Learn to make my Quick and Easy Tamagoyaki recipe in just 3 minutes! By using a round frying pan and simple ingredients, anyone can make it at home. This delicious Japanese rolled omelette is perfect to pack in your bento lunchbox or serve as a side dish for dinner.
Do you like the Japanese rolled omelette called Tamagoyaki? This popular Japanese omelette with thin layers of egg crepe is both pretty to look at and delicious! In Japan, we enjoy this dish as a savory snack or a side dish in a bento box or meal set.
Today, I’ll share my convenient method for making a quick and easy tamagoyaki. You only need a regular frying pan and basic ingredients for this handy recipe. It’s a lot simpler than the traditional method that requires a special rectangular tamagoyaki pan and additional seasonings. Let me show you how it’s done!
Table of Contents
Ingredients You’ll Need For Tamagoyaki
This convenient recipe does not require mirin, dashi, and salt. It’s so easy to whip up!
- large egg – 50 g each w/o shell
- sugar – we traditionally sweeten tamagoyaki, but you can reduce or omit the sugar if you’d like
- nori (dried laver seaweed) – optional; add chopped green onion, veggies, cheese, or ham as you like
- neutral oil
How to Make Quick and Easy Tamagoyaki
You can make this recipe in a total time of just 3 minutes! Here’s a quick overview; see the recipe card below for the full instructions.
- Whisk the egg and sugar in a small bowl.
- Heat a nonstick frying pan. Reduce to medium heat and grease with neutral oil.
- Pour the egg mixture into the pan. Swirl to coat the surface of the pan.
- Place the nori seaweed across the middle.
- Fold both sides of egg crepe over the nori with a spatula when the egg is set on the bottom.
- Roll it up from one side to the other to create a rolled omelette. Cool and slice to eat with chopsticks.
How to Serve Tamagoyaki
You can eat this Japanese rolled omelet plain or serve it with the following condiments to add umami flavor to this delicious source of protein:
- katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
- soy sauce
- grated daikon radish
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Quick and Easy Tamagoyaki
Ingredients
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell)
- 1 tsp sugar (traditionally, tamagoyaki is sweetened a little bit. You can omit sugar if you like)
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil
- ¼ sheet nori (dried laver seaweed) (you can also add chopped green onion, veggies, cheese, ham, etc)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- For one tamagoyaki, whisk 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) and 1 tsp sugar together in a small bowl.
- Heat a nonstick frying pan, dip a folded paper towel in 1 Tbsp neutral oil and apply the oil to the frying pan.
- When the pan is hot, reduce the heat to medium. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and quickly swirl around the pan until the bottom of the pan is evenly covered. If the heat is too strong and the egg is getting cooked too fast, remove the pan away from the heat and lower the heat.
- When the egg is 50% cooked, place ¼ sheet nori (dried laver seaweed) in the middle.*
- When the egg is set but still not fully cooked, fold both side of egg crepe toward the center of nori.
- Roll from one side to the other side while gently pressing down to create nice Tamagoyaki shape.
- Remove from the frying pan and set aside to cool for a few minutes. Cut Tamagoyaki into 2–3 pieces.
Is there any way to do this in prep for a few days worth of meals? I’m trying to figure out how to do prep one day and benefit by quick reheat to use several days. Thoughts on that for this dish would be appreciate and if it would work, how would you recommend reheating? Thanks
Hello, Jet. This is an excellent dish to prepare ahead of time.
You may refrigerate it, reheat it in the microwave, or freeze it for later use.
If you would like to freeze it, here are more details.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-freeze-food-for-bento/
And here’s another useful post!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/meal-prep-freezer-friendly-bento-dishes/
Happy Cooking!
Hello! Just found this recipe today and thought of trying it out for breakfast for the first time tomorrow. Is there another way I can roll it because I’m not really good at using chopsticks?
Hello, Arabella. Thank you so much for taking the time to read Nami’s post and try her recipe!
To flip the eggs, you may use a spatula. We hope this works for you! 🙂
Hi! Thank you for your recipe! Can I put wakame inside? I have a lot)
Hi Svetlana, Yes. You can add Wakame if you like.
Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Hi. Is it possible to make this with a stainless steel pan? I gave away all my non stick pans since they have chemical coatings on them that shed.
Hi Shih! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Yes, you can use different pans. Please make sure to season it well with oil so that the egg doesn’t stick to the pan.
Happy Cooking!
Hi, I’m going to prepare this but I have a couple of dumb questions…sorry. Do you fold and also roll the egg? How? from the folded side or the “bottom” side? And about the nori, I have dried nori, is it ok? Do I cover the whole egg with one sheet of nori? What else can go inside that is tasty and authentic Japanese? Spinach or any other vegetable? Thank you so much for your great website.
Hi Nany!
Don’t be sorry! It’s not dumb questions!
This easy Tamagoyaki is a short cut version, and yes, you fold both sides of the egg crepe toward the center and roll from one side to the other side. So it doesn’t matter if you roll from the bottom or top after you hold both side edges. Please pick an easy side for you.
You can place dried nori, chopped green onion, other veggies, cheese, ham, etc., before you hold the eggs.
We hope this is helpful, and you enjoy this easy version.☺️
A good, tasty bento or meal. I would recommend soy sauce and cheese as a filling.
Thank you, Brandon! Yeah, that would be a nice filling! 🙂
I can not explain how happy I am I found this there is absolutely nothing in the world that could stop me from making this soon and when I say soon I mean literally as soon as I get off this website
Hi Kitty! Hahahahaha! I’m so happy to hear you like this recipe and I hope your tamagoyaki turned out well! 🙂
This is so clever! I always ruin the eg when rolling it, but with the seaweed rolling was much easier!
Thank you Kyt for your kind feedback! Happy to hear you liked this method! 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! I looked it up last night and I had to try it this morning. What should I say: It turned out great! I may have to use a larger pan (or smaller eggs), but it was so fast and easy! Thank you for showing how to cook it with chop sticks, that was convinient!
This will definitely go into our lunchboxes more often!
Greetings from Salzburg!
Hi Yvonne! Thanks so much for your feedback! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for writing! 🙂
Just made three rolls this evening for lunch tomorrow. They really are delicious when you add a slice of Jalapeño cheese right above the Nori! Great portions for a lunch Bento!
Hi Zatoichi! So glad to hear you liked this recipe! Jalapeno! Great idea! Thanks so much for sharing and your feedback! 🙂
Hi Nami
I wanted to ask if this could be made the night before and store in fridge for packing into the school lunchbox the next day. Or to be chopped up and use as filling for onigiri to be made a day in advance.
Could U advise ? Thank you !
Hi Christina! So sorry for my late response! Yes, you can make the night before (you can even slice into pieces). I recommend making onigiri the day you bring, though as rice gets hard in the fridge. Hope this helps! 🙂
Thank you Nami !
Tried this and made my first sushi. Was really good, too. I didn’t have veggie oil or olive so I used canola oil which didn’t really change anything about it. Was a little funny shaped since I didn’t move the egg around more but was still yummy. Also didn’t have the nori so just made the egg by its self. Thanks for posting the easy Recipe. I just might make more for my mom to try. Then tell her its a type of sushi. haha
Hi April! Awesome! I’m happy to hear you used this tamagoyaki to make sushi. 🙂 Practice few more times and you’ll be expert at this. 😉 Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
Thank you! My daughter is 12 and is begging me to make her bento box lunchs and this recipe looks like one I can do!!
Hi Rose! I hope you enjoy making bento! Good luck!! 🙂
Any recommendations on how to keep the egg from breaking? Whether I cook it nicely, low heat, high heat, different utensils, I seem to be cursed… Advice appreciated and thank you for the awesome recipes and ideas!
Hi Cheri! Are you using Quick & Easy Tamagoyaki, or regular Tamagoyaki with many layers?
First of all, make sure to use a non-stick frying pan. And heat the frying pan first before you apply enough oil. You need to make sure the pan is hot enough (that you hear the sound) when you pour the egg mixture. Don’t touch until the outer egg start to comes off. Use a thin spatula to slowly separate egg from the frying pan. If you are good at using chophsticks, use chopsticks because they can control better. That’s the most important part. When does your egg break? When you are about to roll? Heat shouldn’t be high because you don’t want to brown too much, but not low either. I recommend to use medium heat and keep the frying pan with your other hand so you can lift up (when it’s too much heat) and put it down when you need the egg to be more cooked… Not sitting on the stove all the time…but this is a bit more advanced, but I don’t change the heat while I cook – I just adjust by the distance to the heat source. Hope this helps. Please write me back if you have any question. I’ll be happy to help! 🙂
hi there! chanced upon your website for the first time and it came across as being very informative! 🙂 may i know if this tamagoyaki can be kept overnight?
Hi Missy! Welcome to Just One Cookbook! So happy you stopped by. 🙂 Yes you can keep it overnight in the fridge. You can serve cold, at room temp, or hear up with microwave or fry pan. Enjoy!