This is just one of the Japanese meals that we make. For more, check out our full list of Japanese recipes you can make at home.

Mini Okonomiyaki With Shrimp Recipe

Affiliate links are included in this post and Drugstore Divas may make a small commission if you use them.

Mini Okonomiyaki With Shrimp Ingredients:

You can get the full list of ingredients with measurements in the recipe card below.

• Okonomiyaki flour – This is a seasoned flour with a leavening agent. Using this makes things a lot easier for you because you only need one dry ingredient and means you don’t have to separately add dashi powder, starch, salt, sugar, and a yam powder.
• Water – This combines with the okonomiyaki flour to make a binder for the cabbage.
• Eggs – We use large eggs for this, but honestly, size doesn’t matter (no matter what you’ve heard).
• Cabbage – We use regular cabbage, not napa cabbage, for this.
• Shrimp – Fresh jumbo shrimp work best because they cook quickly and the shrimp takes up a majority of the top of the mini okonomiyaki.
• Okonomiyaki sauce – This traditional sauce is a thick, dark, sweet and savory sauce. There isn’t an American equivalent to it.
• Kewpie mayo – This Japanese mayo is a little sweeter and creamier than American mayo. It adds a really good balance to the okonomiyaki sauce.
• Toppings – To keep it simple, we just top ours with crumbled seaweed sheets. Traditionally, it’s usually topped with bonito flakes. Since most American homes don’t have those, and most American grocery stores don’t carry them, we left them off this recipe. However, if you have it, go right ahead and add it.

How To Make Mini Okonomiyaki With Shrimp:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Add the okonomiyaki flour into a large mixing bowl.

Pour in the water.

Stir until the ingredients are combined.

The mixture may feel a little bit gummy. That’s okay.

Shred the cabbage.

I use a cabbage shredder for this. I bought one in Daiso last time we were in Japan and it’s amazing. If you make cabbage often, you should definitely order a cabbage shredder online.

You could also use a mandolin, but I feel like that makes the cabbage a little too thin, and it doesn’t hold its texture as well as if you use a cabbage shredder.

You could chop the cabbage with a knife, but you lose a lot of the texture as well.

Add the cabbage to the bowl.

Crack the eggs into the bowl.

With a large spoon, stir until everything is combined.

If your flour mixture was a little clumpy, just keep stirring until the tackiness is gone and the flour mixture is completely distributed throughout the cabbage.

Generously spray each muffin cavity in a 12-cup muffin pan with a cooking spray.

Make sure to spray the sides as well. You’re going to be piling the cabbage mixture to the top and it’ll get stuck if there’s not enough cooking spray.

Split the cabbage mixture amongst the 12 muffin cavities.

The mixture will not change shape as it bakes. So if you don’t pile it to the top, it won’t expand up to there and you’ll have really thin okonomiyaki.

Bake for 10 minutes.

Take the tray out and top each one with a jumbo shrimp.

I leave the tails on them because it looks a little prettier when you serve it, but remember to tell your eaters to not eat the tails.

Put the tray back in the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

After 20 minutes total, remove the tray from the oven. The cabbage should have started to brown around the edges.

Oven times vary so you may need just a couple extra minutes to brown your cabbage and cook your shrimp through.

Remove the mini okonomiyaki from the pan and put them on a serving plate.

Generously pour okonomiyaki sauce on top.

Use the back of a spoon to spread it around so it coats the entire top of the okonomiyaki, including the shrimp.

Drizzle the Kewpie mayo on top.

You want to be generous with this as well. The combination of the two is fantastic, but the okonomiyaki sauce is a little thinner so you need more of that to balance the flavors.

Finish with any of your additional toppings.

We just used crushed seaweed sheets in these photos, but you could also use bonito flakes or green onions.

Mini Okonomiyaki With Shrimp: Frequently Asked Questions

More Cabbage Recipes:

Since this only takes a quarter of a head of cabbage, you may be wondering what else you can do with it. We really love using it to make our Japanese cabbage salad. We also use it in egg roll in a bowl.