How To Make Hawaiian Loco Moco

Loco Moco is a classic dish from Hawaii that combines inexpensive ingredients in a very filling plate of food. The dish consists of rice, a hamburger patty and brown gravy topped with a sunny side up egg. There are many variations such as using Spam or Kahlua Pork for the meat. First made in Hilo on the Big Island in the 1940’s this dish has become a popular breakfast staple in the islands and can even be found at McDonalds in Hawaii.

This recipe is gluten free if you use tamari instead of soy sauce.

Watch a Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Loco Moco in Hawaii:

The Ingredients For Loco Moco

• Cooked Rice
• 1/4 of an Onion, chopped
• 6 Mushrooms, sliced
• 3/4 lb Hamburger
• Butter
• Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Servings Cooked Rice
• 2 Tbls Gluten Free Flour
• 1 Tbls Tamari or Soy Sauce
• Green Onion for Garnish

Cook the Rice

The first thing we need to do is get our rice started. You can use whatever kind of rice you have around for this recipe. A good, sticky white rice would be traditional but you could use anything from long grain to brown rice. You could even make fried rice for this.

Cut Onion, Mushrooms and Green Onion

The prep for this consists of cutting the onion, mushrooms and green onion. We are using onion and mushrooms to perk up the gravy some. That is not necessary but we feel like it’s important. At it’s most basic this recipe can be made with packaged brown gravy mix (shudder). That’s not something we would ever do but some people would and that’s fine. The green onion is for garnish at the end.

Make Hamburger Patties

We also need to make our hamburger patties. You can add various flavors to the ground beef, such as cheese, spices or garlic but we are just using it straight with salt and pepper. Make some nice generous patties and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.

Cook the Onions and Mushrooms

Now that our prep is done we’ll start cooking our Loco Moco. We will start by melting some butter in a large skillet and adding our onions and mushrooms. You want to cook these for about 10 minutes until the onions have softened. Then we’ll remove them to a plate and set aside.

Cook the Hamburger Patties

Next we will cook the hamburger patties in the same pan. Add some more butter and maybe even a little splash of olive oil. When that gets hot we’ll add the hamburger patties. You want to cook these well until they get a crust on the bottom side. Then we will flip them and cook the other side well. You want these patties to get crispy.

Once our hamburger patties are cooked we will remove them from the pan and place on paper towels to drain off some of the grease.

Make the Gravy

Now in the same pan with all the hamburger drippings we will make a roux for our gravy. We’ll add a couple more tablespoons of butter and get it hot. Then we will add 2 tablespoons of our gluten free flour. If you don’t care about gluten you can use regular flour. Stir or whisk the flour in and let it cook and bubble slightly.

Add vTamari

As the flour cooks we will add a tablespoon of tamari. We are using tamari because it is gluten free. You can use soy sauce if you don’t need to worry about gluten. Another classic addition would instead be Worcestershire.

Cook the Roux

We will let the roux cook until it has thickened and darkened to a nice golden color. This could be anywhere from 7 to 10 minutes or so. You can use a whisk to help make sure there aren’t any flour lumps in your roux. You don’t want to rush this because this is the base for your gravy.

Add Beef Broth

Now we can add our beef broth. If we were elevating this dish we would be using a nice homemade beef broth but canned broth is just fine. Whisk this in well and continue to blend so it is fully incorporated and you have a nice smooth gravy.

Add Mushrooms and Onions To the Gravy

We want to bring it to a low boil and continue cooking until it starts to thicken and then we will add our mushrooms and onions.

Cook the Eggs

Once our gravy reaches the desired consistency, reduce the heat and keep it warm. The last thing we need to do is cook our sunny side up eggs. This would be great with runny poached eggs as well but you get the traditional look with sunny side up eggs.

Heat some butter in a clean skillet at medium temperature and crack your eggs in once your butter has melted. Cover with a lid (optional) so the tops of the eggs steam a little bit and cook that way. Our eggs are ready when the whites are just set.

Plate the Rice

Now we are ready to assemble our Loco Moco! Start by putting a generous scoop of rice in the center of a plate or a bowl. If you have something like an ice cream scoop or a small Pyrex bowl to use to shape the rice nicely you can do that for a nice presentation. Otherwise, just pile it on. We don’t need to be fancy here.

Add the Hamburger Patty

Next we put our hamburger patty on top of the rice.

Pour On Gravy

Then we will pour our gravy over it all.

Top With Sunny Side Up Egg

And lastly we will top it with our fried egg and green onion garnish. This is Loco Moco. Enjoy!

We also made a Mexican version of Loco Moco that we called Molé Moco. The recipe for that one is here.

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