Omurice Recipe (Easy Japanese Omelette Rice)

Omurice is a soft, fluffy, and creamy Japanese comfort food. The dish is made of an omelette over rice stir-fried with mushrooms, diced vegetables, and meat.

Typically, there are two versions of the dish. Ganso is the style where the rice is wrapped inside the omelette, while the other is an open lava-like omelette. Chefs will add either ketchup sauce or a sweet-savoury demi-glace omurice sauce over this dish.

Most people think the dish is complicated to make at home with precision. But we've experimented and created our fail-proof recipe that is easy to make at home. Of course, we've also provided alternatives for some hard-to-get ingredients.

We'll cover all the steps, from forming the omelette shape to controlling the temperature so the centre is still soft. We'll also share our presentation tips if you prefer the Ganso style or the fluffy, creamy open omelette option. Our recipe shows both ways so you can customise it to your liking. So, let's start learning how to make omurice.

Jump to:

• What does omurice taste like?
• Omurice ingredients
• How to make omurice sauce
• How to make Ganso Omurice (Fried rice wrapped in an omelette)
• How to make fluffy omurice (Lava)
• Using an omurice mould
• Omurice Recipe (Fluffy Japanese Omelette Rice)
• Cooking Tips
• Japanese vs Korean omurice

What does omurice taste like?

Omurice tastes like savoury fried rice topped with gooey, soft scrambled eggs. The omurice sauce adds a mild sweetness. It's no wonder many Japanese people love spoonfuls of this warm, comforting egg and rice combination.

With the fluffy version, imagine creamy eggs served over fried rice interspersed with various ingredients. The Ganso-style version is a unique variation with an omelette that you can cut open to reveal warm rice. It tastes the same as the fluffy version, but there are usually fewer ingredients because the rice has to fit snugly into the omelette wrap.

Whichever version you like, it's no secret that a Japanese omelette over rice is a comforting dish for adults and children alike.

Omurice ingredients

Here are the omurice ingredients you'll need to make this sweet and savoury dish.

Ketchup rice ingredients: 

• 1 cup cooked Short-grain Japanese rice
• ½ cup diced chicken
• ½ medium onion
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• ½ tablespoon soy sauce (optional)
• ½ cup vegetables (optional)

Omelette ingredients:

• 2-3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoon cooking oil

Rice

Cooked Japanese short-grain rice is best for our easy omurice recipe. Apart from the length, short-grain rice is much starchier and stickier than other types of rice. 

To prepare this, you'll want to rinse your rice with water before cooking. Then, cook it with water in a 1:1 ratio or follow the measurements on a rice cooker. If you need help finding short-grain rice, use Jasmine rice instead. However, there is a noticeable difference as Jasmine tends to be firmer and less sticky, while short-grain rice sticks together and is softer.

Cooking your rice longer releases more starch, resulting in increased stickiness. So, if you want a stickier product like Korean omurice, cook your short-grain rice for an extra 5-10 min. You could also use overnight rice to achieve this texture.

Eggs 

Depending on your serving size, you can use two to three eggs. The type, colour, and size don't affect the final presentation of the dish. For beginners, we recommend using 3 large eggs so there is more to work with, and it'll be easier to avoid overcooking it. There will also be more volume to your omelette.

Ketchup

For our recipe, we will use tomato ketchup sauce for our fried rice with chicken. 

It's the star ingredient in omurice, which is why many Japanese kids love this sweet and savoury dish. But if you're not a fan, that's alright, too. You can replace it with a lovely brown sauce. Japanese restaurants might also use barbecue sauce (brown okonomiyaki sauce) instead of ketchup.

Chicken

For our Japanese omelette rice recipe, skinless chicken breast is best. However, we also recommend using chicken thighs if you want the meat to be more tender and juicier.

For more flavour, you can season the chicken with salt and pepper. 

Soy sauce (optional)

We also like to add ½ tablespoon of soy sauce to give the dish a savoury, umami flavour. However, this is entirely optional, and you can skip it if you prefer a sweeter rice dish.

Vegetables (optional)

The most common vegetables to add to this dish are peas and carrots. It's less common to see peppers being added, as most Japanese kids don't like them because they think it's bitter. However, we love adding some sweet yellow peppers for added crunch.

How to make omurice sauce

You can keep things simple by adding ketchup on top. However, an omurice sauce will elevate your dish by adding a savoury, rich element. Omurice sauce is a sweet and tangy brown sauce drizzled over Japanese omelette rice.

It's a modern demi-glace sauce, traditionally made by simmering and straining a mixture of beef stock and brown gravy. There are several different ways of making this sauce. 

However, the easiest method to make omurice sauce is to combine ketchup, soy sauce, and store-bought tonkatsu sauce over low heat. Then, let the mixture thicken slowly.

Omurice sauce ingredients: 

• 4 tablespoon ketchup
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoon tonkatsu sauce

If you can not find tonkatsu sauce, you can make it from scratch by following our measurements below.

• 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ½ tablespoon mirin

If you make the sauce at home, you can control its thickness. Add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch for a thicker sauce base. Mix 1-2 tablespoon of water well if your sauce is too thick.

Other versions include barbecue sauce, and some Japanese chefs even add curry. So, you can be creative here.

It's easy to make omurice demi-glace roux at home, and you can freeze the sauce after cooking it. You can store roux for a long time, for up to a year, in the freezer and six months in the fridge. We like to use the roux as a base for curry and Japanese beef stew over rice.

Store-bought omurice sauce

Buying it from the store might be better if you need more confidence in making a good roux. Purchasing a Japanese premade roux can save you time and effort.

In our experience, store-bought roux has always felt too rich. Therefore, we recommend you do a taste test and make any minor adjustments to your taste.

How to make Ganso Omurice (Fried rice wrapped in an omelette)

This variation of omurice results in fried rice wrapped in a thin, papery omelette. You can use the same ingredients to make our fluffy omurice recipe. With this version, you won't be able to put as much rice in the middle, as the omelette may break. If you try this version, we suggest using half the amount of rice in our original recipe.

Here's a step-by-step to help you wrap the rice inside the eggs.

1. Using a non-stick frying pan, coat it with 1-2 tablespoon of oil and heat on medium-high heat. Alternatively, you can use a generous amount of butter.
2. Mix your egg batter and pour this into the hot pan.
3. Scramble the eggs fast until you get a half-runny egg mixture.
4. Then, quickly place your ketchup rice in the middle.
5. Gently fold over both sides of the omelette and shape the corners to form an oval shape.

The eggs' final taste and texture remain the same as in the original version. The main difference is that the omelette in the Ganso version is much thinner and entirely cooked through.

How to make fluffy omurice (Lava)

Another variation is the lava-style Japanese omelette rice. Lava describes the way that the omelette is made. When you spear this omelette with a knife, it explodes, and a creamy trail of egg oozes out—just like lava. 

The technique to make this is to quickly roll a partially cooked scrambled egg in the pan, folding it fast into a melon-shaped omelette. The chef removes it from the heat and plops it onto the rice.

You can use three to four eggs. However, cooking a perfectly runny omelette might be more challenging if you use more than this amount. Our recipe will teach you how to make lava omurice, so hop to the recipe section and check it out.

Using an omurice mould

Omurice moulds are designed to shape your fried rice into perfect papaya-like mounds. So, once you stir-fry your rice, you can serve it and press it into the mould. Then, plop it onto the plate for nicely shaped rice that looks like it was served at a restaurant. For a cute twist, you can buy a Rilakumma bear mould. Then, instead, cover half the bear using the omelette as a blanket.

However, we suggest buying a mould only if you often make several portions.

Otherwise, it can be expensive, and there's only so much use to them. Ultimately, you don't necessarily need a mould to create a fantastic Japanese omelette rice. You could just as easily use a regular rice paddle to shape the rice on the plate. Here's our trick to getting the perfect oval omurice shape with no tools. 

1. First, scoop the rice into a bowl, then flip it onto the plate.
2. Using the back of a spoon, gently push down two opposite ends. Then, continue to shape it into an oval shape.

Cooking Tips

How to avoid spongy omelettes

The most common problem is when your omelettes turn out spongy and not with a whipped, fluffy texture. The reason for sponginess is often because the heat was too high in the pan. Another reason is when you use a pan that is too small. The omelette mixture tends to become too thick and folds into itself with insufficient space.

We recommend using any regular pan around 22 cm in diameter to create the right texture and accurate depth for a 3-egg omelette. You can always turn the heat off if you're worried about overcooking your eggs. This trick will give you more time to flip the eggs over. 

Why is my omelette not fluffy?

If you want a fluffier omelette, add 1 to 1½ tablespoons more milk into your mixture. You'll also need to whisk your egg mixture enough to form white peaks in the egg whites. 

Another trick is to mix a few pinches of cornstarch (or potato starch) into a bit of milk or water before adding your eggs to the bowl and whisking. This way, the cornstarch mixture can hold your scrambled eggs, rendering them tender and fluffier when you whisk them.

Japanese vs Korean omurice

The main difference between Korean and Japanese omurice is that the Japanese version typically has chopped chicken bits or uses chicken rice, while the Korean omurice does not.

Instead, Koreans tend to use beef, pork, or sometimes ham or bacon. Although both versions use short-grain rice, the Korean variation has a stickier texture. Instead of making ketchup rice, you can also make kimchi rice as a base. Lastly, Koreans may make their sauce slightly spicier because they prefer it that way.

You might have seen creators cook a light, fluffy omurice recipe resembling that of a tornado on TikTok or Instagram. A tornado omelette uses the same recipe, but the egg is whipped until it is souffle-like. This tornado dish is popular in both countries, and many well-known restaurants have it on their menu.

If you liked making this easy omurice recipe, try ketchup spaghetti. For more recipes, follow us on Instagram @honestfoodtalks, where we share more of our favourite Asian fusion cuisine.