Omurice or Japanese rice omelet is made with ketchup fried rice that is then topped with a softly scrambled fluffy egg omelet. This simple yet addicting omurice recipe is the most delicious comfort dish.
Omurice (オムライス) or Japanese omelette rice is a popular comfort dish in Japan. This Japanese rice omelet is made with a fluffy egg omelet that wraps a bed of warm and addicting ketchup fried rice.
There are so many different forms of omurice such as the tornado omelet surrounded by a pool of tomato sauce, a fluffy cooked omelet that is split open on top of the ketchup rice, or a thin crepe egg omelet that hugs the ketchup fried rice. This omurice recipe will show you how to make the easy foolproof version of omurice that any home cook can master.
To me, fried rice is the best comfort food because it is incredibly easy to make and it is always bursting with so much flavor. If you love this omurice recipe, check out our Thai pineapple fried rice, kimchi fried rice, and Vietnamese fried rice for more fried rice inspiration.
Table of Contents
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy! You can make this Japanese rice omelet recipe from start to finish in under 20 minutes.
- Comforting and satisfying. Warm chicken fried rice with a soft fluffy egg omelet topped with ketchup is the ultimate comfort food.
- Everyday ingredients. You can make this omelette rice with everyday pantry staple ingredients—no hard-to-find ingredients necessary!
🍽 Kitchen Equipment
You will only need a few items of kitchen equipment for this omurice recipe.
- Non-stick Skillet: you will use a medium non-stick skillet for the egg omelet. I highly recommend using a non-stick skillet for easy transfer.
- Mixing Bowls: you will need a mixing bowl to whisk up the eggs.
- Fine Mesh Sieve (optional): for a silky smooth egg omelet, pour the egg mixture through a fine mesh sieve.
🛒 Ingredients
You can find all of the ingredients for this Japanese rice omelette at your local grocery store!
- Yellow Onion and Garlic: these are the main aromatics of the ketchup rice that will bring a rich, sweet, and garlic-y flavor
- Chicken Thigh: or chicken breast. This will be the main protein for the rice omelette.
- Frozen mixed vegetables: frozen peas, corn, and carrots are already pre-cut and prepped for quick and easy cooking. Make sure the vegetables are frozen when you add them to the skillet.
- Brown Button Mushrooms: adding a few brown button mushrooms add more depth and flavor to the ketchup rice.
- White Rice: make sure to use day-old medium-grain white rice so that it is easier to break apart and toss without too much breakage and clumping.
- Ketchup: Ketchup is what makes this rice omelet Western-influenced. The ketchup adds a rich umami tomato flavor to the ketchup rice.
- Soy sauce: a dash of soy sauce is all you need to add a little salt and umami flavor to the rice.
- Large Eggs: this omurice recipe is meant to create 2 omelets that are thick enough to cover the ketchup fried rice.
- Milk: adding milk to the eggs will create a creamy and rich egg omelet.
- Salt: a dash of salt will season your eggs.
✨ Substitutions and Additions
You can customize your own Japanese omelette rice however you want! I’ve listed some suggestions for substitutions and additions below
- Fresh vegetables: if you are not a fan of frozen peas, corn, and carrots, you can opt for fresh corn, peas, and carrots. Or you can add more vegetables like green beans and broccoli for a more hearty fried rice. Make sure you dice the vegetables into small bite-sized pieces.
- Other types of mushrooms: if brown button mushrooms aren’t your thing you can alternatively use your favorite type of mushrooms like shiitake or enoki instead!
- Protein: if the chicken isn’t your thing, you can swap it out for beef, shrimp, tofu, ham, or even spam! Or you can eliminate any protein altogether.
- Sauce: if topping the rice omelette with more ketchup isn’t your thing, you can alternatively top it with tonkatsu sauce and kewpie mayo instead.
- Fried rice. If ketchup fried rice isn’t speaking to you, you can easily swap the ketchup rice out for your favorite fried rice recipe! Check out my fried rice, kimchi fried rice, and pineapple fried rice for inspo.
📝 How to Make Omurice
This omurice recipe is so easy to make! You can complete this recipe from start to finish in under 20 minutes.
Fried Rice
- Make the rice. The day before cook your rice to create a firmer and heartier rice. If you cook the day of, use slightly less water so the rice is on the drier side.
- Saute onions and garlic. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil onto a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute the diced onions and minced garlic until translucent and lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
- Cook the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Then add the cut chicken into the skillet and cook until it is no longer pink about 2-3 minutes.
- Cook vegetables. Add the diced mushrooms, and frozen vegetables and toss to combine for about 1 minute.
- Add rice. Add the rice and toss to combine. Use a wooden spoon to break up any rice clumps into small pieces, about 1 minute.
- Season the rice. Add the ketchup and soy sauce and toss to combine for about 30 seconds.
- Plate the rice. Pack the rice into a small bowl and then flip it onto a plate.
Egg Omelet
- Whisk the omelet together. In a mixing bowl, whisk the 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of milk, and ¼ teaspoon of salt until combined.
- Cook the egg omelet. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat until warm. Then add olive oil to grease the pan. Pour in the egg mixture and lift the pan to spread the eggs evenly. Lightly scramble for 5 seconds to form a few curdles and then let the eggs cook are about 80% cooked through, remove from heat and slide them onto the eggs.
- Serve. Repeat with the second egg omelet and drizzle some ketchup over the top and minced parsley. Enjoy!
⭐️ Tips for the Best Omurice
- Use day-old rice. Using day-old rice for the ketchup rice is important to prevent the rice from breaking apart too much or becoming overly mushy. If you are in a time crunch, you can simply make the rice with less water than normal for a drier consistency which should hold its shape when cooked.
- Add frozen mixed vegetables. Frozen mixed vegetables tend to be soft when thawed. To prevent the vegetables from overcooking and becoming overly mushy, toss the vegetables into the skillet when they are frozen.
- Use a nonstick skillet for the eggs. For a clean egg omelet look, I highly recommend using your most nonstick skillet for the easiest transfer.
- Cook the eggs over medium-low heat. You want the eggs to be lightly scrambled but still hold a crepe shape. That means you have to move very quickly to lightly scramble the eggs in the first 5-10 seconds and then leave them to cook untouched until it is about 80% cooked.
🥡 Storage Instructions
This Japanese rice omelet is best served immediately. You can store any leftover omelette rice in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
💬 Frequently Asked Q’s & A’s
Omurice (オムライス) also referred to as omumeshi and omuraisu, is a very popular dish of yoshoku, or Western-influenced Japanese cuisine. It fuses both a Western egg omelet with Japanese fried rice. This Japanese omelette rice is made with ketchup fried rice and then topped with a soft thin egg crepe omelet.
Omurice is made of ketchup fried rice that is tossed with onion, garlic, carrots, peas, corn, mushrooms, and diced chicken. It is then topped or wrapped in a thin egg crepe omelet.
The other forms of omurice consist of a tornado omelet surrounded by a pool of tomato sauce, a fluffy cooked omelet that is split open on top of the ketchup rice, or a thin crepe egg omelet that hugs the ketchup fried rice.
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👩🏻🍳 Recipe
Omurice (Japanese Rice Omelet)
Equipment
Ingredients
Fried Rice
- ¼ yellow onion diced
- 3 clove garlic minced
- 6-8 oz chicken thighs about 2 boneless skinless and cut into bite sized pieces
- ¼ cup frozen mixed vegetables
- 3 brown mushrooms diced
- 2 cup cooked white rice day old
- 2 tablespoon ketchup
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
Fried Rice
- Make the rice. The day before cook your rice to create a firmer and heartier rice. If you cook the day of, use slightly less water so the rice is on the drier side.
- Saute onions and garlic. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of cooking oil onto a large frying pan over medium heat. Saute the diced onions and minced garlic until translucent and lightly browned, about 2 minutes.
- Cook the chicken. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Then add the cut chicken into the skillet and cook until it is no longer pink about 2-3 minutes.
- Cook vegetables. Add the diced mushrooms, and frozen vegetables and toss to combine, about 1 minute.
- Add rice. Add the rice and toss to combine. Use a wooden spoon to break up any rice clumps into small pieces, about 1 minute.
- Season the rice. Add the ketchup and soy sauce and toss to combine, about 30 seconds.
- Plate the rice. Pack the rice into a small bowl and then flip it onto a plate.
Egg Omelet
- Whisk the omelet together. In a mixing bowl, whisk the 2 eggs, 1 tablespoon of milk and ¼ teaspoon of salt until combined.
- Cook the egg omelet. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium low heat until warm. Then add olive oil to grease the pan. Pour in the egg mixture and lift the pan to spread the eggs evenly. Lightly scramble for 5 seconds to form a few curdles and then let the eggs cook are about 80% cooked through, and remove from heat and slide onto the eggs.
- Serve. Repeat with the second egg omelet and drizzle some ketchup over the top and minced parsley. Enjoy!
Notes
- Use day-old rice. Using day-old rice for the ketchup rice is important to prevent the rice from breaking apart too much or becoming overly mushy. If you are in a time crunch, you can simply make the rice with less water than normal for a drier consistency which should hold its shape when cooked.
- Add frozen mixed vegetables. Frozen mixed vegetables tend to be soft when thawed. To prevent the vegetables from overcooking and becoming overly mushy, toss the vegetables into the skillet when they are frozen.
- Use a nonstick skillet for the eggs. For a clean egg omelet look, I highly recommend using your most nonstick skillet for the easiest transfer.
- Cook the eggs over medium-low heat. You want the eggs to be lightly scrambled but still hold a crepe shape. That means you have to move very quickly to lightly scramble the eggs in the first 5-10 seconds and then leave them to cook untouched until it is about 80% cooked.
- Storage Instructions: This Japanese rice omelet is best served immediately. You can store any leftover omelet rice in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
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