Vegan Okonomiyaki – Cabbage Carrot Pancakes. Japanese Okonomiyaki made vegan. Served with home made tonkatsu sauce.Makes 5 to 6 pancakes
Easy weeknight fix up. Vegan Okonomiyaki Pancakes. Chop up the veggies, make the pancake mix, cook on stove top and done.
Okonomiyaki are usually made with eggs, veggies and meats. Of course we use whatever veggies we have on hand. Chickpea flour adds color and a slight egg flavor with the kala namak. Add veggies of choice, mushrooms, add more nori and serve with okonomiyaki sauce, vegan mayo and picked ginger. Use all chickpea flour to make these gluten-free
One thing I need to learn to do more of this year is scheduling. Currently I don’t schedule anything unless really needed. Everything that gets posted on the blog, on facebook and other social media is organic. it depends on what I made that week or what I am craving and my mood basically 🙂 We made these yesterday and even though i have a few posts in drafts like a Boston Cream pie cake, these make it to the blog today! This definitely does not scale well. The planning helps clears up the weekend and vacation and reduces all the instant reactive work. Always more things to learn!
More quick meals from the blog.
- Vegan Chickpea Noodles with Garlic Tomato Sauce
- Chickpea Flour Vegan Omelette. Pancake with Onions and…
- Vegan Lentil Quinoa Loaf,
- Chickpea flour pancakes with cauliflower and shiitake
The tonkatsu sauce is inspired by Nami’s easy sauce recipe.
Recipe Card
Vegan Okonomiyaki - Cabbage Carrot Pancakes
Ingredients
Pancakes:
- 1/2 (0.5) head of cabbage
- 3/4 cup (96 g) carrots
- 1/2 (0.5) red or green bell pepper
- 2 tbsp scallions
- 1 inch ginger minced
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) salt
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) white pepper
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp miso optional
- 1/8 tsp (0.13 tsp) Indian black salt kala namak- optional
- 2 tsp crumbled nori sheets or 1/2 tsp togarashi - optional
- 3/4 cup (93.75 g) unbleached white flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) chickpea flour
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) baking powder optional
- 2 to 4 tablespoons water
Easy Tonkatsu sauce:
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp vegan worcestershire sauce or whatever sauce as we refer to it in my house 😉
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) sugar
- a few tsp water
Instructions
- Shred all the veggies. Add vinegar, and everything through nori sheets keep aside for 10 minutes.
- Sifft in the flours + baking powder into the bowl and mix in. Add a little water to make a mix that can spread. You might not need much as the veggies leak a lot of water depending on how you shred them.
- Heat a pan over medium heat, add oil. Spread the batter to even it out into 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick pancake and cook for 5 to 7 minutes per side.
- Serve with the tonkatsu sauce, vegan mayo and pickled ginger if you have some.
- Tonkatsu sauce: Mix all the ingredients until well combined and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Shelley
So yummy! Is the cabbage supposed to be a little crunchy in the pancake? I used green cabbage, but might go for savoy cabbage next time since it seems softer.
Vegan Richa Support
Oh! It’s supposed to be just a little crunchy~ especially if you shred all the veggies really small. But savoy would definitely be softer.
Haley
Yum, this turned out delicious! I used a whole nori sheet instead of 2 tsp and it smelled sooo good. Had it with spicy mayo.
Vegan Richa Support
Nice
Miranda
This did not work at all for me. Pancakes fell apart in the pan, nothing to bind it together.
Richa
The flour is the binder. Add more flour as needed. Did you change anything?
Lauren
Needed a bit more flour to make the batter due to the amount of veg I had, so doubled up on the chickpea flour. Replaced capsicum with grated pumpkin, as it’s all I had. Also used soy milk in place of water. Held together well and very tasty, thank you!
Vegan Richa Support
pumpkin – yummy & nutritious!
Deborah
This recipe is delicious. One note though: half a head of cabbage varies widely depending on the size of the cabbage. The first time I made this recipe, I used half a head of cabbage. I had to double the batter recipe.
Another commenter asked about this and was told to start with about two cups of shredded cabbage and increase as needed. I wish I had seen that comment before making the recipe.
Vegan Richa Support
you may like this instead https://www.veganricha.com/tofu-scramble-and-scramble-seasoning/
Carla
I’ve been making these a bunch. So good and super easy – thank you!
Vegan Richa Support
thanks for popping in
Jordan
I make this gluten free by using a total of 3/4 cup chickpea flour instead of plain plus chickpea in the recipe as printed. The best recipe! Love it.
Vegan Richa Support
good to know, thank you!
Katie
I made these last night and I woke up thinking about them because they were so good! I added a couple potatoes and made a vegan spicy chili garlic aioli to go with the tonkatsu sauce. Thanks for the recipe! Cant wait to make it again!
Vegan Richa Support
wow Okonomiyaki dreams; yummy
Sue
Delicious! We followed the recipe and added mushrooms. We found we needed to keep adding water to get it the right consistency. It was a perfectly delicious and satisfying meal. Thank you!
Vegan Richa Support
nice twist
Kathy Schneider
Looks yummies!
Can’t wait to go to work on my red cabbage smiling in the fridge!!
Sommer Foster
When do you add the soy sauce, salt, yeast, miso and nori. The instructions aren’t that clear.
Vegan Richa Support
In step 1: Shred all the veggies. Add vinegar, and everything through nori sheets keep aside for 10 minutes. (you add all listed from the top of ingredients up to and including the crumbled nori.). 13 items. hope this clears things up
Sommer
Oh sorry, I guess I missed that. Thanks.
Vegan Richa Support
no problem =)
Luisa
Delicious but I must have over shredded the veg as the batter was wayyyyy too sloppy.i
I shall try adding more flour to the remaining batter!
Richa
Yes that will very likely lead to lot of moisture leaking from the veggies. Fine shred means more moisture
Will
What does this mean, please?
“Shred all the veggies. Add vinegar, and everything through nori sheets keep aside for 10 minutes.”
Vegan Richa Support
Hi! It means shred all of the veggies into a bowl then add everything listed in the ingredients from rice vinegar to the ingredient before “nori sheets”. So mix these ingredients into the shredded veggies then set bowl full of this to the side for 10 minutes: rice vinegar, soy sauce, salt, white pepper, nutritional yeast and miso paste.
Will Rankin
Thanks Richa! So at what point do you add the nori sheets? Anyway, I made this recipe and it was delicious!
Vegan Richa Support
awesome! add with the flour.
AnimalsAll
I’ve been using this recipe, with some mild variations (eg. wholemeal SR flour only, peas, Obento sushi seasoning, spring onions, more carrots & ginger) for about 2 years. Each time the okonomiyaki just seem to get more delicious and more non-vegans ask for the recipe. I’m currently in protective isolation with my 91yo Mum (with early-stage dementia). She usually lives at home with help from family and private carers each day, but Covid made that too risky. She isn’t vegan, but this is one vegan dish she really loves and never tires of. I’ve discovered that prior to cooking, the mixture can be frozen for several weeks. Also, many of the ingredients last a long time before preparation. Partly as a result, I’ve been able to reduce Mum’s risk of exposure to Covid by only going shopping (with PPE) once every 3-4 weeks. Thank you so much for this. I must look at your other peaceful recipes. If all humans embraced veganism, Covid wouldn’t exist and climate change could be halted. Good luck!
Bg
We loved this. Thank you! I used cabbage, beet, celeriac, and turnip. I used a box grater for all of it. I had a lot of veg maybe 5 cups so I used the customizing metric on your site (loveit) and made a recipe for 8 people. We loved them. I have sent it to 2 friends:). Refrigerated all the leftover (there are 3 of us). We also put some vegan mayo (fabanaise) on them as that is how we get them at out favorite Japanese restaurant. This is a keeper!! Thank you
Vegan Richa Support
Excellent, thanks!
Brittny
What temp in the oven would you recommend baking them at? Our stovetop situation is sad.
Richa
400 deg F
Brittny
Would you still do the 5-7 minutes per side and take out to flip?
Richa
it will takae much longer for baking. prob 15 mins then flip
Ania
Delicious! Thank you for this recipe. I had the pancakes with spicy pickled carrots and it was a perfect combination!
Richa
awesome
Jen
Delicious – I made these last night and they were a winner all round. Everyone loved them, thanks Richa.
Richa
awesome!
Sam
Should the dough be “dry” like sweet pancakes, or is it normal to be on the wet side, if properly cooked? I never get them or similar things absolut right. Even when they are extra thin and cocked longer. But anyway a nice recipe. 🙂
Richa
its a stiff batter. Thinly sliced or shredded veggies and thin pancakes do well. With thicker pancakes or bigger veggies, it would take longer to cook. Adjust based on your pan. Some thinner pans might burn some parts before the cooking is done.
Windi
Do you think I could use white bread flour or cake flour as a sub here for regular flour?
Richa
white bread flour will work
Ms_Rach
Yum, excellent! We loved this as a side dish to a bowl of ramen. I wasn’t sure how/when to mix the flour with veg so mix was a little gummy, but the flavor is killer, I’ll figure it out.
Richa
awesome! maybe it needed to cook longer? you can also spread the mixture a bit more to make a thinner pancake so it doesnt get gummy.
Natalie
I just made these okonomiyaki for dinner and I must say this is a great recipe! I slightly changed the flour, I used 1/2 c. of gram flour and 1/2 c. of wholemeal wheat flour since this was all I had in my cupboard, but it worked. I also added some self-made vegan mayo (oil, soy drink, cider vinegar and guar gum) as a topping to get the classic okonomiyaki flavour.
That was really delicious, it’s the kind of recipe that fills your belly and puts a broad smile on your face, thank you so much for this! I will definitely try out more of your stuff.
Jeff
Looking forward to these. Your recipe looks the best of those I’ve seen on line. Although, I wonder about not using an egg substitute, i.e. Flax seed egg, for binding. All other vegan okonomiyaki recipes seem to use them.
Richa
With regular flour, you dont necessarily need a flax egg. You can add one if you like
jess
I’m just making this now can’t wait to put them in the pan xxx
Cameron
Hi what size is the cabbage you used? Because when I shredded up my half i ended up with like 8 cups which I think is too much..
Richa
yes, that sounds like a lot. start with 2 cups cabbage and add more if there is enough batter. The mixture should be more veggies than batter somewhat like latkes.
Cap'n Dave
I know this was from two years ago, but I thought I’d chime in for those just reading (like I am).
For this recipe, you’ll likely want a very small head of cabbage – think “about a little larger than a softball” size. You may want to blanch it first, as that will cause it to shrink a bit.
As Richa said, roughly 2 cups or so. An alternative is to pick up a bag of already shredded cabbage from somewhere like Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. That’s about the amount you’d need right there.
This being said, I’m off to Trader Joe’s myself for the ingredients! I’m having these for tomorrow’s breakfast with a little miso soup and rice!
MJ
While this was no “easy weeknight fix up” (my fault since I doubled the recipe, didn’t use a food processor and had a baby to contend with), my husband and I totally enjoyed these delicious pancakes! And we’re freezing two more dinners’ worth of pancakes for a a really quick fix up in the future. Thank you for this recipe!
Richa
Awesome!! the food processor helps or someone you can delegate the chopping to 🙂
Ricky
Chope up the veggies.
Claudia
Taste so good !
Morgan
I second what Pongodhall said… this will be a regular for us. It’s delicious and my children absolutely loved them. I used red bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, and zucchini for my veggie blend — worked perfectly. Another wonderful recipe by you… cannot wait for your cookbook to arrive!
Pongodhall
These are so good! Thank you, yet again, richa.
Put in my regular file. This sounds ordinary. It is not for this is the file that I keep the things I love the best!
We have these regularly and they are ones to present to guests. Menu for week or fortnight list a nightmare without my special book you see.
I love them because they use my favourite vegetables and I also use gf (sorry richa) yes, the dreaded! It is a lovely, simple but oh so tasty and filling lunch for us. They are very portable.
I had to travel a good way yesterday, out for most of day, no gf nor vegan (tut!) so… Out comes my portables and I get to eat (enjoyably too).
Nina
I am reading trough all your posts and I’m reading ‘a Boston cream pie cake in the drafts’ …. Can we have that recipe please pretty please 😀 😉 ♡
Richa
i wanted to make a gf cake before that one and post it with both the regular sponge cake and gf sponge cake options. sigh gf baking.
Nina
Oohhh gf baking is like c real science right… I’ve noticed that I do better when I bake gf ‘stuff’ , but I’m always happy that there are others doing the thinking for me and I just have to follow the recipe (shame on me)
Jenn
Made these, came out great, esp awesome with that sauce!
Crystal
These look delicious!! My three year old daughter is allergic to chickpeas. What would be a good substitute (besides nut flours…she’s allergic to those as well) for the chickpea flour? Thanks!
Richa
use unbleached white flour. If gluten is an issue, then use oat flour+ rice flour + a little starch.
Lisa
Hi Richa, I made these this morning. They worked out pretty well! I’d have to practice getting the thickness of the pancake, the cooking temp, and the cook time down — some of them seemed a bit mushy inside, like not cooked enough all the way through, while getting too dark outside. It was a lot of work and made a huge mess in my tiny kitchen! But they were nice overall, and I’d try them again. The katsu sauce was yummy; I used Annie’s Worcestershire for the first time, and it was great. Also I stirred Tapatio Mexican hot sauce into Just Mayo, and that was a tasty sauce as well. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m trying your Kung Pao Lentils tonight — I’m on a Vegan Richa roll here. ☺️
Richa
Awesome! use a really thick bottom heavy pan, make thinner pancakes and cook on lightly lower heat so they dont brown too quickly. it depends on the pans and stove. i used a food processor to process te veggies, so it wasnt that big of a clean up 🙂
Conhumdrum
I don’t have a shredder on my food processor, but if I can just throw them in there anyway that would make this dish heaps quicker! Do you think that would work? I too made them too thick because I found it a bit unclear when just reading the instructions.
Richa
yes you can use the regular blade. Chop the veggies into roughly equal size according to your processor size. then pulse in bursts of 5 seconds until coarsely shredded.
Cassie
I love cabbage pancakes! 🙂
Caitlin
these look awesome. i love the idea of a savory pancake. especially with cabbage. yummm.
Jody
Oh my goodness, I’m so excited to make this! I lived in Japan when I was 17 as an exchange student and I absolutely love okonomiyaki! It was one of my favorite foods there. So excited to make them vegan and introduce them to my husband as well!
Richa
yay!
Mae
This looks like something I’d order in a restaurant. Wish I could try it right now! I agree with IR about natural creativity, but at the same time I know what you mean because I am the same way! I never schedule anything and I always do just fine, but there is a whole lot of scatterbrained-ness that goes along with it!
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What brand of vegan worcestershire sauce do you recommend?
Richa
i use Annie’s
IR
This looks delicious!! Scheduling is important, but natural creativity should not be repressed =)
Richa
🙂