Ochazuke Recipe お茶漬け • Just One Cookbook

Craving a dish that is light yet comforting? This easy, homemade Ochazuke with green tea or dashi, steamed rice, and simple savory ingredients will hit the spot.

Ochazuke (お茶漬け) is a simple one-bowl dish featuring steamed rice with an assortment of savory ingredients, partially steeped in green tea. Ocha refers to green tea, and zuke means “submerged”. Instead of proper mealtime food, the Japanese enjoy it more as a quick meal or at the end of the meal to fill up.

Ochazuke – The Comfort Food

Soothing to eat and easy on the stomach, Ochazuke is the kind of comfort food that I crave. When I suffer from jet lag after a long plane ride from Japan, I would always make the rice dish to satisfy my midnight hunger pangs. The warm tea and rice were well received by my exhausted body and tasting it immediately comforted my homesickness.

We often eat Ochazuke when we feel under the weather or simply when there are no other ingredients to cook with. It’s the easiest meal to put together! All the ingredients are the usual staples from a Japanese pantry.

In Japanese manga and drama, you’ll find scenes of Japanese student scarfing down a bowl of Ochazuke while burning the midnight oil, or a tired salaryman gets home from work and need something quick to eat before hitting the snooze button.

Ochazuke is a perfect quick meal to ease your hunger, as it’s light and can be quickly prepared. It also has the magic to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside after eating.

Types of Green Tea & Broth You Can Use for Ochazuke

You can use various kinds of green tea such as Genmaicha, Sencha, Hojicha, etc to make Ochazuke. However, when you order Ochazuke in Japanese restaurants, it is typically made with dashi broth instead of green tea.

The Ochazuke served with green tea tends to be bland and relies on salty toppings to add flavors. But with good dashi, the dish can be very flavorful even with just a few simple toppings.

You can also make it with cold tea or broth in summer time.

Suggestions for Toppings

I know some of the ingredients are quite hard to get outside of Japan, so feel free to change it up. You can keep it simple by using leftover rice and whatever you have from the fridge!

Here are the ingredients commonly used to make Ochazuke:

• Japanese pickles like umeboshi (salted pickled plum)
• Nori seaweed
• Pollock roe (tarako & mentaiko)
• Salmon Flakes (recipe coming soon!)
• Salmon roe (ikura)
• Salted Salmon
• Scallion or mitsuba
• Sea Bream (tai) sashimi
• Sesame seeds
• Wasabi

There are instant ochazuke packets you can buy from Japanese/Asian grocery stores or Amazon. They include dried pickled plum, salmon, nori, rice crackers, and green tea, and all you need to do is pour hot water or tea over. It’s convenient, but you can’t beat the taste and flavor of homemade Ochazuke.

I often make the recipe when I have leftover salted salmon. It is especially comforting and delicious with homemade dashi broth! I wouldn’t even mind eating it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

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Ochazuke (Green Tea Over Rice)

Craving a dish that is light yet comforting? This easy, homemade Ochazuke with green tea or dashi, steamed rice, and simple savory ingredients will hit the spot.

Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.

• Preheat the oven to 425ºF (218ºC). For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC). Bake the salted salmon fillet (shiojake) for 20-25 minutes until the skin and flesh are blistered and charred (Japanese salted salmon is always cooked until firm and well done). If you’re using regular salmon, season it with a pinch of salt and set it aside for 10 minutes before baking. When it’s cooked, remove the skin and bones and break up the salmon flesh into flakes. Set aside.
• If you don’t have bubu arare, crush Japanese rice crackers into small pieces (you can also use a bag to crush it).
• Ochazuke with Tea: Put the tea leaves in the pot. Bring the water to the appropriate temperature for your tea and pour it into the pot. Set aside for 1-2 minutes (follow the directions on your tea package).
• Now, place the cooked rice in the serving bowl. Place the flaked salmon on the rice and sprinkle the rice crackers, nori, and sesame seeds on top. Serve with tsukemono (pickles), such as Pickled Cucumber, as a part of the meal.
• Ochazuke with Dashi: Pour the dashi into the bowl to cover half the rice and top with the mitsuba and wasabi. Enjoy!
• Ochazuke with Tea: Pour the tea into the bowl to cover half the rice and top with the mitsuba and wasabi. Add the soy sauce, if you'd like.

Calories: 335 kcal · Carbohydrates: 60 g · Protein: 13 g · Fat: 3 g · Saturated Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 19 mg · Sodium: 414 mg · Potassium: 423 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 1 g · Vitamin A: 109 IU · Vitamin C: 3 mg · Calcium: 21 mg · Iron: 3 mg

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Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on July 23, 2014. It’s been edited and republished in April 2020.