Thinly sliced eggplant seared till golden brown, coated with sweet soy sauce and served over a warm bowl of rice. So incredibly delicious, this Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi is a Japanese vegan rice bowl that deserves a spot at your weeknight table! Just 20 minutes from start to finish.
What do you consider a quick meal? For me, anything cooks in one pot or one pan are most ideal. That’s why I often turn to Japanese rice bowls (donburi) when I need something fast and easy-to-assemble. Today’s recipe is Soy Glazed Eggplant Donburi (茄子の甘辛丼), which happens to be plant-based!
Eggplant Rice Bowl – The Most Luxurious Vegan Donburi
Eggplant is undoubtedly the star ingredient that makes the appeal of this rice bowl. Think of it as the tofu of the vegetable world. It is mild and versatile, and it has the ability to take on almost any flavor. What sets eggplant apart from other vegetables is its unique structural integrity, and at the same time, its silky, meaty and utterly luxurious texture.
That said, it’s very important to cook it right. Here, searing the eggplant until nicely charred delivers the best, deepest flavor. It also renders buttery tender texture with a crispy edge that is hard to resist. When tossed with a quick sauce of mirin and soy sauce, it makes the most satisfying one-bowl comfort that requires minimal effort.
I could easily cook and eat this eggplant donburi over and over again!
3 Tips to Follow When Cooking the Eggplant
1. Keep the eggplant skin
Eggplant flesh gets tender and soft when it’s cooked through, and if you cook it for too long, the flesh gets mushy. Therefore, it’s very important to:
- Keep the eggplant skin attached to the flesh to maintain its shape.
- Cut the eggplant so the flesh is held by the skin.
For this purpose, I only recommend using Japanese, Chinese, or Italian eggplant. If you use American/glove eggplant, cut into the wedges and use only the part that has skin (and use the middle part for other recipes).
2. Sprinkle salt
Eggplant has soft, spongy flesh with tiny air pockets that acts like a sponge in soaking up oil and liquids. While we like the eggplant to absorb all the good flavors, the challenge is to prevent it from becoming greasy.
The trick to that is by breaking down the air pockets and reducing the sponginess by salting the eggplant first. Salting also prevents the eggplant from discoloring.
Just make sure to wipe off the excess water before frying.
3. Use potato starch/cornstarch
Coating the eggplant with potato starch (or cornstarch) can help:
- Prevents the eggplant from soaking up all the oil.
- Creates a nice golden crust.
- Absorbs all the seasonings.
- Thickens the sauce slightly.
Make sure to remove the excess potato starch and applies only a thin coating.
Itadakimasu!
Eggplant skeptics? This Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi might change your mind. I hope you give this nightshade vegetable a chance to reveal its deliciousness to you through this recipe. Once tried, you will not get enough of it.
To enjoy this vegan rice bowl, serve it with miso soup and a side of pickle. Here are some of my suggestions:
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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With thinly sliced eggplant seared till golden brown and coated with sweet soy sauce, this Soy-Glazed Eggplant Donburi is an incredibly delicious Japanese vegan rice bowl. Just 20 minutes start to finish!
- 7 oz Japanese/Chinese eggplant (200 g; 2 Japanese eggplants)
- 10 Shiso leaves (Ooba) (or use 1 green onion)
- 1 knob ginger
- 2 Tbsp potato starch/cornstarch
- 4 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc) (separated; use 2 Tbsp at a time)
- ½ tsp toasted white sesame seeds
- 4 Tbsp mirin (Not exactly same, but substitute with 4 tsp sugar + 4 Tbsp sake/water; Please adjust the sweetness based on your preference; read more about mirin)
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce (or use GF soy sauce for gluten-free)
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Gather all the ingredients.
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Slice eggplant into ¼ inch slices and sprinkle salt (roughly ½-1 tsp). Set aside for 15 minutes and wipe off the moisture with a paper towel.
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Rinse the shiso leaves and dry with a paper towel. Discard the stems.
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Roll up the shiso leaves and cut into chiffonade strips.
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Peel the ginger skin and grate the ginger. You’ll need 1 tsp ginger.
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Put 2 Tbsp potato starch in a small tray and thinly coat the eggplant slices on both sides.
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Heat the 2 Tbsp oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the eggplant slices in a single layer. Cook until the bottom side is golden brown, about 3-4 minutes. Until then, do not touch the eggplants to achieve a nice sear.
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When the bottom side is nicely seared, drizzle the rest of oil (2 Tbsp) on top and flip the eggplant slices to cook the other side, about 3-4 minutes.
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Once this side is cooked till golden brown, reduce the heat to medium-low heat and add mirin, soy sauce, and grated ginger.
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Bring it back to simmer and spoon the sauce over the eggplant a few times. If the sauce got thicken too fast (due to the potato starch), add 1 Tbsp water at a time to loosen a bit. Remove from the heat when the eggplant is well-coated with the sauce.
- Serve steamed rice in a donburi bowl (a bit bigger than rice bowl) and drizzle some sauce.
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Then place the eggplant slices on top. For presentation, I overlap each slice slightly. Garnish with shiso leaves and sprinkle sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
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 in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
Your eggplant recipe looks positively incredible! I hope to try it very soon. As a kid, I disliked it, but came to love it as an adult when I tried Baba Ganoush. After that, I became open to trying different eggplant recipes and now enjoy the vegetable immensely.
Hi April! Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy! Ah, that’s a good one to start enjoying eggplant! I think to me it was Eggplant Agebitashi (recipe on the blog) and roasted eggplant and bell pepper sandwich I tried when I first came to the US (and got addicted). 🙂
I love eggplant! Will it taste better with ponzu soya sauce instead of normal soya sauce? Perhaps taste less greasy
Hi Yu! You can use ponzu if you like, as the sour taste cuts the oily taste (hence you “feel” less greasy.). But you should adjust other ingredients too, as I don’t think it works well with just swapping the two condiments. 🙂
I love Eggplant!! May I know is the heat is high heat or medium heat? I don’t have Mirin or Sake. If I substitute it with water and sugar will it be too sweet? My family like salty food… Arigatou, Nami san
Hi Novily! I use medium heat. If you use high heat, the eggplant may have nice brown color but inside might not be cooked through. I reduce the heat a bit when I add the sauce so we have enough time to coat before the sauce starts to get thicken.
Regarding mirin and sake. Please adjust the amount of sugar to your preference. This dish is supposed to be savory-sweet (definitely sweet factor is there and it’s not just salty) and should be balanced between salty and sweetness. Everyone has a different taste preference, so please adjust the sweetness according to your family preference.
Delicious, filling, and easy to make. Minimal oil was used as per instructions and dish did not taste greasy.
Hi Lauren! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Thank you for this delicious and easy recipe! I just finished making this for dinner and it came out so flavourful and crispy! I was wondering if the eggplant could possibly be fried in an air fryer first and then finished with the glaze in pan? Thanks again for all of your great recipes!
Hi Vicky! I think you can do that. I don’t own one so I can’t share tips or techniques using air fryer… sorry! Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
Very good recipe: the glaze gives such a different taste to the eggplants – I actually grilled them first and the finished them in the pan with all the seasonings.
Will definitely cook it again!
Hi Rolanda! Thank you so much for trying this recipe already! Love your method! Thanks for your kind feedback. xo
This was absolutely delicious. Crunchy, salty and sweet, and it came together very quickly. Best part- it doesn’t require a ton of ingredients that aren’t already in the pantry.
Will definitely be making this one again. Thanks Nami!
Hi Mae! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks so much for your kind feedback, Mae! xo
This was an absolute hit with both myself and my boyfriend; eggplant is one of his favorite veggies and he said this recipe was heavenly. Didn’t change a thing, just used corn starch as I had no luck finding potato starch. So tasty and easy!
Hi Sam! I’m so happy to hear that you two enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for trying my recipe! Yes, cornstarch works for this. Thank you for your kind feedback and for making me happy! 😀
Absolutely delicious and it’s given me lots of ideas of different Veg i can prepare in a similar way. Thank you for your brilliant blog
Hi Maria! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! ox
I want to try this soon. I use Japanese eggplant in a Persian recipe. It’s called bademjun. I also want to try your lotus recipe. I just saw your movie post about 12 movies and now I am making a list to watch! Thank you.
Hi Lis! I just googled bademjun and wow it looks delicious! It’s great that you can buy Japanese eggplant. I hope you enjoy the shows! 🙂
Just made this for dinner but without the rice.
We grow heaps of egg plant but I’m not usually a lover of it.
This recipe was so easy and tasted fantastic that it will definitely be made again.
I used high heat with coconut oil to get the colour and crisp but used a lid once the ginger and liquids were in to help cook all the way through.
Awesome taste, thanks.
Hi Charles! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and thank you for your feedback! It must be extra delicious with your homegrown eggplant (I’m so jealous!). 🙂
I’ve never really liked eggplant in anything, but I absolutely loved this. It was so easy and very quick. I was done in maybe 15 minutes. The sauce was delicious. My whole family loved this, and they can’t wait for me to make it again. Plus we all felt great that it was vegan and so filling! This has definitely changed my view of eggplant for the better and I cant wait to try more Just One Cookbook eggplant recipes!
Hi Ginny! Hahaha! Your comment really made me happy and thank you for your kind words! Mr. JOC wasn’t an eggplant eater too but lately, he’s pretty happy (I think I converted him so I can eat my own favorite food!). So glad your whole family enjoyed this dish! I hope you enjoy other eggplant recipes… my personal favorites are these:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/eggplant-unagi-donburi/ (similar to this recipe)
https://www.justonecookbook.com/ginger-pork-rolls-with-eggplant/ (my most favorite)
https://www.justonecookbook.com/eggplant-agebitashi/ (I love this dish – but involves deep frying)
can you cook the eggplant donburi in advance..how do you keep it crisp? perhaps pour the sauce on the day that you are going to eat it>
Hi Jill! In general, it’s hard to keep it “crisp” when you make ahead of time because the moisture from the food will come out and it will no longer crisp. This includes fried foods that are originally crispy. Even though you make it crisp, after you let cool and store in the fridge… it will be soggy. However, you can re-fry it (with oil, which is why it doesn’t make it healthy), and add the sauce. Now, with the sauce, it will be less “crispy”… just wanted to make sure you are aware of this. 🙂
This recipe is a WINNER!!! My husband and I loved this so much that I made it 3 nights in a row! I bought a big bag of eggplant from Costco and the eggplants were huge so I cooked 1 eggplant each night.
Thank you for another great recipe.
Hi Karen! Thank you so much for trying this recipe (3 nights in a row!!!). It made me happy! Thank you!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. xoxo
Nami when I can still use green onions right? I don’t have shiso leaves right now. And is it necessary for the sesame seeds.?
Hi Gi! Yes, you can swap with green onion. You can skip sesame seeds too. 🙂
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit! Hubs loves eggplants but he was so taken with this dish and wants me to do this again. I can’t believe it just took 3 ingredients to season the eggplants with such umami flavor. I used chopped scallions instead of Shiso, and forgot to wipe down the eggplant after letting it sweat. But the recipe was very forgiving. Thank you for such a great and simple recipe!
Hi Shuanny! I’m so glad to hear that you two enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. xoxo
I LOVE this recipe! I make it for lunch as often as possible. Just delicious!
Hi Bern! I’m so happy to hear you like this recipe! Thank you for your kind words!
Hi Nami,
I was really inspired by your recipes so I ran out to Meidiya (a Japanese supermarket in Singapore) to buy a variety of Japanese sauces (cooking sake, mirin, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, dashi powder) so that I could replicate your recipes as authentically as possible! This recipe was sooo good and really easy to make for a quick dinner. Really tasted like some of Japanese rice bowls I’ve eaten at restaurants. Thank you 🙂
Hello Carissa! So happy!!!! It’s amazing how simple ingredients can make such a delicious dish. I love this dish too, and I’m glad you liked it!
Made this a few times already, and tastes great everytime. Love this recipe. Thanks!!
Thanks Kathy! I like this dish and make it as a main dish (over rice) or side dish often too. 🙂 So glad you like this recipe as much as I do!
I was looking at the donburi eggplant recipe and saw a simple, I think, 3 ingredient sauce for either a marinade or for dipping. You made a comment that you use this for just about everything. I was going back to it to copy, but could not find it. It did not have a name for the recipe.
Hi F. Cornwell! You are leaving a comment on the right recipe post. This is the eggplant donburi recipe with just 4 Tbsp mirin + 2 Tbsp soy sauce. 🙂