By J. Kenji López-Alt
Updated Oct. 10, 2023
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- 4(202)
- Notes
- Read community notes
Sanshoku-don is a classic Japanese comfort food that is equally delicious served hot and fresh or at room temperature, making it a hugely popular choice for bento-style school lunches. The base recipe combines ground chicken (other meats or vegetarian alternatives like ground tofu or plant-based ground meat work just fine) seasoned with the classic Japanese savory-sweet combination of soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar, and vigorously scrambled eggs served on top of Japanese short-grain rice. Add a simple green vegetable – frozen peas, steamed slivered snap peas or green beans, or simply sautéed spinach or kale – and you’ve got a full meal in a bowl.
Featured in: A School Lunch Solution: The Bento Box
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1pound ground chicken (see Tip)
- 1tablespoon finely minced or grated fresh ginger
- 3tablespoons shoyu
- 2tablespoons sake
- 2tablespoons mirin
- 1tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2tablespoons water or dashi
- 4large eggs
- 2tablespoons mirin
- Salt
- Salt
- 1cup frozen peas or French-cut green beans, or 3 packed cups fresh baby spinach, baby kale or other tender greens (optional, see Tip)
- 6cups cooked Japanese short-grain white rice, such as Koshihikari or Calrose
- Handful of sliced scallions
- Beni-shoga (see Tip)
For the Chicken
For the Eggs
For Greens and Assembly
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Prepare the chicken: Combine chicken, ginger, shoyu, sake, mirin, sugar and water in a large nonstick or carbon-steel skillet, saucepan or wok. Set the pan over medium heat and cook, using chopsticks or a spoon to stir and break the chicken down into very small pieces, about 5 minutes. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the liquid in the pan evaporates and the chicken starts to brown slightly, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a bowl and set it aside.
Step
2
Prepare the eggs: Rinse out the pan (you don’t need to dry it). Combine the eggs, mirin and a pinch of salt in the now-empty pan. Set over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, until the eggs are just set but still very moist, 2 to 3 minutes. (There will be some sticking to the pan.) Transfer the eggs to a bowl and set aside.
Step
3
Prepare the greens (optional): Wipe out and rinse the pan (you don’t need to dry it), add 1 cup water, season with salt to taste, and bring to a simmer over high heat. Add the frozen vegetables or fresh greens, and cook, stirring constantly, until just heated through but still bright green. Drain thoroughly. (If using a leafy green, set the cooked greens in a strainer over the sink, and, using a spatula, press down them to drain any extra liquid.)
Step
4
To assemble, divide the rice among 4 bowls or bento boxes. Top with chicken, eggs and greens, arranging each ingredient so it covers a third of the rice. Sprinkle with scallions and add a pinch of beni-shoga to the center of each. Serve hot bowls immediately, or close bento boxes (see Tips).
Tips
- You can use any ground meat or vegetarian ground meat alternative in place of the chicken. Lean meat works best for this dish, but you can always drain excess fat off the meat in Step 4, before spooning the meat over the rice.
- Beni-shoga is bright red or pink slivered pickled ginger that can be found in Japanese markets or well-stocked supermarkets. You can also use sushi gari or other types of Japanese pickles if you prefer.
- For best flavor, don’t refrigerate bento boxes after packing, just make sure to consume within four hours of packaging the hot food for safety. The individual toppings can also be prepared in advance and reheated in the microwave until piping hot before packing and closing bento boxes.
Ratings
4
out of 5
202
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Cooking Notes
Family Favorite
This is a recipe we repeat often. My two young girls can't get enough. I always make extra eggs because they just gobble them up. The grownups like to top with Sriracha mayo to spice it up. Quick, easy, nutritious and things I generally keep stocked.
Mary Anne
Halved the recipe, for two. Will certainly cook again, and certainly cook more egg. No need to add sugar in the chicken, as mirin is already sweet. We didnt have ginger pickle, so i pickled thinly sliced cucumber, grated carrot and thinly sliced (lengthways) spring onions in 1 tsp white sugar and 1.5 tbs vinegar for 30 mins, then drained, to top the dish. Worked very well.
HanTran
I would be inclined not to rinse the pan either time it is suggested here.
Chantel
Everyone really enjoyed this meal. I will definitely be making it again. I couldn't find shoyu so I instead diluted low sodium soy sauce. I also made some fresh pickles with cucumbers, green onions, rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Highly recommend adding that.
Serena
Made this with mostly ground beef and some crumbled tofu to finish up a block in my fridge. Next time I'll do all tofu or buy ground chicken bc the beef flavor wasn't my favorite here. Didn't have sake on hand so instead I added one extra T of mirin (didn't add sugar) and threw in just a tiny dash of rice wine vinegar. Quick pickled some cabbage before I started cooking to be my pickled topping. Delicious, simple and filling! Adding sake to the shopping list for when I make it again
Jess G
Delicious and easy! Don't skip on the pickled veg - I couldn't find red pickled ginger but found pickled radish and it worked very well.
Match W
This is great as written, but feel free to use it as a base for other toppings, additions, and alterations. Try doing some air fried green beans with an asian flavored sauce. Have some leftover pickled onion? Sure! Did you make Hetty Lui McKinnon's Hoisin-Tahini Sauce earlier in the week and have some leftover? Throw it on there! Make it yours and it can even be different every time.
Courtney
We thought this was great. And it actually DOES take only minutes, unlike most NYT recipes which seem to assume you have a sous chef doing all your mise en place!
Sarah Biz
This was a hit! I used green beans sliced for our veg, and subbed in coconut aminos since we can’t do shoyu. It took me longer than the posted time but I can see plenty of ways to speed up the process and plan to put this in our regular rotation.
Amy P.
Terrific, a fun-to-plate crowd pleaser! I did peas for the kids, spinach for the adults. Didn’t have shoyu but tamari worked great. The liquid didn’t evaporate (and I hadn’t even added the water) but that was no big deal - the chicken was still delicious. Going to use the leftovers in a lettuce cup today. The pickled ginger was such a yummy finishing touch!
Andrew
I cheated and used store bought kung pao sauce on the chicken which makes the dish even easier and still very tasty.
LNC
My 14yo proclaimed this “delicious!” It was an easy weeknight dinner, and the adults used Asian condiments to add heat and other flavors -- rice vinegar, chili oil, furikake, etc. — to taste.
Chantel
Everyone really enjoyed this meal. I will definitely be making it again. I couldn't find shoyu so I instead diluted low sodium soy sauce. I also made some fresh pickles with cucumbers, green onions, rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Highly recommend adding that.
Family Favorite
Excellent! Great flavors, nutritious, and flexible. Easy to involve kids, and 10 out of 10 rating from my 8 year old. She has requested this in her lunches as well.
Scotty
Will be adding this to the rotation for sure. Easy to put together and was a hit with the whole family.
mimi
Thank you for giving me a lunch inspiration. I’ve been in a rut. I also just made the white chicken chili for the same reason.
Akira
An excellent video is available here: https://youtu.be/ShD9Hf4tRKc?si=WqBPh6kOJstb3cQ-When I brought those "bunny apple slices" with my bento box to my university in NY when I was a student there, they were an instant hit. Bunny-shaped apples are hugely popular among kids in Japan.
HanTran
I would be inclined not to rinse the pan either time it is suggested here.
Necia
How do you keep the cooked foods hot while cooking the remaining foods?
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