Japanese Vegan Omelette
Mar 23, 2022 • Updated Jun 20, 2023
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This Japanese Vegan Omelette is a delicious plant-based way to enjoy “eggs”. The secret ingredient? Mung beans! This easy vegan breakfast is also gluten-free, grain-free, and made with Japanese flavours. Enjoy it for breakfast, with your favourite fillings, or make omurice with it!
What is a Japanese Omelette?
Japanese omelettes/eggs are different from conventional Western omelettes. First of all, they are usually seasoned with a sweet sauce made of soy and sesame soy. It’s a subtle flavour, but much bolder than a plain egg!
Japanese omelettes can be served rolled, atop sushi, or even steamed. I absolutely loved Japanese-style eggs before going vegan. So I wanted to try to replicate my childhood favorite dish, but make it plant-based. This recipe is not only vegan but also gluten-free, grain-free, and high in protein!
What Makes This Recipe Great
The key to my Japanese vegan omelette is one special ingredient: mung beans. These beans are the base ingredient of the popular storebought JUST Egg (a vegan egg substitute). However, this version is even more affordable and made at home. Plus, it’s super easy!
This vegan Japanese omelette is highly nutritious and packed with plant-based protein and fiber, and is made without any funky or processed ingredients like stabilizers and preservatives.
If you’ve been missing eggs, or just want a fun new breakfast recipe to try, this vegan omelette is it!
Secret Ingredient: Mung Beans!
Mung beans are a kind of legume that is popular in many Asian cuisines. Recently, it’s been amazing to see them being used in vegan innovation. In Korea, mung beans are used to make bindaetteok, or mung bean pancakes. In India, you’ll find moong dal pancakes.
You can buy mung beans and kala namak at Indian grocery stores or online. Both are very affordable in bulk.
Ingredient Notes
- Steamed Carrot: The first secret ingredient is steamed carrot. Carrots make an amazing substitute for eggs. Plus, they can act as a binding agent due to their pectin content. And in this recipe, carrots give the omelette batter a little more structure and a touch of sweetness. Not to mention a nice eggy color too. With that said, the carrot is optional (but recommended!)
- Kala Namak (black salt): This is yet another incredible Indian ingredient that vegans love. It makes things taste and smell eggy. It’s sulphuric and truly tastes like an egg. You’ll add some to the omelette batter to mimic the flavour of an egg. Sometimes the kala namak flavour fades out in the cooking process, so for maximum eggy-ness, you can sprinkle a little on top of your finished dish.
- Dry Mung Beans
- Nutritional Yeast: This adds a nutty, cheesy flavour to the omelette, without any dairy! It’s full of protein and adds such amazing flavour.
- Non-Dairy Milk: Use your favorite plant-based milk.
- Soy Sauce: For gluten-free, use Tamari, which is an excellent soy sauce substitute.
- Toasted Sesame Oil
- Coconut Sugar
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
Step-by-Step Instructions
Vegan Omelette Batter
- Begin by soaking your mung beans in cool water overnight or for at least 3 hours. Be sure to completely cover the beans in water, with a generous layer of water on top as the beans will expand!
- Steam your carrot until fork tender.
- To prepare the batter, drain mung beans and add to a high-speed blender with steamed carrots, nutritional yeast, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, black salt, toasted sesame oil, gluten-free soy sauce, and coconut sugar. Blend until completely smooth and pour into a jar.
To assemble
- Heat a pan over medium-high heat and add neutral oil. Sauté your mushrooms with garlic, salt, and pepper until tender. Add zucchini and cook for an additional minute. Remove from the pan.
- In a new pan on medium heat, heat about a teaspoon of neutral oil or use a non-stick pan. Once hot, add about 1/2 cup of your omelette batter and use the back of the measuring cup to spread evenly, as thin as possible.
- Once bubbles start to form on the surface, lower the heat and add your sautéed veg and vegan cheese to half of the omelette. Fold over the remaining half and let cook for another 2-3 minutes, covered.
- To serve, garnish with shredded nori, sesame seeds, and green onions!
Expert Tips
- The best way to cook these omelettes is low and slow–they tend to become pancake-like if you cook them too long and the batter is too thick on the pan.
Recipe Variations
To season your vegan omelette, use sesame oil, soy sauce, and a little bit of coconut sugar. You can omit the seasoning ingredients to make it a more neutral omelette, and it will be delicious still!
The filling recommendations are also inspired by Japanese flavours. However, there are endless flavour combinations you can experiment with. Opt for your usual suspects like bell peppers and onions, or spinach, vegan feta, and olives! Really whatever you have on hand will work.
Storage Tips
- Meal Prep: This vegan omelette is a great meal prep recipe because you can store the remaining batter for about 3-4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. I like to store it in a large mason jar.
- To Freeze: Alternatively, you can cook your omelettes and then freeze them like pancakes. Defrost in the toaster oven or microwave and fill with your favourite ingredients to enjoy again.
Recipe FAQs
Some recipes use chickpea flour (garbanzo bean flour), but in this recipe, I actually use mung beans! You will not believe how delicious and egg-like this vegan omelette is!
More Japanese Recipes
Nametake Recipe: Seasoned Japanese Mushrooms
Obachans Mushroom Kamameshi: Japanese Mixed Rice
Blender Matcha Kakigori: Japanese Shaved Ice
If you make this Vegan Omelette recipe, be sure to let me know what you think with a comment below!
Japanese Vegan Omelette (gluten-free!)
Ingredients
- Omelette Batter
- 1 cup dry mung beans
- 1/2 large carrot
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 cups non-dairy milk
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp black salt
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce
- 2 tsp coconut sugar
- Fillings
- 1 clove garlic
- handful shiitake mushrooms
- 1/2 large zucchini about 1 cup sliced
- vegan cheese of choice
- salt and pepper to taste
- shredded nori
- scallions for garnish
- toasted black and white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Omelette Batter
- Begin by soaking your mung beans in cool water overnight or for at least 3 hours. Be sure to completely cover the beans in water, with a generous layer of water on top as the beans will expand!
- Steam your carrot until fork tender.
- To prepare batter, drain mung beans and add to a high speed blender with steamed carrot, nutritoinal yeast, milk, garlic powder, onion powder, black salt, toasted sesame oil, gluten free soy sauce and coconut sugar. Blend until completely smooth and pour into a jar.
- To assemble
- Heat a pan over medium high heat and add neutral oil. Sauté your mushrooms with garlic, salt and pepper until tender. Add zucchini and cook for an additional minute. Remove from the pan.
- In a new pan on medium heat, heat about a teaspoon of neutral oil or use a non-stick pan. Once hot, add about 1/2 cup of your omelette batter and use the back of the measuring cup to spread evenly, as thin as possible.
- Once bubbles start to form on the surface, lower heat and add your sautéed veg and vegan cheese to half of the omelette. Fold over the remaining half and let cook for another 2-3 minutes, covered.
- To serve, garnish with shredded nori, sesame seeds and green onions!
Notes
Expert Tips
- The best way to cook these omelettes is low and slow--they tend to become pancake-like if you cook them too long and the batter is too thick on the pan.
Recipe Variations
To season your omelette, use sesame oil, soy sauce, and a little bit of coconut sugar. You can omit the seasoning ingredients to make it a more neutral omelette, and it will be delicious still! The filling recommendations are also inspired by Japanese flavours. However, there are endless flavour combinations you can experiment with. Opt for your usual suspects like bell peppers and onions, or spinach, vegan feta, and olives! Really whatever you have on hand will work.Storage Tips
- Meal Prep: This is a great meal prep recipe because you can store the remaining batter for about 3-4 days in the fridge in an airtight container. I like to store it in a large mason jar.
- To Freeze: Alternatively, you can cook your omelettes and then freeze them like pancakes. Defrost in the toaster oven or microwave and fill with your favourite ingredients to enjoy again.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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