Mille-Feuille Nabe is a Japanese hot pot with “a thousand layers“ of napa cabbage leaves and pork belly slices simmered in a warming dashi broth. It’s perfect for a weeknight dinner or hot pot party!

Mille-Feuille Nabe is a simple Japanese hot pot made with layers of napa cabbage and pork belly slices cooked in a savory dashi broth. Prized for its visual appeal and balance of umami flavor, this dish creates an amazing harmonious taste from just a few ingredients.
If you’re craving more hot pot recipes, try my Shabu Shabu, Sukiyaki, and Yosenabe next!
Table of Contents

What is Mille-Feuille Nabe?
Mille-feuille nabe (ミルフィーユ鍋, 重ね鍋) is a Japanese hot pot dish named after the French term mille-feuille or “a thousand leaves.” The term refers to a French dessert of puff pastry layered with cream and powdered sugar. Mille-feuille nabe is likewise layered, but instead with tender cabbage leaves and pork belly slices in a favorite style of hot pot in Japanese homes.
Why I Love This Recipe
- Perfect for cold months – We love serving this dish at parties during the chilly months. You can prepare everything ahead of time and cook the hot pot right after your guests arrive.
- Gorgeous presentation – The layers of tender cabbage leaves make a wonderful addition to the dinner table.
- Layers of texture and flavors – The cabbage turns soft yet retains its tenderness, and the pork belly’s fattiness melts into the dashi broth.

Ingredients for Mille-Feuille Nabe
- Napa cabbage
- Pork belly slices
- Ginger
- Dashi (Japanese soup stock)
- Seasonings – soy sauce, sake, and salt
- Dipping sauce:
- Ponzu sauce
- Green onion
- Shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) – optional, for a spicy kick
Find the printable recipe with measurements below.
Jump to RecipeSubstitutions
- Napa cabbage: I love the natural sweetness of napa cabbage (compared to green cabbage), and the leaves are thinner and more tender. If you can’t find it, substitute baby bok choy or sliced daikon.
- Pork belly: JOC readers who don’t eat pork have tried this recipe with thinly sliced beef, and they loved it. Just a quick reminder that beef tends to release more scum as you cook, so be ready to skim off the scum and fat with a fine-mesh skimmer.

How to Make Mille-Feuille Nabe
Preparation
Step 1 – Make the broth and cut the ingredients. Prepare the soup broth. Slice the vegetables. Cut the napa cabbage into quarters and rinse them under water to remove dirt.


Step 2 – Layer. Layer the slices of pork belly between the cabbage slices, then carefully cut them into layered pieces about 2–2½ inches (5–6 cm) long.


Assemble
Step 3 – Pack the pot. Tightly pack the layered cabbage and pork into a pot, working your way toward the center. Insert the ginger slices between the cabbage and pour the broth on top.


Cooking
Step 4 – Simmer. Cover the lid and bring to a boil. Then, reduce to medium-high heat and simmer until the cabbage is tender and the pork is fully cooked. Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce by combining the sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl.


Step 5 – Serve. Serve with ponzu dipping sauce on the side.


Nami’s Recipe Tips
- Running out of cabbage? It can happen, especially if this is your first time making this dish. I recommend having shimeji mushrooms or enoki mushrooms as a backup filler for any empty space in the center of the pot.
- Pack the layers tightly! The key to making this nabe is ensuring the layers are tightly packed in. Cabbage releases water and shrinks as it cooks, causing the layers to loosen.
- Start by packing from the outer edges of the pot and work your way toward the center. I usually place the thicker cabbage leaves near the pot’s edge and the tender leaves in the center.
- Use one hand to hold the layers in the pot and the other hand to add more layers. Don’t worry if the layers become a bit loose; you can adjust them by bunching them up against each other as you add more.
Variations and Customizations
- Make it vegan. Some of our readers use Vegan Dashi and mushrooms or thinly sliced vegetables instead of pork belly, and they love it!
- Add more vegetables. Napa cabbage is the traditional choice, but you can add other thinly sliced veggies.
- Make a finishing course. With the leftover umami-packed soup, make a final dish called shime (〆, しめ) to end the meal. Simply simmer one serving of udon noodles, chuka soba (ramen noodles; Mr. JOC’s favorite), or steamed rice in the broth. I like to make Zosui with the rice by drizzling in the beaten egg as it simmers, then topping it with salt, ground white pepper, and chopped green onion.


What to Serve with Mille-Feuille Nabe
- Rice – Learn How to Cook Japanese Rice in a Pot on the Stove.
- Sides – Try Kinpira Gobo, Green Bean Gomaae, and Asazuke (Japanese Lightly Pickled Vegetables). Make them ahead of time. These dishes add a wonderful flavor and texture contrast.
- Noodles – My kids like to add frozen udon noodles to the leftover broth for the finishing course.




Storage and Reheating Tips
To store: Allow the nabe to cool uncovered, then store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge or up to 1 month in the freezer.
To reheat: Simmer leftovers in a saucepan over medium heat until warm, or microwave in 30-second intervals.
Frequently Asked Questions
I do not recommend using bacon in place of pork belly, as bacon is very salty and can often times be too fatty.
Yes, you can prepare and assemble everything ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. Hold off on adding the broth and cooking the cabbage until right before you’re ready to serve.

Mille-Feuille Nabe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 head napa cabbage (4 lbs, 1.8 kg)
- 1½ lb sliced pork belly (see Notes for where to buy it pre-sliced; or learn how to slice meat thinly at home; do not use bacon, since it‘s too salty)
For the Broth
- 8–10 slices ginger (peeled and thinly sliced from a 1-inch, 2.5-cm knob)
- 5 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) (use standard Awase Dashi, dashi packet or powder, or Vegan Dashi)
- 2 Tbsp sake
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
For the Dipping Sauce
- 1 green onion/scallion
- ponzu
- shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (optional, for a spicy kick)
Instructions
- Before You Start: Make 5 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock) of your choice. Here, I'll show you a quick version using my favorite dashi packet. First, add 2 dashi packets to 5 cups water in a saucepan. Start cooking over medium heat. When it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 2–3 minutes. Turn off the heat. Remove the packets from the saucepan, shake them a few times to release more flavor, then discard them. The dashi is now ready to use.
- Gather all the ingredients.
To Prepare the Ingredients
- To make the soup broth, combine 5 cups dashi (Japanese soup stock), 2 Tbsp sake, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, and ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt in a measuring cup or mixing bowl. Tip: Don’t reduce the salt since the napa cabbage will release liquid during cooking and dilute the soup.
- Peel and thinly slice the ginger knob into 8–10 slices ginger and set it aside.
- Thinly cut 1 green onion/scallion. Put the green onion in a small serving bowl to add later to the dipping sauce.
- Cut 1 head napa cabbage lengthwise into quarters. I like to cut just the white bottom half with a sharp knife, then pull apart the leafy top half with my hands. By tearing it naturally, you lose fewer leaves compared to slicing. DO NOT cut off the core from the wedges yet. They keep the leaves attached and make layering the pork belly much easier.
- Carefully wash the leaves without detaching them from the core. Drain well. Don’t throw away any leaves that naturally come off while rinsing. We’ll use them later on.
To Make the Layers
- Layer 1½ lb sliced pork belly into the napa cabbage wedges by placing one pork belly slice between each of the leaves. If the pork belly is longer than the cabbage wedge, trim the pork with kitchen shears and layer it in other parts of the wedge. If you have extra pork belly, put an additional slice in the outer layers that have wide leaves.
- Once you‘ve tucked in the pork belly slices, carefully cut off the hard cabbage cores without disturbing the layers. Cut each wedge into 4 pieces that are each about 2–2½ inches (5–6 cm) long. Keeping the layers of cabbage and pork neatly stacked as you slice.
To Pack the Pot
- Prepare a donabe or regular 10-inch pot (I used a 4.5 QT Le Creuset pot; if you‘re doubling the recipe, use two 10-inch pots or one larger pot). Begin to pack the ingredients starting from the edge of the pot and working your way toward the center. Turn the stacks on their side so the pink and green layers are visible. Position the layers parallel to the pot‘s side so they eventually form concentric circles in the pot.
- I usually place the thicker cabbage leaves near the edge of the pot and the tender leaves in the center. Make sure to pack the pot tightly as the layers will become loose during cooking.
- If you don’t have enough layers to pack the pot tightly, consider using a smaller pot or place other ingredients in the center. Here, I stuffed the napa cabbage leaves that came off when I cut and rinsed the cabbage. You can also put enoki mushrooms or shimeji mushrooms in the center.
- If you have extra layers, hold them in a deep baking dish or a container with a tall rim. You can add them to the pot later after you‘ve remove most of the cooked layers.
- Insert the thinly sliced ginger between the layers.
- Pour the soup broth into the pot with the cabbage and pork layers. If you are cooking at the table, bring the pot to the table. Otherwise, start cooking it on the stove (see below).
To Set up the Table
- At each place setting, prepare a medium bowl and a small dipping bowl for each person. To cook at the table, set it up a portable gas stove and place the pot on it.For the dipping sauce, add ponzu, the chopped green onion/scallion, and optional shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) to the small bowls.
To Cook and Serve
- Start cooking, covered, on medium-high heat. Once boiling, skim off the scum and fat on the surface using a fine-mesh skimmer. Then, reduce the heat to medium low and cook covered until the napa cabbage is tender and the pork belly is cooked through, roughly 8–10 minutes. Serve it hot dipped in ponzu sauce and enjoy!
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.
Notes
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on January 6, 2016, and updated with a new video and new images on November 10, 2023. It was republished with updated content on March 30, 2025.
love this recipe
Hi, Amy! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and providing a rating!
We truly appreciate your kind feedback.🥰
Happy cooking!
This was awesome! I’m not a hotpot fan generally, but I made this because my kids love hotpot. It was simple to make. I couldn’t find thinly sliced pork belly, so we substituted with other thinly sliced pork and it came out fine. The broth was delicious!
Hi Connie! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your feedback with us!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Hotpot! We hope you will try other Hotopot dishes as well.
Happy Cooking!🤗
https://www.justonecookbook.com/tags/hot-pot/
Just made this and my family loved it! Even my five year old helped with unrolling the pork belly (I bought a frozen shabu pack) and add in layers. Also used the ponzu substitute recipe since I didn’t have any at home. Thank you!
Hi Grace! We are glad to hear you and your family enjoyed making Nabe.
Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipes! 🤗
This looks amazing! I am googling what to substitute for pork belly and the internet is like “NOTHING!!”
Hi Amy! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe.
You can substitute thinly sliced beef. For more information, please see “Ingredient Substitutions” in this post. Enjoy! 🙂
Hi Amy,
You can actually substitute this with thinly sliced beef/chicken (can be found mostly in Asian supermarket, usually at hot pot isle, might need to double layer it), or if you hates meats, I believe you can do it with beancurd sheets (tofu skin), sliced kabocha or even carrot! Hope this helps 🙂
I love this recipe and I make it a ton, but I also like beef a lot more than pork, but whenever I use beef I find it gets overcooked too easily before the cabbage gets tender. Is there something I can change or am I doing it wrong?
Hello, Derek. Thank you for experimenting with Nami’s recipe!
You may use thicker sliced beef or double-layer beef if you prefer.
We hope you find this trick useful and enjoy the recipe. 🙂
A very interesting and unusual recipe, thanks for posting. I wonder if I can substitute pork belly with some beacon?
Hello, Sergey. Thank you for taking the time to read Nami’s post.
Yes, you can also use bacon. However, bacon contains salt, so using the same amount as pork belly may make it too salty.
We hope this was helpful!
Have made this twice in the last couple weeks and it’s been a hit. First time I followed the recipe directly and it reminded me of a soup my boss used to make when I worked at a Japanese restaurant; I actually would add ponzu sauce straight to it and it was one of my favorites. Second time, I used thin-sliced beef and it was also very tasty – kinda like shabu shabu – and I’m not sure which I like better. Also ended up adding daikon, onion, and shiitake – used twice as much broth to make sure it was covered but that’s just more for udon soup later! Recipe for soup is v easy to eyeball and adjust if needed (I like a little more sake in mine 🙂 ) and just an overall fairly easy weeknight dinner.
One other thing – other videos with similar recipes have the leaves separated differently – you pull them off the cabbage one by one and then nest them. I *think* I prefer doing this method because they just stack better and it’s easier to cut, but it also means larger sections of cabbage width-wise, so it’s kinda six one half dozen of the other. Both methods achieved the same goal.
Def added to our monthly rotation – just wish H-mart was closer so I could get good thin-sliced meats more often!
Hi Kelsey! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us!
We are glad to hear you enjoyed her recipe. 😊 Your version also sound so delicious! Happy Cooking!
Obsessed with this recipe! I’m going to keep making it until I get tired of it. It’s amazing how simple and few ingredients can make such a flavorful and delicious meal!
Hi Sally! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed Nami’s recipe. We hope you never get tired of it! 😊
Thank you so much for your kind feedback!
This has become a fast favorite – although streamlined, using dashi granules and konbucha instead of fresh dashi. Enjoying right now with homegrown Yuzu and Kyoto sake!
Hi Josh! Thank you so much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed the dish and that it’s one of your favorites now. Happy Cooking!🥂
Hello
Instead of pork, can I use thinly sliced hot pot meat?
Hi Carmen! Thank you for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
Yes, you can use beef or other types of meat, but please adjust the seasoning, including sugar, etc., as would like. We hope this was helpful!
I’ve made this recipe so many times in the winter. It’s by far one of my favorite hot pots!
Hi Sam! Aww. We are so happy to hear this is one of your favorite hot pots!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback. Happy Cooking!
I know this is already a vegetable dish but any ideas how if can be made pescetarian or vegetarian? It sounds super yummy but not too keen on eating meat. Thank you!
Hi Ashley! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
To make this vegetarian, we recommend using mushrooms instead of meat. Shiitake mushroom, Shimeji mushroom is recommended.
As for dashi, you can use Kombudashi. We hope this helps! 😊
Hello Namiko,
This napa cabbage looks so amazing. In the interest of keeping low fat, is there another
I can substitute for pork belly.?
Hi JEANNIE! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe!
To substitute the pork belly, you can try sliced Pork Loin.
We hope this works for you.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit with my family! I wanted more variety so I purposely left space in the centre to put shimeji mushrooms. Besides mushrooms, what other ingredients can I put into this hotpot for variety?
To prevent the cabbage and meat layers from falling apart as I pack them into the pot, I put a small empty bowl in the centre of the pot and used it to hold the outer layers upright. Once the outer layers were done, while I held the layers down, I asked someone to help me remove the bowl and stuff the centre with shimeji mushrooms.
Hi Jessica! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us!
Any ingredients that use for Nabe would go well with this pot. For example; Carrot, Enoki mushrooms, Shungiku (Tong Ho/Garland Chrysanthemum), Tofu, etc.
Here are Nami’s Nabe recipes, and we hope you find some ingredients that you would like to add.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/#search/q=nabe
We hope this helps!
If I don’t have napa cabbage could brussel sprouts be used in its place? Given nappa cabbage and brussel sprouts are from the same genus.
Hi Caroline, The taste will be different, but you can use Brussel sprouts too.
You can also try with Bok choy, Green cabbage, and Swiss chard. We hope this helps!