Omurice is simply an egg omelette but with a ketchup flavoured chicken fried rice centre. The western world influenced some Japanese dishes. (Called Yoshoku) This is one of them.This is also one the most popular kids meals that Japanese children love. I am going to show you a few different ways to wrap the ketchup rice with eggs.
What is Omurice オムライス?
The word omurice derived from two words, omelette and rice. Frying the rice and chicken occurs first, and then flavoured with ketchup. That’s the big American influence, right. Finally, the fried chicken rice is wrapped with the omelette. You can see why this dish is a clever example of western style Japanese dish “Yoshoku”.
Perfecting chicken ketchup rice
I often make omurice as a solution to use leftover chicken ketchup rice. If you are making chicken ketchup rice from scratch with omurice in mind, when you cook the rice you need to reduce the amount of water tiny bit. This is because the cooked rice then will be fried with two tablespoons of ketchup. Otherwise it will be too moist.
Evolution of Omurice
Over the years, the construction of Omurice has changed a lot from when I was a young child. Way back then, it was simply the chicken rice wrapped in fried egg with tomato sauce on top. I love those memories of Mum cooking for us. Nowaydays though I see many different variations, scrambled egg just sitting on ketchup rice and not rolled. Also there are many different sauces for omurice nowadays.
How to successfully roll in classic way
Japanese Omurice is a fairly easy dish to make, however, wrapping the egg over the rice can be a little tricky. The easiest way to do it is to put the chicken rice into the centre of the egg omelette then push it all together to one side of the pan and fold the sides of the egg over the rice then flip it onto a plate. Only half cook the egg. This is important as the egg works as glue to the ketchup rice.
Scrambled eggs version
I found the scrambled egg version is easier because you don’t need to shape the ketchup rice, and you don’t have to roll them all together. However, the eggs need to be half cooked scrambled so that it stays fluffy not clumbly. Then you just place it over a mountain of ketchup rice.
3 Sauce recommendations
- Tomato sauce ( Ketchup)
- Demi Glace sauce – if you are going for this sauce, I have shared how to make demi glace sauce from scratch previously. So check it out.
- Homemade special sauce – To make a delicious sauce that goes perfectly with the omrice, melt 15 g of butter into a small frying pan over medium heat then add 3 tbs of ketchup and 1 tbs of worcestershire sauce and mix it all together. Once it’s all mixed and cooked, just pour it over the rice!
Hope you enjoy making Omurice as much as I do! If you liked my recipe for Omurice, please rate it and leave a comment below. Also, don’t forget to follow me on Youtube, Pinterest, Facebook , Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date with all the latest happenings on Chopstick Chronicles. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #ChopstickChronicles so I can see your wonderful creations!
Omurice オムライス
Video
Ingredients
Chicken Ketchup Rice
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 150 g chicken breast
- half onion
- half a medium carrot
- 1/4 cup frozen green peas
- 2 tbs ketchup
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Omelette
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Chop the chicken, onion, carrot, and capsicum into small cubes.
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat.
- Add the chicken to the pan and cook until the meat has all turned white.
- Add the vegetables and cook until the onion becomes translucent.
- Add the ketchup and mix it all together.
- Add the rice and mix in until the rice is all coated with the ketchup.
- Add thawed frozen pea to the ketchup rice and mix them together.
- Flavour with salt and pepper.
- Remove from heat and set aside in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl crack and beat 2 eggs.
- Heat the large frying pan with 1/2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat and pour in the egg, allowing it to spread all over the bottom frying pan and slightly scramble the middle without breaking the omelette.
- Turn off the heat, and pour half the ketchup rice into the centre of the omelette.
- Push the omelette and rice to one side of the pan and fold in the sides of the omelette to wrap the rice.
- Hold a plate beside the omelette and tip the pan a bit to slide the omelette on to the plate so that it flips on to the plate so the egg is on top covering the rice.
- Repeat these steps again for the next 2 eggs and remaining chicken rice then serve!
I realised the ingredients list is missing capsicum, so now I have to cook without it.
Sorry I forgot to add it in the list, but it is okay.
I’m so glad your website came up when I searched for “Japanese omelette rice.”
It’s often featured in anime, so wanted to try it.
Your instructions were easy to follow and your homemade special sauce was perfect.
You’re helping me expand my cooking skills and explore new flavors.
Thank you very much.
What could I ise to replace the ketchup? We don’t like ketchup. Would hot sauce work? Thanks!
Hi Katherine, yes if you like spicy food 😀
Thank you so much for this recipe! My brother and my 8 year old cousin loved the Omurice a lot! We didn’t have peas, but even so it was really delicious ❤️❤️
Ohhhh Aparna, how lovely! Thank you for making Omurice with my recipe, I am glad your cute cousin loved it.
Love the twist to a traditional omelet. I can’t wait to give this a try it would be perfect for our family brunch on Sunday.
Thank you Jacquelyn 😀
This was the perfect quick dinner last night.
The kids wolfed it down.
So easy to make!! Mine didn’t look quite as good as yours but they were still delicious 😀
That’s fantastic! Thank you Claire 😀
Best lunch I had in weeks ! 😀
That’s great! Thank you 😀
Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome 😀 Jennifer
So good. Thanks for the new breakfast recipe for my rotation!
You are welcome 😀 Robin
Your dishes are delicious and beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Sandy 😀
I wanna try this one soon !
I hope you enjoy it! Let me know how you go 🙂
Hi Shihoko-san,
I hardly made Omurice for kids. But my brother in law is good at making it and every time I stay at his place in Tokyo, I see him cooking and thought I must make it.
I still haven’t made it yet. This recipe inspired me to get on to it.
Looks yummy.
Konnichiwa Yumiko san 😀 Ogenki desuka? I make this sometime by Elizabeth’s request as she loves it. I am sure Nagi san and your children would love to eat:D and we have challenged to film the process on Youtube :O first time, it was fun!
Egg rice dinner roll-up, an interesting way to eat rice and egg. Looks delicious!
Thank you Swati:D
I have never thought of putting rice in my omelette! This is interesting thanks for sharing!
Hi Sam, Omurice is not as well know Japanese food as Sushi and often people surprise although it is very common and popular meal in Japan:D
This is like dinner rolled up in breakfast with a side of salad and I am loving it (perhaps as much as your daughter)! 🙂
Thank you Jacqueline:D Japanese people eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner:D
Another great looking recipe. Very moorish. I need to make it. Love your photos.
Thank you Mark:D
Oh my gosh, I would lreally love to try this.
Thank you Bintu:D