Are you burning the midnight oil for study or work or returning home late from a night shift? I’m convinced that this delightful dish, Yaki Onigiri Chazuke (焼きおにぎり茶漬け), will warm both your stomach and your soul. While it’s a popular midnight snack in Japan, you can savor this dish at any hour of the day!
What is Yaki Onigiri?
You may already be familiar with or have tasted onigiri. ‘Yaki’ translates to ‘grill,’ making yaki onigiri the grilled rendition of rice balls. These delectable treats boast a crispy exterior and are often seasoned with a soy or miso glaze. I have a Yaki Onigiri recipe where you can learn helpful tips and tricks to successfully make this dish.
What is Chazuke?
Chazuke comes from ochazuke (お茶漬け), which is a simple one-bowl dish featuring steamed rice with an assortment of savory ingredients on top, partially steeped in green tea. In this recipe, we use crispy yaki onigiri instead of steamed rice. Ocha refers to green tea, and zuke means “submerged.” You can use various kinds of green tea such as genmaicha, sencha, and hojicha to make ochazuke or serve it with dashi broth for more flavor. We enjoy ochazuke more as a quick meal or at the end of the meal to fill up, and in the summertime, we like to use cold green tea or dashi to keep ourselves cool.
Ingredients for Yaki Onigiri Chazuke
How to Make Yaki Onigiri Chazuke
3 Ways to Make Dashi
Vegan Dashi: You can use kombu and dried shiitake to make flavorful vegan-friendly dashi! Just like regular dashi, it’s quick to make!
Cooking Tips
Reheat the yaki onigiri thoroughly. Make sure they are crispy on the outside and warm on the inside. The crispy rice texture adds a nice crunch to the broth and it should shine through in the broth. Make flavorful good dashi. The dish’s flavor comes from the broth, so don’t use dashi powder. You can make dashi ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator for 5 days. Prepare extra dashi (included in the recipe). When you serve, the soup should not completely cover the rice ball. Break the rice ball and enjoy the spoonful of rice and soup together. Refill the soup as you enjoy.
Make Variations
Make it spicy! Add shichimi togarashi, yuzu kosho, wasabi, Crunchy Garlic Chili Oil (Taberu Rayu), or Homemade La-Yu. Add protein. Got leftover salmon or chicken? Add to the dish! You may consider making a batch of Salmon Flakes if you enjoy ochazuke. Change up the toppings. Crush some rice crackers and add to the soup. Switch the aromatics and herbs. Besides green onions, you can add mitsuba or shiso leaves. Use cold dashi soup in the summertime.
What to Serve with Yaki Onigiri Chazuke
Typically, ochazuke is served with several kinds of Japanese pickles on the side. If you make it into a proper meal, here are my recommendations.
Main Dishes
Salmon in Foil Simmered Beef and Tofu (Niku Dofu) Stir-Fried Mushrooms and Eggs with Ankake Sauce Japanese Salted Salmon Potato Salad Pork Roll
Side Dishes
Kinpira Renkon (Japanese Lotus Root Stir-Fry) Japanese Spinach Salad with Sesame Dressing (Gomaae) Chikuwa Isobeage Tamagoyaki (Japanese Rolled Omelette) Tofu Salad with Sesame Ponzu Dressing
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram. Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on September 25, 2023. It was republished with a new video on March 29, 2024.
