Butadon is a rice bowl dish with onion and thin pork slices simmered in sweet savory broth. It is super easy to make in less than 20 minutes, making it perfect for a quick meal!
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What is BUTADON
‘Buta’ means pork in Japanese and ‘don’ stands for donburi which means rice bowl. While there are many kinds of butadon recipes out there, below version is on the lighter side without any stir frying required. It is saucy, broth-y, full of flavor and goes insanely well with rice.
Serve the tender onion and pork slices over rice with lots of broth. Sprinkle some shichimi pepper and scallion on top and dive in!
Broth is the King
The broth here is made primarily with tamari, mirin, and sake. Although the ingredients are fairly simple, its sweet and savory flavor is just so irresistible. Plus, a hint of ginger added gives another depth of flavor to the dish.
While it gets simmered with pork, the meaty flavor infuses the broth perfectly giving so much umami. Make sure to enjoy every drip of it by pouring over the rice!
Ingredients for This Recipe
- Water
- Tamari
- Mirin
- Sake - or white dry wine
- Sugar
- Onion
- Grated ginger
- Thinly sliced pork loin or butt/ shoulder
How to Make Butadon
1. Make the broth - In a large pan, combine the water, tamari, mirin, sake and sugar together. Heat up the mix until it starts bubbling.
2. Let simmer - Add the onions, ginger and pork into the pan. Let simmer for about 15 minutes. Skim off the scum with a ladle while simmering for a clearer broth. (see below tip for how to)
3. Serve - Serve over rice. Top with scallions and shichimi (optional).
See the recipe card below for detailed directions.
Tips
Skim the scum as much as possible.
As the pork gets simmered in the broth, you may see gray bubbly particles coming up to the surface, which is just proteins and fats from the meat.
To remove, prepare a bowl or a large cup filled with water. Scoop out the scum with a ladle or a spoon (don’t scoop out the broth!) and wash off in the water. Repeat until you see less of it.
While it does not affect the flavor too much, this little step helps to get clearer broth and remove excess fat.
More Rice Bowl Recipes...
Easy Oyakodon (Japanese Chicken and Egg Bowl)
Recipe
Butadon (Japanese pork rice bowl)
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- ¼ cup tamari
- ¼ cup mirin
- ¼ cup sake or dry white wine/ cooking wine
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 onions thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 pound thinly sliced pork loin or butt/ shoulder
- 4 servings Cooked Japanese rice or any kind of rice
Optional toppings:
- Shichimi pepper
- Chopped scallions
Instructions
- In a large pan, combine the water, tamari, mirin, sake and sugar together and bring to a boil.
- Add the onions, ginger and pork into the broth. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the onions are tender. Skim the scum with a ladle while simmering for a clearer broth. (see the blog post for how to)
- Serve over rice. Optional: top with scallions and shichimi pepper.
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Vicki L says
This is a great recipe! I'm so happy to have found your website; as an Asian who has celiac disease, it is hard to find Asian recipes that understand what gluten-free really means. This served on rice with miso soup and cabbage salad on the side made a great meal.
Personal preference- I would add less sugar next time as the dish was slightly sweeter than I personally like.
Natsuko says
Hi Vicki,
Thank you so much for stopping by and trying the recipe! It's great to know everyone's preference on the flavor.
Pairing with cabbage salad sounds so perfect!