Classic Japanese ginger pork (Shogayaki) recipe. Tender sliced pork loin in a sweet ginger sauce, Ginger Pork is one of my favorite homemade dishes. Ready in 20 minutes!
Ginger Pork, or what we call Shogayaki (生姜焼き), is a homey Japanese dish. I loved it when I was growing up and still enjoy it very much these days. When I miss home, I’d often cook this for our family dinner and for the kids’ bento lunches.
The tender, juicy pieces of pork coated in a sweet gingery sauce, and served over rice? Pure comfort food. Today I’ll show you how to make this popular mom-style food at home.
What is Ginger Pork
In Japan, this dish is called Shogayaki (生姜焼き). Shoga (生姜) means ginger and yaki means grill or fry. Here, thinly sliced pork is cooked with soy sauce, sake, and mirin along with ginger.
Each family makes their ginger pork slightly different so you’ll find some variations. Some cook it without onion, some make it without any sweetener (no mirin or sugar), some may include garlic, and some may use different cuts of the pork.
How to Cook Ginger Pork
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Thinly sliced pork – You can use other kinds of meat, but in Japan, Shogayaki always refers to a pork dish.
- Flour – This is a new trick I learned to make sure the pork is not dry. More about this later.
- Sake – Sake is always used to sprinkle on pork (or other meats) to remove any gamey smell and taste.
- Ginger – Prepare enough ginger as we’ll also be using the ginger juice.
- Ginger Sauce: soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, and juice from the grated ginger.
That’s it!
Overview: Quick Steps
- Make the ginger sauce.
- Pan-fry the pork slices in batches and take them out to a plate.
- Saute the onion until translucent.
- Add the pork back into the pan and pour the sauce.
- Once the meat is well coated with the sauce, transfer to a serving plate. Enjoy!
3 Important Tips to Make Juicy Ginger Pork
The biggest challenge with cooking pork is the meat can get dry and tough easily. Over the years, I’ve learned a few tips that help the pork stay moist and tender.
1. Use good quality pork
The quality of the pork makes a huge difference, and I have to mention this first.
There are two types of thinly sliced pork cut in Japan that are used for ginger pork: the first one is pork loin or pork chop, and the other one is country-style pork ribs (this post explains the cut in detail).
It’s up to your preference, but the country-style pork ribs have nice fat in the middle so it yields juicy meat.
2. Use thinner (⅛ inch or 3 mm-thick) pork
You can get a conveniently sliced and packaged “Ginger Pork Cut” at Japanese grocery stores. This cut is pork loin (pork chop), not the country-style pork ribs.
Asian grocery stores may carry thinly sliced pork for hot pot. These “hot pot” pork slices are thinner than the one we use for ginger pork. I personally do not mind these thin pork slices but keep in mind that you can’t “sear” paper-thin pork slices. The sliced meat will shrink and curl up (which is ok!) but it will be more of a stir-frying style.
If you don’t live near a Japanese market or Asian market, you can easily slice your own meat (follow my tutorial). Make sure your slice is less than ⅛ inch (3 mm). Thick pork slices get chewy and tough.
3. Make slits
It’s very important to make several slits on the connective tissue (white area) between the meat and fat. Red meat and fat have different elasticities, and when they are cooked, they will shrink and expand at different rates. These slits will allow the pork slices to stay nice and flat when pan-frying and prevent them from curling up.
If you don’t make slits, the sliced pork tends to curl up and it takes a longer time to cook evenly while other parts get overcooked.
4. Dust the meat with flour
This is a new trick I learned from my good friend and I’m totally sold by the great outcome, so I’ve been using this method when I make ginger pork.
The role of the flour here is to prevent the pork from releasing the moisture/juice from inside the meat. Oftentimes, thinly sliced pork gets so dry because the moisture is released from the meat as it cooks. The thin layer of the flour also absorbs the delicious ginger sauce, which results in more juicy meat.
Please note: If your pork slices are paper-thin, which is less than ⅛ inch (3 mm) thickness, you do not need to dust with flour.
5. Don’t overcook
The rule of thumb for cooking pork is never to overcook it. When the pork is no longer pink, remove from the heat as soon as possible, and yes, even when it does not have a nice ideal sear yet. It’s more important to have tender meat than nicely seared meat.
Remember, the remaining heat will continue to cook while cooking the onion, and we will cook the pork again in the sauce; therefore, don’t worry if you think it’s slightly undercooked.
What to Serve with Ginger Pork
You will notice that ginger pork is usually served with thinly shredded cabbage. You can cut the cabbage into thin slices with a sharp knife, or you can use a cabbage slicer as I do. My mom recommended it years ago and I love it!
I love eating the shredded cabbage with extra ginger sauce from the ginger pork. You can serve it with salad dressing of your choice, such as Japanese Sesame Dressing.
More Delicious Pork Recipes on JOC:
- Asian Pork Chop
- Pan-Fried Ginger Pork Belly from Kodoku no Gurume
- Tonkatsu
- Tonteki
- Honey Garlic Pork Chops
- Miso Pork and Eggplant Stir-Fry
Tableware from Musubi Kiln
I’ve partnered with a great ceramic online shop from Japan called Musubi Kiln. You will get 10% off with a coupon code JUSTONECOOKBOOK for your purchase. In this post, I’ve used:
- Fuji Kutani Chopstick Rest Set
- Soukyu Kiln Plum Flower Kutani Sauce Plate
- Soukyu Kiln Treasure Bag Kutani Sauce Plate
- Atelier Yu Brilliant flower Kutani Rice Bowl
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Ginger Pork (Shogayaki)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 knob ginger (2", 5 cm)
- ½ onion
- ¾ lb thinly sliced pork loin (I use sliced pork for "ginger pork" from a Japanese grocery store; If you can't find paper-thin meat, slice the meat on your own. See the tutorial on how to cut meat paper-thin.)
- 1 Tbsp sake (for pork)
- 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour) (for pork)
- 1-2 Tbsp neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, rice bran, canola, etc) (for cooking)
- freshly ground black pepper (optional sprinkle at the end)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make the Ginger Sauce
- In a small bowl, combine all the ingredients for the ginger sauce.
- Scrape off the outer ginger skin with a knife (or spoon) and cut off any tough parts.
- Using a grater (I love this one!), grate the ginger, keeping the juice. Collect the grated ginger and squeeze the liquid. You will need 1 Tbsp ginger juice.
- Add ½ Tbsp ginger juice (keep the rest for later) and add grated ginger as much as you like. We like the gingery taste, so we add about 2-3 tsp.
- Next, grate the onion until you get 1 Tbsp of grated onion, including juice. Keep the rest of the onion for later.
- Add the grated onion to the ginger sauce and mix it all together.
To Prepare the Ingredients
- Cut the rest of the onion into thin slices.
- If your pork slice is more than ⅛ inches (3 mm), you should make several slits on the connective tissue (white area) between the meat and fat. Red meat and fat have different elasticities, and when they are cooked, they will shrink and expand at different rates. These slits will allow the pork slices to stay nice and flat when pan-frying and prevent them from curling up.
- Sprinkle the rest of ginger juice and 1 Tbsp sake.
- If your pork slices are paper-thin, which is less than ⅛ inch (3 mm) thickness, you do not need to dust with flour. When you're ready to cook the pork slices, lightly sprinkle with flour. It prevents the pork from drying up and keeps the moisture/juice inside the meat.
To Cook the Pork
- In a large frying pan, heat oil on medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, cook the pork slices in a single layer, turning them over once the bottom is golden brown. Cook in batches so the meat can be seared properly without steaming the meat.
- When the pork is no longer pink, transfer to a plate; make sure not to overcook the pork at this stage as we will continue to cook in a sauce later.
- Once the pork is done cooking, add oil (especially if your pan is not a non-stick) and onion.
- Saute the onion on medium heat until golden brown, about 6-8 minutes. When the onion is tender and translucent, add the pork back in.
- Mix the sauce one last time and pour over the pork. Bring the sauce to simmer and spoon the sauce over the pork for about 2 minutes.
- When the sauce is thickened, transfer to a serving plate.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for a month.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on June 20, 2011. The images and blog content have been updated and a new video is added in September 2021.
Thank you for your time, effort continued Japanese food content. I’ve used many recipes, but also have gained experience from your technique & tips.
Hi Helen! Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed many recipes, and techniques and tips were beneficial to you. Happy Cooking!
Dear Nami,
I made your recipe for Shogayaki tonight exactly as you gave it …along with one of your cucumber salads & a Napa salad (following your recipe). I also made boiled rice using a mixture of different rices including Chinese “Black Rice”. The result was totally delicious.
Thank you, Richard
Hi Richard! Thank you very much for trying many of Nami’s recipes and for your kind feedback!
Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear you enjoyed the meal! Happy Cooking!💞
Hi! I saw this recipe for Soy-seared Pork (Butaniku no tatsuta yaki) using chopped pork shoulder, sake, mirin, soy sauce, ginger, mayonnaise & potato starch. I’m unsure how finely chopped the pork shoulder is – Is that like making meatballs ? Then I saw your recipe so I’m wondering if this is the same, but there’s not recipe. Do you know that recipe? Hoping to see your version!
Hi Elle! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
There are many ways to make Tatsuta Yaki, and we are unsure if that is like the meatballs. If the recipe is using chopped pork, it is probably the meatball shape.
Unfortunately, We currently don’t have the Tatsuta Yaki recipe on the site, and we think the closest one is this one: https://www.justonecookbook.com/teriyaki-pork-balls/.
We hope this helps!
Ginger pork for dinner tonight! Your recipes always “oishiso’ (I just learned this word from my daughter last night). Always look to JOC for ideas and I look around my kitchen for the ingredients. I used thin sliced pork belly~ paper thin. I doubled the amount of ginger and garlic and added thin sliced round onion. And I learned something new tonight grated round onion, never used that before. I think I will be using it more often. The flavors were delicious and the pork belly melts in your mouth. There were no leftovers so I guess my family loved it too. They didn’t say much they were too busy eating… hahaha!
Next I think I’m going to try the grated onion in some sashimi and poke dishes.
Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Scott! Wow! What a nice photo! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and sharing your cooking experience with us!
We are so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the dish very much! 😊
Grated onion is commonly used for Japanese cooking, and you may find the technique in Nami’s other recipes.
Here are a few examples;
Garlic Onion Chicken:https://www.justonecookbook.com/chicken-with-garlic-onion-sauce/
Wafu Dressing (Japanese Salad Dressing):https://www.justonecookbook.com/wafu-dressing-japanese-salad-dressing/
We hope you try them in many ways! Happy cooking!
Thank you! I will try it out.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was so good!! As soon as I added the sauce the aroma just took me back to my Aunt’s kitchen in Japan! Glad I found this recipe thank you Nami!!
Hi Mariko! We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback.
My husband went completely crazy over this dinner (I added your potato recipe to the side also), many memories from living in Tokyo for him. Thank you very, very much.
Hi Hayley! We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
Ginger pork was fantastic and quick! I am never disappointed with your recipes. Arigato.
Hi MrsBing, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so glad to hear you enjoy many recipes from our site.🥰
Made this for lunch today and it was absolutely delicious! I’ve tried many of your recipes and they never disappoint, they always came out perfect. Thank you Nami for sharing such an easy and super delicious recipes for us home cooks. Your website is my go to for new and exciting ideas during this pandemic ❤️.
Hi Cindy, We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you!
Thank you very much for trying many recipes from the JOC website and for your kind feedback. Happy Cooking!
Wow, very nice recipe. The pork is juicy and very soft. I do marinate the pork in ginger first though to remove the pork odour. I think adding the sauce at the end with grated onion and ginger make the dish very tasty and the pork v soft. Thanks for the recipe Nami san.
Hi Lee, We are glad to hear you enjoyed Nami’s recipe!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for sharing your cooking experience with us.
Question for you – I am not able to use alcohol in my cooking for various reasons and wanted to know if you have any ideas of substitutes for both the mirin and sake? I know most people say cooking it gets rid of the alcohol but it actually takes up to 3 hours of cooking in order to do so and I don’t think it would work for this recipe 🙂 Thanks for all of your great recipes!
Hi Kora, Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
Mirin can be substitute with non-alcohol mirin or water with sugar. Sake can be substitute with water or broth.
Here is the post where Nami explains more about it. https://www.justonecookbook.com/sake-mirin/
We hope this is helpful.🙂
Another successful test of the recipe in this website. I think the onion made the pork tender and juicy. I dont normally like pork because of the meat smell. The sauce i think masking it and made it nice and easy to eat (also easy to cook). Thanks again for the recipe!
Hi Lee! Yay! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Shogayaki. Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.🥰
Great recipe! I made it last week for lunch…yum!
Hi Clee, Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
I used white pepper instead of black pepper but the flavor was rich and quite savory! Thank you for sharing this recipe! I cook after work to relax and destress and this certainly helped, so thank you.
Hi Meria!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe, and it helped to distress you!🙂
I made this last night. It was quick and delicious. Mine didn’t seem as crispy as yours. The pork may have been too wet with the marinade. I served it with shredded red cabbage, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and Jasmine rice. This is do again :).
Hi Nick,
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback!
Next time, if you prefer your pork to be more crispy, we recommend cooking a little longer in the pan after you pour the sauce.
We hope this helps! 😉
I have tried many recipes from your blog and this is another one of my favorite. Such simple ingredients with so much flavour. I had some cabbage on hand and I used it as a side with one of the yuzu dressing recipes I found in your site. Just loved it. My kids weren’t super eager but my husband loved it.
Hi Maggie,
Thank you so much for trying many of Nami’s recipes and for your kind feedback. You have no idea how much your kind words meant to us!
Thank you for sharing your cooking experience with us!
Love this recipe! Simple, quick and I love being able to create restaurant-level flavours in my own home 😃👍
Hi A Happy Bunny! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe! Your kind words mean so much to me! Thank you for your feedback. xoxo
Mmm, thank you! This is my third time making this, this time being made with tenderloin. Every single time has been a great success, winning me the best wife award.
I’m trying to wear my way into veganism. Do you think I could marinate tofu in the onion, ginger, garlic, and seasonings, then proceed with the recipe?
Hi Meghan! I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe! Thanks so much for your kind feedback. Yeah, it might be even tastier with deep-fried tofu (thicker kind) so it has spongy, a bit greasy (tasty!) flavor added! Let me know how it goes!
Simply delicious!
Thank you Adriana! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I made this for my wife & I tonight, it was a huge hit. Thanks for the straightforward & delicious recipe.
Hi David! I’m so happy to hear your wife and you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for trying it and for your kind feedback! 🙂
What did you serve this with? It looks like shredded cabbage. Is there a marinade on the side dish? I searched your recipes, but couldn’t find one that looked like your plate. Thanks.
Hi Holly! Yes, it’s shredded cabbage. Usually ginger pork is served with thinly shredded cabbage (I recommend this tool – super fluffy and airy shredded cabbage! https://aax-us-east.amazon-adsystem.com/x/c/QtOGwNDKIn3PilGZoa2A424AAAFsCkbn5gEAAAFKASA3Wx4/https://assoc-redirect.amazon.com/g/r/https://amzn.to/2lAaqVQ?linkCode=w61&imprToken=vhOFS6AwAe5zUvzSm358sg&slotNum=469).
We usually use Japanese dressing like sesame dressing or wafu dressing for the cabbage.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/sesame-dressing/
https://www.justonecookbook.com/wafu-dressing-japanese-salad-dressing/
How does one go about reviewing a recipe for a dish? Is it based on the end result of what you created? Is it based on how easy the instructions are to follow to execute the dish properly as the chef intended? I think honestly one should review a recipe based on the journey it to took you on.
My journey started early yesterday afternoon when I went down to my local friendly butcher and ask for a beautiful cut of deboned pork loin. Then it was off to the grocery store to hunt for Mirin (an ingredient that is NOT easy to find in my home town) and a large stick of fresh ginger. My journey took me back home where I popped the pork loin in the fridge, sharpened my beloved carving knife, and made the sauce as per the recipe instructions (I had to make adjustments, as I was cooking for my wife’s family and had a large amount of pork loin to cook).
When I tasted the sauce for the first time, I knew that it meant serious business. This dish was gonna knock everyone’s socks off! After prepping for my other dishes, I took the pork loin out and lovingly felt the cold firmness of the slab of meat on my plank. Then gently and patiently I took my time to slice this big hunk of pork into 26 beautifully thin portions. Then I simply followed the steps of recipe above.
Now to give you an idea of my family, we are all of Dutch and German decent, and my wife’s side of the family really don’t have much exposure to Asian cuisine. These are simple down to earth folk who really like there meat saucy and in big chunks, their potatoes to be soft boiled and crispy roasted, and delicious sides of mashed veg.
You will not believe how a table full of rowdy people went very quiet for about five minutes while eating the shogayaki. For them it was a brand new experience of flavour combinations, of experiencing thinly sliced meat prepared in a way that they would never have ordinarily considered doing. The shogayaki was an amazing and resounding success!
And so my journey came to an end, and I can only say “Thank you Nami!” for sharing this wonderful recipe. Thank you for your easy to follow instructions. Thank you for teaching me how to cut meat into thin thin slices. Thank you for allowing me to make my family smile.
Hi Jacques! I’m sorry for my late response. I enjoyed reading your review and I want to thank you for your kind and genuine feedback. I am so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed the dish. Your story on cooking this dish was very descriptive and I could imagine the scene. 🙂 Thank YOU for trying my recipe and writing this wonderful review. 🙂 xo
My girlfriend’s family and I loved the taste of the pork! For sure going to be making this recipe regularly.
Hi Amy! I’m so happy to hear you and your GF’s family enjoyed this recipe! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. 🙂
I made this for lunch today and it was delicious. Thank you!
Hi PN! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and I’m so happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Delicious and so easy to make! I followed the recipe to the tee….and so glad I did! My husband requested, I make this 3xs a week…LOL!
Hi Doris! AHAHAHA! AWESOME! I’m so happy to hear that. I could eat shogayaki 3 times a week and I don’t even mind eating the leftover for lunch. 😀 I’ve recently shared MISO ginger pork. Try that too. SOOOO good! 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback, Doris!
Another winning dish! Everyt one of your recipes I’ve tried has been a big hit with my family. Thank you.
Hi John! Awesome, so happy to hear that! At least we have similar tastebud. I test my recipes many times before posting, so hopefully it works for your family too! Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
My family absolutely loves this recipe! My daughter is possibly the pickiest eater on the earth and she absolutely devours it. She’s constantly asking for me to make “ginger pork” several times each week. The only change I made was instead of leaving the port as thin cutlets, I cut them into bite sized pieces so the kids don’t have to cut them up. Non-traditional, I know, but it tastes the same. Of note: in Hawaii we were able to get real Mirin, whereas in Korea I’ve only been able to find the flavored corn syrup/alcohol mixture they sell at grocery stores so far…there’s absolutely no comparison with the real thing! A bottle of real Mirin isn’t that expensive and worth every penny!
Hi Eric! I’m so happy to hear your family enjoyed this recipe! The ginger taste is quite addicting and it helps bring appetite. 🙂 Cutting them up totally works! I use Hon Mirin too as I think it makes it difference. 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback!
Thank you Nami for this recipe! I made this for my family last night with rice and miso soup and everyone loved it. Thank you again!
Hi Anita! I’m so glad to hear your family enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback, Anita! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Made this dish a coupleof times already. Simply delicious. Actually, I found the recipe somewhere else but the instructions were not very clear so I checked your site and followed it instead. It was much easier with pictures. Thanks again and keep up the good work!
Hi Natcha! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and tried it a couple of times already! Good to know there was the original source written there so you could find my site (hope my recipe wasn’t stolen…). Thank you for your kind feedback!
Actually, when I said I found the ricipe somewhere else I meant the ginger pork recipes in general. There are quite a few out there but none is exactly the same. Yours is the only one with step by step pictures hence my favourite source of reference when in doubt.
Hi Natcha! Thank you so much for letting me know. I often deal with website contents that steal my recipes (copy and paste to their site)… so I was a bit worried. I understood what you meant. Thanks for clarifying. I’m happy to hear you like my instructions with step by step pictures. 🙂
Great recipe! Easy, delicious and satisfying. Cannot wait to try the others!
Hi Sara! So happy to hear that. Thank you so much for your kind feedback. 🙂
I made this for dinner last night. I posted a photo of it on your facebook page. Looks almost like your picture!
Hi Tina! I just saw the picture! Thanks so much for sharing it on Facebook. It looks delicious, and yeah it looks like mine! 🙂 Hope you enjoyed the recipe. xo
I made this tonight and it turned out great! Thanks for posting this!
Hi Naomi! Thanks for trying this recipe! So happy you liked it! 🙂
Can we substitute pork with chicken for this ginger sauce recipe?
Hi Isabel! Pork gives oil/fat to the dish which adds the specific flavor… with chicken, it’s more lean (and healthy!) but kind of lacks that flavor. However, this is totally preference and you may not feel “missing out”. 🙂 I still recommend pork for this recipe, but yes, you can make it with chicken. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Hi Nami,
I made your recipe for ginger pork today, but I used the pork chops I had in my freezer. My oldest son, who is a very picky eater, said this recipe is a keeper. He loved, loved it!!!!!!! So it was a successful dinner. Both my sons enjoyed it.
Thank you! Have a great 4th of July.
Hi Susan! I’m so happy to hear your son loved it!! 🙂 Thank you so much for letting me know! I hope you had a great 4th of July. 🙂
Absolutely delicious! I’m so lucky to have a 99 Ranch Market and an H Mart in Houston, so it was easy to find the Sukiyaki sliced pork. They even label the package with the word “Sukiyaki” for us newbies. It is sliced thinner than all brands of prepackaged bacon, so it’s very easy to overcook. I heated my oil to medium hot, and it took less than 10 seconds on each side to fully cook the pork. Once it turns white, it’s done and it’s so tender. For an easy side dish, I cooked jasmine rice and added sauteed onion, garlic, and celery (all finely chopped) and a small amount of soy sauce. Thank you very much for posting the Ginger Pork, Nami. My next ventures will be your Yakisoba and Okonomiyaki. Just saying those names makes me feel like a chef!!!!
Hi Helen! I am glad you found a sliced pork package! Shabu shabu meat is even thinner, so be careful when you pick the meat. Yes, meat is so thin that cooking time is very short. You pretty much brown it and pour the sauce and done! Your side dishes look fantastic! I’m so happy you enjoyed the meal. 🙂 You can find Yakisoba noodle and Yakisoba sauce in 99 Ranch too. If you find Otafuku brand, that’s what I like best. Both are my favorite dish because I love sauce so much… if you also like Japanese mayonnaise, mix mayo and Okonomiyaki (or tonkatsu) sauce on a side of the dish, and dip Yakisoba/Okonomiyaki in this sauce…. My friend in Osaka told me that’s how you eat in Osaka area and I really love eating this way…. 😉 Enjoy!