Cherry & Dennis Recipes
Japanese Gyudon Beef Bowl
日式牛肉飯（牛丼 Gyudon）
Recipe overview
Gyudon is the classic Japanese beef rice bowl: thin beef and onion are briefly simmered in a sweet-savoury Japanese broth and spooned with a little flowing sauce over hot rice. It is not sukiyaki, teriyaki, yakiniku or curry rice.
01
Ingredients
Main Ingredients
- 600 g Thinly sliced beef
- about 350 g onions,
- about 800 g, 2 scallions, 40 g beni shoga optional Hot cooked white rice
Gyudon broth
- 400 ml Unsalted Japanese dashi or water
- 4 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons mirin
- 3 tablespoons cooking sake
- 1 1/2 tablespoons. sugar
Final adjustment
- up to 1 teaspoon Japanese soy sauce
- up to 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
02
Tools
- Medium deep skillet with lid
- wooden spoon
- chopsticks
- tongs
- skimmer
- Large bowl
- two medium bowls
- three small bowls
- measuring cup
- knife
- raw-beef board
- kitchen paper
- thermometer
03
Steps
Step 1
Check beef
Thaw in the refrigerator; reject off smell, slime, discoloration or icy core. Never rinse raw beef.
Step 2
Slice across grain
Cut whole beef 2–3 mm across grain; gently separate pre-sliced beef.
Step 3
Prepare toppings
Cut onion into 5 mm half-moons, slice scallion and reserve beni shoga for last.
Step 4
Mix broth
Mix dashi, soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake and sugar in a glass bowl.
Step 5
Heat broth
Bring to a gentle simmer; mirin and sake must be heated, but never claim alcohol is certainly 100% gone.
Step 6
Cook onion first
Cover and simmer onion 6–8 minutes until soft and translucent.
Step 7
Check onion
It remains recognizable, not mushy; broth stays flowing amber-brown.
Step 8
Add beef in batches
Add cold beef in batches and separate slices immediately with chopsticks.
Step 9
Cook gently
Simmer only 1–2 minutes; skim excess foam lightly and never boil fiercely or cook beef long.
Step 10
Check doneness
Heat all slices; general version reaches at least 63°C at thickest part with 3-minute rest, while high-risk diners need fully cooked beef with no pink.
Step 11
Keep sauce flowing
Taste and adjust; retain a little sauce to soak rice, not a dry pan or soup rice.
Step 12
Assemble bowl
Put hot rice in deep bowls, top with beef, onion and little broth, then scallion and beni shoga.
Common mistakes
- Adding the beef too early or boiling it hard for too long makes it tough; reducing the broth until dry removes the moist gyudon texture.
Tips
Cook the onion until sweet and soft, add beef in batches at the end and separate it gently; keep a little flowing broth for the rice.
