Yakiniku at Home
Yakiniku is a Japanese-style tabletop BBQ that is heavily influenced by Korean BBQ. I think the main difference is that yakiniku doesn’t usually come with lettuce or banchan. Also dipping sauce is different from KBBQ. The one I usually make at home is kind of a mix of both styles. Grill the meat, cut it with scissors, wrap it in lettuce and perilla leaves, and dip it in the yakiniku sauce. I also served some Japanese condiments, such as yuzu kosho and neri togarashi. It’s low effort because you don’t need to cook anything. Just prepare the veggies and sauce, and then you can cook together with your guests. It’s so fun, and kids love it too. I love doing this in my backyard, because eating outside somehow makes food taste better.
How to host a dinner party with low effort
To be completely honest, I don’t like hosting a dinner party. I like having people over, but I end up being in the kitchen a lot, so I feel like I’m missing out. Yakiniku and KBBQ are perfect dinner party options for someone like me because you don’t really need to cook in advance. You prep the ingredients, then cook and eat together with your guests.
Hosting at home can be just as stressful. Cleaning the house and getting everything ready can feel overwhelming. My solution has been hosting people in our backyard instead, and yakiniku is perfect because it’s too smoky to do indoors anyway. Plus, eating outside makes food taste better, and the whole atmosphere feels more relaxed.
What is Yakiniku?
Yakiniku is Japanese style tabletop barbecue with Korean influences. Compared to KBBQ, which usually comes with lots of leafy greens and herbs for wrapping meat, yakiniku feels more focused on the meat itself. The meat is grilled and dipped into a savory yakiniku sauce, then eaten with rice. One of the best parts is the rice stained with leftover dipping sauce, a delicious byproduct of the meal. Growing up, going to a yakiniku restaurant felt like a special treat, but we also did yakiniku at home using a hot plate. It was always a fun, communal way to eat with family.
Yakiniku meets KBBQ
I love both yakiniku and KBBQ. So when I host yakiniku at home, I like to combine what I love about both styles. I serve classic yakiniku dipping sauce along with plenty of lettuce and perilla leaves, borrowing the wrap style from KBBQ.
For this gathering, I went to a Korean grocery store and picked up leafy greens for barbecue, perilla leaves, beautifully marbled beef, and pork jowl, a rich and fatty cut from the pig’s cheek. I also set out a variety of condiments. I had some leftover kimchi base from Perilla LA, so instead of saamjang, I served that alongside yuzu kosho and neri togarashi. Neri togarashi is a spicy shichimi togarashi paste that was new to me and gifted by a friend. It was not overly spicy and paired especially well with the fatty cuts of meat.
Equipment recommendation
I love my Balmuda teppanyaki, but if you do not own a hot plate, a portable gas stove with a cast iron pan works perfectly. That is how I hosted BBQ before I had the teppanyaki grill.
One final tip, just like at KBBQ restaurants, use kitchen scissors to cut the meat into bite size pieces right on the grill..
Yakiniku and KBBQ are such fun and genuinely stress free ways to have people over. Everyone eats at their own pace, kids stay entertained, and the focus stays on good food and good company. It’s a perfect solution for people who don’t like hosting a dinner party, like me!
Below, I’m sharing a homemade yakiniku dipping sauce. It’s a combination of sweet and savory, really bold and delicious. Shichimi togarashi is optional, but it adds a nice kick. The serving size is for 4, but you can also use this sauce as a stir-fry seasoning. Simply make a stir-fry, then pour the sauce over to finish and mix.
Homemade Yakiniku Dipping Sauce
Prep time 5 min
Cooking time: 5min
Total 10 min
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon toasted white sesame seeds
½ teaspoon shichimi togarashi (optional)
Preparation
Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.
For Yakiniku, I used ingredients below
To Grill :
Trumpet mushroom, slice thinly and score
1/2 White Onion, Sliced
Pork Jawel
Beef
Short rib
To Wrap :
Leafy lettuce
Perilla leaves
Variegato di Lusia (Radicchio variety I found in Hollywood farmers market)
To Season :
Yakiniku dipping sauce (recipe above)
Ssamjang
Yuzu kosho
Neri shichimi togarashi