Tamago Kake Gohan
Hot rice topped with a raw egg, soy, and scallion — Japan's fastest breakfast.
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Join HomecookedIngredients
- 200 g Japanese short-grain rice
- 1 Egg
- 1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi shoyu)
- 1 Scallions
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.
- While the rice cooks: slice the scallion thin.
- Spoon the hot cooked rice into a bowl.
- Crack the egg over the rice and add the soy.
- Beat the egg into the hot rice with chopsticks until creamy, scatter the scallion over, and eat at once.
Nutrition per serving
Estimated from ingredients; varies with exact portions and brands.
About Tamago Kake Gohan
Tamago kake gohan, often shortened to TKG, is Japan's fastest breakfast — a bowl of hot rice with a raw egg cracked over it, seasoned with a splash of soy and beaten in until it turns creamy. There is almost nothing to it, which is precisely the point: it is comfort food stripped to its essence, relying entirely on the quality of very fresh eggs and well-cooked short-grain rice. The heat of the just-cooked rice gently warms and thickens the egg as you whisk it in with chopsticks, giving the whole bowl a glossy, custard-like slickness. A scatter of thin-sliced scallion is the only garnish it needs.
The flavor is mild, rich, and savory, the raw egg lending a silky coating and the soy adding just enough salt and depth to season each grain. It is eaten at the breakfast table across Japan, valued for taking barely a minute once the rice is ready, and it is best made with the freshest eggs you can find, since they are eaten raw. Most of the recipe's time is simply the rice itself — rinsed until the water runs clear, cooked covered, and rested with the lid on — because the egg and soy come together in seconds. Beat it well and eat it immediately, while the rice is hot enough to keep the egg loose.
Tamago Kake Gohan: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Tamago Kake Gohan?
One serving of Tamago Kake Gohan has about 349 calories, with 14g of protein, 61g of carbs, 6g of fat and 2g of fiber. These are estimates based on the ingredient amounts in this recipe and will vary with your exact portions and brands.
Is Tamago Kake Gohan 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 Tamago Kake Gohan take to make?
About 31 minutes start to finish, but only around 6 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.
How many servings does Tamago Kake Gohan make?
This recipe makes 1 serving. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.