Japanese Beef Rice Bowl (Gyudon) is a comforting and savory Japanese classic, gyudon features thinly sliced beef and onions simmered in a mildly sweet soy-based sauce, served over a steaming bowl of fluffy white rice. The broth is infused with dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and a touch of sugar, creating deep umami flavor in every bite. Often topped with pickled ginger and scallions, this quick and satisfying dish is perfect for lunch, dinner, or any time you’re craving a cozy, flavorful meal.
You can also add a soft cooked or fried egg to this, or scrambled egg steamed on top of the meat and onions, which is the way I have had egg in this in restaurants. You typically see thinly shaved beef in this dish. My grocery store sells thinly shaved beef so I used that. You can also find it in the hot pot section of Asian grocery stores. If you can’t find it, you can make your own by freezing steak for about 30 minutes and cutting it with a sharp knife while it is partially frozen.
There are a few things you need for this recipe. I use this powdered dashi. Dashi is a Japanese seafood stock. You also need Sake or Shaoxing cooking wine and Mirin. You can also see my post here on perfectly cooking Asian rice for this dish on your stove top. I love to cook Asian food at home and I have a bunch of really fantastic Asian recipes you can check out here.
Japanese Beef Rice Bowl (Gyudon)
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 1 cup dashi (japanese soup stock, you can buy from my link) or sub beef broth + 1 tsp fish sauce
- 1/4 cup sake or chinese rice wine see my link
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 6 tbsp soy sauce
For the bowls:
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 4 scallions sliced
- 1 1/2 lbs thinly sliced steak
- cooked rice see my post on cooking Asian rice
Instructions
- Mix the sauce ingredients together. Set aside.
- Thinly slice the onion and slice the scallions into 1 inch pieces. Cook your rice before you start the beef because it cooks very quickly.
- If you need to slice your beef, freeze and then thinly slice. In a large frying pan on a turned off burner, add the sauce.
- Layer the onions in the sauce and then top with the beef, spreading it evenly over the onions. Cover with a lid and turn the burner on to medium.
- Bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 4 minutes or so until the beef is cooked and the sauce has bubbled up and infused the beef with flavor. If any foam builds up while simmering, just open the lid and skim it off.
- Sprinkle green onions over and cover and cook 1 more minute. If you want to add beaten eggs you'd add them on top now too. Divide your rice into bowls and scoop the meat and onions over and drizzle with the sauce. Serve with pickled ginger if you have it.