A Classic Loco Moco
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Three layers of rice, hamburger patty, and an egg smothered in a savory gravy. One serving is enough to make anyone have a kanak attack.
Loco moco!! Such a simple and memorable dish. Apparently the loco moco originated from the Big Island and has since then become a popular dish to Hawaii. When I was living on Maui, I ordered one dish of loco moco at Da Kitchen. I usually can finish my plate, but boy was I wrong. When the dish came out, it was massive! Of course regular sized loco moco is enough to get me full, but that dish was enough to feed three grown ups!
Ingredients
The ingredients to make loco moco is pretty basic. In most households, you should be able to whip up a loco moco without having to run to the grocery. If not, the cost for the ingredients are inexpensive. You’ll need the following:
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- ground beef
- eggs
- unsalted butter
- sweet onion (optional)
- mushrooms (optional)
- green onions
- rice
- Worcestershire sauce
- shoyu
- ketchup
- garlic powder
- seasoning salt
- cornstarch
I used Thrive Market to order all of these ingredients! It was super convenient to have it delivered straight to my door step and they were all inexpensive organic! I was blown away with the receipt being that low and knowing that the ingredients came from trustable source. Give Thrive Market a try as they are running a great offer for your first order!
Ground Beef
I believe what will bring this loco moco to the next level depends on what type of ground beef you use! Be sure to use 80/20 ground chuck. What does that mean? 80% is lean meat and 20% is fat. Lean to fat ratio. It has enough fat in it to be flavorful and juicy.
Not only is the lean to fat ratio important to the burger, but how the source of beef is raised. There really is a difference in taste from a grass fed cow to a grain fed cow. Grass fed cows tastes more natural and has more lean to it other than how grain fed cows have more of a sweeter and fatter taste to it. It boils down to your own preference. Many grocery stores usually sell grain fed cows but you can order a more sustainable, humanely-raised meat from one of these fantastic delivery services.
If you’d like to have your meat show up on your own timetable, Grassland Beef lets you customize your subscription! They give you a 10% discount on your subscription, so give them a shot to see if you’ll like their meat!
Forming Patties
Of course you can form the patties freestyle using your hands, but if you want to be fancier, you can use circular stencils. I prefer to do freestyle because I enjoy the imperfections in cooking. It makes it feel more like a “homemade” cooking. One thing to be wary of when forming the patties, is to make the patty slightly larger. Why do that? Simply because the patty will shrink when it is fried or grilled. Unless you prefer to have a small and thick patty.
Loco Moco
Equipment
- Frying pan
Ingredients
- Egg
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1/2 medium sized sweet onion (optional
- 3/4 cup sliced mushroom (optional)
- green onions for garnishing
- cooked rice
Hamburger Patties:
- 1 1/2 lb ground beef
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Gravy:
- 1 1/2 cup beef stock
- 4 tsp shoyu (soy sauce)
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp ketchup
- 5 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
Hamburger Patties:
- Mix together the ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, seasoning salt, garlic powder, and black pepper in a large bowl.
- Start forming it into patties by grabbing a handful of meat and rolling it into a ball. Then press down to flatten it out. Smooth the edges so there isn't any cracks or jagged edges. Patties should come out to at least one inch thick. Try to keep the patties large since it will shrink when fried.
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Fry each side of the patties for about 3-5 minutes or until well done.
- Set each finished patty on a plate lined with paper towel to catch any extra grease.
Gravy:
- Mix together the beef stock, shoyu, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and cornstarch. Whisk it until the cornstarch has come off of the bottom.
- Using the same pan, melt one tablespoon of the butter to caramelize the onions for about a minute then fry the mushrooms for another minute or two. (It is optional to add the mushrooms and onions. If not, just skip to the next step.)
- Melt the rest of the butter and add in the gravy mix to the pan. Keep stirring the gravy until it begins to thicken and simmer.
Egg:
- Melt a slice of butter and crack an egg on a frying pan.
- Cook a sunny side up egg. (You can switch it up to your preference) Set aside
Assemble Loco Moco:
- Scoop a generous serving of hot white rice on a plate. Layer it with one hamburger patty then drizzle on the gravy. Top it with the egg and garnish with green onions.
- Serve it hot and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- If you are looking for a healthier and environmentally friendly option to this onolicious recipe, I have ordered through Thrive Market to get the best organic ingredients.
- I also recommend using Grassland Beef to get the best ground beef for the tastiest Loco Moco!
LOve your web site keep up the great work,
Thank you!!
What is seasoning salt?
Lowerys season salt or Johnny’s season salt. I prefer Lowerys u can get it in any grocery store. Spice section.
I’m allergic to msg, is there any other substitute?
You could replace it for salt or just simply omit it. If you’re asking about the season salt, there is no msg.
They actually make an MSG free season salt by Lawrys.
you cannot be allergic to msg. it is naturally occuring in almost all cooked food
truth
Looks delicious and I’m making it in the morning! Just a note, if you use the same pan that you made the gravy in to “caramelize” the onions, you need to let people know to remove gravy first. Or no caramelization. Thanks for the flavors, I’m positive I’ll be in a fun food coma in the morning.
Easy and tasty. Used less corn starch than called for in recipe.
Thanks for the great recipe. Since I eat very little rice, I served it over a patty of butter fried hash browns. Sorry, I guess I brought the recipe to the mainland a bit but with the onion & mushroom gravy it is delicious. Mahalo to you and your family.
Over fried POTATOES …………YUM, YUM!!!
I am making this tonight and have used your recipe before and it is ONO!!
Love your website and found you on Youtube! Keep on cooking…Mahalo
Sooo delicious! The gravy was my favorite part. I’m not good at making gravy at all, so that’s how you know the recipe is good lol. I overcooked my beef patties so next time I might make the patties thinner or add some soaked breadcrumbs. Mahalo for the sweet recipe!
Followed recipe to a tee, it is delicious!! The patties stayed fairly good sized after frying and I do believe pressing them out as far as possible is the trick. I do that when grilling burgers. Gravy was nice and I am a gravy girl so I put it on everything. Think just rice and that gravy would be fine too 🙂
Fantastic!! Thank you for your wonderful feedback and tips 🙂
This was so good, I love Hawaiian food but haven’t found a good place nearby in DFW yet. My family really enjoyed and asked to make it again.
We went to Kauai three years ago and fell in love with this dish! I have tried a few other online recipes, but I do believe this is my favorite!
I’m so happy to hear that!
Went from the islands to the mainland and then to Europe. Always have a craving for the snacks and food I ate while growing up on the Big Island. This was so good!!! It hit the spot. Grinding down on this while listening to some Sons of Yeshua brought back dem Island vibz!Alright!!
We made this recipe and LOVED it! We made one substitution: we used spam in place of the hamburger patty. We made the gravy exactly by the recipe and the mushrooms/caramelized onions are great.
Ahhh yeah!!
Very ono! Delicious! A lot like Mariposa at Neiman Marcus…just added a pinch of sugar to gravy. Fun blog.
I too am an average day cooker. Your recipe was very easy to follow, and it was delicious!
So good! Thank you.
Made this tonight for my wife, whom grew-up on The Big Island. She loved it!I did cheat by using store-bought hamburger paties and packaged brown gravy; just because I already had them in my pantry. Other than that, I followed your directions to a tee and now we have a new weekly dinner recipe to add to our collection. Thank you!
Delicious, but remember this meal was made for hungry teens. I can’t eat half of it following your recipe, although I wish I could!
Delicious! Unfortunately, I couldn’t eat 1/4 of this. Remember it was created for hungry teens. I wish I could because it is divine.
I am for sure making this yum-yum dish… looks amazing 🩷🩷
This turned out amazing, thanks so much!!!! I made it with impossible burger because I’m vegetarian, and my roommate said it tasted just like the real thing!
That sounds wonderful!