Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style)
Osaka-style savory cabbage pancake
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Join HomecookedIngredients
- ¼ head Cabbage
- 120 g All-purpose flour
- 2 Egg
- 200 g Pork belly
- 3 Scallions
- 10 g Katsuobushi (bonito flakes)
- 4 tbsp Okonomiyaki sauce
- 3 tbsp Kewpie mayonnaise
- 2 tbsp Neutral oil
- 5 g Kombu (dried kelp) (optional)
- 1 sheet Nori sheets (optional)
- 10 g Ginger (optional)
Method
- Soak the kombu in a pot of cold water to make the base for the dashi (a kombu-and-bonito stock).
- Bring the kombu water over medium-low just to the first bubbles, then lift the kombu out. Take off the heat, add the bonito flakes, let them steep briefly, then strain and reserve the dashi.
- Shred the cabbage as thin as you can. Slice the scallions. Slice the pork belly thin.
- Whisk the flour with the dashi and a pinch of salt into a smooth batter, then let it rest.
- Beat the eggs into the batter. Fold in the cabbage and half the scallions (the mixture will look batter-light against a mountain of cabbage — that's correct).
- Heat a little neutral oil in a skillet over medium. Mound half the cabbage batter into a thick round and lay half the pork belly slices over the top.
- Cover and cook until the underside is deep golden. Slide onto a plate, invert another plate on top, and flip it back into the pan pork-side down.
- Cover and cook until the pork is crisp and the cabbage is just tender, then slide onto a serving plate.
- Repeat with the second portion, cooking covered on each side until golden and the pork is crisp.
- Drizzle okonomi sauce in a zigzag and squeeze Kewpie over in a lattice. Scatter the remaining scallions, the bonito flakes, and torn nori. Grate ginger over if using.
Nutrition per serving
Estimated from ingredients; varies with exact portions and brands.
About Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style)
Okonomiyaki is Osaka's great savory pancake, a dish whose name roughly means "grilled how you like it" — a loose framework of shredded cabbage bound in an egg-and-flour batter, studded with proteins, and griddled until the outside crisps while the interior stays custardy. This Osaka-style version keeps everything folded into a single thick round rather than layered, so the cabbage practically steams inside its own crust and collapses into sweetness. What sets this recipe apart is that the batter is built on real dashi: kombu is soaked and warmed, then bonito flakes steep off the heat to make a stock that carries umami through every bite instead of relying on the toppings alone.
Eating it is all about the finish. Thin slices of pork belly laid over the batter render and brown into the surface, and once flipped and cooked through, the pancake gets a lattice of okonomiyaki sauce — dark, fruity, Worcestershire-like — crossed with sweet Kewpie mayo, then a scatter of nori and a drift of bonito flakes that curl and wave in the rising heat. It's a hands-on, communal food, often cooked at the table on a hot plate and cut into wedges to share. Serve it hot off the pan with a cold beer; it works as a substantial lunch or a casual dinner where the fun is in the assembly.
Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style): frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style)?
One serving of Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style) has about 774 calories, with 18g of protein, 42g of carbs, 60g of fat and 3g of fiber. These are estimates based on the ingredient amounts in this recipe and will vary with your exact portions and brands.
Is Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style) gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains All-purpose flour, Okonomiyaki sauce. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for those ingredients to make it gluten-free.
How long does Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style) take to make?
About 55 minutes start to finish, but only around 39 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. 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 Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style)?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out kombu (dried kelp), nori sheets, ginger — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Okonomiyaki (Osaka-style) make?
This recipe makes 3 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.