These Japanese Soy Garlic Onion ‘Steaks’ are the perfect way to enjoy whole onions! Sweet, juicy and big on flavour– perfect for sandwiches, burgers or served as a side dish.
Onions are so often used but not shown a lot of love. Let’s make onions the star of the dish with this delicious, juicy and tender onion ‘steak’ infused with classic Japanese steak flavours. The natural sweetness comes out from the onions, caramelized to perfection.
How to Make Onion ‘Steaks’
Ingredients
- Onions: Any type of large onions can be used for this recipe, however I do recommend sweet onions, Spanish onions or new onions as they’re larger in diameter and have a subtly sweeter flavour to them.
- Kombu dashi granules: optional, but adds more flavour into the onions.
- Garlic: for flavour.
- Vegan butter: or margarine.
- Soy sauce: or tamari for gluten free.
- Mirin & sugar: for sweetness.
- Sake: helps reduce the ‘spicy’ and pungent onion flavour.
Directions
- Thickly slice the onions, about 3-4 cm in thickness. You can slice them thinner, but they tend to fall apart easier in the pan.
- Place the onions in a microwave safe container or dish and sprinkle with kombu dashi granules. Cover and microwave each side for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes or until mostly cooked through. It will look more translucent and smell sweet.
- Heat a pan over medium high heat with some oil and carefully place the onions on the pan. Cook until you get nice charring (about 1 minute). Flip and cook other side (about 1 minute).
- Move the onions to one side of the pan and then add the garlic, mirin and sake. Cook for about 20 seconds, swirling the pan (the sake will begin to evaporate). Then add in the soy sauce, sugar and water and swirl the pan to coat the bottom of the onions. Cook until sauce is slightly reduced. Carefully flip the onion and then cook the other side coating it with the sauce until thickened.
Recipe Notes
- Thickly slice the onions. The thicker the onions, the easier it is to flip. However, if you don’t mind them falling apart and want them to cook quicker, slice them thinner.
- Do not flip the onions often or they tend to fall apart. I only cook each side twice. Once for getting some charring and once for cooking it in the sauce.
- Variations: change up the sauce for different flavours! I shared some sauce ideas in my daikon steak recipe.
More vegan ‘steak’ recipes to try:
SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓
If you recreate this Japanese Soy Garlic Onion ‘Steaks’ recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
Hungry for more? Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Instagram, Youtube and Pinterest for more deliciousness!
Japanese Soy Garlic Onion ‘Steaks’
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1 serving 1x
Description
These juicy, sweet and tender onion steaks are the perfect way to enjoy whole onions! Infused with the classic Japanese soy garlic steak flavours, delicious with sandwiches, burgers, rice and more.
Ingredients
- 1 large Sweet or Spanish onion (450g net weight)
- 1 tsp kombu dashi granules or mushroom stock powder, optional (3g)
- 1 garlic clove, minced (4g)
- 1 tbsp vegan butter (15g)
- 1 tbsp Japanese soy sauce (15ml // tamari for gluten free)
- 1 tbsp mirin (15ml)
- 1 tbsp sake (15ml)
- 1 tbsp water (15ml)
- 1/2 tsp sugar (2g)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Slice onions into 3-4 cm thick rounds. Place the onion rounds into a microwave safe container or dish and sprinkle with kombu dashi granules. Cover and microwave each side for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes or until mostly cooked through (it will start to look more transparent and smell sweet).
- Heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium high heat and carefully place the onions on the pan. Cook until you get nice charring (about 1 minute). Flip and cook other side (about 1 minute). Move the onions to one side of the pan and then add the garlic, mirin and sake. Cook for about 20 seconds (the sake will begin to evaporate). Then add in the soy sauce, sugar and water and swirl the pan to coat the bottom of the onions. Cook until sauce is slightly reduced. Carefully flip the onion and then cook the other side coating it with the sauce until thickened. Remove from heat, serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Helpful Equipment: non-stick skillet, sharp pairing knife, microwave safe with with a lid
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: side dish
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: vegan, gluten free, japanese
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 348
- Sugar: 24.3
- Sodium: 1014mg
- Fat: 11.5
- Saturated Fat: 3.2
- Unsaturated Fat: 7.7
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 52.9
- Fiber: 6.7
- Protein: 6.4
- Cholesterol: 0
Okonomi Kitchen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. When you purchase something through my amazon affiliate links, I earn a small commission that helps me produce consistent content at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my plant based kitchen!
Tl;dr: Make this recipe, you wont regret it!!
I saw a video for this recipe on @Okonomikitchen on Instagram and knew I had to make it for lunch. Less than 15 minutes later, I had the best onion I’ve ever eaten! Another 15 minutes later, my roommate also had the best onion she’s ever eaten. And in the evening, I made it again for dinner. This recipe was so simple, delicious, and the flavors of soy and garlic do a beautiful job of subtly highlighting the onion’s natural sweetness and umami. Thank you Lisa, I’ll be making this at least once a month from here on out!
Made this as a meme recipe but this turned out to be the most delicious way to enjoy onions! Well done~
I’m definitely not a vegan, but Lisa’s recipe made me more adventurous in trying out new ideas! Made this and loved it so much!
I made this with yamaimo instead of onion (minus the garlic because I was lazy). So good.
Seriously so delicious. My boyfriend was reluctant because he’s a beef steak kind of person but even he loved the onion steaks. They were so good I had to promptly make 4 more and triple the sauce recipe to have extra for drizzling over rice. Beyond good and so easy to make. I couldn’t find sake at the grocery store so I substituted with cooking sherry and it was phenomenal.
Tried vegan “steak” last night and it was an interesting concept compare to regular steak. Super easy to make and I like how simple and quick it is to make one! Can’t wait to try other recipes
I tried making this, and it’s such a simple yet amazing recipe – I loved how the onion soaked up all of the flavors; my mom really loved it! I’ll make this again soon!
Really loved this! I think I’ll try with a smaller onion next time to get more sauce to coat and seep in ~
Looking forward to trying more recipes!
I never liked onions before this recipe. Now I can’t wait to make this again! So easy and flavorful.
This recipe is absolutely fantastic, delicious, flavourful, everything you could want from a vegetable ‘steak’! I paired this with a simple salad and enjoyed it thoroughly!