Black Garlic Steak Donburi

Bachan’s Black Garlic Japanese Barbecue Sauce Steak Donburi is a quick, hearty meal that might just become your new go-to. This dish is perfect anytime you need a fancy yet reliable meal, like a home-cooked weekend date night kind of thing. And, if you enjoy the nicer things in life,, it’s even great as a quick yet luxurious weeknight dinner. 

What is steak donburi?

If you haven’t had steak donburi before, it’s exactly what its name translates to: a bowl of rice with steak on top. It sounds simple, but it’s one of those dishes where every ingredient is highlighted in its simplicity. 

Steak donburi is currently trending in Japan. There are dedicated steak donburi restaurants where they only sell steak donburi.

This donburi hits all the right notes, with thin slices of perfectly grilled medium-rare steak gently laid over warm short grain Koshihikari rice, finished with richly flavored Bachan’s Black Garlic Japanese Barbecue Sauce, green onions, and a dab of wasabi.

Steak donburi ingredients

There are four components to this dish, and each one complements and highlights the others, combining into a harmonious symphony of flavor. 

• steak - striploin (aka New York strip) is ideal for this recipe but any steak will work. While we don’t specify it, the optimal steak for this dish would be a well marbled wagyu sirloin.

• Japanese rice - when your dish has only four components, each one needs to shine. The ideal rice for donburi is Japanese short-grain rice—glossy, plump, moist, and slightly sticky, with a pleasantly chewy texture and aromatic flavor (more on that below).

• Bachan’s Black Garlic Japanese Barbecue Sauce - this is the hero of this dish: an umami forward, bold, fresh sauce that features the flavor of black garlic. It’s rich, dark, and deeply savory with a hint of sweetness. It’s incredibly delicious even just drizzled over a hot bowl of fluffy rice.

• garnish - thinly sliced green onions add freshness and the tiniest bit of crunch while wasabi both highlights and cuts the richness of the beef. Crispy garlic chips (homemade or store bought) add even more texture and flavor.

How to make steak donburi

1. Marinate your steaks. Start off by seasoning the steaks with salt and pepper, then generously coat with Bachan’s Black Garlic Japanese Barbecue Sauce. Set the marinated steaks aside and let them temper in a cool spot in the kitchen while you make the rice.

2. Make the rice. Make your short-grain Japanese rice using your preferred method, ideally a rice cooker.

3. Cook the steaks. Pat the steaks dry with a paper towel. Barbecue the steaks as desired, or heat up a bit of neutral oil in a cast iron pan over high heat until very hot. Cook the steaks, one at a time, laying in the hot pan for 2-3 minutes, then flipping once to cook for another 1-2 minutes. The outside of the steak will form a deep, dark brown crust. Remove the steak from the pan and rest for 10 minutes.

4. Build the donburi. While the steak is resting, fluff the rice and scoop into a bowl, making a small mound. Slice the steak into 1/4 inch slices and fan out on top of the rice.

5. Garnish. Top with garlic chips, sliced green onions, and a bit of wasabi. Drizzle with Bachan’s Black Garlic Japanese Barbecue Sauce and dig in.

Garlic Chips

If you’d like to prepare garlic chips at home instead of buying premade ones from the store, it’s simple:

1. Thinly slice 2 cloves of garlic. 

2. Place a fine mesh strainer over a heatproof bowl and set aside. 

3. Add 2 tablespoons of neutral oil in the smallest pot you own. Turn the heat to medium. 

4. When the oil is hot and shimmery, add the garlic. If needed, tip the pot so the slices of garlic are immersed in the oil. Lightly fry, stirring, until the garlic is golden and crispy, about 2-3 minutes. 

5. When lightly golden, immediately remove the pan from the heat and strain the garlic using the prepared mesh strainer. 

6. Drain the garlic chips on a paper towel and let cool.

Donburi sauce

A key component in all Japanese rice bowls is the sauce. The sauces vary depending on the ingredients of the bowl, but generally, donburi sauce is sweet, savory, and makes you want to scoop up bite after bite until you’re left with an empty bowl. Donburi sauce usually has dashi, soy sauce, and mirin. To keep things both simple and tasty, we’re going to use Bachan’s Black Garlic Japanese Barbecue Sauce as both a marinade for the steak and as a finishing sauce.

What is black garlic?

If you’re a garlic aficionado, you probably know what black garlic is. If you don’t, this will be the start of a new lifelong love. Think of black garlic as roasted garlic’s older, more experienced brother. Regular garlic is slowly cured and aged until the Maillard reaction makes the cloves soft and sticky, with a sweet molasses flavor. The result is garlic, with a sweeter, subtler, richer flavor than fresh garlic. It’s amazing as a flavoring for sauces, marinades, stir-fries, and steak, of course.

Japanese Rice

Japanese rice is very different from the usual long grain rice that are commonly sold at most major grocery stores. It’s stickier, nuttier, and pairs perfectly with Japanese food. One of the most popular cultivars in Japan is Koshihikari. It’s often sold in the Asian aisle at larger grocery stores, and definitely sold at almost every Japanese or Asian grocery store.

If you can’t get Koshihikari, Kokuho Rose, a medium-grain Japanese style rice grown in California, is a great substitute and widely available at any major grocery store.

The right steak for donburi

Donburi is a slightly different way to eat steak that prefers a well marbled yet low fat steak. While ribeye is always our go-to steak, it often contains a large vein of fat in the middle that would be less appealing when thinly sliced and laid on top of rice. 

For donburi, a New York strip/striploin is a great choice. And, if you can get your hands on any grade of wagyu, a wagyu sirloin is often perfectly marbled for this purpose.

Itadakimasu!