Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

How To Make Japanese Barbecue (Yakiniku) at Home: Everything You Need To Know

By

For many Japanese people, a night out isn’t complete without a trip to their favorite yakiniku restaurant. Bite-sized pieces of meat grilled table-side and consumed with plenty of rice and icy alcoholic beverages, yakiniku is a meat feast of flavors and textures. Meaning simply “grilled meat” in Japanese, yakiniku is a beloved food that can found everywhere in Japan from busy restaurants to dinner parties.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Related Guides

Recommended Videos

The Korean Connection

Yakiniku would not exist in Japan without the culinary influence of Korean immigrants. A Japanese colony from 1910 to 1945, Korean migrants in Japan were historically treated as second-class citizens and faced tremendous amounts of persecution. As a result, they were often regulated to the lower-class work of Japanese society. One of these jobs was meat butchery. Because of the Buddhist influence in Japan, meat eating was taboo for centuries and it wasn’t until the late 19th century that meat started to enter the mainstream Japanese diet.

Related

Yakiniku started to gain steam in the late 20th century, particularly after World War II. Meat consumption was rising in postwar Japan and yakiniku restaurants took advantage, proliferating in large numbers and becoming an essential part of the country’s nightlife. In Japan, meat and strong flavors like spices or garlic are known as “stamina food.” Yakiniku, with its combination of bite-sized meats and flavors were a perfect fit for postwar Japanese tastes.

The Meat

Like Korean barbecue, Japanese yakiniku features small, bite-sized pieces of meat meant to be eaten in single bites. Many cuts, such as short ribs (galbi in Korean), have crossover status in both barbecue styles. A key difference between yakiniku and Korean barbecue is the prevalence of beef. Although beef is common in modern Korean barbecue, traditional Korean barbecue is heavily pork-based. In comparison, while pork and other meats can be found in yakiniku, the Japanese barbecue style places a premium on beef cuts.

Beef

Beef leg and hip cuts. City Foodsters/Flickr

Many of the popular yakiniku cuts will seem familiar to fans of Korean barbecue. Thinly sliced ribeye, short ribs, and skirt steak are all sought-after cuts in yakiniku. The beef in yakiniku will usually be served unseasoned or marinated in a sweet soy sauce akin to the marinades found in Korean barbecue. Many Japanese yakiniku restaurants will also specialize in butchering unique cuts of beef in an effort to obtain the most interesting flavors and textures. Items like knuckle or heel meat are examples of this creativity.

Horumon

3 Different Cuts Beef Tongue (Tip, Root, and Tendon) City Foodsters/Flickr

An important element of yakiniku is horumon. Meaning “discarded goods” in Japanese, horumon refers to organ meats such as small or large intestines, heart, and liver. In yakiniku, every part of the cow is used, including unique items like windpipe, sweetbreads, or aorta. Traditionally, these animal parts were undesirable and were only eaten by the underclass of Japanese society. These days, horumon have become a delicacy and for most yakiniku fans, more interesting in flavor and texture than standard meat.

One of the most beloved horumon items in yakiniku is beef tongue. This cut will be served sliced very thin or thick, with cross marks carved into the pieces for texture and tenderness. Tongue is usually served with a touch of salt and a squeeze of lemon. Some restaurants will break down the tongue into smaller cuts: the tan-saki (tip), tan-naka (middle), tan-moto or shin-tan (root), and tan-shita (bottom).

What to Eat with Yakiniku

Ken Lee/Flickr

While Korean barbecue is served with an abundance of side dishes known as banchan, yakiniku sides tends to be simpler. Because of the Korean influence, vegetable kimchis are common side dishes along with Japanese-style pickles and rice. Yakiniku will often be served with a sweet, sometimes spicy soy-based dipping sauce consisting of garlic, miso, sesame oil, and sugar. This is meant to be eaten with a variety of meats. Besides meat, vegetables like cabbage, mushrooms, and kabocha squash are popular grilling items.

For many Japanese people, alcohol is an important part of the yakiniku experience. Drinks like ice cold beer or lemon sours — shochu liquor mixed with soda water and plenty of fresh lemon juice — are popular beverages to have with yakiniku.

Umamicart’s Yakiniku Sauce

Umamicart is an online grocery store that specializes in delivering Asian products and ingredients in the Northeast region. From fresh produce to meats and sauces, Umamicart sources the best items and conveniently delivers them straight to your door. Looking to make Chinese hot pot or Japanese yakiniku? Umamicart has you covered without a trip to the store.

For this yakiniku sauce recipe, Umamicart has also crafted a yakiniku landing page with a curated selection of all the ingredients and sauces you’ll need to create your own yakiniku dinner party. This salty and flavorful dipping sauce is versatile and can be eaten with both meat and vegetables. Remember, this sauce is quite potent — a little bit goes a long way.

Ingredients:

  • 4 tbsp cooking sake
  • 4 tbsp mirin
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 tsp mild white miso
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tsp roasted white sesame seeds

Method:

  1. Combine sake, mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil, miso, and garlic in a small saucepan and simmer for about 2 minutes.
  2. Whisk well while simmering to dissolve the miso paste.
  3. Transfer sauce into a heatproof bowl and stir in sesame seeds. Serve as dipping sauce for your yakiniku meats and vegetables! Leftover sauce can be stored in the fridge, and is best used within three days.

Editors' Recommendations

Hunter Lu
Hunter Lu
Contributor
Hunter Lu is a New York-based food and features writer, editor, and NYU graduate. His fiction has appeared in The Line…
How to make food less salty: 5 easy fixes when you make this common cooking mistake
Don't toss it just yet, you can probably save it with...a potato?
Happy man adding salt while cooking for his friends in the kitchen.

Over-salting food is one of the most common culinary blunders, falling perhaps only just below one more common cooking crime - under-salting food. It's a finicky art, to be sure, and finding just the right balance can be tricky. After all, every palate is different, every dish unique, and recipes are often inconsistent. What does "season to taste" mean anyway, many wonder. While this term may be frustrating to those who prefer to follow a recipe down to the letter, it's really just a common phrase that means, "Everyone likes it differently, so just use your best judgment."
The problem with that mentality is that if you're new to cooking or really need to follow that recipe, mistakes can be made - often in the form of over-salting. After all, it's easy to get carried away when in chef mode, slicing and dicing away, fingers sinking into the briny granules inside the salt cellar, and dramatically raining the mineral down with skilled - albeit heavy-handed - expertise.
Over-salting food has gotten the better of us all, even those of us who are professionally trained, so there's no shame in the matter. Still, the mistake can be embarrassing and ruin all of your hard work in the kitchen. Nobody wants to spend hours lovingly preparing a meal only to be choking it down with a gallon of water because of a silly mistake.
If you're wondering how to make food less salty after you've already been too generous in your seasoning, there are some handy hacks you can use. So don't toss that dish just yet. Reach for one of these ingredients, and you'll be back on track in no time.

Acid

Read more
The amazing 3-ingredient cocktails every home bartender should know how to make
Wow your guests with these easy, elegant cocktails
Negroni cocktail orange

It seems there's a holy trinity in many things, from the spiritual realm to the culinary world. In the arena of cocktails, there are many, many of these lauded trios. Turns out, when you have a great base spirit or two, you don't need much else to create something that tastes divine.

The 3-ingredient cocktail is a wondrous thing, both easy to make and layered in terms of flavor. You can achieve an unexpected amount of depth when mixing with just three ingredients, provided you get your approach, ingredients, and ratios in order. These are classic drinks you can make in just minutes and make them a go-to for any situation, whether you're really into rye whiskey or prefer something more tropical.

Read more
Everything you need to know about the Military Diet plan
Learn about the benefits and risks of the Military Diet
Saltines on a plate for the Military Diet

When you hear of the Military Diet plan, you likely assume it is something that members of the armed services follow. However, the diet is actually not even associated with the military! It is a strict way of eating that has been popularized on social media.
The Military Diet is designed to be a quick fix for weight loss -- a way to lose a significant amount of weight rapidly. As such, there are real concerns about the safety and sustainability of the Military Diet.
Whether you’ve seen the viral posts on social media of people touting their weight loss success stories on the Military Diet or want to lose weight quickly (we caution you against that) and want to learn more about the Military Diet, keep reading for our guide to the Military Diet, including what the diet entails and whether the Military Diet is safe and effective.

What is the Military Diet plan?
The Military Diet is a fad diet that is purported to help you lose weight rapidly -- up to 10 pounds (4.5 kg) in one week and 30 pounds in one month -- by restricting calories and revving your metabolism. This diet is high in protein and low in calories, fat, and complex carbohydrates.
The metabolic boost is said to come from consuming certain combinations of foods prescribed on the meal plan. The Military Diet only consists of modifying what you eat and drink. It is a free program, and there are no supplements to take or specific products to buy.

Read more