13 Japanese A5 Wagyu Recipes to Make at Home

In Japan, A5 Wagyu isn't served like a steak. It's sliced thin, served sparingly, and paired with rice, broth or raw vegetables. It isn't a question of price: it's that 200 grams of A5 on the plate overwhelms the palate within three bites. Here are thirteen Japanese ways to serve it, all tested and written for a home kitchen.

The three families

The thirteen recipes fall into three groups, depending on what you want from the evening.

1. With rice — everyday Japan

Rice absorbs the fat and balances each bite. It's the most common way to eat beef in Japan.

• The Wagyu bowl, three ways — everyday gyudon, in three different seasonings.
• Seared Wagyu nigiri — fifteen grams per piece, seared with a torch.
• Wagyu onigiri — the stuffed rice ball, the one for lunch and train rides.
• Wagyu-wrapped rice balls — the beef on the outside, seared in a pan.
• Charcoal-grilled Wagyu, matcha risotto — the most elaborate recipe in the series.

2. Raw, chilled or in broth — when the fat should stay light

Here, the Wagyu barely cooks. This is where you taste the marbling best.

• Shabu-shabu — a few seconds in a kombu broth, at the table, everyone cooking their own.
• Chilled Wagyu and carrot salad — seared then cooled, served as a starter.
• Spicy Wagyu salad — the chili plays the counterpoint.
• Wagyu spring rolls — fresh, crunchy, no long cooking.
• Wagyu vegetable rolls — vegetable sticks, thin slices, a flash of heat.

3. Over the fire — yakiniku and cuts to share

Japanese grilling is done in slices, never in thick steaks.

• Barbecued Wagyu skewers — the simplest yakiniku formula.
• Bone-in striploin, the centerpiece — for entertaining, sliced in front of your guests.
• The Wagyu sando — white sandwich bread, tonkatsu sauce, a cult bite in Tokyo.

Four rules for all thirteen

• A dry pan. Never oil or butter: Wagyu melts in its own fat. Start with the fat cap, it's enough to grease the pan.
• Very hot, very quick. On a thin slice, one minute per side at most. The fat melts at around 25 °C: the longer it cooks, the more the cut drains away.
• Salt at the end. Salted beforehand, the beef releases its water and boils instead of searing.
• Slice it cold. Twenty minutes in the freezer before slicing thin: the blade cuts cleanly and the fat doesn't stick.

Which cut for which recipe

Full details are in our guide to the cuts.

Frequently asked questions

How much A5 Wagyu per person?

60 to 100 g for a Japanese main course, 15 g per nigiri, about 80 g per guest for shabu-shabu. Beyond that, the richness becomes overwhelming.

Do you need oil to cook Wagyu?

No. The pan should be dry and very hot; start by laying down the fat cap, it melts and is all you need.

Can you eat A5 Wagyu raw?

Yes, as a carpaccio or a knife-cut tartare, as long as you work very cold and serve right away.

Which sauce goes with Japanese Wagyu?

Ponzu, light soy sauce, sesame. Avoid thick sweet sauces, which add to the fat instead of cutting through it.

Everything for these thirteen recipes

Thin slices

A5 striploin, 200 g

Add

For the grill

A5 ribeye, 200 g

Add

The shabu-shabu broth

Rausu kombu, 150 g

Add

The all-purpose sauce

Sesame ponzu

Add

Add the shabu-shabu essentials to cart →

Further reading

• Wagyu through the eyes of twenty French Michelin-starred chefs
• How to pan-sear A5 Wagyu
• Buying authentic A5 Wagyu in France
• Wagyu traceability: the ten-digit number