Okonomiyaki is one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast (or lunch, actually!). I’ve always been a fan of the savory foods over the sweeter ones. Give me a choice between ice cream or french fries and I’ll choose french fries every time. So, a savory pancake? With yummy insides like garlic and onion and spinach… YES PLEASE! It’s a meal you normally make with egg, so you can imagine my excitement when I made it last weekend without and it turned out perfectly. You can imagine me in the kitchen with my arms up in the air making faint crowd cheering noises if you’d like, because that’s what actually happened. And since posting recipes around lunch time always makes me hungry- I will succumb this time and make this for lunch. Have a great weekend, friends!
What You Need
1 cup flour
1 egg replacer (Can be store bought or you can use 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar & 1 tsp baking soda)
2 cups fresh spinach/kale/nappa cabbage/ or your green of choice [minced]
3/4 cup rice milk or water
1/4 tsp salt
Okonomi sauce – If you don’t have access to a Japanese market near you (or can’t order ingredients online), don’t worry, there are lots of sauces that taste good on top. Katsu sauce, aka tonkatsu sauce is great, even teriyaki sauce is delicious. Those can usually be found in the international or Asian sections of your local grocery store.
This is your base recipe. Okonomiyaki literally means “as you like it”. So you can add whatever you like at this stage, your favorite foods or leftovers from previous meals. Things like green onions, shallots, ginger, garlic, seaweed, etc are great examples.
What You Do
1. Preheat pan with oil on medium heat.
2. Place all the batter ingredients into a bowl and stir until just combined- do not over mix!
3. Pour a large pancake sized serving out onto your pan. (I find this recipe makes two large servings, so you should have half the batter left.)
4. Add any additional toppings
5. Allow to cook thoroughly on both sides (3-5 minutes, depending on toppings), add sauce of choice and serve while hot!
38 Comments
Okonomiyaki, The Savory Japanese Pancake – I camp in my kitchen
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Jan
27 Jan 2014 at 4:04 pmJust a heads up, Okonomiyaki sauce is very likely unvegan for those of you who care. Other than that I think you’re ok.
Cheers.
Sara
27 Jan 2014 at 4:33 pmHi Jan! Okonomiyaki sauce is basically just Japanese Worcestershire sauce- but most of the brand names actually don’t have anchovies. (I actually use my Okonomiyaki when a recipe calls for Worcestershire sauce.)
We buy the Otafuku brand of Okonomiyaki sauce, and the ingredients are: Fruits and Vegetables (Tomato, Date, Onion, Apple, Carrot, Peach, Orange and Garlic), Water, High fructose corn syrup, Vinegar, Sugar, Hydrolyzed soy protein, Salt, Modified food starch, Soy sauce, Spices, Yeast extract, Guar gum, Kelp, Shiitake mushroom, Caramel coloring.
If you don’t have access to a vegan brand, (or if you want to have a healthier sauce) you can make your own: Just simmer this for about 20 minutes until the liquid is halved. Add the ketchup in afterward and there you go. =)
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon mirin
2 cups apple-cider vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground yellow mustard seed or dry mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Debbie
27 Feb 2012 at 7:41 pmWe had an exchange student from Japan and he made this for us. We loved it too. He added ham and shrimp to ours along with the shredded cabbage. We also topped our pancake with mayonnaise then the tonaka sauce. YUMMM It is a family favorite, going to make it tonight!
jaime
25 Feb 2012 at 11:55 pmI can do eggs. Can’t do grains. What could I sub for the flour?
Kim
25 Feb 2012 at 12:57 amWe had a Japanese exchange student and she made this for us. She used coarsely chopped cabbage and smoked ham pieces. ..She also had dried fish that she sprinkled on top…mmmmm it was amazing. We tried to find a recipe and were not able…Thanks for posting.
Sara
20 Dec 2011 at 1:34 amthis is awesome I was born in Japan and my dad would make Okonomyaki all the time. i sort of became a tradition, but i havent had it in years!! Im so happy i ran across ur blog, Ima go make some for dinner 😀 u
Jennifer
8 Oct 2011 at 11:36 pmYAY! i always wanted a recipe like this! My boyfriend’s best friend is japanese, and we’ve really been getting into japanese food lately! I saw a review about these on chow.com at a place in NY and i’ve wanted one since then!!
meagan
25 Jun 2011 at 6:01 pmmmm… they look so yummy… i want to try this! julian and i tried making korean pancakes (kind of the same thing) and it was difficult… if you add too many veggies they fall apart. 🙁
i’ve been going through your blog today because i haven’t checked it in sooo long. i miss it actually! i love looking at your photos and reading about you and tom… you’re probably the most inspiring person i’ve met on the internet. 🙂
celia
13 Jun 2011 at 2:05 pmThis looks like a delicious recipe! My favorite part is the moving pictures. How did you do that? It’s so cool. As always i love your photography, thanks for sharing!
Sara
13 Jun 2011 at 2:37 pmI’ll post a tutorial on how to do it, in the meantime you can also use http://picasion.com/
Charissa
12 Jun 2011 at 12:05 pmI have no idea what that sauce is…hehe, but the whole recipe looks amazing. I’m totally into pancakes…in fact, they are my fave food ever, but this looks like something I haven’t tried. Thanks for sharing!!!!
Chinmayie
12 Jun 2011 at 7:24 amThat pancake looks great! Never heard of any recipe like this before! I bet it’ll taste great with whole wheat flour too 🙂
I too love savory pancakes! I am an Indian and we mostly never have anything sweet for breakfast. We have several Dosa (Indian pancake) varieties which are all mostly savory 🙂
Thanks for this great recipe!
Heidi
11 Jun 2011 at 9:38 pmYummy! I have lots of greens in the fridge that will be perfect for this! I’m going to try it sometime in the next couple days 😀
woody914
11 Jun 2011 at 11:33 amOkonomiyaki is my fav food, too! Every time I go back to Japan (I’m from Japan), I have one. Your version looks great, too! It really suits breakfast or light lunch.
lorena
11 Jun 2011 at 3:41 ammmm, looks delicious!
I love your blog.
Maggie
10 Jun 2011 at 11:25 pmI’ve been learning how to make this for the weekend brunch menu at the tea house I just got a job at, but I don’t think ours look nearly that good. We are in the middle of a menu switch though, you should email them some pointers. : D
Eva
10 Jun 2011 at 8:59 pmYum! That looks so delicious! Saving this recipe & hopefully I’ll get a chance to make it asap (as in… tomorrow, when I wake up)!
Ashling
10 Jun 2011 at 6:38 pmIf you have access to a good Asian food store, you can get special okonomiyaki flour too. Most types have seafood based seasoning in them, but maybe you can get some that’re just mixed with yam flour? This prevents the okonomiyaki getting doughy, but your recipe sounds like it contains enough veges to keep that from happening anyway ^_^
Yakisoba noodles are another tasty addition, even if (arguably) not traditional. Thanks for sharing this!
lil_1337
10 Jun 2011 at 5:21 pmOkonomiyaki is one of the few Japanese foods I really like and that looks good.
Kim
10 Jun 2011 at 4:29 pmReminds me of a Japanese version of latkes, which I luh-huhhhve, though they’re traditionally served with both/either applesauce and sour cream and while I love it, I find that to be a deal-breaker for most people who’d rather reach for the ketchup. Potatoes and ketchup are like so yesterday!
I made potato pancakes at home for the first time after having some phenomenal ones at a restaurant in our ‘hood – they put thinly chopped scallions on the “batter.” Mmm-MM! Now I want latkes, haha. I’ll definitely have to try this version sometime.
Sarah Nice
10 Jun 2011 at 4:02 pmAgain. I could totally eat like this all the time. I love your recipes. They sound so delicious!
Zoe
10 Jun 2011 at 3:52 pmi just had dinner, but i’m hungry all over again now.
Jacqueline
10 Jun 2011 at 2:45 pmMy guy loves this dish! You made it simple enough for even me to try it! Looks so good.
Alyssa
10 Jun 2011 at 1:01 pmThank you for the recipe! I have really been wanting to try Okonomiyaki and will trust yours!
Actually, when Catherine visited before we went to the Japanese festival last fall, we considered making Okonomiyaki. Since I wasn’t sure what recipe to use, I ended up making your (delicious!) dumplings. Maybe next time they come over we’ll have to try out this recipe
Danijel Ã…Â ivinjski
10 Jun 2011 at 12:54 pmLooks great. YUM!
Bronwyn
10 Jun 2011 at 12:46 pmThis always drew questions from housemates when I made this, haha. I can certainly vouch for the teriyaki sauce. And shallots are GREAT!
Catherine
10 Jun 2011 at 12:45 pmAhhh I love Okonomiyaki so much, but I haven’t had it in forever! I need to give it a try again soon – thanks for the recipe!
miss alix
10 Jun 2011 at 12:37 pmyes please. looks so good. love the animation too.
Jade
10 Jun 2011 at 12:17 pmHoly yum Batman! Definitely have to try this one out!