How To Slice Meat Thinly

Thinly sliced pork or beef is the key ingredient in many popular Japanese recipes.  Here’s how to slice meat thinly for delicious Japanese dishes like Sukiyaki, Okonomiyaki, and Gyudon!

For Japanese recipes that include pork or beef, the majority will list “thinly sliced meat” on the ingredients list.  Very thin slices  – about 1/8 inch or even thinner.  You can find packages of thinly-sliced meat at Japanese grocery stores like the ones pictured below. 

If you don’t live nearby a Japanese grocery store, or you just prefer to slice the meat yourself, follow these simple instructions.

Recipes with Thinly Sliced Meat

Thinly Sliced Beef

• Baby Carrot Beef Roll
• Beef Udon
• Bulgogi
• Gyudon
• Japchae (Korean Stir-Fried Noodles)
• Nikujaga (Beef and Potato Stew)
• Shabu Shabu
• Sukiyaki
• Teriyaki Steak Rolls

Thinly Sliced Pork Loin

• Crispy Tonkatsu Donburi
• Ginger Pork (Shogayaki)
• Hot Pot for One
• Miso Ginger Pork
• Potato Salad Pork Roll
• Soy Milk Hot Pot

Thinly Sliced Pork Belly

• BBQ Pork Belly
• Goya Champuru
• Honey Pork Belly
• Mille-Feuille Nabe
• Miso Soup with Yuzu Kosho
• Okonomiyaki
• Pressure Cooker Pork Belly (Kakuni)
• Tonjiru (Pork Miso Soup)
• Yaki Udon
• Yakisoba (Japanese Stir Fried Noodles)

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How to Slice Meat Thinly

Prep Time

10 mins

Total Time

2 hrs 10 mins

 

Course: How to

Keyword: thinly sliced meat

Ingredients

• premium-quality meat (tenderloin, top sirloin, strip loin, rib eye, pork loin or any cut of meat that is slightly more lean and a bit more firm).

Instructions

1. Put the meat in a single layer in a large freezer bag.

   
2. Remove the air from bag and close tightly.
   

3. Put on a metal tray (so the heat transfers faster) and freeze the meat for 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on the size of the meat and how fatty it is.

   

4. Take the meat out from the freezer. Each meat shown here is 1 pound and I had to freeze for 1.5 hours.

   

5. The meat is ready if the knife goes through smoothly and just firm enough for you to slice thinly. If the meat is too soft and you have trouble slicing, put it back into the freezer until it's firmer.

   
6. Slice against the grain using a gentle sawing motion. When you look at the beef, you will see the fibers of the meat are going in one direction. You need to cut across in the other direction to ensure the tenderness.
   
7. Here is the thinly-sliced meat.
   

8. You can wrap the meat in plastic wrap, put in a freezer bag, and store in the freezer.

   

Recipe Notes

Equipment you will need: 

• A very sharp knife (A dull knife will not slice nicely)
• A metal tray
• A large freezer bag

 

Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.

Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on September 21, 2013. The post has been updated with video and new images.