This Easy Okonomiyaki recipe will give you a taste of Japan. It’s a Japanese savory pancake that combines cabbage, ginger, green onions, and shrimp into the batter and then adds bacon and tasty Japanese toppings for an incredible mix of flavors.
If you haven’t heard of this dish, you are probably asking yourself, what is okonomiyaki? Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake containing a variety of ingredients in a flour-based batter.
The name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning “how you like” or “what you like”, and yaki meaning “cooked” Because of the “what you like” part of the name, you can customize this pancake however you like it.
For example, in this recipe, just leave out the bacon and shrimp for a vegetarian okonomiyaki recipe.
This recipe is for Osaka Okonomiyaki also called Kansai-style Okonomiyaki. This Osaka-style Okonomiyaki recipe is the predominant version of the dish, found throughout most of Japan.
The batter is made of flour, grated nagaimo (a long type of yam), water or dashi, eggs and shredded cabbage, and usually contains other ingredients such as green onion, meat (usually thinly sliced pork belly or American bacon), octopus, squid, shrimp, and vegetables. You can learn more about Okonomiyaki on Wikipedia.
We first tried both the Hiroshima-style and the Osaka-style Okonomiyaki in Japan a few years ago and found both were delicious, but it looked like a difficult recipe with hard to get nagaimo yams and other Japanese ingredients.
Below is a photo of Hiroshima Okonomiyaki that we had in Japan. The Hiroshima-style Okonomiyaki is built in layers and this one has noodles in it.
And here is a photo of us at the Torii Gate of the Itsukushima Shrine on Miyajima.
Okay, so back to the Okonomiyaki. We found out how to make okonomiyaki the easy way in just 30 minutes with an authentic taste by ordering a few items from Amazon. So, stop looking for other okonomiyaki recipes and just use this one. Trust me! If you have an Asian grocery store nearby that stocks these items then you can just pick them up locally.
Here are the seven items that you will need to make this easy:
- Okonomiyaki Flour
- Okonomi Sauce
- Kewpie Mayonnaise (Japanese Mayonnaise)
- Bonito Flakes (Katsuobushi)
- Seaweed Flakes (Aonori)
- Red Pickled Ginger
- Tempura Bits (Tenkasu)
To make it even easier, you can purchase this Okonomiyaki Kit on Amazon that has the first 5 items from the list above.
Once, you have the ingredients, making these Japanese cabbage pancakes is easy.
How to Make Okonomiyaki
Ready to do some Japanese cooking!
Here is the process to make this Osaka-Style Okonomiyaki:
First, prepare the Japanese okonomiyaki ingredients.
Remove the thick veins in the cabbage leaves, then cut into 1” x ¼” strips.
Slice the green onions into thin, diagonal slices.
Preheat the griddle to 400 degrees F (you can also use a non-stick pan or skillet).
In a large mixing bowl, use a whisk to combine the Okonomiyaki Flour and water until the okonomiyaki batter is smooth.
Add the cabbage, onions, tempura bits, pickled ginger and shrimp (if you are including the optional shrimp) into the okonomiyaki batter and mix well for at least 30 seconds so that the cabbage is well coated. Please note that you can also use the pickled ginger as a topping to taste instead of mixing it into the batter. Both ways are delicious!
Add the eggs into the mixture and mix lightly for about 15 seconds so that the eggs are just combined with the cabbage.
Oil the preheated griddle. Use ½ of the mixture for each pancake and pour onto the griddle. It is easier to cook each pancake separately, so you may want to do what I say, not what I do in cooking both together as shown below.
Use a large, wide pancake spatula to gently flatten and form the pancakes until they are about 12” in diameter and about ¾” thick. Do not push down too hard with the spatula as you want a fluffy pancake.
Add the bacon pieces to cover the top of the pancake without overlapping them. In the photo below, I have only added 3 pieces of bacon for a lighter recipe, but you should be able to get 6 of the half slices of bacon onto the top of the pancake.
Cook for about 3 minutes, then use 2 large, wide pancake spatulas to flip the pancake over so that the bacon side is down and cook for 4 minutes.
Flip the pancake over again so that the bacon side is back on top and cook for 3 minutes or until the pancake is firm and browned, but not burnt.
Remove the Okonomiyaki pancake to a plate and drizzle Okonomi sauce in a back and forth pattern.
Drizzle the pancake with Kewpie mayonnaise in a back and forth pattern that is perpendicular to the Okonomi sauce.
Sprinkle with the Aonori (seaweed flakes).
Sprinkle with the Katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and watch them move due to the heat.
Eat with chopsticks.
This simple Okonomiyaki recipe is so fun to make and so delicious! Once you make it you will want to make again and again and experiment with different ingredients. Here are some other Okonomiyaki ingredients to consider.
Shredded vegetables to add to the cabbage:
- Kale
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Brussel Sprouts
- Zucchini
If you want to make a veggie Okonomiyaki, then skip the animal proteins below.
Here is a list of proteins you can use alone or combined (just make sure they get fully cooked):
- Bacon
- Chopped Salmon
- Chopped Shrimp
- Chopped Squid
- Chopped Octopus
- Shredded Chicken
- Shredded Pork
Easy Okonomiyaki Recipe
Ingredients
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup okonomiyaki flour
- 2/3 cup water
- 2 eggs - or ½ cup of egg substitute
- 4 cups of green cabbage - with thick veins removed and cut into 1” x ¼” strips
- 2 stalks of green onions - thinly sliced diagonally
- 1 oz. of red pickled ginger
- ¼ cup of Tempura bits - Tenkasu
- 6 strips of center cut bacon - cut into 3" pieces
OPTIONAL
- ½ cup of raw shrimp - peeled, deveined and cut into 1/2" pieces
TOPPINGS
- Okonomi Sauce
- Kewpie Mayonnaise - Japanese Mayonnaise
- Bonito flakes - Katsuobushi
- Seaweed flakes - Aonori
Instructions
- Remove the thick veins in the cabbage leaves, then cut into 1” x ¼” strips.
- Slice the green onions into thin, diagonal slices.
- Preheat the griddle to 400 degrees F (you can also use a non-stick pan or skillet).
- In a large mixing bowl, use a whisk to combine the Okonomiyaki Flour and water until the okonomiyaki batter is smooth.
- Add the cabbage, onions, tempura bits, pickled ginger and shrimp (if you are including the optional shrimp) into the okonomiyaki batter and mix well for at least 30 seconds so that the cabbage is well coated.
- Add the eggs into the mixture and mix lightly for about 15 seconds so that the eggs are just combined with the cabbage.
- Oil the preheated griddle.
- Use ½ of the mixture for each pancake and pour onto the griddle (cook each pancake separately).
- Use a large, wide pancake spatula to gently flatten and form the pancakes until they are about 12” in diameter and about ¾” thick. Do not push down too hard with the spatula as you want a fluffy pancake.
- Add the bacon pieces to cover the top of the pancake without overlapping them.
- Cook for about 3 minutes, then use 2 large, wide pancake spatulas to flip the pancake over so that the bacon side is down and cook for 4 minutes.
- Flip the pancake over again so that the bacon side is back on top and cook for 3 minutes or until the pancake is firm and browned, but not burnt.
- Remove the pancake to a plate and drizzle okonomi sauce in a back and forth pattern.
- Drizzle the pancake with Kewpie mayonnaise in a back and forth pattern that is perpendicular to the okonomi sauce.
- Sprinkle with the Aonori (seaweed flakes).
- Sprinkle with the Katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and watch them move due to the heat.
- Eat with chopsticks.
VIDEO
NOTES
RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS
This Okonomiyaki recipe is often misspelled as: okinomiyaki recipe, okonomoyaki recipe, okonomyaki recipe, okonomiaki recipe, okonamiyaki recipe and okonimiyaki recipe.
