Korean Egg Rice (Gyeran Bap)
This Korean egg rice (gyeran bap) comes in handy when you are in a hurry. All you need is egg, leftover rice, butter, soy sauce and sesame oil. Less than 5 minutes, you got a lifesaving Korean pantry meal. A perfect breakfast is born!
I would describe this Korean egg rice (Gyeran Bap, 계란밥) as a 5-minute breakfast egg and rice bowl. It is perhaps the simplest, easiest, and quickest breakfast rice bowl with egg for a busy morning or anytime of the day when you need something to eat quickly. It truly is life saving Korean pantry meal.
Life is quite hectic these days. Lots of kids school activities, meetings, kids sports games, many errands to run, church services, and the list goes on.
Having a nice lunch for myself sounds like a luxury and I only had 10 minutes to spare for my lunch today before I had to head out; 5 minutes to cook and 5 minutes to eat. Not only as a quick lunch, this is a great breakfast as well.
If you find yourself in the same shoes like mine some days, try this super quick Korean egg rice.
Ingredients you’ll need
- egg
- leftover rice
- butter
- soy sauce
- sesame oil
- toasted sesame seeds – optional
How to Make Korean Egg Rice (Gyeran Bap)
Heat a little oil in a skillet and crack an egg to fry.
Fry it until all the egg white is evenly cooked and yolk is still slightly runny. We call that ‘Sunny Side Up’, right?
Put some rice in a bowl and place a thin slice of cold butter on top.
In my house, we always have bags of individual serving amount of leftover rice in the freezer. I just reheat 1 serving in the microwave.
Place the egg on top of hot rice. That’s all the cooking you need. The remaining heat of egg will melt the butter.
Drizzle a little soy sauce and sesame oil over the egg.
Then, sprinkle some LOVE; the toasted sesame seeds. That’s all!
How to serve this Breakfast Egg Rice Bowl?
Crack the yolk to release their golden life.
Then break up the egg whites to small pieces and start mixing with rice to combine all the goodness. I know, I can see your face with eyebrows tilting up.
As you can see, there is nothing much to it. But trust me, it is really good.
The mellow flavor of soy sauce with butter and fragrant sesame oil gets mixed with a fried egg? Try and it will become your routine.
I literally had to swallow the entire bowl after I took these photos and headed out to door to run for the next errands. Being a busy mom of two kids and a wife of one man is a privilege and I enjoy every moment to be part of their lives.
Life is great. Hope yours is the same.
Other Quick Breakfast Ideas
- Stir-Fried Rice Cakes and Eggs (Gluten-Free)
- Quick Breakfast Stuffed Tortilla Egg Roll
- Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo)
Korean Egg Rice (Gyeran Bap)
Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 serving cooked rice, warmed
- 1/2 tbsp butter, optional
- 2 tsp soy sauce, preferably low sodium
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds, optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add an egg and fry until the egg white is cooked but the yolk is still runny.
- Place warmed rice in a serving bowl and put a thin slice of butter on top (if using).
- Place the fried egg on top of rice. Drizzle soy sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. The heat from rice and egg will melt the butter.
- To serve, crack the yolk and break the whites into small chunks with a spoon. Mix everything in the bowl and serve. FYI, kimchi is a nice accompaniment.
Funny, I grew up eating something similar with leftover rice for breakfast though not Asian. We warmed up the rice & fried the egg in bacon grease (of course because I am Southern US), then piled the egg on top of the rice, topped with crisp fried bacon, salt & pepper. Last we chopped it all up finely together. Still my favorite breakfast. Did the same with leftover cold mashed potatoes fried into patties. No one else I’ve met does this, so I don’t know where it came from.
This was really good. I just made it for my boyfriend and I and this is a winner!! Will make again!
I’m curious – what kind of rice did you use for this?
Tamar, what a sweet story that is? It is so nice that you were able to hear from your grandfather about the Korean war and what he experienced. I also had my grandmother-in law who grew up in depression time and helped raising 8 brothers. She was one of the most frugal person I have encountered. I learned a lot about being thrifty and frugal. We live in time of abundance and often forget about tough time that previous generation had gone through. A lot of lessons to learn for us.
Short grain rice.
I know this is an older post, but I just wanted to say that I LOVE this recipe. The creaminess of the butter and fried egg with the nuttiness of the sesame… Goes to show that sometimes the best recipes are the most simple. I’ve been eating it almost daily for breakfast/lunch while I’ve been on vacation and feeling lazy. ^^
That is so great Courtney!
I make this egg rice often too. My kids always wants more whenever I make it. You are right. The best recipes are the most simple one.
Have a great day!
My girls (5 and 8), scarfed this down! I added edamame beans to the rice. What an easy dinner!
Thank you for this wonderful dish! It is delicious and so easy to make. Now I have a terrific use for my leftover rice. And I love the flavors!
Hi Martha
Thanks for you comment. So happy that you liked the dish. It is indeed quick and easy to make and so tasty!
Thank you Holly for this delicious recipe! I love having leftover rice!
I make this dish too time to time when I need a quick lunch. But not with the butter. Will definitely try it with the butter 🙂 btw love your blog and recipes!!
This is fantastic! We had this for breakfast this morning and my five year old and two year old twins loved it. Thanks so much for breaking up the boring breakfast as usual!
That is great Stephanie! This egg rice bowl is wonderful to serve as a breakfast for a busy morning.
Hi,
This recipe sounds fab! Is there a substitute I can use for the butter or do you think it would taste just as good without the butter? I wonder what the egg would taste like with the kewpie mayo… Without the sesame oil of course!
You can omit the butter. I often not use butter and it still is delicious. I am not sure about with kewpie mayo though. The sesame oil adds very nice subtle fragrance and flavor, and I never omit the sesame oil in this egg rice bowl.
mmmmMMMMmmmm. Pardon my ignorance, but is this the basic foundation of bibimbop? Korean food is an unexplored frontier for me, but I do love the few things I’ve had and this reminds me of bibimbop. I came to your site because I am craving kimchee and wanted to find some quick Korean food-love to help me eat my kimchee. Thank you for your gifts 🙂
Hi Julie
This falls in to the category of bibimbap since bibimbap means mixed rice and anything can be bibimbap if yiu mix with rice and sauce.
This particular dish is really easy and simple with ingredients you might already have.
It is also great to eat with kimchi as well. Hope you can give it a try soon.
You can also look into my recipe index to search for more recipes that uses kimchi.
Thanks.
rice and eggs are asian best friends! i dont know if i can live without both these food in my house!
This looks luxurious and simple! Reminds me of my childhood.
Ahh, this is what I ate almost every day as a kid. If I was really lucky, my mom would put some ketchup in it. Sounds weird, but it’s AWESOME.
I often ate something similar to this as a kid, only I would add some quick kimchi to the bowl. There is something about quick kimchi and buttered sticky rice that tastes sooo good! Thanks for taking me back to my childhood and bringing back a dish I had forgotten about!
Holly! I love this dish. It’s probably every Korean child’s favorite. I still make it all the time and with jangjorim, it’s the best!
Jangjorim has to be my favorite side dish of my childhood. Thank for the comment, Jen!
I had rice left over from the Jeyook Bokkeum I made last night, so this was my breakfast. Super simple and tasty as heck!! Thanks for the nice easy recipes!
Hi Liz
It is good to hear that you liked this simple egg rice. It is even better with Korean pork, isn’t it?
Just found your blog and seriously LOVE! This dish looks awesome. I grew up on a Thai variation, just add fried minced garlic, a lil oil from the fried garlic and then green onion.
Garlic and green onion sound good. I am going to try that next time. Thanks.
I love this meal. It is very similar to comfort food my mom would make for me when I was growing up: Rice with soy sauce and butter. Thanks for sharing your tip to bag individual servings amount of leftover rice in the freezer. It’s come in handy so many times when we are hungry and want to make a quick meal of fried rice!
I love quick comfort food! For me it’s usually spam, rice and egg but I’ve gotta try this soy sauce and sesame combination next time I’ve got a hankering.
I love this recipe, especially the addition of sesame seeds! I love how eggs + carbs form a meal in so many parts of the world. Yum!
I think Many Asian countries share the same idea. Never new that Chinese have the similar version.
I thought I was the only one who did this… : D
There are plenty, Shuhan. 🙂
Thank you! This delicious recipe has become a staple in my life!
Oh boy, this sounds so good, like the perfect midnight supper food! How about some kimchi on the side?. I need to make this tomorrow pronto!
I love this quick dish. I usually add bits of kimchee but that might be too much for people.
I see your page nearly everyday, wait for new posts everyday because I love to see how you put your passion in your food and very nice photos…it’s really enjoyable to read your daily story as well :”). Love your egg rice! I usually use a little pepper with hot oil, when the smell comes up, I’ll crack the egg. Yummy!
Thank you Tien for your sweet compliment. Adding pepper in a hot oil before you crack the egg is great idea to infuse the fragrance. I will try that next time.
I do this once in a while, because it reminds me of childhood. Sometimes, I put shredded up dried “gim” (seaweed) or canned tuna in it, too. YUM! :~)
Yes, ‘Gim’ will add nice flavor the rice. Yum!
Yum, yum… It’s quite similar to a Chinese rice dish where you add a raw egg to hot boiled rice and then stir with your chopsticks, creating a smooth creamy consistency to the rice. A bit of scissored spring onions or coriander completes the dish with the usual salt and pepper.
I love your food photography – simply styled but effectively enhanced with the right props. Which camera do you use?
Thanks Nicole. I use Nikon camera.
This reminds me of one episode of a Japanese drama (which is about the story of a dish each episode). The rice dish in that drama was served with butter and soy sauce. Now your version adds a fried egg. I can just imagine how good it is. Will definitely try it out!
Could you be talking about Shinya Shokudou? I read the manga. Most of the dishes featured are simple, but the cute stories that come with it makes me want to cook and eat it.
Yum! I would have this as an afternoon snack when I was a kid all the time!
YUM!! It’s like a very simplified version of bibimbap! 🙂 I think I’ll add some frozen (steamed) veggies to mine. Great idea- love this post!
What a nice, fast dish! You’re right that there isn’t much to it, but I can sure taste the flavor – you don’t need a ton of ingredients to get flavor, just one or two really tasty ones. Love the idea of freezing leftover rice. I’ll definitely be trying this – such a great idea.
putting the butter on top of the rice looks interesting! Will definitely give this a try.
Thanks for this …I am looking for some more breakfast foods. I am trying to eat a big breakfast and then slim down on lunch and dinner. This looks amazing, something I would love for any meal actually!