Here are some of the best Japanese recipe blogs and YouTube cooking channels that I often use.
When I want to figure out how to cook something specific, I usually go back and forth between a few different sites/videos to compare their recipes and techniques. Then, I just pick one that seems the easiest, and try it out. Sometimes, I will combine techniques from different sites if it seems like a good idea.
After cooking something a few times, I can usually figure out what I like, and then customize the recipe to my own liking. See below for the sites I use most often!
Best Japanese Recipe Blogs
Here are some of my favourite Japanese cooking sites categorized by language (English or Japanese).
English sites:
Just One Cookbook
An O.G. Japanese recipe/cooking blog. It is probably the biggest, most established English language Japanese recipe blog out there. TONS of well written recipes and other articles related to Japanese food. Also, really nice photos and a great Youtube Channel. Visit here!
Japanese Cooking 101
Another O.G. Japanese recipe blog. Has been around for awhile, and probably has a recipe for every Japanese dish you can think of. They have their own YouTube channel, and even have their own Japanese cooking book! Visit here
Chopstick Chronicles
Very nice blog run by a Japanese lady in Australia. Lots of great Japanese recipes, and photos that will make you ashamed of your own cooking. Visit here
Japanese sites:
If like me, and your Japanese is not so great, just use Google translate, or another translation app to help you understand what is going on 🙂
白ごはん (sirogohan.com)
白ごはん (sirogohan – meaning “white rice”) is probably my favourite Japanese recipe/cooking site out there right now. It is an enormous resource of recipes, tips, and skills to help make you a better cook. They also make great recipe videos on their YouTube channel. The website itself is also really well designed. Visit here!
Cookpad Japan
Cookpad is the largest, most well known cooking / recipe website in Japan. Every single person in Japan that needs to cook has probably used this site at some point. I think Cookpad tried to expand outside of Japan at some point, but were not so successful. Recipes are uploaded by individual users (sort of like a cooking social network), so you can get a variety of options. You can also filter recipes by ingredients and cooking time which is super useful. Visit here!
Kurashiru
Kurashiru is another awesome Japanese cooking site. There are a crap ton of recipes that will take a lifetime to go through. One great aspect of this site is that each recipe has a quick video (sort of like the popular Tasty videos), so you can easily visualize the basic process. Visit here!
Delish Kitchen
Delish Kitchen is a great Japanese recipe blog with an excellent website design. Similar to Kurashiru, it has useful short videos for each recipe. It even goes a step further, and breaks the video up for each step of the instructions. Visit here!
Best Japanese YouTube Cooking Channels
Here are some great Japanese cooking channels on YouTube that I frequent. Some are in English, some are in Japanese, and one is even in Chinese. The good thing about YouTube is you can often click the “CC” button and get subtitles in multiple languages.
Cooking with Dog (Japanese w/ English subtitles)
The O.G. YouTube channel for Japanese cooking. At first, it’s really weird to see a lady cooking with a dog sitting on the counter, but you’ll get used to it. Unfortunately, the dog died a while back, and she doesn’t produce videos quite as often anymore. The channel has all of the classic Japanese dishes, as well as many others. Visit here!
Cooking with Chef Dai (English)
A Japanese chef in the UK somewhere that shares great recipes and other useful cooking skills. He doesn’t post very often, but his videos are all clear and easy to follow. My onsen tamago recipe is based on his. Visit his channel here!
Adam Liaw (English)
Not specifically a Japanese cooking channel, as he also cooks many other Asian dishes (Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian etc.). There are plenty of Japanese recipes though. The videos are super professionally produced, and easy to follow. He talks super calmly and seems like a really nice guy. Visit here!
MASA’s Cooking ABC (Chinese w/ English subtitles)
Masa is a Japanese chef living in Taiwan, and making Japanese cooking videos in Chinese. Impressive! If you don’t understand Chinese, then simply click the “CC” button to get some nice English subtitles. All of his recipe videos are super clear and very well explained. Over 300 recipes and counting. Visit his channel here!
白ごはん.comチャンネル (Japanese)
YouTube channel for the great sirogohan.com website listed above. Most of the recipe videos are simple and clear with no narration, so you don’t need to worry about understanding Japanese. The videos are also usually quite short (around 5 minutes or less), which is nice for people with less patience. Check out the channel here!
kurashiru [クラシル] (Japanese)
YouTube channel for the kurashiru.com website mentioned above. Huge variety of recipes — classic Japanese dishes, as well as desserts and fusion style dishes. Some videos are short and sweet, while others are long and detailed, so you will definitely find something that suits you. Check out the channel here!
macaroni (Japanese)
Another channel that mainly produces super condensed recipe videos (1-2 minutes). Very useful for quickly browsing and getting ideas on what to cook. Check out the channel here!
ハゲのへたくそ料理runnyrunny999 (English w/ Japanese subtitles) –
One of the first Japanese cooking channels I used to watch back in college when I had no idea what I was doing. Run by some regular Japanese dude that just likes to cook for fun. The recipes are super casual, and easy for people with limited cooking experience. Often, he does not use the “proper” way to cook a dish, but it ends up being delicious anyways. He also posts lots of other random videos about Japanese snacks and stuff. Check out runnyrunny999!
My Midnight Japanese Recipes
A newer Youtube channel I discovered a little while back. He posts very simple, straightforward, and delicious Japanese recipes. Videos are nicely shot/edited, and very easy to follow along. Visit here!
Conclusion
That’s my list! It will grow (or maybe shrink) as I discover more awesome cooking sites and channels. What are your favourite Japanese recipe blogs and cooking channels? Let me know in the comments, or send me a message!
