Chanko Nabe or Sumo Stew is a robust hot pot filled with all kinds of vegetables and tons of protein in a rich dashi and chicken broth. Traditionally eaten by sumo wrestlers, this well-balanced meal is also enjoyed in Japanese homes and at some restaurants.
Spring is here and why am I still sharing a hot pot recipe? Well, the Japanese eat nabe (hot pot) more frequently in the fall and winter months, but they do enjoy all types of nabe dishes all year round. The Sumo Wrestlers eat Chanko Nabe (ちゃんこ鍋) all the time!
What is Chanko Nabe?
Chanko Nabe (ちゃんこ鍋) is a type of Japanese nabe (hot pot), which I think is similar to a stew (but with more broth). It is traditionally eaten by sumo wrestlers in Japan and is usually served in massive quantities as part of a weight-gain diet for sumo wrestlers. They eat this meal pretty regularly with different ingredients.
The characteristic of this hot pot is that there is no specific “recipe”. And unlike other varieties of Japanese hot pot meals, meats, seafood, vegetables, and pretty much everything can be thrown into the hot pot.
Chanko means “a meal” that is eaten by sumo wrestlers. There are a few different theories regarding the origin of the name “chanko”.
One of the theories is that Chan is an endearing name to call Oyakata (親方), or a retired sumo wrestler coach (coming from To-chan (父ちゃん) or daddy). And ko comes from kodomo (子供) or a child or a pupil (deshi (弟子)). So chanko stands for a meal that the sumo coach and his pupils share. You could use chanko in a sentence like “Today’s chanko is Gyudon.” (今日のちゃんこは牛丼だよ).
Today’s recipe is from this beautiful Japanese cookbook, Let’s Cook Japanese Food!: Everyday Recipes for Authentic Dishes. Author Amy Kaneko demystified home-style Japanese cooking in her book and I absolutely enjoyed reading this cookbook! If you love Japanese cooking then I highly recommend you to keep it in your cookbook library.
Amy is an American married to a Japanese husband and learned to cook Japanese food from her mother-in-law and sister-in-law. She brought her knowledge all into this beautifully photographed and illustrated cookbook, and I love her choices of recipes that she had selected to share with readers.
I know how much you love cooking Japanese food, so I’m giving away this cookbook to one JOC reader! You’ll see the link to my giveaway page at the bottom of this post.
The Delicious Broth for Chanko Nabe
The broth for Chanko Nabe is usually dashi and/or chicken broth soup, seasoned with sake and mirin to add more flavor.
For good luck before the match, they won’t use beef and pork bone for soup base because four-leg animals represent the loss for sumo wrestling (can’t touch the ground with any part of the body other than the soles of the feet). You can use them as ingredients, but not for soup broth.
You can add various flavors to the broth. The most common choices are:
- Miso
- Salt
- Soy sauce
- Kimchi
Today’s recipe is with miso. I recommend using white miso for its mild and creamy flavor.
What’s inside Chanko Nabe?
Common ingredients that we throw into Chanko Nabe include:
- Chicken thighs
- Chicken meatballs
- Fish fillet
- Fishballs
- Crab
- Shrimp
- Sliced pork belly
- Bacon
- Sausages
- Tofu (Thick/thin deep-fried tofu, medium-firm tofu, etc)
- Konnyaku
- Garlic
- Kimchi
- Sesame seeds
- Vegetables (daikon, onion, carrot, napa cabbage, green onion, gobo, mizuna, chives)
- Mushrooms (shiitake, enoki, maitake, shimeji, etc)
- Udon noodles or Chuka noodles (Chinese style noodles)
You can also use leftover Chanko Nabe broth later as the soup for noodle dishes, and I enjoy drinking it as a soup (dilute with water or dashi a little bit if it’s too salty) as it has so much flavor from all the hot pot ingredients.
Wish to learn more about Japanese cooking? Sign up for our free newsletter to receive cooking tips & recipe updates! And stay in touch with me on Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram.
Chanko Nabe (Sumo Stew)
Ingredients
For the Broth
- 6 cups chicken stock/broth (for vegan/vegetarian, use vegetable broth or Vegan Dashi)
- ¼ cup sake
- ⅓ cup mirin
- 2 Tbsp ginger juice (grated and squeezed from 4-inch, 10-cm knob; see Step 1)
- 1½ tsp crushed garlic
- ½ cup white miso
For the Chicken Meatballs
- ½ lb ground chicken
- 2 tsp ginger juice (grated and squeezed from 1½-inch, 3.8-cm knob; see Step 1)
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp cornstarch
- 6 Tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
- 3 Tbsp green onions/scallions (finely chopped)
- ½ large egg (50 g each w/o shell) (beaten)
For the Stew
- chicken meatballs (see instructions; skip for vegan/vegetarian)
- 1½ lb cod fillet (skip for vegan/vegetarian)
- 8 shrimp (skip for vegan/vegetarian)
- 6 oz sliced pork belly (skip for vegan/vegetarian)
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (skip for vegan/vegetarian)
- 14 oz medium-firm tofu (momen dofu)
- ½ head napa cabbage
- ¼ carrot (for decoration; sliced and cut out with a vegetable cutter)
- 2 Tokyo negi (naga negi; long green onion)
- 6 green onions/scallions
- 4–6 shiitake mushrooms
For Serving
- ponzu (or make my Homemade Ponzu recipe)
- sesame dipping sauce (goma dare)
- 2–3 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice (or serve precooked udon noodles)
Instructions
To Make the Broth
- Gather all the ingredients for the broth. This 6-inch grater works great for grating ginger and collecting the ginger juice. In this recipe, we use only the juice of the ginger.
- In a donabe clay pot, Dutch oven, or large pot, combine 6 cups chicken stock/broth, ¼ cup sake, ⅓ cup mirin, 2 Tbsp ginger juice, and 1½ tsp crushed garlic. Bring it all to a simmer over medium heat.
- Once simmering, transfer several spoonfuls of the broth into a measuring cup or small bowl. Then, add ½ cup white miso to the measuring cup and stir until smooth and combined.
- Gradually add the miso mixture back into the broth in the pot, stirring to dissolve any lumps. Once you‘ve incorporated the miso, do not let the broth boil. Turn off the heat as soon as the broth starts to simmer and small bubbles appear around the edges of the pot. Cover and set aside.
To Make the Chicken Meatballs
- Gather all the meatball ingredients.
- In a large bowl, combine ½ lb ground chicken, 2 tsp ginger juice, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, 6 Tbsp panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), 3 Tbsp green onions/scallions (finely chopped), and ½ large egg (50 g each w/o shell) (beaten). Using your hands, mix it all together.
- Once the mixture becomes pale and well combined, shape it into 1-inch (2.5-cm) chicken meatballs. If the mixture is too loose to form meatballs, sprinkle in additional panko, as needed.
To Prepare the Stew Ingredients
- Cut 1½ lb cod fillet into 2-inch (5-cm) chunks. Peel and devein 8 shrimp. Cut 6 oz sliced pork belly into 2-inch (5-cm) pieces. Trim the visible fat from 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs and cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Cut 14 oz medium-firm tofu (momen dofu) into 1-inch (2.5-cm) cubes. Separate ½ head napa cabbage leaves and cut them into smaller pieces. Finally, slice ¼ carrot and make decorative flower-shaped cutouts (called hanagiri) with a vegetable cutter.
- Cut 2 Tokyo negi (naga negi; long green onion) diagonally into pieces 1 inch (2.5 cm) long and cut 6 green onions/scallions into 2-inch (5-cm) lengths. Remove the stems of 4–6 shiitake mushrooms, making a decorative cut on the caps (called shiitake hanagiri), if desired.
To Set Up the Table
- Place all the stew ingredients—the meatballs, seafood, pork belly, chicken, tofu, carrot slices, napa cabbage, negi, green onions, and mushrooms—on platters. Set the platters on the table.
- Pour the ponzu sauce and sesame dipping sauce (goma dare) into individual dipping bowls at each place setting along with chopsticks, a soup spoon (optional), and a soup bowl.
- Set a portable gas burner on the table next to the platters of ingredients. Place the donabe or pot filled with the Chanko Nabe broth on top of the burner. If you don’t have a portable gas stove, you can cook the stew on the stovetop, transfer it to a large bowl, and serve it family style. Or, you can bring the pot to the table and enjoy each batch, then return it to the stove to start a new batch.
To Cook the Chanko Nabe
- Bring the broth to a simmer over medium heat. Once simmering, add the fish, tofu, tough parts of napa cabbage, negi, carrots, and some mushrooms. You don’t have to put all the ingredients in at once; you may cook in batches if you prefer. Cover to cook for 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the fish is cooked. Transfer the cooked food to individual soup bowls. Then, add the meatballs, meat (or more fish), and vegetables to the broth, and cook covered for 10 minutes. Be aware that the vegetables and tofu cook more quickly than the meatballs, seafood, and chicken.
- Keep the broth at a simmer the entire time. If the liquid gets low, add a little water or chicken broth to have enough liquid to heat the noodles or rice at the end. Even though you are thinning the broth, the flavorful ingredients you are cooking will continue to enrich it.
- When diners are ready for the final course, remove any solids in the broth and add 2–3 cups cooked Japanese short-grain rice or precooked udon noodles. Simmer until heated through, then ladle into the soup bowls and serve.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in the pot or in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 24–36 hours. Reheat to enjoy.
Can anyone tell me cook times for the possible add ins? Like how long do I let the pork belly or chicken thighs cook in the stew
Hi Caleb! In general, 10 minutes in the nabe, covered. 🙂
[…] A nabe is a traditional hot-pot made of veggies, meath or seafood cooked together in a big pot. Japanese people will make this food at home and eat it with their friends and family. However, you can also find it at time, in restaurants near ski resorts or in specialized shops in the city. It is really cheap, and you can buy the broth from supermarkets too, if you want to cook it yourself. There are a lot of different nabe out there, such as chicken nabe (鳥鍋, tori nabe), crab nabe (蟹鍋, kani nabe), sesame nabe (ごま鍋, goma nabe), kimchi nabe (きむち鍋)… but one of the most impressive ones has to be the famous chanko nabe (チャンコ鍋), a dish full of protein eaten by the sumo wrestlers.If you want to know how to make a nabe yourself, check out this article. […]
Tried this recipe for today’s dinner. We all loved it. Even my child who is not too much into Nabe.
It says 4 servings but it is enough for 8 ???? well eat out of this twice!
Hi Kessia! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe, even your child! 🙂 Thanks to your feedback, I changed it to 6. I think the original recipe says 4, and I’m always afraid someone would complain it wasn’t’ enough food for the specified amount, but I agree, I think it can feed 6 servings for sure. 🙂
I agree. It was so much food! This is for 6 hearty appetites or 8 more modest ones (or if some are children) as long as you serve at least rice with it.
[…] my cookie dough scoop as much as those cookie making bakers! Why? Because it is great to make uniformly-size meatballs, as well as keeping your hands […]
Thank you Nami! You have brought tears to my jp husband’s eyes. I am a Canadian girl, and he feels I finally understand him! 🙂
Aww thank you so much for trying this recipe and I’m so happy to hear you two enjoyed this recipe together. 🙂
I can’t wait to make this, and I actually have the cookbook too. We just had chanko nabe at the sumo stadium last weekend (at the Japanese restaurant on the 2nd floor, not the basement level), and it was SO flavorful, yet made even moreso by a miso/garlic paste that came with it. Do you know how to make that paste?? I think I’d put it in everything!
Hi Janelle! What a timing. I just finish photo shooting a miso recipe that will be posted next week. It’s miso, sesame, and garlic sauce and it’s really good. I can imagine using this sauce for this chanko nabe recipe… stay tuned!
Tried this dashi tonight with a more traditional nabe of pork, beef as well as
chicken dango and it was a real taste treat! No fish but all the same a great warm feast on a cold wet night. Thanks for this!!
Hi Don! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed chanko nabe! Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
i want have more recipe from you mam to learn…thankz for the recipe you shared…..
Hi Mary Jane! Thank you so much! Please subscribe to my newsletter (it’s free) so you will get notified when I publish my new recipes. 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/subscribe/
“If you **don’t want to try this dish,** but you don’t have a gas burner, you can cook the stew on the stovetop, transfer it to a large bowl, and serve it family style.”
Huh?
Hi JJT! Thanks so much for letting me know my error. I erased that sentence. I don’t know what I was thinking… probably I was half falling asleep when I was writing this… xD
Hi Nami,
I really love your recipe but I have a question. Can I use Saba fish or Mahimahi instead of Cod? and will it effect the flavour of the soup…..
Thank you
Hi Ve! Thank you so much! For hot pot, cod or usually white fish is used. I think mahimahi works, although I’ve never tried in hot pot. Saba has specific taste, and if you don’t mind, that’s okay. 🙂 If the fish is flaky, like cod, make sure to keep the skin on. 🙂
I have not been able to find cod with skin on where I live. The only trustworthy fish in the middle of the US is frozen. I’ve had WAY too many times buying “fresh” fish from a seafood dept., only to get home 20 minutes later and it stinks up my house before I even get it in the fridge (the one exception is Whole Foods, they seem to be the only grocer with consistently safe fish storing practices, but can be pricey).
I looooooooove salmon and can buy those frozen with skin on. Maybe I will try it with salmon next time. My cod filets did get pretty flakey and broke apart somewhat in the chanko nabe since they had no skin.
Wow – this dish looks amazing!!!! I love that you can substitute ingredients based on what you want or like as well! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Jennifer! Yeah Chanko Nabe is really easy to adapt! Thank you for reading my post! 🙂
I just ordered the cookbook because I never have luck with contests whoohoo! Cant wait to get it!
Hi Lori! You’ll enjoy this cookbook. 🙂 Most winners always respond to me saying “I never won anything before!”. 🙂 It might be you next time!!!!
At my household, when school session is in progress (5 times a week), Chanko Nabe is always served in the morning. The children are nourished so they can go through a rigorous day at school. My version of Chanko Nabe consists of chicken and assortment of vegetables. The broth is either homemade chicken broth or dashi based sauce (dashi, mirin, shoyo, and dash of sugar.) Koreguso is optional. The children like a boilded egg added as well.
For those of you interested in viewing how Sumo wrestlers prepare (and eat) Chanko Nabe, here is a two minutes clip: www3 (dot) nhk (dot) or (dot) jp/nhkworld/en/tv/sumo/sumopedia_5 (dot) html
Enjoy Chanko Nabe as my family does!
Hi Steve! Chanko Nabe is served in the morning?! I want to be your kid! My family might tag along with me. 🙂
Thanks for sharing the NHK world link! We love that channel.
Hi nami. My name is pervin and I live in singapore. I really enjoy trying out your recipes, thank you. I spent twenty two years in kobe, japan, and my husband and I love japanese food. Thanks again, have a happy weekend!
Hi Pervin! So you’re back in Singapore after 22 years in Japan. This is my 20th year in the US. 🙂 Hope you can get good Japanese food in Singapore (I’m sure you do!) but it’s great that you can cook Japanese food at home. 🙂 Thank you for your kind comment!
Hi Nami! I love your recipes, especially your hot pots. However, I’ve had people tell me gas burners aren’t safe for the indoors, and that if I cook. with it, the co2 gases will fill the house/could be deadly. Is there a special brand of gas stove that you use that’s safe? I can’t find much info on the internet about a safe open flame burner.
Hi Victoria! I listed the brand that I use here:
https://www.justonecookbook.com/shop/
It’s very common for Asian families in Asia and oversea to have a gas or electric burner at the table. You can get an electric burner too. The cooking time is minimal, and we usually turn off between so that it doesn’t overcook. So it’s not constantly on for… like 1 hour. You can mostly cook on the stove top, transfer to the table, then heat up a little before serving. When you add more ingredients you will turn on the heat, but it takes 10 minutes to cook in general. Then you can turn off etc. Honestly, I never heard of any gas burner accidents at the table…. but I understand cooking at the table might sound scary to non-Asian family. 🙂 It’s very fun to do – like fondu! Just make sure safety – like no paper around frame etc.. common sense stuff. 🙂
Victoria, I have one of the gas burner sets that are popularly sold at Asian markets. The manual comes with strict cautions and warnings of accidental death if you use it indoors, but also says it is safe for use inside a restaurant. The manual does not elaborate on why it is safe in a restaurant but not at home, leaving me to assume this has to do with room size and ventilation, but even that is a strange way to put it because I’ve eaten at some restaurants that have smaller rooms than some people’s dining rooms I’ve been in… so… it’s a little contradictory the way this manual states it. Basically if you’re gonna use one indoors, I would just suggest opening a window on both sides of the house (one in the room you’re in) to get an air current going, maybe turn on a fan. This is how we did it when I used mine. I know these are used commonly by Asian families indoors, and like Nami said, you don’t really hear of people dying from this, but the heavy warnings in the manual do make me feel uneasy, so I vent the room as a precaution. If it’s too worrisome, you could just take it outside. Definitely not worth taking the enjoyment from your meal if it concerns you.
Electric burners or induction heating ones are a safe alternative, but you can’t use donabe (earthenware pot) with it. Well, maybe you can use it on the metal coil type, but I don’t think it is recommended.