This Easy Okonomiyaki recipe is cooked in your oven and feeds a crowd! Packed with vegetables like cabbage, carrots and green onions and easy to customise. Serve with Kewpie mayonnaise and Okonomi sauce – simply delicious.
This Japanese style pancake is Slimming World friendly and easy to make Keto friendly too. Vegetarian unless meat and seafood are added.
TRY ALSO… My Japanese Fried Chicken!
What’s Okonomiyaki then?
Okonomiyaki is a Japanese savory pancake – okonomi means “how you like it” and yaki “cooked”. Basically it is a customisable pancake in which you can add what you like on top of the usual vegetables – such as bacon and shrimp.
Osaka-style Okonomiyaki, possibly the most well known, is made with flour, grated nagaimo (a.k.a Chinese potato – a type of yam), dashi or water, eggs and shredded cabbage.
Other ingredients include green onions, pork belly and/or seafood such as octopus, squid and shrimp. This fluffy giant pancake is served topped with okonomi sauce, Japanese mayo, bonito flakes, seaweed flakes and pickled ginger.
My husband and I treated ourselves to Okonomiyaki at Okan in Brixton Village as often as we could prior to the various lockdown restrictions. In fact it was our last restaurant meal before everything changed in February 2020…
We missed it so much that I tried to recreate the recipe at home. While my first homemade okonomiyaki was tasty it took forever to make. And I did make a total mess when trying to flip it. I wanted something EASY!
Easy Okonomiyaki Recipe
What could be EASIER than an oven-baked Okonomiyaki? Honestly it is kind of genius, although I will admit not authentic. This is very much a simplified (and Westernised) version of the Japanese recipe, using most of the typical ingredients of the original but is a cinch to make.
It is not as fluffy as proper Okonomiyaki but it can’t be beat as an easy lunch. Plus you can literally add whatever you like in it, true to the spirit of the authentic recipe.
What’s more this recipe is perfect for Slimming World – a handful of syns per slice for the flour (approximately 2 1/2 if sliced into 12 portions) but otherwise free. Do keep an eye on the toppings though – best to use extra light mayonnaise to top.
This homemade Okonomiyaki is also easy to make Keto Friendly if you replace the flour with oat fibre or another low carb flour alternative. You can also use gluten free flour if you prefer.
Here’s what you will need
- Plain Flour / All Purpose Flour plus a little baking powder
- Eggs
- Soy sauce
- Shredded cabbage – I used white cabbage which is easy to find
- Carrots
- Spring onions
- Seaweed (toasted nori sheets) I used the toasted seaweed snack packs!
Customise your pancake with
- Bacon or lean ham (or improvise with whatever you have handy)
- Shrimp or other seafood such as squid
- Shredded zucchini (courgette)
- Shredded spinach, kale or Brussels sprouts
Must haves to serve
- Kewpie Mayonnaise (Japanese Mayonnaise)
- Okonomi Sauce (see tips on how to make your own)
- Optional – I often add a little Sriracha
Optional (but authentic)
- Seaweed Flakes (Aonori)
- Red Pickled Ginger
- Tempura Bits (Tenkasu)
HOW TO MAKE MY EASY OKONOMIYAKI
Full measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page. Please take a look at the steps and video before attempting this recipe!
Remove the outer leaves and core from the cabbage. Shred the carrot and cabbage in a food processor or grate the carrot and finely slice the cabbage by hand. Slice the spring onions into very thin strips.
Add the eggs, flour, baking powder and soy sauce to a mixing bowl. Mix together to make the pancake batter, ideally using an immersion blender to remove any lumps.
Add the vegetables and nori and mix well to combine. If you are using bacon, shrimp or other optional extras you can fold those in too.
Spread the batter into a lined rectangular baking pan or a 23cm /9 inch round cake tin misted with cake release or cooking oil and bake for 30 minutes, or until the eggs are just set. Cool slightly before slicing.
Serve drizzled with Okonomi sauce and Kewpie mayonnaise, garnished with nori and sliced spring onions. Leftovers will keep for 2-3 days in a covered container in the fridge. Reheat before serving.
Homemade Okonomiyaki Sauce
If you can’t find the Okonomi Sauce you can easily make your own homemade version that tastes very similar.
Simply combine ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, oyster sauce and a little honey or maple syrup. Taste and adjust if needed!
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Easy Okonomiyaki – Oven-Baked Japanese Pancake
Ingredients
For the Okonomiyaki
- 8 large eggs or up to ten if batter is too dry
- 2 tbsp soy sauce or Tamari
- 130 g (1 cup) flour (plain /all purpose)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- Half a small white cabbage
- 3 carrots
- 4 spring onions , very finely sliced
- 3 tbsp of finely shredded nori (I used Itsu crispy seaweed thins)
Optional
- 300 g (2 cups) lean diced ham
- 6 strips of bacon , cut into small pieces
- 12 raw shrimp
To serve
- Okonomi Sauce (see tips on how to make your own)
- Kewpie Mayonnaise (Japanese Mayonnaise)
- Spring onions
- Japanese seasoning (Togarashi)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (350). Line a rectangular baking pan or a 23cm cake tin with baking paper or a reusable liner.
- Remove the outer leaves and core from the cabbage. Shred the carrot and cabbage in a food processor or grate the carrot and finely slice the cabbage by hand. Slice the spring onions into very thin strips.
- Add the eggs, flour, baking powder and soy sauce to a mixing bowl. Mix together to make the pancake batter, ideally using an immersion blender to remove any lumps.
- Add the vegetables and nori and mix well to combine. If you are using bacon, shrimp or other optional extras you can fold those in too.
- Spread the batter into the prepare pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until the eggs are just set. Cool slightly before slicing.
- Serve drizzled with Okonomi sauce and Kewpie mayonnaise, Togarashi, nori and sliced spring onions.
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