Thinly sliced pork or beef is the key ingredient in many popular Japanese recipes. Here‘s my technique for how to slice meat thinly at home for delicious Japanese dishes like sukiyaki, okonomiyaki, and gyudon.
For Japanese recipes that include pork or beef, the majority will list “thinly sliced meat” on the ingredients list. Very thin slices – about 1/8 inch or even thinner. You can find packages of thinly-sliced meat at Japanese grocery stores like the ones pictured below.
If you don’t live near a Japanese grocery store, or you just prefer to slice the meat yourself, follow these simple instructions.
Recipes Using Thinly Sliced Beef
- Baby Carrot Beef Roll
- Beef Udon
- Bulgogi
- Gyudon
- Japchae (Korean Stir-Fried Noodles)
- Nikujaga (Beef and Potato Stew)
- Shabu Shabu
- Sukiyaki
- Teriyaki Steak Rolls
Recipes Using Thinly Sliced Pork Loin
- Crispy Tonkatsu Donburi
- Ginger Pork (Shogayaki)
- Hot Pot for One
- Miso Ginger Pork
- Potato Salad Pork Roll
- Soy Milk Hot Pot
Recipes Using Thinly Sliced Pork Belly
- BBQ Pork Belly
- Goya Champuru
- Honey Pork Belly
- Mille-Feuille Nabe
- Miso Soup with Yuzu Kosho
- Okonomiyaki
- Pressure Cooker Pork Belly (Kakuni)
- Tonjiru (Pork Miso Soup)
- Yaki Udon
- Yakisoba (Japanese Stir Fried Noodles)
How to Slice Meat Thinly
Thinly sliced pork or beef is the key ingredient in many popular Japanese recipes. Here‘s my technique for how to slice meat thinly at home for delicious Japanese dishes like sukiyaki, okonomiyaki, and gyudon.
Video
Materials
- premium-quality meat (beef or pork tenderloin, top sirloin, strip loin, rib eye, pork loin, or any cut of meat that is slightly more lean and a bit more firm; my pieces here are 1 lb each)
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
Instructions
- Put the premium-quality meat in a single layer in a large freezer bag.
- Remove the air from bag and close tightly.
- Put on a metal tray (so the heat transfers faster) and freeze the meat for 1½ to 2 hours, depending on the size of the piece of meat and how fatty it is.
To Slice the Meat
- Take out the meat from the freezer. Each piece shown here is 1 pound and I froze them for 1½ hours.
- The meat is ready if the knife goes through smoothly and just firm enough for you to slice thinly. If you have trouble slicing because the meat is still too soft, put it back into the freezer until it‘s firmer.
- Slice against the grain using a gentle sawing motion. When you look at the meat, you will see the fibers of the meat are going in one direction. You need to cut across this grain in the other direction to ensure tenderness.
- Here is the thinly-sliced meat, ready to use in your recipe.
To Store
- You can wrap the meat in plastic wrap, put in a freezer bag, and store in the freezer for future use.
Notes
Equipment you will need:
- A very sharp knife (A dull knife will not slice nicely)
- A metal tray
- A large freezer bag
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Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on September 21, 2013. The post has been updated with video and new images.
So what type of beef is good for shabu shabu?
Hi Ricardo! Thank you so much for reading, Nami’s post.
We recommend chuck or ribeye. You may use thinly sliced pork as well.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/shabu-shabu/
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami! I’m so glad to have found this post. My question is about pre-sliced meat . When you buy it pre-sliced for Shabu shabu, how can you separate the slices and roll them up so they’re easy to pick up with chopsticks?
I always end up with a huge clump that is very messy to unfold.
Thanks!
Hi Joy, Thank you so much for taking the time to read Nami’s post!
We normally peel the meat from the top of the pre-sliced beef layer with chopsticks. We insert the chopsticks between the layers, lift them a bit, and pick them up. You can roll it from the edge of the top layer if you want to prepare it for rolling. You can also fold it instead of rolling it. The one you see in the restaurant sometimes uses a pre-frozen block of meat and a high-speed frozen meat slicer for slicing. It curled up on itself when cut.
We hope this was helpful!
https://www.justonecookbook.com/shabu-shabu/
How would you slice a boneless pork chop that is only 1/2” thick? Would you cut it horizontally instead of vertically? I made shogayaki ginger pork but didn’t have time to freeze the chops and they were tricky to cut (I could only get 1/6” unfrozen). I was wondering which direction to cut them in next time I try making this and have time to freeze the chops.
Hello, Teresa! Thank you for taking the time to read Nami’s post!
It is quite difficult to thinly slice 1/2″ thick meat. You can try to freeze it hard enough to hold the meat or find larger blocks to work with.
We think that holding the knife at a right angle to the meat will work best for thinly slicing the meat.
We hope Nami’s video is helpful.
Hi Nami,
My supermarket in Singapore sells Pork Belly Sukiyaki. Is the Sukiyaki cut similar Shogayaki cut? I tried to look for Shogayaki but can’t find. Is there a similar cut of pork belly that is close to Shogayaki?
Hi Wei, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe.
We are not sure what is available in Singapore, but for Shogayaki, we recommend using pork loin. They are less fat than pork belly. If you can’t find the sliced pork or would like to use pork belly for Shogayaki, you can use this technic to cut the meat at home. https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-slice-meat/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/ginger-pork-shogayaki/
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami, I already have some frozen beef chuck roast in the fridge. Hoping to make beef udon. Would that work or would I need to defrost it a little so it’ll be easier to cut? Thank you! Love your website 🙂
Hi Amanda, Thank you very much for your kind feedback! Yes. You can follow from Step 5, and you can make beef udon! The meat is ready to cut if the knife goes through smoothly and just firm enough for you to slice thinly.🙂