Simple and easy homemade Japanese rice porridge recipe. All you need is water and rice. Garnish with scallions, salted salmon, and nori, this homey, comforting dish will sure to keep you nourished and the chill at bay.
At this time of year when the cold and flu season is at its peak, my children usually take turns to bring home a few rounds of sicknesses from school. Last weekend we caught a cold traveling back from Utah and our whole family came down with fever and coughs.
We didn’t have much of an appetite, so I decided to make some warm Japanese Rice Porridge (Okayu) for the family. It is the most comforting Japanese cold remedy that I depend on to tackle the weak stomach.
Japanese Rice Porridge – A Healing Food
Rice Porridge, or we call it Okayu (お粥), is a simple dish made with rice and water. The rice is simmered in a pot with water until the mixture disintegrates. As the rice is tender soft and easily digestible, it is known as a healing food in Japan. We usually serve Okayu to people who are recovering from sickness, the elderly, or babies.
For those of you who are familiar with Chinese foods, you’d probably know that rice porridge (or congee) is very much enjoyed in many different ways. Some versions come with protein and assorted ingredients, and they are perfect for lunch or dinner.
Contrary to that, the Japanese don’t eat porridge as frequently as the Chinese do as a regular meal. In the case of Okayu, it is served specifically as a healing food – to soothe the body and to restore energy. You’ll find the toppings rather simple so the meal itself is light and mild tasting.
How to Make Japanese Rice Porridge
In this recipe, I use a 1:5 rice-to-water ratio to yield a thicker consistency. We refer to this ratio as zen-gayu (全粥). You could add more water for a lighter porridge. There is even a whole range of rice-to-water ratios that the Japanese follow, and each one comes with a specific name. You could read more on this in the Recipe Note below.
Sometimes we cook the rice porridge in dashi (Japanese soup stock), chicken stock, or miso to flavor the broth. For extra substance and nutrients, feel free to serve it with salted salmon, egg or pickled plum. However, I made today’s rice porridge very basic and plain so you can enjoy it with optional toppings.
Cooking Rice Porridge with Donabe (Earthenware Pot)
We use a donabe, the Japanese earthenware pot when making the rice porridge for the people we care for. It is a traditional way of preparing the dish as the pot cooks the porridge evenly and retains the heat well.
How To Season Donabe (Earthenware Pot)
I suppose you can use a rice cooker or a regular pot to make the porridge, but donabe has always been the preferred method.
I hope you give this Japanese home remedy a try when you’re under the weather, or in need of something light and healthy.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Japanese Rice Porridge (Okayu)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup uncooked Japanese short-grain rice
- 250 ml water (1 cup + 2 tsp)
Topping Suggestion
- green onion/scallion (chopped)
- umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum)
- toasted white sesame seeds
- shredded nori seaweed (kizami nori)
- shredded Japanese salted salmon
- mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (for garnish)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. I follow the 1 to 5 rice-to-water ratio for my Okayu recipe.
- Rinse the rice in water, then drain. Repeat until the water runs clear.
- Soak the rice in the pot for at least 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, drain the water completely.
- Then add 250 ml of water into the pot.
- Cover the pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
- When boiling, lower the heat to the stove’s lowest setting (make sure to use the right size of stove burner for your pot size). Open the lid and gently mix with the spoon once, making sure rice is not stuck to the bottom of the pot.
- Cover the lid and simmer the rice for 30 minutes (Tip: With a good size pot and the lowest heat on the stove, the water should not boil over. If you cook with more water or your pot is smaller than my pot, you may want to cover the lid at a slight angle so the water doesn’t boil over). During this time, I never open the lid or mix the rice. (Tip: If you are worried, you can take a quick peek and make sure there’s enough water so the rice doesn’t burn the bottom of the pot. If necessary, you can stir the pot or add “hot” water. Otherwise, don’t touch the rice because you would end up breaking the nice shape of rice kernels.)
- After 30 minutes, turn off the heat and let it steam for 10 minutes. The rice should be soft and thickened. If you want to add something, like a beaten egg or salt, this is the time to add. I keep this recipe plain and simple. Serve into the individual rice bowls and garnish and put toppings of your choice.
Notes
- Zen-gayu – 1 : 5 (50 grams : 250 ml)
- Shichibu-gayu – 1 : 7 (50 grams : 350 ml)
- Gobu-gayu – 1 :10 (50 grams : 500 ml)
- Sanbu-gayu – 1 : 20 (25 grams : 500 ml)
Equipment
- donabe (earthenware pot) or heavy-bottomed pot
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Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on January 30, 2013. The content has been updated in March 2020.
Do you have any tips for cooking with clay pots? >.< I want to make this, but I have never used a clay pot in cooking before. I wouldn't even know where to start! Advice and or tips would be appreciated thank you!
Hi Erin! I found a link about clay pot cooking from one of the blogs I follow.
http://www.noobcook.com/claypot-cooking-care/
Hope that helps!
Hi there! I am a 14 with a passion to cook! I love anime and decided to check some recipes on Dango (which is everywhere. Naruto, sailor moon, etc) and found this site after scrolling through some recipes, I bookmarked a lot to “do later” and came across this one that looks pretty simple. I was just wondering if there’s anything I could use besides a heavy bottoms bowl? I am only a 14 year old girl in the USA, so I don’t know if I could get my hands on one. I could perhaps go to my local world market and check, but if you could answer my question, that would be great! Thanks for sharing these wonderful recipes with me!
With thanks,
Olive
Hi Olive! Thank you so much for your comment. If you don’t have a heavy bottom pot, don’t worry. You can use regular pot to make this porridge. Hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
ありがとうございます. That was very yummy. 美味しいですよ.
Hi Miyuki! Glad you liked it. こちらこそ、気に入ってもらえて嬉しいです。ありがとう！ 🙂
I do associate okayu with my childhood when my Japanese mom would make it whenever I didn’t feel well. She always made it with lots of egg, in dashi and I think miso, so that’s the way I love it…
I feel like the main ingredient for okayu should me “a mother’s love” for it to be at its most comforting!
Hi Julie! Yeah I too eat okayu mostly when I was sick. Me too, I love when egg and miso are in it!!! I’m not sick now but I feel nostalgic and hungry thinking about it. 🙂 Thank you for your kind comment!
I lived on this during my stay in Yamanashi. I was working through a bad stomach bug, so I made sure to eat this whenever I could (with umeboshi or shiso). It really helped.
I always wondered how to make it myself, since the pre-made packets can be a little expensive. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Renmi! My favorite is umeboshi & shiso too!! 😀 Love the frangrance from shiso which helps me eat when I didn’t even have appetite. I hope you give this a try next time you are under the weather. 🙂
Can you do this in a regular pot? If so how should I go about that?
Hi Mizu! Yes, you can. Just use a regular pot and follow the instruction. Make sure to use the pot that fits to the rice amount. (Don’t use a huge pot for small amount of rice, vice versa). 🙂
Hi Nami: I am new to your site and am enjoying it very much. Thank you for the concise instructions on cooking rice and sushi rice. Here in Canada, my family enjoys rice pudding so I tried your porridge recipe substituting milk for water and adding the rest of the ingredients like cinnamon,nutmeg,sugar and raisins to my rice cooker. The porridge is very good and this process made it much more convenient for me to produce. Thank you.
Hi Karen! Welcome to my blog! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed reading it already. 🙂 I love that you tried your porridge with rice cooker! Rice cooker is one great invention. 🙂 Thank you for your comment!
Hey I actually found this recipie whilst I was ill so I immediatly used it and it was great Thanks!
Hi Noor! I’m sorry to hear you were ill. Hope you are feeling better already. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thanks so much for your kind feedback, Noor! 🙂
Hi I was wondering if I can make this in a rice cooker without a porridge setting. Mine only has white rice, brown rice, sauté then simmer, steam and slow cook options. I love so many of your recipes thanks!
Hi Coreena! I don’t know your rice cooker so it’s hard for me to say how I would use it to make porridge. I only know how to make it in the pot and my rice cooker setting… Sorry
I’d love to make this for breakfast but I’m often short on time, can the rice be soaked overnight or even longer?
Hi Jared! Sure, you can soak for overnight, but not longer than that. 🙂
Hi Nami,
Do you have an easy recipe for Cantonese congee? I used to eat that as a child and I really miss it!
Kay
Hi Kay! I don’t have a Cantonese recipe… I’ve only tasted it at a restaurant. Sorry!
If it takes 5 minutes to wash the rice and 30 minutes to let the rice soak, then it takes 35 minutes of prep time and another 30 minutes to cook. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Tamara! I do not include inactive prep time (time needed to gel in a refrigerator, or marinade, or sit overnight etc) in my prep time so (active) prep time is easy to see. I usually state in my Note, but I realized it’s not included in this recipe, so I’ll edit and add inactive time in my note section. Thank you so much for bringing to my attention! 🙂
Thank you for yet another wonderful recipe. I know you posted this a few years ago, but it was just what I needed this week. I have had a sour stomach for a few days and nothing I normally do or eat when ill was helping. This dish was just what my stomach needed. A small bowl of rice porridge with some weak jasmine tea to drink, and my stomach finally settled. Thank you again.
Hi Katy! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed my recipe. Hope you will feel better soon. 🙂
How long does this last in the fridge?
1-2 days in the firdge, but you will need to add more water when you reheat. 🙂
My mother in law(she’s Japanese and I’m American) taught me how to make this for my 1 1/2 year old son when he isn’t feeling well. We just turn it down low when it’s pirridge consistency and add an egg and stir until creamy. He loves it with shredded nori on top
Hi Lacey! How wonderful! You have the best Japanese cooking teacher! I’m sure your son will learn a lot of Japanese cooking/food through you. And even when he grows up, he would request porridge with egg and nori on top when he’s sick. 🙂
We Americans call it rice soup. We don’t cook it until the rice disintegrate. However, being a Louisiana born country girl foodie I have made Chinese style congee. Today in Louisiana it’s cold and wet so I wanted rice soup ????
I am a fusion cook. Today’s fusion extravaganza is Japanese congee style rice flavored with fish sauce with Vietnamese flavored fish sauce and toasted sesame seed oil, Top with Louisiana spicy ???? Cajun seasoned roasted pigtails. I needed the rice to water ratio for 1/4 cups of rice and Reading your blog addressed my needs! Recipe ratio was ????????
Thank you ????????
Hi PJ! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. I was fascinated to read about your story! I love your fusion cooking! Thank you for writing!
Awwww ???? Thank you for responding and your kind words! ????????
Enjoy your holiday and keep your beautiful food blog active.????
Thank you, PJ! Happy Holidays to you!
My Japanese grandmother used to make “chagai” for me. I believe she would put a bag of genmai-cha with the rice. Have you heard of this? I’m wanting to make this, but I don’t know how much tea or for how long the tea should be included. I would think the long boil might make it bitter.
Hi Brian! Ohh Chagayu (茶粥), and locally called Okaisan (おかいさん). Basically you would cook porridge with tea, like Hojicha or Bancha (lowest grade green tea, brownish), instead of water. You make tea first (regular way) and cook the rice with the tea. Did she cook the rice with tea, or she pour the tea over steamed rice. Latter one is called Ochazuke, and often use Genmaicha or green tea. But Chagayu is usually brown color from Hojicha. 🙂
Thanks for the correction. I was very young so never knew just how she made it. It must have been with bancha as it came out brown. I’ll have to try it!
I often have ochasuzke when I feel homesick but I will admit to “cheating” and buying the packaged version from the local Japanese market.
Hi Brian! Haha we all do for the convenient and nostalgic taste (my college days snack… LOL). 😀
Thank you for not only this beautiful recipe but also the memory of having my mother fix rice porridge/soup when under the weather. When I was growing up, we always called it ojiya, and it was usually made with a miso base. I have also heard of a rice porridge/ soup called zosui that’s looks very similar. What is the difference between ojiya, okayu, and zosui?
Either way, I still have this when I’m ill and make it for my family when they feel poorly. It reminds them of a hug from my mother, Babachan (Obachan). She will always be with us. Thank you all at JOC!
Hi Michael,
Great question!
Ojiya and Zosui are made from pre-cooked rice, and Okayu is made from uncooked rice.
As for the difference between Ojiya and Zosui, please read the attached Nami’s post. She explained it and posted a Zosui recipe as well.😉https://www.justonecookbook.com/zosui-japanese-rice-soup/
We hope this helps!
Is it okay to soak the rice overnight and then make the porridge in the morning? I would love to make this, but I don’t think I have enough time to make it in the mornings.
Hi Anne! Sure! 🙂
Have you tried the chicken okayu at Stonemill Matcha in San Francisco? It is quite complex but delicious. Wondering what the recipe is for their version…
Hi Peter! Is it like Zosui or Okayu? I have never been there yet. I’d love to check it out. 🙂
It is more like Okayu I think. Toppings include a poached egg, chicken skin cracklings,
shredded nori, pickled wakame, green onions and mushroom. Definitely check it out!
Hi Peter! Oh that sounds good! Thanks for letting me know! Maybe during fall after we come back from Japan. 🙂
Can you suggest how this recipe would be adapted for the instant pot?
Hi Michelle! I had never made the porridge with IP before so I can’t give you specific measurement at this time… I’m sorry. 🙁 Maybe one day I’ll test and share the recipe. 🙂
My O-Kasan used-to (Over 70 years ago) prepare Okayu for us when we were ill.
Unfortunately, I don’t own a Heavy-bottomed pot nor a Donabe.
I believe Donabe are used on gas stoves (we have an electric stove).
We have several sauce-pans, Dutch-ovens, etc. but they’re not the Heavy-Bottom variety.
But.. I’ll use my Revere Ware sauce-pan to make some… just for old times sake. 😀
Hi Doug! Thank you for sharing your story. You remember your okaasan’s okayu! I also remember too how she prepared okayu when I was sick (and how much I didn’t like, haha). You have to use what you have, and it’s okay to use a saucepan. It may have a hot spot, so just be careful not to burn. 🙂
She would add an ume-boshi or two to it.
The saltiness made the dish more palatable to me.
Great Memories of days gone by.
Perhaps when your children are in their 70’s…
they’ll fondly recall you making Okayu for them.
Hey.. it’s finally raining:
Ame ame fure fure kaasanga…..
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC4-Oytm2MA)
Hi Doug! I agree, and we’ll never forget sweet memories with delicious food. 🙂
And those songs we listened to growing up! Natsukashii!
We used to eat a similar dish in Mangalore, India. Every morning at 10am before going to work in the rice fields. Also, when we had a fever. We called it pez in konkani. Rice congee in english.
Hi Joylan! Thank you for sharing the story with us! It’s really interesting how we eat rice porridge when we’re sick, even though we live in different countries. 🙂
I made this yesterday in my college dorm room. I live in central New York, so I didn’t have access to all the traditional Japanese ingredients, but it was still delicious! It reminded me of cooking at home with my dad when I was younger–I always used to help him out in the kitchen. It was also a great dish to warm me up in the rainy NY weather.
Hi Hannah! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! And thanks for sharing your sweet memory with your dad. It’s always so nice to remember happy moments with delicious food. 🙂 I hope you and your family stay healthy at these difficult times. xo
can you please provide instructions for making okayu in a rice cooker? I do not have a donabe pot but Ido have a new Zojurushi rice cooker. Arigato!
Hi M.,
The newer Zojirushi rice cooker should have a setting for making “Rice Porridge.” Do you see the selection on your rice cooker?
You simply follow the water line indicated inside the rice cooker and push the “Rice Porridge” button. (It should be more water than you normally make steam rice)
We hope this helps!
thank you so much for the reply. I love your blog and videos and have learned so much from them!
I have a new NS-LGC05 model and the interior bowl has settings for: long grain, Steel Cut Oats, White/Mixed, Sushi, brown, but no porridge. I even looked at the Zojirushi website and could not find a recipe. I know it takes more water, I just need to find out the proportions of rice to water.
Sorry for the trouble,
thank you,
Michele
Hi M,
I see… I looked it up the website and found out that the Steel Cut Oats setting and Porridge setting is similar, according to the Zojirushi. So if you follow Namiko’s recipe and use the setting, it should work! If you would like, try with 50 grams of rice and the amount of water for Zen gayu or Shichibu gayu first and watch the rice cooker while it cooks, as it may overflow. If the rice is not soft as you wish, you may leave it with the lid closed (keep warm setting if you have one) for 10 minutes or so, just like Step 9 in the recipe.
Rice-Water Ratio
Zen-gayu – 1 : 5 (50 grams : 250 ml)
Shichibu-gayu – 1 : 7 (50 grams : 350 ml)
Gobu-gayu – 1 :10 (50 grams : 500 ml)
Sanbu-gayu – 1 : 20 (25 grams : 500 ml)
We hope this works for you! Please let us know how it goes if you try it.😉
Thanks for your instructions for Okayu in a rice cooker. Can you please explain/translate the following: Zen-gayu, Chichibu-gayu, Gobu-gayu, Sanbu-gayu. I think these refer to the different consistencies of the rice Okayu? Arigato!
Hi M,
My pleasure!
In this recipe, Nami uses a 1:5 rice-to-water ratio (zen-gayu 全粥) to yield a thicker consistency. As she mentioned in this post, there is a whole range of rice-to-water ratios that the Japanese follow, and each one comes with a specific name.
Hope this helps!
This has been my go-to when I’m feeling unwell for years now, usually with chicken broth (and sometimes a bit of garlic and ginger) to add to the comfort. I always do it 1:4 in my rice cooker, so I can start it up and let it go, always a blessing when you feel under the weather!
Hi Allison,
Thank you very much for sharing your cooking tips with us!🙂
I made this recipe for breakfast and it was so yummy. I tried topping it with your soy pickles, but I was wondering which other toppings might go well with it too, that can be homemade /not too hard to find (umeboshi is literally impossible to find). Any advice is appreciated!
Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Gabriela,
We are so glad to hear you enjoy Rice Porridge!
As for toppings, you can use;
https://www.justonecookbook.com/salmon-flakes/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/homemade-furikake-rice-seasoning/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/daikon-leaves-furikake/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/search/?q=pickled
We hope this is helpful! Enjoy!
Hi Nami,
Just wanted to say I’ve been sick this past week (currently a lot better!) and eating a lot of okayu — it has been very comforting. Thank you for teaching me about this dish! Sometimes I make it in a pot but it’s really convenient for the rice cooker to make it, especially if you’re by yourself and feeling weak.
Hi Daniel, We hope you are feeling better now. Yes! The rice cooker is convenient and makes delicious Rice Porridge too! Thank you very much for your kind feedback!🙂
These are very good instructions, in Japan we usually use pre cooked rice for this.
Hi Gudni, Yes! When it uses cooked rice, it’s called Ojiya (おじや) or Zosui (雑炊).😉