With thinly sliced beef and tender onions simmered in a savory-sweet sauce, Gyudon or Japanese Beef Rice Bowl is synonymous with consolation. This straightforward and scrumptious dish, served over sizzling steamed rice, has been a staple in Japanese delicacies for over 150 years! It’s an ideal fast meal for a busy weeknight!
Gyudon (牛丼) is a traditional consolation meals that has held its place in Japanese delicacies for over 150 years. Not solely is that this hearty rice bowl very simple to place collectively, however it’s additionally well-known for being a fast, nutritious meal that by no means fails to fulfill.
Whereas each family in Japan makes gyudon a bit in another way, the core components stay the identical: skinny slices of beef, onion, and a candy and savory sauce served over steamed rice. At present, I’ll present you ways I make this weeknight favourite at dwelling.
What’s Gyudon (Japanese Beef Bowl)?
Like different donburi, Gyudon, or Japanese Beef Bowl, is at all times served over a heat bowl of freshly steamed rice. “Gyu” (牛) interprets to “beef,” whereas “Don” (丼) refers to the kind of bowl it’s served in.
The gyudon that we all know and love at this time originated from a beef sizzling pot dish known as “gyunabe” (牛鍋) throughout Japan’s Meiji Period (1868-1912). Up till this level, Japanese folks have been strictly prohibited from consuming beef for each spiritual and sensible causes. Consuming meat went towards Buddhist philosophies, and consuming cattle that have been helpful for work was largely discouraged.
As soon as Western tradition arrived in Japan within the late 19th century, gyunabe—beef and onion stewed with miso paste—grew to become extraordinarily common. The chef of an izakaya known as Isekuma in my hometown of Yokohama was the primary to serve gyunabe in 1862! Individuals started pouring their leftover gyunabe broth over rice, and shortly eating places started to serve this as a less expensive different known as “gyumeshi” (牛飯).
Within the late 1800s, Eikichi Matsuda lastly coined the title “gyudon.” Matsuda was the proprietor of Japan’s most well-known Tokyo-based beef bowl chain, Yoshinoya. If you wish to make gyudon identical to they do at Yoshinoya, I’ve a recipe right here.
Components for Japanese Beef Bowl
Gyudon in Japan is a fast, tasty meal that can also be budget-friendly. It was hottest amongst enterprise folks and younger, single males earlier than gaining reputation among the many normal Japanese public. The components to make this one-pot dish at dwelling are easy.
- Thinly sliced beef: I like to recommend chuck or rib eye for this recipe. The paper-thin slices are important for attaining genuine gyudon (too thick, and your beef will probably be chewy), and you may usually discover packages of thin-cut beef at Japanese or Asian supermarkets. Alternatively, you may at all times slice your personal.
- Onion: Sliced onions add sweetness to the dish and completely pair with tender beef.
- Sauce: The sauce is a harmonious mix of candy and savory, made with dashi (Japanese soup inventory), sake, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar. It’s so easy but extremely efficient in creating sturdy taste!
- Garnish: inexperienced onions for the colour and shichimi togarashi for a spicy kick.
How one can Make the Finest Gyudon
- Minimize the onion, inexperienced onions, and beef.
- With out turning on the range, place the sauce components, sliced onions, and beef in a big frying pan. Then, activate the warmth and begin cooking.
- Serve the simmered beef and onion over steamed rice in giant bowls.
Cooking Ideas
- Thinly slice the onion so it turns into tender and sweeter shortly. When cooked, the onion imparts a pure sweetness to the dish.
- Use good high quality beef. Effectively-marbled beef is not going to turn out to be chewy after simmering within the sauce. I extremely advocate ribeye for gyudon. It’s additionally simple to thinly slice your personal meat. For well-marbled beef, it’s simpler to flash-freeze and minimize the semi-frozen meat.
- Make additional dashi (Japanese soup inventory) so you should utilize it for gyudon and miso soup to go together with the meal. I like to recommend making dashi both from scratch or with a dashi packet.
- Cook dinner extra rice than normal. Rice bowl dishes (or “donburi”) usually serve extra rice per particular person to go together with the meals on high. Subsequently, put together a bit bit greater than normal. I at all times make 1½ rice cooker cups for 2 servings and three rice cooker cups for 4 servings.
- Don’t overcook the meat, particularly in case your meat isn’t well-marbled. You don’t need chewy meat. As quickly as the meat is now not pink, cease cooking. If the meat is well-marbled, you may let it simmer barely longer to permit the meat to soak up extra flavors from the sauce.
Standard Gyudon Variations
1. Gyudon with eggs
In Japan, we sometimes serve gyudon with a distinct kind of eggs.
- Tsukimi Gyudon (お月見牛丼) – We place a uncooked egg yolk within the heart of the simmered beef.
- Gyudon with Onsen Tamago (温玉のせ牛丼)- We place a poached egg within the heart of the simmered beef.
- Tanindon (他人丼) or Gyutojidon (牛とじ丼) – Proper earlier than ending cooking, drizzle overwhelmed eggs over the simmered beef and cook dinner coated till eggs are simply set (In Japan, eggs are served barely extra runny).
For the primary two variations of gyudon, if you’re able to eat, break the yolk and blend it with the meat and onions so as to add a layer of richness to the meal.
The final possibility offers a pleasant layer of fluffy egg to the meat combination. You possibly can learn extra about it in my Tanindon publish.
2. Kansai Sukiyaki-Model Gyudon
In case you’re a long-time JOC fan, you’re aware of my gyudon recipe and the picture above, which I initially shared in 2011.
That is how my grandmother and mom made their gyudon. Since they’re from the Kansai space (my grandma was from Nara and moved to Osaka the place my mother was raised), they cooked gyudon like they made their Kansai-style sukiyaki. The signature of this type is to sprinkle sugar on the thinly sliced beef whereas it’s nonetheless uncooked and cook dinner the meat first earlier than simmering it with different seasonings.
In contrast to the Kanto-style gyudon the place we simmer beef and onion in dashi (Japanese soup inventory), Kansai-style gyudon doesn’t at all times require dashi and is cooked with simply the seasonings; Subsequently, the flavour is extra intense.
Since my grandmother and mom’s gyudon recipe isn’t the standard gyudon recipe that folks usually search, I’ve determined to replace this publish with a extra commonplace gyudon recipe.
So, if you need to make my Gyudon recipe from 2011, or Kansai Sukiyaki-Model Gyudon, merely skip the dashi from the components beneath, and listed here are the cooking steps:
- Stir-fry onions with a tablespoon of oil (not listed within the recipe) till tender.
- Add beef and sugar (utilizing the identical quantity as specified within the recipe) and shortly stir to mix.
- Add sake, mirin, and soy sauce (once more, utilizing the identical quantity within the recipe) and cook dinner till the meat is now not pink.
- Optionally, slowly drizzle a skinny stream of the overwhelmed eggs over the meat (Don’t combine the egg with the meat) and add the inexperienced onions on high. Cook dinner coated on medium-low warmth till the egg is sort of set or completed to your liking (however don’t overcook it).
- Serve over steamed rice, and luxuriate in!
What’s the Finest Rice Cooker
To make the proper rice for gyudon, I like to make use of my Zojirushi NP-NWC10XB Rice Cooker. It makes fluffy rice each time and is the greatest Japanese rice cooker I’ve ever used! You may get it on Amazon for $458.29, and it’s effectively value it should you cook dinner plenty of rice.
Standard Donburi Recipes
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Gyudon (Japanese Beef Rice Bowl)
With thinly sliced beef and tender onions simmered in a savory-sweet sauce, Gyudon or Japanese Beef Rice Bowl is synonymous with consolation. This straightforward and scrumptious dish served over sizzling steamed rice has been a staple in Japanese delicacies for over 150 years. It‘s an ideal fast meal for a busy weeknight!
Components
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Directions
To Put together the Components
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First, thinly slice ½ onion.
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Subsequent, minimize 1 inexperienced onions/scallions diagonally into skinny slices. Put aside.
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Then, take out ½ lb thinly sliced beef (chuck or ribeye) from the freezer. Minimize the semi-frozen sliced meat into items 3 inches (7.6 cm) extensive.
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In a big frying pan (don’t activate the warmth but), add ½ cup dashi (Japanese soup inventory), 2 Tbsp sake, 2 Tbsp mirin, 3 Tbsp soy sauce, and 1 Tbsp sugar. Combine to mix.
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Subsequent, add the onion slices and unfold them all through the pan, separating the onion layers.
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Then, add the meat on high of the onions. Separate the skinny slices of beef so the meat covers the onions.
To Serve
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Divide 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice into giant donburi bowls. Then, drizzle a few of the pan sauce on high of the rice.
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Put the meat and onion combination on high of the rice. In case you’d like, drizzle extra remaining sauce on high. High the Gyudon with pickled purple ginger (beni shoga or kizami beni shoga). Take pleasure in!
Vitamin
Vitamin Details
Gyudon (Japanese Beef Rice Bowl)
Quantity per Serving
% Every day Worth*
* P.c Every day Values are based mostly on a 2000 calorie food regimen.
Editor’s Notice: The publish was initially printed on January 13, 2011. The content material and pictures have been up to date and the recipe was revised on April 17, 2022. The publish was republished with a brand new video on April 5, 2024.
