Gyudon
Sweet-savoury simmered beef and onion over rice.
Discover smart recipes
Sign up on Homecooked to cook this recipe as the chef intended, with parallel steps and built-in timers guiding you along the way. Stock your pantry to discover more recipes you can cook with the ingredients you have at home.
Join HomecookedIngredients
- 300 g Beef flank steak
- 1 Onion
- 400 g Japanese short-grain rice
- 3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu)
- 3 tbsp Mirin
- 2 tbsp Sake
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 2 Scallions (optional)
Method
- Rinse the rice in cold water until it runs nearly clear. Drain.
- Combine the rice with the same volume of fresh water in a heavy saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil.
- Drop the heat to its lowest setting and cook 12 minutes. Don't lift the lid.
- Pull the pot off the heat. Rest 10 minutes, lid on.
- Slice the beef and onion thin.
- Simmer the onion in the soy, mirin, sake, and sugar until softened and translucent, about 4 minutes.
- Lay the sliced beef into the simmering sauce in a single layer and cook just until it loses its pink, 2–3 minutes — don't overcook the thin slices.
- Spoon the beef and onion over the hot rice and top with scallion.
Nutrition per serving
Estimated from ingredients; varies with exact portions and brands.
About Gyudon
Gyudon is Japan's beef bowl, thin-sliced beef and onion simmered together in a sweet-savory sauce and served over rice, and this is the streamlined version for a weeknight. Where a fuller recipe simmers a scratch dashi, here the flavor comes straight from soy, mirin, sake, and sugar, which lets the whole dish land on the table in about thirty-five minutes without sacrificing the essential character. Flank steak sliced thin stands in for pricier cuts and cooks in minutes.
The technique that keeps it good despite the speed is restraint with the beef: the onion softens first in the seasoned liquid until translucent and sweet, then the thin slices go in just long enough to lose their pink, so they stay tender rather than tough. What you get is a glossy, savory-sweet tangle of beef and onion over short-grain rice, the sauce soaking down into the grains. Topped with scallion, it's honest, filling comfort food that proves gyudon doesn't need a long ingredient list to satisfy. This is the recipe to reach for on a busy night when you still want something warm and homemade.
Gyudon: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Gyudon?
One serving of Gyudon has about 431 calories, with 25g of protein, 57g of carbs, 10g of fat and 1g of fiber. These are estimates based on the ingredient amounts in this recipe and will vary with your exact portions and brands.
Is Gyudon high in protein?
Yes — each serving delivers about 25g of protein. That's 23% of its 431 calories coming from protein.
Is Gyudon gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu). You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.
How long does Gyudon take to make?
About 35 minutes start to finish, but only around 12 of those are hands-on — the rest is cooking time. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
Do I need every ingredient to make Gyudon?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out scallions — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Gyudon make?
This recipe makes 3 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.