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Claypot Rice, or Bo Zai Fan (煲仔飯), is one of Hong Kong’s most iconic comfort foods, built on crispy golden rice and a savoury topping cooked right in the pot. This beef version leans on a proper Cantonese restaurant trick, a quick baking soda marinade that tenderises the beef short rib, plus a runny egg yolk cracked straight into the rice at the end.

If you’ve tried my chicken and shiitake mushroom claypot rice, the method will feel familiar, but the beef here is treated quite differently. Velveting the meat and adding the egg at the very end are what set this version apart, and both are worth getting right.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Melt-in-the-mouth beef: a quick baking soda marinade keeps the beef short rib tender rather than chewy.
Crispy golden crust: the rice at the bottom turns crackling and golden, the whole point of claypot rice.
A proper egg finish: cracking an egg into the centre at the end gives you a rich, runny yolk to stir through everything.
No clay pot required: a cast iron skillet, non-stick pan, rice cooker, or donabe all get the job done.
Proper Cantonese comfort food: rich, savoury, and satisfying enough to be a meal on its own.

The Equipment

Traditionally, claypot rice is cooked in a porous clay pot, which holds heat evenly and gives the rice a faint earthy aroma. If a clay pot isn’t something you have, these alternatives all work:

Cast iron skillet: holds and distributes heat in a similar way, and still gives you a good crispy base.
Non-stick pan: a solid option, though you may want a touch more oil to help the bottom layer crisp up.
Rice pot: a Japanese donabe is a perfect choice.
Electric rice cooker: the easiest route if you want to simplify things on a weeknight.

Tips for Making This Recipe

Soak the Beef First Rinse the diced beef under cold water and let it soak for about an hour to draw out excess blood. Pat it dry before marinating. It’s a small step, but it keeps the finished dish cleaner in flavour.
Don’t Skip the Baking Soda Baking soda is what tenderises the beef in this recipe, a classic Cantonese restaurant trick. Fifteen minutes of marinating is enough. Any longer and the texture can turn a little too soft.
Get the Rice-to-Water Ratio Right This recipe uses a 1:1 ratio of short-grain rice to water. If you swap in jasmine rice, increase it to around 1:1.25, since jasmine rice needs more water to cook through properly.
Arrange the Beef Without Overlapping Spread the marinated beef over the partially cooked rice in a single layer, without overlapping the pieces. This lets the heat reach every piece evenly as the crust forms underneath.
Crack the Egg in at the Right Moment Add the egg only after the rice has finished steaming with the lid on. A few minutes more with the lid back on sets the white while keeping the yolk soft, or just thirty seconds to a minute if you like it properly runny.
Make Your Own Sweet Soy Sauce Simmering soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, and a little syrup or honey until the sugar dissolves gives you a richer, more rounded sauce than most bottled versions. It keeps well, so it’s worth making a batch.

Final Thoughts

Hong Kong-Style Clay Pot Rice with Beef takes the same crispy-crust formula as the chicken version and gives it a completely different character: tender, velveted beef, a soft egg yolk, and a rich sweet soy finish. It’s the kind of dish that looks like restaurant cooking but is genuinely simple to pull off at home once you’ve got the timing down.

Hong Kong-Style Clay Pot Rice with Beef

Wanting

A comforting dish of marinated beef on fragrant rice with a crispy bottom, finished with sweet soy sauce for added flavour.

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Course Lunch, dinner, Main Course

Cuisine Asian

Servings 2

Ingredients

200 g short-grain rice
200 ml water 1:1 rice-to-water ratio; for jasmine rice, use 1:1.25
80 g beef short rib, diced or sliced into strips
Vegetable oil for cooking
1 egg
Chopped spring onion and sesame seeds (for garnish)

FOR THE MARINADE

1 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 ginger slices, cut into strips
2 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp corn flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil

SWEET SOY SAUCE

5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp syrup (or honey)
Cook the soy sauce, sugar,cooking wine, and syrup over low heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Set aside to cool before using. Alternatively, you can use store-bought sweet soy sauce.

Instructions

Wash and rinse the short-grain rice thoroughly. Place it in a clay pot and add water (use a 1:1 rice-to-water ratio). Drizzle a few drops of vegetable oil over the top and let the rice soak for 1 hour.
Rinse the diced or sliced beef under cold running water and soak it for 1 hour to remove excess blood.After soaking, squeeze out the liquid and pat the beef dry.
In a bowl, mix the beef with baking soda, white pepper, soy sauce, ginger strips, cooking wine, flour, and vegetable oil. Let the beef marinate for at least 15 minutes.
Heat the clay pot over medium-high heat until the rice starts to boil. Stir the rice gently to prevent sticking. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and cover the pot,cook for 6 minutes.
Arrange the marinated beef over the partially cooked rice, ensuring the pieces do not overlap. Drizzle the oil around the edges of the pot to help create a crispy rice crust. Cover the pot and cook on low heat for another 6-8 minutes until you smell a light charred aroma.
Turn off the heat and let the rice steam with the lid on for 7 minutes.
Uncover the pot, crack an egg into the center of the rice, cover, and steam for an additional 3 minutes.If you prefer a runny yolk, cover for just 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Uncover the pot, garnish with spring onions and sesame seeds, and drizzle with sweet soy sauce. Serve and enjoy!

Video

Notes

If you don't have corn flour, plain flour works as a substitute. Corn flour gives the chicken a lighter, silkier coating, while plain flour creates a slightly thicker one, but both help lock in moisture and tenderise the meat.

Keyword Clay Pot Rice