Gyudon (牛肉丼) is a classic Japanese beef rice bowl with thin sliced beef and sweet tender onions over a bowl of hot rice. Yoshinoya (吉野家), one of Japan’s largest fast-food restaurant chain are best known for their beef bowls.
A little disclaimer: This recipe is not the authentic way to make Japanese beef rice bowl, as I did not include dashi stock and used a little bit of oyster sauce. I also used Shaoxing cooking wine as a substitute for sake. So if you don’t mind my Chinese-ified version of this recipe, keep on reading!
ingredients for making gyudon:
- ½ white onion, sliced
- 200g thin sliced beef
- 1 egg
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 1 serving cooked white rice
- toasted sesame seeds (optional)
sauce:
- 1 tbsp sake (or sub with Shaoxing cooking wine)
- 1 tbsp mirin
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- ⅓ cup water (or dashi stock)
how to make the egg?
- If you like to add an egg, you can cook it however you like. Poached, soft-boiled or traditionally an onsen tamago (Japanese slow cooked egg).
- But the quickest way is soft-boiled egg, which has an almost runny, jammy egg yolk. Simply put your eggs in boiling water and cook for 5-6 minutes. Then put the eggs in an ice bath.
- Check out the “egg tips” section of my Chinese tea egg recipe for some tips on how to make the perfect soft-boiled egg!
steps to make gyudon:
- Start preparing by cooking rice and boiled egg (optional), as cooking the beef literally takes less than 10 minutes.
- Heat up 1 tbsp oil in a pan over medium-high heat and sauté onions until tender.
- Add sliced beef and cook until the beef is no longer pink.
- Add the sauce and water, then lower the heat and simmer for ~5 mins.
- Serve beef on top of steamed rice, then garnish with scallions, sesame seeds and egg. Enjoy!
more beef recipes:
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