Japanese Omurice
Omurice is a popular modern Japanese dish that's a mashup of Western omelettes and Japanese fried rice. It's a favorite amongst kids and therefore a staple of home cooking here, but it can also be served a little fancier at Yoshoku restaurants in Japan.
Although everyone makes it a little differently, the omelet is usually stuffed with chicken rice, which is fried rice that's made with chicken and seasoned with ketchup. This gives it a vibrant red color and savory sweet taste, that's the trademark flavor of this dish.
As for the egg, classic styles of omurice were made into an oval shape and wrapped in a thin layer of egg, but these days, many people ditch the thin papery egg for a luscious blanket of soft scrambled eggs on top.
Omurice Components
Omurice is comprised of two main components, and can also be sauced. Here's what's inside each of them.
Chicken Rice
Although it's called "chicken rice," the predominant flavor here is ketchup, which makes it the perfect sweet and tangy contrast to the creamy egg on top. For my omurice, I like using a homemade ketchup because the spices make for a more interesting flavor profile, and it's a little less sweet than the store-bought stuff. That being said, if you're looking for that classic taste, the bottled stuff is the way to go. On the flipside, if ketchup isn't your cup of tea, don't worry; you can make omurice using any kind of fried rice. For a more in-depth look at how to make perfect fried rice, see my Yakimeshi recipe.
Although I almost always advocate using chicken thighs over breast meat, this is one of the rare exceptions where I feel like breast meat works better. Just be careful not overcook it, or it will get tough.
Other than that, I like to brown some onions to get a little more flavor into the rice. I also add some oyster sauce as a more flavorful alternative to soy sauce; this helps balance out the sweetness of the ketchup with plenty of umami. Some people also like to add other vegetables to their chicken rice like carrots and peas, which is fine, but I think they're unnecessary unless you're trying to get your kids to eat more vegetables. I usually serve this with a side salad.
Omelette
The omelette is more about the cooking technique than the ingredients, but I do like to use eggs with very vivid yolks so that the omelette turns out nice and golden. I also add a bit of cream, which ups the richness to balance out the acidity of the rice. If you're really looking for something over the top, try adding some grated cheese to the eggs.
Sauce
Although omurice is usually just sauced with ketchup, it's sometimes also served with a more flavorful sauce such as the sauce from Hayashi Rice (Omuhayashi - オムハヤシ) or Japanese Curry (Omukarei - オムカレー), or Meat Sauce (Omumeato - オムミート). For the last one, you could even do away with the rice and add spaghetti, which turns it into Omusupa (オムスパ). As you can see, there's a lot of opportunities to get creative here.
How to Make Omurice
Making chicken rice is pretty straight forward. I start by marinating the chicken in a bit of soy sauce to ensure it's well-seasoned. Then I brown some onions before throwing the chicken in and stir-frying it. The trick to having tender chicken in your omurice is to add the rice before the chicken is fully cooked through. I usually go in with the rice as soon as I can't see any raw sides on the chicken. This gives you plenty of time to get the rice nice and caramelized without turning the chicken chewy. Once the rice is heated through, I add the ketchup and oyster sauce, and stir-fry until the sauces start caramelizing around the rice. Then you can load the rice into a mold and invert it onto a plate. I usually leave the mold on the plate until my eggs are done to help keep the rice warm.
The trickier part is the omelette, but using this technique, anyone should be able to get an awesome creamy blanket of egg with big fluffy curds that are just barely held together. The first thing is to use a non-stick pan; this is a must to get the egg out of the pan cleanly.
Once you've melted the butter in the pan, add the egg mixture and give it a few seconds to set up at the bottom. Then you just gently scramble them while shaking the pan, which redistributes the uncooked egg as you break up the curds. I usually take the omelette off the heat once there are no big pools of egg left, as carryover cooking will thicken the remaining egg into a rich, creamy sauce. But before you take the pan off the stove, blast it with heat for a few seconds. This will vaporize any liquid between the egg and the pan, making the egg slide out easily.
Decorating Omurice
Although soft scrambled eggs aren't quite as smooth of a canvas to paint on, you can still do fun shapes such as stripes, hearts, stars, or faces using ketchup in a squeeze bottle.
Fried Rice Recipes
- Curry Fried Rice
- Sobameshi (Ramen Fried Rice)
- Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkeumbap)
- Sinangag (Filipino Garlic Fried Rice)
- Avocado Crab Fried Rice
FAQ
Omurice (オムライス), or Omuraisu as it's pronounced in Japan, is a portmanteau of "Omelette" and "Rice." It's unclear where the dish originated, but Omurice is considered yōshoku(western food) in Japan. It was probably created around the turn of the last century when western-style cafes became popular.
Yōshoku (洋食) means "Western-style food" in Japanese, and it refers to a sub-genre of Japanese cuisine modeled on food from the West. Although these dishes are considered Western in Japan, many do not exist outside of Japan. Some examples include curry rice, hamburg steak, and Hayashi rice. In a way, Yōshoku is like the Japanese analog to American-style sushi such as spicy tuna rolls and California rolls.
Omurice is a 5-syllable word that's pronounced as follows:
o like order
mu like move
ra the “ra” sound does not exist in the English language and the best way to make it is to say the word "romp" with the tip of your tongue at the front of your mouth.
i like even
su like soup
📖 Recipe
Units
Ingredients
For Chicken Rice
- 150 grams boneless skinless chicken breast ~½ breast, cut into ½-inch dice
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 100 grams onion ~½ small onion, finely minced
- 300 grams cooked Japanese short-grain rice 2 loosely packed cups cold
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- black pepper to taste
For Omelette
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon cream
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon cultured unsalted butter
Instructions
For Chicken Rice
- Marinate the chicken in the soy sauce while you prepare all the other ingredients.
- Break the eggs into a bowl along with the cream and salt. Whisk together until the mixture is uniform in color.
- Add the vegetable oil and onions to a frying pan over medium-high heat and saute the onions until they're tender and just starting to brown.
- Add the chicken and stir-fry until you don't see any raw sides anymore.
- Add the rice, and break it up with a spatula so that it heats through evenly.
- Once the rice has been warmed through, add the ketchup and oyster sauce, and stir-fry until the rice is an even color and the ketchup is just starting to caramelize. Season with black pepper to taste.
- Plate the rice. You can use a bowl as a mold to give it a round or oval shape.
For Omelette
- Heat a small 8-inch non-stick frying pan over medium heat until moderately hot. Add the butter and swirl to melt and coat the pan evenly.
- Add the eggs, and cook until the bottom layer of eggs are set (the bottom will start turning opaque).
- Gently stir the eggs, while shaking the pan to resettle the uncooked egg.
- Turn up the heat to high for a few seconds to make the egg easier to slide out of the pan (the egg should slide around the pan easily when shaken).
- Position the pan over the plated rice and gently slide the egg out of the pan onto the rice.
- Garnish with ketchup and parsley to taste.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Jo, you can obviously cook it however you like, this is just how I do it.
Jo says
That's great! I know that sometimes things are cooked a certain way for a reason and just wanted to be sure ^_^
Karon Reiter says
On some of the YouTube videos they cook the egg in such a way that when they place it on top of the rice, they cut it down the middle in which a mountain of moist eggs emerge, draping the side of the rice. I've only seen these in restaurants, not at home. Can this be done at home and if so, how are the eggs cooked that the outside is firm, but the inside is moist? It looks so yummy.
Marc Matsumoto says
I'm not sure I've seen this before, but if you make the eggs like described above and instead of sliding it out of the pan (with the moist side up), you flip it onto the rice, you would end up with the firm part on the outside and the moist part on the inside.
Marc Matsumoto says
That's impressive. I think the answer is LOTS of practice. I certainly wouldn't be able to do that. He's partially scrambling the eggs, but then folding it in half (like an omelette) and then sealing it shut while the inside is still very runny. The trick is in the way he is tossing the pan. The dropping action creates a 0-g environment in the pan, which for a brief moment allows the egg to float, allowing him to rotate it without breaking it. The motion is actually pretty similar to what's used to make dashimaki tamago (which is said to be one of the hardest things in Japanese cuisine to master).
Midori says
I'm so going to try making this. It looks delicious. Thanks! ^^
lewisfausak says
This is so good! I wish we had omurice shops where I live.
Thanks for the recipe, I love the blog.
Do you know how to make the sweet seaweed filling found in some onigiri, I think I have seen mention of it as a kombu filling, but I have no idea how to get thick kombu into a sweet and edible texture.
Senic says
I think youre talking about furikake 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Senic, I think I responded to this at some point, but threaded conversations got collapsed during one of our website moves, so it's no longer attached to this comment. Lewis was referring to Tsukudani, which is konbu that's been simmered in soy sauce, sugar and mirin (sometimes with other things like Sansho, perilla seeds, or sesame seeds added).
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Lou, it could be konbu, but usually konbu is more salty than sweet and comes in either squares or strips. If it was more like a paste, it's most likely nori. This is made by taking fresh nori (not the paper thin dried kind) and cooking it with soy sauce, sugar and mirin until it forms a thick paste. If you can't get fresh nori where you live you could in theory use the dried sheeted type (though I've never tried this myself), but it takes a ton of nori to make just a little paste, so I think this approach would be prohibitively expensive.
f says
It looks like "nasi goreng" in my country (Indonesia) 🙂
Yuki Yamanaka says
Hello! Can we use mayonnaise instead of ketchup?
Holly says
No, that would not work? It would be an entirely different dish and would have a strange texture.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Yuki, I don't think I've ever heard of using mayo in chicken rice and I don't really like mayonnaise personally, but if you like mayo then give it a try.
rona says
Can I add some cabbage?
Fonz Tan says
Thanks for the recipe Marc! It really taste good 🙂 I modified the recipe a bit and here's my version 🙂
Marc Matsumoto says
Looks great, what's the ball on top?
Fonz Tan says
It's the mixed rice, I have shaped it into a ball... It's like a sneak peak of what's inside the mountain of egg. I have also topped it with the catsup that was used for my mixed rice.
CieloAlarica says
This looks so good! Going to try this now~ ^ ^
bellystraw says
Looks simple and fun. Just one question.
I've heard alot of people say that normal ketchup really doesn't do the trick and sometimes the sweetness of fx. Heinz ketchup ends up ruining the flavor.
Is there any way to maybe spice up your ketchup beforehand to balance the incredible sweetness alot of store bought ketchups have?
If so which spices would you recommend?
junjie says
try mixing ketchup with worcestershire sauce.. that will solve your problem on the sweetness of the ketchup and give your sauce an added kick..
Otakunekosama says
I use sugar-free ketchup and it works well for me!
Maybe try using that? Also heinz over all never works well for me so I recommed primal kitchen (it's what I use and loved it)
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Bellystraw, in a classic omurice the rice is supposed to be sweet since it is made using ordinary ketchup. Although it's not traditional I like my omurice more spicy which is why I use homemade ketchup (recipe here: https://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/homemade-savory-ketchup/ ). You could also substitute tomato paste for the ketchup which would make it less sweet while retaining the tomato flavor.
bellystraw says
Thanks for your advice!
Tatyana Sandoval says
Can the heavy cream be replaced with milk or lactose free milks?
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Tatyana, you could replace it with milk, but the eggs will be lighter and less creamy.
チェン小百合 says
Hi! Just made some for my brother and I... We didn't have ketchup so I used homemade teriyaki sauce to cook the rice and topped the egg with pepper. Also no onions or carrots at the moment; used tiny shrimp and corn instead. Turned out WONDERFUL! Thank you so much for this recipe. I was satisfied, happy, and inspired when I finished eating. The egg was delightful, the rice extremely pleasant, everything worked out just fine and looked gorgeous. Thank you.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi チェン小百合, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Anne-Maree says
Am i going crazy or this is a different recipe than used to be here on this site??? If so why change??? the last one was fantastic???
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Anne-Maree, you're not going crazy. I updated this a few weeks ago. I'm always about finding ways to improve dishes and if you enjoyed the last version I think you'll like this even more. I've simplified some of the steps and added a bit more flavor to the rice.
Keytti says
This came out so good, and it was so easy to understand, thank you!!
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Keytti, I'm so glad to hear you enjoyed this! You're welcome😀
Annie says
Hi how many calories are there in this recipe?
Marc Matsumoto says
Please click the "Nutrition" button in the recipe card for nutrition information. There's 554 calories per serving.
Annie Vos says
Thanks 🙂
Chicken says
Chicken nuggets?
rin says
Looks great I am going to make by brother cook it for himself tomorrow
Marc Matsumoto says
Thanks Rin, I hope he enjoys it!
Carley Heck says
Thanks for this! I have been trying to make it for a long time in the way where you wrap the uncooked egg inside and then cut it open afterwards; I couldn’t ever get it right. This is way easier and achieves the same effect! So delicious and easy!
Marc Matsumoto says
You're welcome Carley! Yea, that method takes a lot of practice and while it looks cool, this gets the same effect when you eat it.
Christie says
I added a teaspoon of sesame oil to the soy sauce chicken marinade for an extra umphhh! Great recipe. Thank you!
Marc Matsumoto says
You're welcome Christie, great idea adding sesame oil to the chicken! I may borrow that idea next time I make this.