The Japanese dish sukiyaki is actually a hot pot dish. Called the “nabemono style”, the dish’s ingredients are cooked separately and only when it’s ready to serve is the sweet-savory soup or sauce added to the bowl. You can also pour it on top to heat up the entire bowl of food.

It’s common to see a pot of the simmering broth on the table with a tray of vegetables, meat, tofu, and noodles on the side when dining out at a restaurant. The soup can even be a sauce instead so you’ll get more flavor in every bite of the vegetables and meat.

You don’t need for it to be served in this way to enjoy it at home! You can keep it more simple with this easy recipe. The beef for this recipe is thinly sliced sirloin, sukiyaki cut, but you can ask for the beef to be sliced even thinner like bacon or for yakiniku if desired.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when making this soup:

• Use more broth if you don’t have mirin or sake for the soup.
• You can also use other vegetables like cabbage, leeks, and fresh shiitake mushrooms.
• Torch the tofu or even fry it if desired.
• The boiling hot soup will easily cook the very thinly sliced beef and heat up the tofu squares. This ensures the beef is always tender and never overcooked, just like your steak!
• You can also simmer the beef if desired instead.

Get ready to enjoy sukiyaki! Here’s the recipe:

Easy Beef Sukiyaki Recipe

Takes 20 minutes
Makes 4 servings

Easy Beef Sukiyaki Ingredients

1/2 250-gram pack vermicelli noodles (sotanghon), soaked in hot water, drained
4 cups water, more as needed
1/2 chicken bouillon cube
1/4 cup mirin or sake
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar, or to taste
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 small red onion, peeled, thinly sliced
1 small carrot, peeled, sliced into thin rounds
8 pieces young corn, roughly chopped
1 cup kang kong leaves
1 cup firm tofu, cut into small squares, to serve
1/4 kilo beef sirloin, thinly sliced

How To Make Easy Beef Sukiyaki

1 Place sotanghon in a large bowl. Pour in enough hot water to fill the bowl and cover the noodles. Set aside until the noodles are softened. Drain water from the noodles, and set aside.
2 In a medium pot over medium heat, combine water, chicken bouillon cube, mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. Mix until the granules are dissolved.
3 Add onions, carrots, and young corn, and simmer until just softened. Remove vegetables from the pot and set aside.
4 Add kang kong leaves and simmer until just softened (blanch). Remove from the heat.
5 Add the softened sotanghon to the soup and simmer gently until the noodles are tender. Remove the noodles from the soup. Keep the soup hot boiling hot.
6 To serve, arrange the veggies, noodles, tofu, and the still raw beef in a shallow bowl. Pour the hot soup over the beef. Serve while still piping hot with a beaten raw egg on the side if desired.