Steak Donburi

Steak donburi is a Japanese rice-bowl dish topped with slices of tender steak; thick, savory sauce; and a runny egg yolk for richness. It’s the perfect weeknight meal and incredibly filling.

For this steak donburi, we’ll be using slices of tender steak, drizzling a slightly sweet and savory sauce on top, and finishing it with an egg yolk to add richness to our rice.

When I was making this for brunch yesterday, I remembered I bought a huge bag of gochugaru just a couple months ago, and so I added about a tablespoon into the sauce to add some heat.

I LOVE Korean chilli flakes, they give a nice kick, and it gives dishes a deep, vibrant red color that looks incredible. 

What is Donburi?

Donburi is a category of Japanese rice bowl dishes that are usually topped with some sort of protein and veggies.

There are different variants of donburi, depending on the protein served with the rice. Examples include gyudon (beef rice bowl), oyakodon (chicken and egg rice bowl), katsudon (deep-fried pork cutlet rice bowl), or my favorite, kaisendon (rice topped with fresh seafood).

It’s been my go-to order whenever I visit Japanese restaurants for a quick, filling meal.

Ingredients

Steak: The golden cuts to go for include rib eye, sirloin, or striploin/NY strip since they contain a decent amount of fat marbling and are overall pretty tender and flavorful!

Butter: We’ll be using the butter to baste our steaks in order to give it an even crust and a mild buttery flavor. Be sure you’re using unsalted butter so your end-result isn’t overly salty.

Soy sauce: This will lend our donburi sauce the needed umami and savory foundation to pour over our steak slices.

Sugar, honey: A mixture of sugar and honey will provide a complex sweetness to our sauce. Feel free to leave out one of the other if you prefer, just compensate by adding more sugar to taste.

Mirin: Mirin is a subtly sweet Japanese rice wine. You can choose to omit this without altering the flavor very much, but it’s still a classic Japanese ingredient used in many sauces/marinades.

• Substitutes: Quick substitutes include sake, dry sherry, standard cooking wine, or even Shaoxing wine. Rice wine vinegar is never a good substitute for mirin, the two flavor profiles are entirely different!

Gochugaru: Gochugaru are Korean chili flakes, which pack a pretty great kick when used in sauces. If you’re not a fan of spice, feel free to omit this ingredient.

• Substitutes: Any chili flakes of equal amount should work for this recipe. You could also use chili oil.

Hondashi powder: This is essentially the instant powder used to make dashi broth, an umami-rich Japanese broth made from infusing kelp and bonito flakes.

• Substitutes: Similar replacements include instant stock powders (e.g., chicken, beef, or mushroom), as well as MSG. All of these work to boost the umami notes of the sauce, so you can choose to leave this ingredient out entirely without altering the flavor too much.

Egg yolk: This is optional, but the yolks add a distinct richness and creaminess to the overall dish!

Instructions

Prepare the Steak:

Evenly season your steak on both sides with kosher salt.

Pan fry the steak on an oiled pan to your desired doneness, butter basting in the last 1-2 minutes of cooking.

Let the steak rest on a cutting board for all at least 7-10 minutes prior to cutting into strips.

Prepare the Donburi Sauce:

Drain any leftover oil or butter from the same pan. Mix all the ingredients together for your donburi sauce and let simmer over medium-high heat until slightly thickened, stirring frequently.

Transfer the thickened sauce to a separate container to cool slightly until ready to serve.

Assembly:

To serve, pack some rice into a dome shape in a bowl.

Cut the rested steak into thin slices against the grain and arrange the steak on top of the rice.

Place the egg yolk in the middle and drizzle some of the thickened donburi sauce on top. Garnish with chopped scallions. Enjoy!

Still hungry? Check out some of the trending recipes this week:

• Pancit Bihon
• Yaki Udon
• Thai Crying Tiger Steak
• Honey Garlic Potatoes