This recipe is adapted from Namiko Hirasawa Chen of Just One Cookbook, “the largest English-language website for Japanese recipes,” according to her own bio. Her Yakiniku (Japanese BBQ) recipe on justonecookbook.com walks through the whole at-the-table experience, from the homemade sauce to how much space to leave between pieces on the grill.
What Yakiniku Actually Is
Chen defines yakiniku (焼肉) as meaning “grilled meat,” describing a style where “meat and vegetables are dipped in sauce and eaten while being grilled” at the table. It’s a different tradition from a lot of other Japanese grilling: rather than one specific cut cooked one specific way, yakiniku is a format — thinly sliced beef, pork, seafood, or tofu, plus vegetables and mushrooms, cooked in small batches on a shared tabletop grill or griddle and dipped in a sweet-savory sauce as they come off.
A Korean-Japanese History
Chen is direct about where the dish comes from: “Originally from the Korean BBQ culture, yakiniku restaurants were founded in 1946, most of which were founded by Koreans living in Japan.” The home-cooking version took off in the 1950s once a bottled “yakiniku no tare” sauce from Ebara Foods made it easy to recreate the restaurant flavor without a specialty grill — Chen recalls it as “our frequent weekend rotation meal growing up.”
The Yakiniku Sauce
The tare in this recipe is built from ¼ cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sugar, ¼ cup grated sweet onion with its juice, 3 cloves of garlic, ⅛ teaspoon grated ginger, ¼ teaspoon gochujang, ½ tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds, and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil. It comes together in a jar — the sugar dissolves with a short 30–35 second microwave burst rather than any cooking on the stove.
Choosing the Beef
Chen calls for ½ pound of well-marbled boneless beef short ribs, sliced thin — about ⅛ inch (3mm) — which she notes is the standard “yakiniku-style sliced beef for grilling” sold at Asian grocery stores. She’s specific about what to look for: “If the meat is not well-marbled, it is very chewy and hard to eat,” so a fattier cut is worth prioritizing over a leaner one for this style of quick, high-heat cooking. Pork, seafood, or chicken can substitute, and tofu or extra vegetables work for a vegetarian spread.
Grilling Method
The table setup uses a portable gas grill-top or an electric griddle preheated to medium heat — Chen specifies roughly 375°F/190°C. Once it’s hot, the thin beef slices go on and are left alone “until juices appear on the surface, about 15–20 seconds,” then flipped once, browned briefly on the second side, flipped once more, and pulled — “you only flip twice.” Vegetables and mushrooms take longer and are turned once each side is browned. Corn, kabocha squash, and Japanese sweet potato get a quick pre-cook in the microwave first, since they’re too dense to cook through on the grill alone in the time the meat needs.
What to Serve Alongside It
Chen treats yakiniku as the center of a full spread rather than a standalone dish, pairing it with steamed rice, a light soup like miso soup, and cold side salads such as a cucumber sunomono or a bean sprout namul. She also points out that the format itself is flexible for different diets at the same table: “Whether you are gluten-free, vegan, or pescatarian, there are ways to implement all kinds of diets when it comes to grilling food,” since everyone selects and cooks their own plate of meat, tofu, or vegetables from the shared platters.
A Note on Safe Cooking Temperature
Because the beef here is a whole cut sliced thin rather than ground, USDA’s Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart puts beef steaks, chops, and roasts at 145°F (62.8°C) “and allow to rest for at least 3 minutes.” The chart lists a higher bar for substitutions: ground meats at 160°F (71.1°C), and poultry — if you swap in chicken as Chen suggests — at 165°F (73.9°C). Given how thin yakiniku slices are cooked, a probe thermometer isn’t practical piece by piece; rely on the same visual browning cues the recipe describes, and reach for the thermometer if you’re grilling a thicker cut of chicken or pork instead of the thin-sliced beef.
Keep reading
- Bulgogi: Maangchi’s Korean Marinated Beef Recipe
- Just One Cookbook’s Japanese Teriyaki Sauce
- Yakitori with Homemade Tare: Just One Cookbook Method
- Xinjiang Cumin Lamb Skewers (Chuar) Recipe