Enjoy my recipe for classic Japanese Ginger Pork (Shogayaki). With tender and thinly sliced pork loin in a sweet ginger sauce, this 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.
Table of Contents
What is Ginger Pork?
In Japan, we call this dish Shogayaki (生姜焼き). Shoga (生姜) means ginger and yaki means grill or fry. Here, we cook thinly sliced pork 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.
Ingredients for Shogayaki
The detailed recipe is in the recipe card below.
- 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 – We always use sake 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.
How to Cook Ginger Pork
- 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!
Cooking 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 country-style pork ribs.
Asian grocery stores may carry thinly sliced pork for hot pot. These “hot pot” pork slices are thinner than the ones 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) thick, you do not need to dust them 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 it 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 a 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
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Ginger Pork (Shogayaki)
Video
Ingredients
For the Ginger Sauce
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 2 Tbsp sake
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp ginger juice (divided; grated and squeezed from 2-inch, 5-cm knob; use the other half for marinating the pork)
- 2–3 tsp ginger (grated; leftover from juicing the ginger; optional, to taste)
- ½ onion (grate 1 Tbsp with juice for ginger sauce; use the rest to slice and stir-fry later)
For the Shogayaki
- ¾ lb thinly sliced pork loin (I use paper-thin sliced pork from a Japanese grocery store; or slice your own meat)
- 1 Tbsp sake
- 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- 1–2 Tbsp neutral oil
- freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Make the Ginger Sauce
- In a small bowl, combine 2 Tbsp soy sauce, 2 Tbsp mirin, 2 Tbsp sake, and 1 tsp sugar 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 use a ceramic grater that I love), grate the ginger, keeping the juice. Collect the grated ginger and squeeze 1 Tbsp ginger juice. Divide the juice. (Reserve the other half of the juice to marinate the pork later.)
- Add half of the ginger juice to the sauce bowl. Then, add as much of the leftover grated ginger (optional) as you like to the sauce. My family likes a strong ginger taste, so we add about 2–3 tsp ginger, grated.
- Next, grate ½ onion until you get 1 Tbsp grated onion with juice. (Use the remaining onion to stir-fry later.)
- Add the grated onion with juice to the ginger sauce and mix it all together.
To Prepare the Ingredients
- Cut the rest of the ½ onion into thin slices.
- Now, prepare ¾ lb thinly sliced pork loin. If your pork slices are thicker than ⅛ inch (3 mm), cut several slits on the connective tissue (the white area) between the meat and fat. Red meat and fat have different elasticities, and they will shrink and expand at different rates as they cook. These slits will allow the pork to stay flat while pan-frying and prevent it from curling up.
- Sprinkle the other half of the ginger juice and 1 Tbsp sake on the pork slices. Set aside for 5 minutes. Tip: Sake and ginger juice helps to remove the pork‘s gamey odor.
- When you‘re ready to cook the pork slices, lightly sprinkle them with 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour (plain flour). If your pork slices are paper thin—less than ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick—you do not need to dust with flour. Tip: Dusting with flour prevents the pork from drying up and keeps the juices inside the meat.
To Cook the Pork
- Preheat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add 1–2 Tbsp neutral oil. Then, add the pork slices in a single layer, turning them over once the bottom is golden brown. Cook in batches so the meat sears properly; you don‘t want to steam the pork in an overcrowded pan.
- 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 it in the sauce later.
- Once you‘ve removed the pork, add more oil to the pan (especially if your pan is not non-stick) and add the onion slices.
- Sauté the onion slices on medium heat until golden brown, about 6–8 minutes. When the onion slices are tender and translucent, add the pork back to the pan.
- Stir the sauce one last time to make sure the sugar is not at the bottom of the bowl and pour it over the pork. Bring the sauce to a simmer and spoon it over the pork for about 2 minutes. Season with freshly ground black pepper to taste (optional).
- When the sauce has thickened, the Ginger Pork is done. Transfer it to a serving plate and enjoy.
To Serve
- We often serve Ginger Pork with thinly shredded cabbage. I use a cabbage slicer to shred it finely. I love eating the shredded cabbage with extra ginger sauce from the ginger pork, or serve it with a salad dressing of your choice, such as Japanese Sesame Dressing.
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.
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. 🙂