This Okonomiyaki Traybake is inspired by one of my favourite dishes: Okonomiyaki, a Japanese savoury pancake topped with bacon. The pancake batter is combined with cabbage, onion, garlic, and cheese, baked in the oven and then topped with okonomiyaki sauce (or brown sauce), kewpie mayonnaise, spring onions, and sesame seeds. It's SO good and so simple to make, I really hope you enjoy it!
Once you've made your batter, you just place this into the oven for 20 minutes and let it do its thing! This okonomiyaki traybake is such low effort, great for a midweek dinner or meal prep!
For more Japanese-inspired dinners, check out my butadon (Japanese pork dish) recipe or this onigirazu recipe (sushi sandwich). If you're craving a ramen-style meal, then you've got to make my peanut butter noodles recipe, it went viral and I am loving all the kind comments and photos you guys are sending me of you remaking it!
For another pancake-inspired dish, check out my Italian cheesy crespelle with harissa lemon butter!
Jump to:
About Emily's Recipe
If you're new here, hi! I'm Emily - a recipe developer, food content creator, and cookbook author! Thanks for stopping by to check out my Okonomiyaki Traybake recipe. I really hope you enjoy it and please do let me know in the comments if you give it a go!
If you'd like to join a community of food lovers, just subscribe to my newsletter for recipes, cooking tips, and foodie chats. Now, let me tell you a bit more about this recipe...
Texture: imagine a thick pancake with lightly crunchy bites dotted in the pancake. Slightly crispy edges, but a soft, delicious middle.
Taste: a smoky savoury pancake with bbq-style sauce and mayonnaise as a topping. It's also topped with spring onion that gives you a fresher flavour too.
Ease: super simple. Just make the batter, spread it out into a tray, place it in the oven, and you're ready to go!
Top Tips: 1. you want the have a high percentage of vegetables in the batter to create a nice crunchy bite once cooked. 2. heat the tray and oil in the oven before, so that it results in a crispy, perfectly cooked okonomiyaki. 3. if you don't have okonomiyaki sauce (the brown sauce), then just use bbq or HP sauce.
Would I make this again? Yes. It's a quick and delicious meal in one. It's also great for meal-prep.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Flour: we're using plain flour for this recipe. Feel free to use a gluten-free version if need be!
Baking powder: to add a raising element to this dish, we're adding in a little bit of baking powder.
Salt: to add a bit of seasoning and balance, flaky or fine salt is fine.
Sugar: for a bit of sweetness! Feel free to add honey or agave instead.
Eggs: medium-sized eggs are great for this recipe.
Chicken stock: this is to add an extra savouriness to the dish, but you can use veggie stock or beef stock if you'd like!
Cabbage: you can use any cabbage you like, but I love Chinese cabbage, savoy, or white cabbage. Other vegetables you could add are finely sliced carrots, zucchini/courgette, bell peppers, or any hard vegetable you've got leftover in your fridge!
Red onion: this just adds a nice other little bite. You could use white onions or shallots too.
Garlic: fresh garlic cloves are best but if you've only got granules, then add ½ tsp.
Cheese: we're using a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella.
Bacon: I've used streaky bacon for this recipe! You could alternatively top the okonomiyaki traybake with pancetta or lardons.
Toppings: you'll want get yourself some okonomiyaki sauce (or you can use brown sauce), mayonnaise, spring onions, and sesame seeds. Other toppings include bonito flakes (dried fish flakes), pickled ginger, seaweed flakes, chilli oil.
The full list of ingredients and quantities is at the bottom of this blog in the recipe card!
Step by step instructions with photos
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 210C fan / 430F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt with a whisk. Then, add in the eggs followed by the chicken stock. Whisk until a smooth thick-ish batter has formed.
Step 2: Next up, add your chopped cabbage, sliced onion, minced garlic, and grated cheese into the bowl. Mix with a spatula until the ingredients are fully coated and well combined. You want the batter to be chunky and reasonably thick...not at all runny.
Step 3: Get your tray and drizzle with sesame oil. Place in the oven for 3 minutes until hot. Transfer the batter into the tray and evenly spread it and flatten the okomiyaki batter. Top with the streaky bacon and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
Step 4: Once the bacon is cooked and slightly crispy around the edges, remove from the oven and top with the brown sauce (spread it all over the okonomiyaki), then drizzle over the mayonnaise, sprinkle with spring onions, sesame seeds, and then serve up and enjoy!
What to do with leftovers
Storage: Leave the okonomiyaki traybake to cool, then place in an airtight container and into the fridge for up to 3 days.
Freezing: you can totally freeze this. It may change in texture, slightly, but will still taste delicious nonetheless. Once cooled, place in an airtight container (don't forget to label with contents and the date), and into the freezer. Leave to defrost/thaw in the fridge overnight before reheating.
Reheating: you can either reheat in the microwave until piping hot, or place it into the oven at 180c / 350F for 15 minutes until piping hot.
FAQs
For sure, finely sliced carrots, zucchini/courgette, bell peppers, or any hard vegetable you've got leftover in your fridge!
I love eating it alone, but some side dishes that would be fun: fried chicken, stir fried vegetables, or kimchi.
You can lay a piece of parchment paper onto your tray to stop the okonomiyaki from sticking!
More recipes you might enjoy!
If you tried this Okonomiyaki Traybake or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thank you!
Okonomiyaki Traybake
Ingredients
- 220 g plain flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ tsp sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 100 ml chicken stock
- ½ cabbage chopped into ½ pieces
- ½ red onion finely sliced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 100 g grated cheese mozzarella and or cheddar
- 8 streaky bacon rashers
For the toppings
- 2 tablespoon okonomiyaki sauce or bbq or brown sauce
- 2 tablespoon mayonnaise drizzled
- 2 spring onions finely sliced
- ½ tablespoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 210C fan / 430F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt with a whisk. Then, add in the eggs followed by the chicken stock. Whisk until a smooth thick-ish batter has formed.
- Next up, add your chopped cabbage, sliced onion, minced garlic, and grated cheese into the bowl. Mix with a spatula until the ingredients are fully coated and well combined. You want the batter to be chunky and reasonably thick...not at all runny.
- Get your tray and drizzle with sesame oil. Place in the oven for 3 minutes until hot. Remove from the oven and transfer the batter into the tray and evenly spread it and flatten the okomiyaki batter. Top with the streaky bacon evenly and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Once the bacon is cooked and slightly crispy around the edges, remove from the oven and top with the brown sauce (spread it all over the okonomiyaki), then drizzle over the mayonnaise, sprinkle with spring onions, sesame seeds, and then serve up and enjoy!
Tess
I can’t wait to try this, it seems delicious!
I’d possibly add some crushed nori and sub the bacon for salmon but excited to make yours
Fulop
The recipe is flawless. I love okonomiyaki, but frying and flipping them is a hassle. I'll be making this on the regular from now on.
Emily Roz
So glad you loved it! Em xx
Rosemary Close
Loved this recipe! I made this for my husband for his birthday and he loved it. I think my baking tray was slightly too large as it was very thin and crispy. I’d use smaller one next one, but would definitely make again. Thanks for publishing it.
Emily Roz
Awh so glad you both enjoyed them (and very happy belated birthday to your husband!). Em xx
E
Super easy to follow, turned out great. Added pickled ginger and avocado as toppings and YUM!
Emily Roz
that's great to hear and brilliant toppings additions! Em xx
Nic B
This was delicious, mine took another 7min to be cooked but tastes amazing!! Love your recipes and your book, thank you! 😋
j
thank you for this recipe! I switched out the flour for whole wheat and the chicken stock for dashi stock (made with just hondashi powder and water), and i’ll be making this again!
Agata
Perfect recipe but needed extra 20 min in the oven.
Emily Roz
I'm so glad you loved it Agata! Aaaah sorry you needed to keep it in the oven for longer! Oven timings are always tricky!! 🙂 xx
Tina
Thank you so much for this recipe!
My husband and I love Okonomiyaki and this has been a lifesaver since my daughter was born.
I like to throw some grated carrot and cut up imitation crab in there - delicious!