Delicious Bento Box Idea: Shio Koji Karaage Bento. In this bento box, you have golden crunchy chicken with tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelette) and spinach gomaae, along with fruits and grape tomatoes for a colorful lunch.
Of all the different versions of karaage I’ve made so far, I love the one marinated in Shio Koji. My kids love it when they see these golden crispy chicken in their bento box. These karaage taste wonderful even at the room temperature. Pack a few more dishes in the bento box to make a healthy balanced lunch for yourself or your family!
On the previous day, dinner was: Shio Koji Karaage.
Yep… the best karaage everrrrr!
Lunch Next Day:
- Karaage Bento
- Fruits
In the bento box, I also packed:
- Quick & Easy Tamagoyaki
- Leftover Spinach Gomaae from previous dinner
Room Temperature Bento
I often get questioned from readers: “Do deep fried foods taste good at room temperature?” As I grew up eating bento and they were always served at room temperature, I am used to the taste. When you are in Japan, you will notice that most bentos are served at room temperature, even when they include foods that are typically served warm or hot in restaurants or at home.
There are a few tricks to make room temperature food more tasty and appealing. Food at room temperature tastes better when the food has more flavor. Use extra seasoning for bento portion or make the sauce more concentrated. For me, I enjoy eating food out of a colorful, pretty and nutritious bento box. One of the events I look forward to the most when I take Shinkansen (a bullet train), is to browse all the bento shops and pick what I want to enjoy on the train ride. Sometimes visually appealing bentos make you even forget that you are eating room temperature food. 😉
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Shio Koji Karaage Bento
Ingredients
- cooked Japanese short-grain rice
- shio koji karaage
- cherry tomatoes
- Tamagoyaki (Easy Version)
- spinach gomaae
- furikake (rice seasoning)
Instructions
- Pack steamed rice in ½ of bento box and let it cool.
- Reheat shio koji karaage in the oven toaster till crispy outside and heated through inside.
- Meanwhile, make quick & easy tamagoyaki and let it cool.
- When karaage and tamagoyaki cool down, pack them in the bento box along with grape tomatoes and spinach gomaae.
- Sprinkle furikake on top of rice.
- Cool down completely before closing the bento box.
Notes
Nutrition
If you are new to packing lunches and interested in making bento-style lunch, check out my short video below on How To Make Bento.
Watch How to Make Bento (お弁当の作り方)
Here are some helpful tips and tools on how to make healthy and colorful Bento!
Hi, if you cool down the contents of the bento box before closing it, how do you serve it at room temperature?- some boxes don’t look microwavable.
Hi Diana! So in Japan, bento is kept cool until lunch time. Not cold like refrigerator temp. Eating Bento means eating cool/room temp food. Some people bring bento to work, but they don’t microwave unless you really want to and the company has a microwave… bento is meant to eat without heating up. 🙂
Thank you 🙂 🙂
im seventeen and i use the karaage recipe all the time for lunches and dinners when i go to work! actually, today we ran out of chicken so i used cubed beef instead. it has the same flavor, though the beef doesnt hold it as well. I just thought id put that out there for those of you for when you have a craving for karaage but have no chicken!
Hi Lora! Beef gets tough when you cook it and not meant for deep frying. Chicken, pork, seafood is okay. 🙂 Thank you for sharing the experience here! 🙂
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your website. I’m an American living with my Japanese boyfriend in Japan and I have been challenging myself to make meals that are more than just staples I’m familiar with. You’ve helped me out immensely and I really appreciate it (he does, too). Thanks again, you’re a life saver.
Hi Emily! Aww thank YOU for reading my blog! Oh I’m jealous – you have all the ingredients you need to cook Japanese food! 🙂 Good luck with cooking Japanese food!
This makes my mouth water just to look at it. I have tried to make tamagoyaki and have been unsuccessful, so seeing this along with the yummy shio koji karaage makes me want to have you come and make me lunch. Please!
Hello Julie! Haha, my bento is very simple (compared to some of elaborate bentos moms cook in Japan…). There are no characters or decorations what so ever, but try to make it more organized and colorful to look decent at least. 🙂 Tamagoyaki needs practice. I’ve been making since I was in high school, and I still cannot make picture perfect tamagoyaki… I think I just don’t have enough patience in my case. =P Try Quick & Easy Tamagoyaki version I show in this post. MUCH easier than regular (many layered) tamagoyaki. 🙂
Thanks for sharing another great bento! I really like the look of the magewappa, and the karaage looks so delicious next to the wood grain texture of the bento container. I hope that you and your family have a lovely Lunar New Year! My parents just came into town last night and we had an early celebration dinner… and of course, with tons of leftovers perfect for next-day lunches. =P
Thank you Kimmi! I debated for a long time if I should share bento posts using magewappa… This bento is not for my kids, and I thought maybe I should alternate adult and kids bento boxes. I agree, magewappa bento box look much better in the picture than plastic kids bento box. 😀
Happy Lunar New Year to you and your family!