Sukiyaki is a comforting Japanese Hot Pot type-dish that’s perfect for the chilly months. Serve this alongside a bowl of rice and share with the entire family for a filling and delicious meal!

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What is Sukiyaki?

Sukiyaki is a Japanese hotpot dish generally served in the cold winter weathers or at bonenkai (Japanese end-of-year parties!)

It consists of thinly sliced beef and loads of other vegetables and ingredients that are slowly simmered in a sukiyaki sauce. The sauce is commonly composed of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar, which gives the soup a nice balance of sweet and savory that compliments the ingredients perfectly.

You can eat the hotpot on its own, adding more cabbage or tofu in the soup, for example, to make it more filling. It’s also normally served with a side of fresh rice.

Some may choose to dip the cooked beef with a side of raw egg, which further enhances the beef by giving it more richness and a silky mouth-feel texture (more info on this in the ingredients section below)!

Ingredients

Mirin: This is a sweet Japanese rice wine which is a classic ingredient used in many sauces/marinades.

Substitutes: Quick substitutes include sake, dry sherry, standard cooking wine, or even Shaoxing wine. You may need to add a teaspoon of sugar at a time if using dry wines as to make up for the loss of sweetness traditional mirin gives. Not that rice wine vinegar is never a good substitute for mirin, the two flavor profiles are entirely different!

Sake: Like standard cooking wine, sake adds a mellow umami to foods. It’s also normally used to tenderize meats and eliminate unpleasant odors.

Sake can be purchased in the “sauces” aisle of your Asian grocery. You could also choose to buy actual drinking sake from a liquor store -both options are fine.

Substitutes: Similar to mirin, you can substitute sake with any standard cooking wines or Shaoxing wine. If you prefer to keep your sauce alcohol-free, you may also just use equal parts of water.

Soy sauce: This will provide the basis of sukiyaki sauce to give it that foundational umami and savory flavor.

Sugar: To balance out the saltiness of the soup, we use a little bit of sugar. Feel free to adjust the amount (more or less) according to your preference.

Hondashi powder: This is essentially an instant dashi powder, which has saved me SO many times when cooking at home. It will help boost the umami notes of the sukiyaki sauce.

Vegetables: There’s many varieties of vegetables you can use for Sukiyaki, though my favorites to use include Napa cabbage, shungiku, leeks, onions, mushrooms (enoki and/or shiitake).

Tofu: What’s great about tofu is that they can soak up the flavor of the broth tremendously well when simmered over time. Go for either medium-firm tofu or firm tofu so they can hold up in the soup without being broken down too much.

Shirataki/Konjac noodles: You’ll find these noodles normally refrigerated (or sometimes at room temperature) in the noodles section of your Asian grocery. They’ll come packaged and floating in a liquid, which helps to preserve their texture and tastes over time while shelved.

Substitutes: Other similar substitutes include either vermicelli or Korean sweet potato noodles.

Thinly-sliced beef: Check your local Asian groceries (mostly Japanese, Chinese, or Korean spots will carry this) for thinly-sliced beef which are commonly found frozen. Go for cuts that have a decent amount of fat marbling on them, such as rib eye.

If you have no luck finding these, you can try to ask your butcher if they can offer you services to cut your beef thin enough to be used for hot pot. Alternatively, you may also try doing it yourself -just be sure to freeze the beef prior to slicing for ease of cutting!

Egg: Sukiyaki is normally served alongside a dip made of beaten raw egg, which adds a greater depth of richness to the meal.

In the West (e.g., Canada and U.S), raw eggs aren’t as safe to consume raw as they are in Japan. This means that it does carry a slight risk of getting salmonella or other food-borne illnesses when eating eggs in this way.

If you did want to enjoy sukiyaki as it’s normally eaten (with the raw egg dip), try to look for pasteurized eggs which are typically safer to consume undercooked.

Instructions

Prepare the vegetables and other ingredients:

*Firstly, ensure you rinse all your vegetables adequately if needed to remove any dirt or debris.

Chop the napa cabbage leafs into small 2×3″ rectangles.

Chop the shungiku into 2-3″ pieces.

Diagonally slice the leek into 1″ pieces.

Julienne the onions.

Cut off the bottom portion of the enoki mushrooms. Separate into smaller clusters.

Remove the stem of the shiitake mushrooms. Optionally make a star pattern on top by cutting small slits on either side using a sharp knife.

Cut the tofu into small bite-sized cubes.

Strain the shirataki noodles to remove the packaged liquid. Add the noodles to a pot of boiling water and let boil for two minutes. Drain and set aside.

Prepare the sukiyaki sauce:

In a pot, combine together the mirin, sake, soy sauce, sugar, and hondashi powder. Mix well and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium and let simmer for five more minutes to evaporate the alcohol and to dissolve the sugar.

Taste and adjust the sauce to your preference. Set aside for later use.

Prepare the sukiyaki:

In a wide pot or deep pan over medium heat, pour in 1 tbsp of oil. Add in the white parts of the leek and char on both sides until they become dark brown in color.

Push the charred leek whites to the side. Add in the thinly-sliced beef to the pan. Spoon in about 2-3 tbsp of the sukiyaki sauce to lightly caramelize the beef until cooked-through.

Arrange all the remaining ingredients into the pan (you don’t have to add all the prepared ingredients at this point as you can gradually cook them in the pan while you eat!)

Pour in the sukiyaki sauce until it partially submerges the ingredients (about 1/3 of the way full). Bring this to a boil, then let simmer for about 5-7 minutes to gently cook the ingredients.

Taste the soup, and add more water if necessary to dilute the soup if it gets too salty.

Serve immediately over a portable gas stove to continue cooking while eating. Eat with a side of rice and/or optionally a beaten raw egg to use for dipping. Enjoy!

Serving

Serving sukiyaki is typically done over a portable gas stove so that you can easily have access to cooking your other prepared vegetables and meats on the side.

While it’s traditionally cooked on the dining tale as a fun family/friends’ dinner, if you don’t have access to a portable gas stove, you could simply just simmer all the ingredients on the stove until cooked and serve immediately afterwards.

Each member should have their own bowl or plate to eat with, along with their pair of chopsticks to pick out food from the sukiyaki and/or to cook their desired ingredients directly into the soup.

If you’re worried about cross-contamination, I’d suggest having separate tongs or chopsticks specifically for touching/cooking vegetables and the raw beef!

Cooking Tips

Pour more water if needed: If you find your sukiyaki is getting a bit too concentrated and salty, pour in some water to dilute the liquid. You can always adjust with more sukiyaki sauce if needed, so ensure you still have some leftover of the sauce on the side.

Remove any ingredient that’s been cooking too long: If you see that an ingredient has been sitting in the broth for too long, I’d recommend fishing it out and eating it right away! I tend to forget some pieces of beef or cabbage in the soup sometimes, which ends up making the beef too tough and vegetable too soggy.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Can I save the sukiyaki sauce?

You can store the sukiyaki sauce for up to about a month in the fridge, stored in a clean airtight container. The reason for its long storage is due to its high salt content of the soy sauce!

Be sure to always reheat the sauce (via stove or microwave) and access it with clean utensils each time to preserve its shelf life.

You can use leftover sukiyaki sauce for future sukiyaki meals, stir fries, or even dips.

Can I make this vegetarian?

Yes, simply replace the sliced beef with either meat-alternative options or add in more mushrooms and tofu.

What other vegetables can I add?

Apart from the ingredients listed above, other veggies you can add to the sukiyaki include carrots, spinach, bok choy, bean sprouts, and/or watercress. Feel free to add more to your preference or whatever it takes to clean out your fridge!

Looking for more comfy meals this season? Check out these other recipes:

Tan Tan Ramen
Lugaw (Filipino rice porridge)
Pork Sinigang
Khao Soi