Loco Moco

Crack an egg on anything and it turns gourmet. A loco moco is a delicious and filling meal no matter what time of day (or night it is). If you're from Hawaii chances are you have your own recipe.

Traditionally a loco moco goes lai dis:
White rice
Hamburger patty (or patties)
Soft fried egg(s)
Choke brown gravy

Yummy. Why change a good thing you say? Because, when I was 12, I gave up all meats except poultry and fish. Which lead to turkey burgers with a lot of other flavorings to make up for that delicious cow I was craving.

Now that I'm older, and a little less sentimental, I do grind a beefy loco moco from time to time. But that doesn't mean that my haolefied (if you don't get it, you won't) creation isn't worth trying.

Haole Loco Moco Recipe:

  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • Cooked brown rice or pearled barley
  • 1 tb tomato paste
  • 1 tb Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tb brown sugar
  • 1 tsp fresh grated ginger
  • 1 heaping tb flour
  • Couple dashes of garlic salt
  • 1 small onion, halved 
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 can cream of mushroom
  • 1/2 can (from cream o' mush.) milk
  • 1/4 cup grated cheese (for topping)
  • 1-2 eggs
  • Garnish with minced green onion
Chop 1/2 the onion and set aside as topping for the loco moco. Quarter the other half of the onion and blend together with garlic clove in a blender or food processor till pureed. Combine that puree with the turkey, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, flour, and garlic salt in a large bowl and mix well. 
Heat a large greased pan and plop a scoop of the turkey mixture in the pan and form the patty with a spoon/fork (you can preform the patties if you like, but I'm too lazy for that). Cook till they're done (don't forget to flip them, check for the clear juices, you know all that stuff, you're too smart for me to have to explain everything). Set aside patties but keep pan on medium heat to make the gravy (you want to use all the goodness left behind from the burgers).

In another pan fry your eggs (poach 'em if you wanna get fancy). You want to make sure the yokes are still runny so when you break those bad boys open they run into the gravy and imbue it with yumminess the likes of which you have (probably) never seen! If you have full cooked egg yokes, what you end up with may be lovely but it won't be a true loco moco.

Make the gravy while frying up your eggs. In the pan you used for the burgers, mix together the cream of mushroom soup and milk over medium heat, stirring often, till thickened.

To assemble put a scoop or two of the cooked rice/barley in a bowl. Add one or 2 turkey burgers and top with your egg(s). Ladle on the gravy and garnish with green and/or chopped onion and cheese (I also like avocado).

Now munch, grind, mop, chow, eat (whatever your lingo)!



  1. oh, this looks amazing. i lived on maui for six years and even though i've been back in california for 10 years now...i miss those flavors. and i love the haolefied version. (totally get it.)
    so glad i stumbled upon your blog today.

    1. Thanks, Krista and Haoli Makahiki Hou! Even though I eat meat now, I think I still prefer this version. Let me know if there's a recipe you're craving from the islands and I'll try to find it for you :)