Omurice (オムライス), short for “omelet rice,” is a dish made of ketchup-flavored fried rice wrapped in a thin, crepe-like egg. It’s a type of yōshoku—Western-style cuisine developed in Japan—and was first created in the early 1900s. For over 100 years, it’s been a favorite comfort food in Japan, especially loved by kids!
What’s in Omurice?
- Ketchup fried rice: Cooked rice is fried with butter, chicken, and onion, and seasoned with ketchup. Ketchup fried rice may sound a little strange, but it is more like tomato pilaf. Chicken can be substituted with ham, sausage, ground beef, shrimp or anything you like.
- Omelete: A thin layer of egg is cooked in a frying pan similar to crepe and wrapped around the rice. In restaurants today, omurice is often made with more eggs, and the trend favors soft, runny omelets. Traditionally, however, the egg was cooked thin and firm. We prepare the rice and eggs separately because it’s a bit easier, though many people prefer to wrap the rice with the egg in the frying pan. Do whichever works best for you—it’s delicious either way!
- Topping: Classic omurice is topped with ketchup, but variations may be covered with demi-glace, cream sauce, or curry. For a playful touch, try drawing a smiley face or heart with the ketchup!
Short Video
A full recipe video is also available in the recipe box below and on our YouTube channel.
More Yōshoku (Western-style Japanese foods) Recipes:
- Hamburg Steak Recipe
- Curry and Rice Recipe
- Spaghetti Neapolitan Recipe
- Chicken and Mushroom Doria Recipe
- Tonkatsu Recipe
Omurice Recipe
Ketchup-flavored fried chicken rice wrapped in an egg crepe.
Instructions
- Cut chicken thigh into 1″ pieces. Cut onion finely.
- Melt butter and add oil in a frying pan at medium heat. Add chicken and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add onion and cook until onion becomes translucent.
- Add cooked rice and cook mixing for 2 minutes. Season rice with salt and pepper. Make room in the frying pan and add ketchup. Cook only ketchup for 30 seconds to cook it down. Mix rice and ketchup and fry together for 1-2 minutes. Then add frozen peas and cook some more.
- Place half of the ketchup rice into a rice bowl or similar kind of bowl, pack lightly, and unmold on a plate. Make another one.
- Beat eggs and a pinch of salt together. Heat frying pan with 1/2 tsp oil. Pour 1/2 of egg mixture onto hot frying pan and make a crepe-like thin round egg sheet. Cover molded rice with egg sheet to form an oval shape. Repeat one more time.
Video
This recipe was originally published in June 2013. The post was updated on May 26, 2025 with more useful content, new photos and a short video.
49 Comments
I’m a total newbie when it comes to kitchen , how do i cook the rice?.
Samuel,
we have the steamed rice recipe on our Youtube and web sites, so check it out!
I cup of rice to two cups of water.
Put two cups of water in a pan and bring to a boil. I like to put in a little dab of butter to help with flavor and make the rice not stick to each other as much. Pour in one cup of rice and stir. Immediately turn the stove top to the lowest setting. (this is called simmering) and let stand for 20 minutes. (with the stove still on at a low temp.) after 20 minutes, the rice absorbs the water making it fluffy. enjoy!
Rice is supposed to be sticky
Not always.
Can i use any type of rice. Is it necessary japan perfume rice. Thanks for the recipe
Elizapreise,
we use short grain rice. You could use other kind of rice, but texture and flavor is not going to be the same.
Instead of a chicken thigh can I use chicken breast ?
Daisy,
of course! Shrimps, hams, whatever works for you.
can you use fish
maya,
ketchup and fish may not go well together, but try it if you like.
HI!
I would like to know what substitute you can use instead of ketchup…I’m allergic 🙁
Kira,
you can make home-made tomato sauce, and use it as a substitute.
I made this for my girlfriend as part of a bento box. She said it was really tasty!
Thanks for the recipe!
Paul,
what a nice boyfriend!
Thank you for this, I can’t wait to try it out and I love this site!
Question, do you happen to know where can I find an omurice rice mold? I have been searching everywhere with no luck.
Thanks again!
David,
if you can’t find it, use a round bowl as a mold and reshape to oblong with hands.
I was wondering if I cold put in spinach instead of peas or does it taste better with peas
Yuki,
yes, you could.
This may seem like an odd question, but is Japanese ketchup any different than the regular Heinz ketchup I can pick up at my local grocery store? My husband is Filipino and they use a banana ketchup, which taste different from tomato ketchup. I know the Japanese ketchup is tomato, but didn’t know if there are possibly other ingredients that might make it different. Hope my question makes sense and doesn’t seem silly.
Geneva,
banana ketchup! Wow I’ve never had it and I can’t tell how it’s going to taste. Omurice is typically (or only) with tomato ketchup. But you can experiment with other condiment if you want.
Japanese ketchup is less sweet than heinz ketchup
What a great help your recipe’s for cooking, it added my little recipe’s…
After Sujin retirement, he oftenly requested me to do the home cooked food.
Tasukeremashita, Okini.
Lori,
Glad we can help!
i try it and it was delicious! Thanks for the guide. Its totally an easy recipe for beginner like me.
Lukman,
glad you liked our Omurice recipe! Come back for more recipes too!
can we use red rice?
Marcy,
we never tried, but you can try it! Let us know what you think.
Can you substitute chicken with other meats?
Dre,
of course! You can use ground beef or pork, or anything. I even use lunch meat (ham) sometimes.
Can i use red, yellow and orange peppers instead of green peas?
Sure!
Evi,
yes you can!
This is easy for a starter like me! By the way, what type of meats are best to put in the dish? Thanks for the recipe!
Jessica,
chicken is very good, but you can put ground beef, ham, or anything you like!
I would just like to thank You for such tasty and easy recipes.
I have tried a couple of them with great result. Omurice was a positive surprise, it was alot tastier then i expected!
Please keep up the good work, and once again, thanks to the both of You.
Please, I’m not japanese, but this is really the worst omelette I’ve seen in my life. I wouldn’t even call it that. It should be thick and runny and not thin and dry.
Well mabey you cooked it wrong.
Then do your own version? I’ve seen people use more eggs and soft-cook them just enough to get it out of the pan, then it runs all over the rice. This is just the ‘classic’ version.
Congratulations, you’re one of the rudest people I’ve ever come across. Judging by your comment, you haven’t read the description on this page which explains this point. (“At restaurants recently, more eggs are used and the trend seems to be for the eggs to be soft and runny, although more traditional Omurice egg is cooked very thin.”) Of course, you’re entitled to your own opinion, but that is no reason to be rude.
You’re the worst kind of person.
Man, did you even read the OP? Clearly says that originally a thin egg wrap was used. Although this is a omelet inspired dish, it’s clearly adapted to Japanese culture…
It doesn’t hurt to actually read a bit and inform yourself too… And, it’s free…
@Mike, it’s a western omelette altered for Japanese tastes in Japan ages ago. (I’m not sure visitors from Japan or China would recognize western versions of their cuisines as “good” compared to what they cook at home.). It’s ok if you don’t like it, but that doesn’t make it bad.
I went to Japan for the first time in May and had this twice for breakfast. I’m not fond of ketchup, but it was so delicious, I want to make it at home.
Thank you, Noriko and Yuko, for your great recipes and videos.
どうもありがとうございます。 (thank you very much)
I was wondering, would minute (instant) rice be suitable for this recipe? It isn’t quite as sticky, and I’m not sure if it would cook differently. I have never tried Omurice, but I would like to! It looks delicious.
I just tried making this recipe for dinner tonight. It wasn’t very pretty looking and I didn’t have any peas, but its very tasty! Next time I will try to make the eggs thinner and rounder, for me they just kind of flopped over funny.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Greetings. I just finished watching Midnight Diner, Tokyo Stories. Loved the series and the importance of the food. I already tried making omurice and sauteed potatoes. And, I see the potato and onion dashi recipe on your website. Yay! It looks like what was presented in the show. Thanks for clarifying that Japanese ketchup is less sweet than Heinz. Otherwise, omurice would be a sugar mess for me. Where can I find tan-men recipe? Thank you.
Dear Yoriko and Yuko,
I’m Portuguese and I love your webpage and videos. Thanks to you, I believed that cooking Japanese dishes at home was possible. Thank you so much for your webpage.
So far I have cooked onigiri, ramen, tonjiru, miso soup, gyouza, yakisoba… and all well.
I world like to try the オムライス/Omuraisu bu the I have a little problem: I really dislike ketchup or tomato sauce, even home made… I know I’d be departing from the main recipe and breaking with the original idea but I still would like to try it anyway.
What could replace the (argh 😉 ketchup? I thought of soy sauce for the taste but that couldn’t be used for decoration.
Any ideas?
どうも ありがとう ございます。
スザナ
I had this in Japan twice on our first trip in May 2016. I found it delicious, even though I don’t like ketchup, normally. Is Japanese ketchup different from American ketchup somehow?
How can e previous poster judge without trying?!!? It is an omelette and a favorite of my husband and I. My first experience with a rice omelette was in Seoul, Korea, around the time of the Winter Olympics in the early 80’s. It was the only breakfast item I felt comfortable trying, on the menu. Loved it, just as this recipe was written.
Last year we took a cruise, and at a port in Japan, found this on the menu. I’ve been regularly making this now at home for almost 2 years. You can make it your own with your own fried rice…or like we do, pick up an order of spicy Fried Rice at our Thai restaurant and use this….or pork fried rice at our Chinese restaurant. You really can’t go wrong, and it is really a yummy dish.
Hats off to Noriko for posting the authentic recipe! So yummy!!