Soboro Don (そぼろ丼) is an easy and delicious Japanese rice bowl with seasoned ground chicken and scrambled eggs. It’s easily one of my favorite bento lunch menus growing up!
The sweet-savory flavor of tender chicken and eggs that get mixed in with steamed rice score big on the comfort level. And what’s not to love when you can put a meal together in just 30 minutes? That’s the virtue of rice bowls! Simple, fast, and well-thought-out, you can never go wrong with it.
What Does Soboro Mean?
The Japanese word Soboro (そぼろ) refers to ground meat, fish, or eggs that are cooked into fine, crumbled pieces.
Often served over steamed rice and eaten together, you’ll find soboro donburi (そぼろ丼ぶり, or don for short, meaning rice bowl dish) and soboro bento (そぼろ弁当) on the menu in Japan.
Ground chicken is the most commonly used protein for this dish, so we call it tori soboro (鶏そぼろ), literally “chicken ground.”
If you happen to dine at a yakitori restaurant where they serve grilled skewers of different parts of the chicken, try their soboro don. It always tastes the best as yakitori restaurants usually have the freshest and high-quality chicken.
Ingredients for Ground Chicken Bowl
- Ground chicken
- Eggs
- Seasonings: sugar, salt, mirin, sake, and soy sauce
- Steamed rice
- Blanched green vegetables — I used green peas, but you can also use spinach, green beans, okra, or snow peas.
How to Make the Best Soboro Don
- Cook the chicken: Place ground chicken and all the seasonings in a saucepan or frying pan. Cook the chicken until no longer pink.
- Cook the egg: Cook scrambled eggs in a saucepan or frying pan.
- Serve the steamed rice in the bowl, then put seasoned ground chicken, eggs, and green vegetables over the rice.
4 Important Cooking Tips to Remember
- Use a saucepan instead of a frying pan. I used to use a non-stick frying pan to make this dish but I found it it’s more effective when I cook in a smaller saucepan. You can stir the chopsticks a bit more vigorously, which allows the eggs or ground chicken to break into even smaller bits.
- Use multiple pairs of long (cooking) chopsticks. Have you tried scrambling your eggs using chopsticks? That’s how we make soboro (cooked ground meat) in Japan! Hold at least 3 pairs of long chopsticks and move them vigorously to jostle the eggs into fine scrambles. Do the same for the ground chicken!
- You don’t need cooking oil. To make soboro, we do not use cooking oil for both eggs and ground meat. Just place the ingredients directly into the saucepan and start cooking! An aluminum pan or yukihira nabe (above) is a bit difficult to wash the residual egg attached to the saucepan. Use a stainless steel or non-stick coating pot so it’s easier to clean.
- Cook on medium-low heat. We always cook the eggs or ground chicken over medium-low heat. Slowly and gently cook while you stir vigorously with chopsticks. This is how you make fine scrambled eggs and Cook on medium-low heat. We always cook the eggs or ground chicken over medium-low heat. Slowly and gently cook while you stir vigorously with chopsticks. This is how you make nice scrambled eggs and ground chicken. Scrambled eggs should not be chunky, and chicken should be well-seasoned, so take your time to make this dish.
FAQs
Why do you sweeten eggs and chicken?
In Japanese cooking, you’ll find that it’s a common practice to season the eggs and meat with some sugar. The reason we do that is to bring out the flavors of the ingredients, especially when we prepare food that we enjoy at room temperature. The use of sugar also helps to balance the savory seasoning, so you’d achieve full umami for the meal.
Since soboro is served with bland steamed rice, the flavor of the dish would come from the well-seasoned eggs and meat.
You can choose to leave out the sugar or reduce the amount to suit your taste. But if you plan on packing soboro don into a lunch box, don’t skimp on the seasonings. Foods served at room temperature require stronger seasonings to attain the flavors.
How about other protein choices besides chicken?
You can definitely use ground pork or beef (or ground turkey). For creative variations, you can finely chop shrimp or crumble firm tofu, too!
If you’re stumped on what to make for dinner tonight, you can count on soboro don for a quicker-than-take-out option. It packs beautifully for your bento lunch box too!
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Soboro Don (Ground Chicken Bowl)
Ingredients
For the Scrambled Eggs
- 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell)
- 1 Tbsp sugar (why do we add it? See Notes)
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For Serving
- 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice (3⅓ cups or 500 g)
- 2 Tbsp green peas (cooked)
- pickled red ginger (optional)
Instructions
- Before You Start: Have 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice ready before you start cooking the eggs and chicken. You can cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe. Now, gather all the ingredients. Prepare 3 pairs of long cooking chopsticks and 2 saucepans (see Notes at the end for why we use saucepans).
To Cook the Soboro Chicken
- Grate 1 inch ginger (I use a ceramic grater) until you have 1 tsp grated ginger with juice.
- DO NOT turn on the heat yet. Combine 1 tsp grated ginger, ½ lb ground chicken, 1 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp mirin, 1–1½ Tbsp sugar, and 2½ Tbsp soy sauce in a cold medium saucepan (I use a traditional yukihira pot). Mix the chicken and the seasonings with 3 pairs of long cooking chopsticks, breaking up the ground meat into smaller bits.
- Now, TURN ON the heat to medium-low and stir constantly with the chopsticks so the ground chicken crumbles. Stir and cook until it is no longer pink.
- The chicken will release its juices as it cooks. Continue cooking until most of the liquid evaporates. Turn off the heat and set aside.
To Scramble the Eggs
- DO NOT turn on the heat yet. Combine 3 large eggs (50 g each w/o shell), 1 Tbsp sugar, and ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt in another cold medium saucepan. Use 3 clean pairs of long cooking chopsticks to beat the eggs well until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Now, TURN ON the heat to medium-low. Cook the egg mixture, stirring constantly with the chopsticks, to loosen and lift the cooked egg from the bottom and sides of the saucepan.
- As you stir, break up any large curds into small, fine crumbles. Continue cooking until the eggs are soft, fluffy, and no longer runny. Do not overcook. Once done, remove from the heat and set aside.
To Assemble
- Add 2 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice in individual donburi bowls. Spoon the ground chicken over half of the rice and the scrambled eggs on the other half. I line up 2 Tbsp green peas down the middle. Garnish with pickled red ginger on top, if you'd like. To see how to pack this in your lunchbox, see my Soboro Bento recipe.
To Store
- Keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days or in the freezer for a month.
Notes
- Ground chicken: Use any ground meat—beef, pork, or turkey. You can also finely chop chicken thigh (or breast + thigh) or pulse it in a food processor until minced.
- Soy sauce: Swap with tamari or gluten-free soy sauce if needed.
- Mirin: No mirin? For each 1 Tbsp, use 1 Tbsp sake (or water) + 1 tsp sugar. Not identical, but very close.
- Sake: Substitute dry sherry, Chinese rice wine, or water.
- Sugar: The eggs are meant to be slightly sweet. It balances the savory chicken and gives that classic sweet-savory donburi contrast. Prefer less sweet? Reduce or skip—it’s still delicious.
- Cooked Japanese short-grain rice: One bowl uses about 1⅔ cups (250 g) cooked rice. For two servings, you’ll need 3⅓ cups (500 g). Cooking 2 rice cooker cups (1½ cups / 300 g uncooked) will give you enough.
- Saucepan: A saucepan (traditionally a yukihira nabe) makes it easy to stir and scrape into fine crumbles. Some sticking is normal—scraping helps create the light, fluffy soboro texture.
Nutrition
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Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on April 11, 2011. The pictures and content have been updated and the recipe has been slightly revised on June 21, 2022.