Easy Sukiyaki Recipe – Japanese Beef Hot Pot

This easy sukiyaki recipe can be made in only one pot for simple Japanese home cooking. Sukiyaki is a type of Japanese hot pot that consists of thinly sliced beef and veggies simmered in a soy sauce based broth. Read through the post for more cultural background on sukiyaki or jump to recipe to get cooking.

What is Sukiyaki?

Sukiyaki is a Japanese hot pot dish… sometimes. I’ll explain more below. For those who aren’t familiar with it, a hot pot is an Asian meal that is boiled all in one pot, usually cooked and served right on the dining table, essentially a stew. There are variations of hot pots among different Asian countries, but some of my favorites are Japanese hot pots, which are referred to collectively as nabe.

Yes, you’ve read that right, hot pots, PLURAL.

Japan actually has several different styles of hot pot, including shabu shabu, oden, and my favorite, sukiyaki. Sukiyaki is a style of Japanese hot pot in which the ingredients (usually thinly sliced beef, veggies, and noodles) are cooked in a soy sauce flavored broth that tastes like a variation on teriyaki. That makes sense, as they use the same ingredients. Because the broth is so flavorful, you eat the food served over rice without adding anything after it’s cooked (there are exceptions to this, more on this below as well). This is different from shabu shabu, which consists of ingredients cooked in a clear broth and then dipped in flavorful sauces afterward.

Kanto vs. Kansai Sukiyaki

In Japan, there’s regional variations on sukiyaki. For example, the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo, has their own version which differs from the Kansai region, which includes Osaka and Kyoto. The recipe I have here is closer to Kanto style sukiyaki, which boils the food in a soy sauce seasoning broth called warishita.

Kansai style sukiyaki is actually more a grilled meat dish (yakiniku) rather than a hot pot (hence why I said sukiyaki is a hot pot only sometimes earlier). In this style, you grill the beef first, then add the seasoning ingredients directly to the pan to flavor the meat and veggies. It’s a similar cooking style to my teriyaki beef rolls. With Kansai style, you don’t add a lot of broth, so it’s not really simmering in liquid.

Sukiyaki in Japan vs. Sukiyaki in America

The funny thing about being a fourth generation Japanese American is that most of us don’t really know what region our food comes from (or if it’s even truly a Japanese dish vs. Japanese American). My recipe here uses a soy sauce seasoning that you mix separately and then add to the hot pot, along with a decent amount of broth, so it’s more like a Kanto style sukiyaki. However, I still don’t use all the same ingredients that you might commonly find in Japan.

For example, many Japanese recipes start off with beef tallow (fat) that you render in your pot. You can also grill large green onion slices in the fat. I do not typically cook with beef tallow, so I skip that step altogether.

Sukiyaki in Japan also traditionally gets served with a side bowl of beaten raw egg. Japan’s way of sanitizing their eggs means a much lower chance of salmonella, so raw egg consumption is much more common there. After the ingredients are cooked, you dip them in the raw egg prior to eating. In America, this isn’t done so often, as raw eggs aren’t considered safe to eat here. However, I have eaten sukiyaki this way in Japan, and it’s amazing. If you have the chance to try this in Japan, definitely give it a try.

Sukiyaki Sauce Ingredients

The key feature of sukiyaki is the soy sauce seaoning or warishita. All the flavor of sukiyaki is in the soy sauce broth. The great thing is, this sukiyaki broth recipe is so easy, you can memorize it. AND it uses basic Japanese pantry staples that you’ll use again and again in Japanese cooking. For serving 3-4 people in 2 quart pot, you’ll need:

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/3 cup mirin
• 1/3 cup sake
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1 cups dashi (or 1 cup water plus instant dashi powder)

I know most people are okay with sugar and soy sauce in their pantry, but people often ask about substituting the sake or the mirin. If you are getting interested in Japanese cooking at home, I highly recommend you invest the kitchen space in stocking these Japanese essentials. The sugar, mirin, sake, soy sauce combination is almost exactly the same as my teriyaki sauce recipe. You also use these sauces in classic Japanese dishes like oyakodon and ozoni.

Alternatives to Dashi

Dashi, a Japanese kelp or fish based broth, is another ingredient that tends to trip people up. I have seen some Japanese home cooks use just water, so that’s okay. But dashi tastes so much better and has a lot of umami. You can get a vegetarian dashi by using one made only from kelp and no fish.

A lot of Japanese cookbooks and blogs will tell you to make your dashi from scratch, which is, of course, amazing. But I’m here to tell you there is no shame in instant dashi powder (called hon dashi).

Just as the name implies, you sprinkle about a teaspoon of dashi powder into hot water, and voila! Instant dashi. Of course making your broth from scratch surely tastes better, just like making chicken broth from scratch tastes better than store bought. But not everyone has the time or energy for that. Besides, why would Japanese markets sell dashi powder if Japanese people didn’t use it, hm?

Alternatively, for something more in between instant dashi powder and made from scratch, you can use a dashi packet that you steep in the water. My favorite brand is Kayanoya. It’s fairly expensive, but it seriously tastes like grandma’s cooking.

What Ingredients to Cook for Sukiyaki?

Typically, the main protein in sukiyaki is thinly sliced beef. You can find thin sliced beef at your local Asian market. In Japan, you’ll also commonly find vegetables such as green onions, cabbage, onion, carrot, shiitake or enoki mushrooms, and grilled tofu. Another common ingredient to cook in sukiyaki is shirataki noodles, which are made from the konjac plant.

However, please don’t be feel you need to be bound by any arbitrary culinary rules or tradition. Sukiyaki is great for using up leftovers in your fridge! For me, sometimes that means throwing in seafood, even though traditionally you’re more likely to find seafood in other Japanese hot pot dishes. I also have to adjust the ingredients for what I know my children will eat.

Here are some ideas that you can use to inspire your sukiyaki night:

Proteins for Sukiyaki

• Sliced beef (Most essential)
• Sliced pork
• Sliced tofu
• Shrimp
• Fish balls
• Gyoza

Vegetables for Sukiyaki

• Napa cabbage
• Green cabbage
• Spinach
• Enoki mushrooms
• Shiitake mushrooms
• Shimeji mushrooms
• Aburaage
• Deep fried tofu cubes
• Sliced onions
• Bok choy
• Carrot
• Daikon
• Lotus root
• Green onion
• Chrysanthemum leaves

Noodles for Sukiyaki

• Udon noodles
• Shirataki noodles
• Vermicelli noodles

How to Serve Sukiyaki

Although typically sukiyaki ingredients would all be boiled in a cast iron pot right on the dining table, don’t feel bound by this rule. I often make my sukiyaki on the stovetop in a 10-12 inch stainless steel skillet with deep sides. I also like to make it in my Japanese clay pot, called donabe, which is what you see in these updated photos. When it’s done, I let my family come choose what they want from the stove and pile it on top of their rice. But if you have an electric hot pot or bunsen burner, it could be fun to cook your sukiyaki in the middle of your dining table, letting your guests pick out food as they eat. I always serve my sukiyaki with rice, but sometimes my husband opts out, eating just the udon noodles for his carbs.

More Japanese Home Cooking Recipes

If you like this recipe, check out my other easy Japanese meals:

• Teriyaki Beef
• Stir Fried Udon (Yakiudon)
• Chicken Katsu
• Miso Salmon
• Extra Crispy Tonkatsu