Loco Moco is a Hawaiian favorite featuring white rice topped with a burger patty, gravy, and finished with a fried egg. Although there are variations of this beloved breakfast and lunch staple, this easy recipe hits the mark perfectly. With an umami mushroom and onion gravy, it's super hearty and flavorful. Tastes just like a trip to Hawaii!

Closeup of a loco moco with mushroom and onion gravy and scallions on a white plate.

(This recipe was originally published in June 2019, but was updated with new photos and content in 2022).

This authentic Hawaiian Loco Moco recipe is crazy good! The beef patty is super flavorful. A fried egg, complete with runny yolk, is the figurative icing on the cake.

Although I'm not the biggest fan of plain, sticky, steamed white rice, Asian-inspired loco moco gravy with mushrooms and onions soaks into the rice, giving it tons of flavor.

Making homemade loco moco is a quite easy, and significantly cheaper than a plane ticket. If a trip to Hawaii is not in the cards right now, this recipe will definitely satisfy the craving for traditional Hawaiian flavors. Aloha!

Closeup of a loco moco cut to show the burger patty beneath the fried egg.

The legend of the Loco Moco

According to the story, loco moco originated on the Big Island of Hawaii, although the exact origin is heavily debated. Reportedly, the dish was invented in 1949 at the Lincoln Grill at the request of a group of teenagers.

They named the dish after a friend nicknamed "Crazy." This "crazy" delicious dish is popular for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It's available any time of day in Hawaii, making it an epic hangover meal as well as a late night staple.

In addition to the traditional version featuring a beef hamburger patty, there are tons of creative riffs on this dish served up throughout the islands. Here are some twists on the classic loco moco filling:

Fried Spam
Split and fried Portuguese sausage
Shredded kalua pork
Pork chop
Steak
Braised short rib

Ingredient notes

Ingredients for Hawaiian loco moco on a beige background.

Rice: It's best to use the same type of rice used throughout Hawaii. Calrose or Kokuho Ros e are sticky, medium-grain California-grown rice varieties that can also be used for sushi. Find it at Asian supermarkets or online.
Ground Beef: I usually use lean ground beef and it's still delicious and flavorful, but you could use a fattier ground beef for a juicier patty.
Mushrooms: Use cremini or baby bella mushrooms for the gravy. They are about the same size as standard white mushrooms, but they have a lot more flavor.
Beef Broth: You can use homemade or canned beef broth. I keep beef broth concentrate in the fridge so I can make broth whenever I need it.
Soy Sauce and Worcestershire Sauce: You'll need both soy sauce (I prefer low-sodium) and Worcestershire to provide salty umami flavor to the gravy. Half of the Worcestershire sauce will also flavor the beef patties.
Cornstarch: When I first published this loco moco recipe it called for 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. This yields a delicious but fairly thin gravy. I have since increased the amount to 1 ½ tablespoons which I prefer for a thicker gravy. This is personal preference, so I've included a range in the recipe below. You can start with 1 tablespoon and then add another ½ tablespoon (by whisking a little more broth into the remaining cornstarch) if you want it thicker.

A fried egg on top of a plate of white rice and dark brown gravy.

How to make it

Combine ground beef with chopped onion, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl (PHOTOS 1-2).

Ground beef before and after mixing with onions and seasonings in a mixing bowl.

Shape the meat into 4 equal-sized patties and refrigerate until you're ready to cook them.

Four uncooked beef burger patties on a light green square plate.

This loco moco recipe features a mushroom and caramelized onion gravy. Begin by caramelizing onion wedges in a little oil in your skillet, then set aside until you're ready to finish your gravy.

Cooked caramelized strips of onion in a small metal bowl.

Next, cook your burgers in the same skillet. No need to fire up the grill. When the burgers are cooked to your liking, set them aside on a plate and cover with foil. This will keep the patties hot while you finish the loco moco gravy.

Four cooked beef burger patties on a light green square plate.

Sauté sliced cremini mushrooms in the same pan until tender (PHOTO 3). Add the reserved caramelized onion wedges, beef broth, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce (PHOTO 4).

A skillet of cooked sliced mushrooms with broth added to make a gravy.

Thicken the gravy with a bit of cornstarch. It's definitely more of an Asian-style gravy, as it uses cornstarch to thicken and features soy sauce as a main flavoring component.

While you finish up the gravy, fry up a few eggs in another pan.

When you're ready to assemble your Hawaiian loco moco start with a scoop of rice (PHOTO 5), then top with a burger patty (PHOTO 6).

Cooked rice arrange in a circle on a white plate, then topped with a hamburger patty.

Spoon some of the mushroom-onion gravy over the top (PHOTO 7), and then finish with a fried egg and sliced scallions to garnish (PHOTO 8).

Mushroom and onion gravy spooned over a plate, then topped with a fried egg and scallions.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Please scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (in a printable recipe card) including ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.

Closeup of a Hawaiian loco moco with brown gravy and fried egg on a white plate.

Expert tips

To prep your Hawaiian loco moco in advance, you can cook the rice ahead of time and reheat it. You can also make the gravy in advance and reheat it, though you may want to thin it out with a little water or broth if it thickens up too much. Same goes if you want to enjoy leftovers.

I would recommend seasoning, shaping, and cooking the burger patties last minute. If you season them too far in advance the salt content in the meat can cause it to get dry when cooked.

This loco moco recipe uses one skillet to prepare components of the gravy, cook the burger patties, and then finish the gravy. This serves a couple purposes: 1) less dirty pans, and 2) the flavors left in the pan from the cooked onion and later the burgers help flavor the gravy.

Although the burgers will stay fairly warm if you cover/wrap them in foil while you finish the gravy, if you're willing to dirty an additional pan you can cook the gravy in one from start to finish and cook the burgers simultaneously (toward the end of the gravy cooking time) in another pan.

A loco moco on a white plate cut to reveal the burger patty and runny yolk.

The Hawaiian plate lunch

If you want to zhuzh up your Hawaiian loco moco a bit, turn it into a Hawaiian plate lunch. What's a plate lunch, you ask? It's basically a plated meal consisting of a serving of protein, steamed rice, and mayo-based salad.

These salads can either be macaroni (or mac) salad, potato mac salad or even tuna mac salad. The exact variations of both the plate lunch and the mac salad component can range significantly not only from restaurant to restaurant but also island to island.

You can easily upgrade a loco moco to a plate lunch because it already includes rice and a protein. Simply add a scoop of Hawaiian Macaroni Salad on the side and the plate lunch is born. It's a thing of beauty!

Loco Moco (white rice, burger patty, gravy, and fried egg) with scoop of macaroni salad

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