Unagi Chazuke (Hitsumabushi) is a popular rice bowl from Nagoya which features broiled eel on top of steamed rice. Piping hot broth is poured on the rice to enjoy. It’s the perfect comfort food on a busy weeknight!

Unagi Chazuke (鰻茶漬け) is one of Mr. JOC’s favorite dishes. Before we were married, the only unagi dish he knew was Unagi Don (Unadon/Broiled Eel over Rice). After I introduced Unagi Chazuke to him, he loved it so much that he only requests this dish whenever we buy unagi. It’s a light and comforting dish that can be prepared easily on a busy weeknight!
The rice bowl is very alike to Hitsumabushi (櫃まぶし), a specialty dish from Nagoya prefecture. I will talk about the differences between the two in today’s post.

What is Unagi Chazuke?
As most of you already know, unagi (うなぎ or 鰻) is a freshwater eel in Japanese. Chazuke or ochazuke (お茶漬け) is a dish where green tea or dashi broth is poured over steamed rice. I have a classic Ochazuke recipe on the website if you’re interested.
So Unagi Chazuke is simply grilled or broiled unagi placed over steamed rice (which is called Unadon) and served with hot broth.
You can use either dashi or green tea for the hot broth. For today’s recipe, I used both dashi and konbucha (昆布茶), which is powdered kombu tea. The saltiness and umami from konbucha make a very delicious soup broth.

Is Unagi Chazuke Similar to Hitsumabushi?
If you have been to Nagoya, Japan, you probably had a chance to try the popular Hitsumabushi (櫃まぶし), which looks rather similar to Unagi Chazuke. There are popular Hitsumabushi restaurants everywhere in Nagoya, and some big chains have branches in the Tokyo area as well.
Let’s take a look at the differences between the two dishes.

Unagi Chazuke
- Served in a donburi (a large bowl).
- Unagi is served without cutting into smaller pieces.
- The soup broth can be green tea or dashi or sometimes a combination.
Hitsumabushi
- Originated in Nagoya.
- Served in Ohitsu (a round, wooden container to keep cooked rice).
- Unagi is cut into smaller pieces (1 cm).
- The soup broth is dashi.
- Enjoy the dish in 3 steps (Step 1 – eat only unagi and rice. Step 2 – eat with toppings and condiments (green onion, wasabi, and nori seaweed). Step 3 – pour the side broth (ochazuke) over the rice and enjoy!

Quick and Easy Weeknight Meal!
This recipe was from my mother’s where she learned it from a friend. As my parents love unagi, I grew up eating Unagi Chazuke when my mom was too busy to cook.
This recipe was my very first recipe on Just One Cookbook and was originally published on January 3rd, 2011, the third day after I started blogging. I remember we had many Western-style meals over the holidays, so it was nice to have a comforting Japanese dish again.
If you like Unadon, I hope you give this unagi dish a try next time!

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Unagi Chazuke (Hitsumabushi)
Ingredients
For Broth
- 2 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock)
- 2 tsp kobucha (kombucha)
For Unagi Donburi
- 1 fillet unagi (freshwater eel) fillet (precooked; 5.6 oz or 160 g)
- 2-3 tablespoon unagi (eel) sauce (for homemade unagi sauce recipe, click here.)
- 2 serving cooked Japanese short-grain rice
For Garnish
- 1 green onion/scallion (optional)
- 1 sprig mitsuba (Japanese parsley) (optional)
- 1 tsp toasted white sesame seeds
- Japanese sansho pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make Broth
- In a small saucepan, combine dashi and konbucha.
- Heat the broth over medium heat and whisk well. Taste the broth and adjust with more konbucha or salt if necessary.
To Prepare Unagi
- Cut unagi in half (or maybe third) to fit inside your serving bowls.
- Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Place unagi on top. WITHOUT preheating, put the baking sheet in the middle rack of your oven, and broil on high for 7 minutes (no need to flip).
- After 7 minutes or so, take it out and brush the unagi Sauce over the fillet. Broil for another 30 to 60 seconds until you see bubbles on top of unagi.
To Serve
- Cut the mitsuba and green onion into small pieces.
- Serve steamed rice in bowls and brush unagi sauce on the rice. Place unagi on top. You can cut Unagi into 1-inch pieces (easier to eat with chopsticks). Pour/brush more unagi sauce, if you like.
- Right before you serve, pour the broth over the unagi and garnish with green onions, mitsuba, and sesame seeds. You can sprinkle Japanese sansho pepper which gives more peppery, citrus flavor. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on January 3, 2011. The images have been updated in January 2020.
I made this for breakfast just now and it was magical! The combination is so well balanced and not too heavy to have in the morning. Loved it
Hi Ruslan, We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Unagi Chazuke!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!🙂
Is it a good idea to eat leftover unagi?i don’t wanna get sick for eating it -.-
Hi Aralynn, If you keep it in the refrigerator, the following day should be good.
We don’t recommend keeping it for more than two days and won’t recommend freezing it either. 🙂
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami,
What kind of grilled unagi do you use– what is it called? Is it in the refrigerated or frozen food section?
The employee at my local Nijiya directed me to unagi kabayaki. She said it would be ok to use with this recipe. It already had sauce on it so I decided not to add any unagi sauce. It had a nice smokey flavor. I want to make the recipe again using the “right” unagi.
Hi Diane, Here in California, we can hardly get fresh Unagi, so Nami also purchases the one in vacuumed sealed packages.
Here is the link where Nami explains more about Unagi: https://www.justonecookbook.com/unagi-fresh-water-eel/
Following Nami’s recipe as broil and add homemade sauce and broil again to enhance more flavor for this recipe, even the Unagi come with the unagi sauce is the best way to enjoy this dish! We hope this is helpful.
[…] light and none of the photos were touched up. Nami submitted the very first blog photo of Unagi Chazuke to foodgawker and it was accepted (We still cannot believe this was […]
[…] “seaweed tea”) is a beverage brewed from dried and powdered kombu. I used this in my Unagi Chazuke recipe and many […]
Namiii, I just saw SJ Return II in VLive… They ate this dish in Nagoya and I came straight to your website to find the recipe! THANK YOUUU! Looking forward to cook this in the weekend! 🙂
Hi Gita! I’m glad I have the recipe. 🙂 It’s very easy to make, and I hope you enjoy this recipe!
Unagi tastes so strong, when I smelled it first I got scared but I already made that recipe twice in a week now haha
Thanks for this recipe once again !
Hi Jin-chan! So happy to hear that you liked this recipe. It’s easy and comforting… Glad to hear the smell didn’t bother when you eat – I only can recognize “good smell”… LOL. 🙂
Is it a good idea to refrigerate leftover unagi? It’s just me that will be eating this and if I make a lot at once, I’ll take it as a personal challenge to eat it all if I make a batch that’s too much and can’t be refrigerated afterwards.
Hi Flantashia! Yes, you can refrigerate to keep it for the following day. I won’t keep it for more than 2 days though. Since you are most likely defrost unagi to eat it, I won’t recommend to re-freeze it. 🙂