Sukiyaki

A familiar starting point

For a reader who has never sat down to sukiyaki, the nearest reference point is a fondue or hot pot: a shared pot simmers at the center of the table, and diners cook thin slices of meat and vegetables in it themselves. The distinctive part is what happens after cooking — dipping each piece in a bowl of beaten raw egg before eating, which sukiyaki shares with very few other tabletop dishes.

History

Sukiyaki, thin slices of beef and vegetables simmered tableside in a sweet-savory broth made from soy sauce and sugar (the tare), is thought to have spread during the Meiji era (late 19th century), when eating beef, previously marginal in Japan for religious reasons, gradually became popular.

Traditionally served in a cast-iron pot set directly on a portable burner at the center of the table, sukiyaki is enjoyed communally, with each diner dipping the cooked pieces into a bowl of beaten raw egg that coats them and softens their flavor.

Ingredients — serves 4

• 1.3 lb (600g) thinly sliced beef (shabu-shabu cut)
• Japanese leek (negi) or leek
• Shiitake and enoki mushrooms
• Napa cabbage, grilled tofu, shirataki noodles
• Soy sauce, sugar, mirin (tare)
• 4 eggs (for dipping)

Sukiyaki, step by step

1. Prepare the tare by mixing equal parts soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.
2. Cut all the vegetables, tofu, and noodles into ready-to-cook portions.
3. Heat a cast-iron pot at the table (or a large skillet) and melt a little beef fat in it.
4. Sear a few slices of beef, then pour in some tare and let it caramelize lightly.
5. Add the vegetables, tofu, and noodles gradually, letting them simmer in the broth.
6. Serve each cooked ingredient alongside a bowl of beaten raw egg, dipping the meat and vegetables in it before eating.

Cooking method

Technique: gradual tableside simmering in a sweet-savory broth (tare) that caramelizes lightly against the hot cast iron.

Traditional equipment: a cast-iron pot (sukiyaki nabe) set on a portable burner at the center of the table.

Signs it’s ready: the beef should stay tender and barely cooked, seared for just a few seconds before being dipped in raw egg.

A note on shabu-shabu

Sukiyaki is often confused with shabu-shabu, another tableside hot pot using similar thin-sliced beef. The difference is the broth: shabu-shabu cooks in a plain, light dashi or water and is dipped in a separate sauce afterward, while sukiyaki’s ingredients simmer directly in the sweet soy-based tare, which seasons them as they cook.

Nutrition, per serving

Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above, divided by four servings.

The egg for dipping is not included in the figures above the line, but is in the total. Once the dipping egg is counted in, sukiyaki lands as a high-protein, moderate-fat meal for a dish built around beef: the tofu, shirataki noodles, and vegetables dilute the meat’s fat and calorie density considerably compared with a plain grilled beef serving of the same size.

Economic context

Japan shows one of the highest figures in this atlas for the daily cost of a healthy diet. Within that already-expensive baseline, sukiyaki’s beef, shiitake, and grilled tofu place it toward the higher end of everyday Japanese home cooking, closer to a special weekend or family-gathering meal than a routine weeknight dish.

Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in Japan generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.

Who this dish suits

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