I used a large frying pan, I could have use more eggs. Other than that I would give it five stars!

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