Here’s a Beef Tataki recipe, a modern Japanese favorite with thinly sliced beef in a citrusy dressing. Choose a deluxe restaurant version with beef tenderloin, crispy potato straws, and garlic oil for entertaining, or a quick meal with steak and packet crispy shallots for Monday nights. Impressive either way!
This recipe is one of the mains in the fusion Japanese banquet menu I shared yesterday, pictured below.
Beef tataki
Tataki is a Japanese dish where a protein (usually fish or beef) is briefly seared on the outside, thinly sliced then served with a citrusy sauce. It’s a popular starter at modern Asian restaurants, the sort of food that appeals to everyone – meat lovers as well as those who enjoy the more refined Asian fusion dishes (think: Spicy Tuna Crispy Rice Cakes, that sort of thing!).
But it’s dish you pay dearly for, around $30 for a small serving (6 to 8 slices) at higher end restaurants. So the plate pictured in this post would cost around $80 at a restaurant (plus parking plus wine plus everything else!), compared to around $20 – $28 for the ingredients (the price of beef is a big variable).
My mother is quick to point out that beef tataki is not traditional, you only find fish tataki in Japan (here’s her Tuna Tataki recipe). So beef tataki recipe falls outside the domain of RecipeTin Japan (“authentic Japanese recipes”) which gives me the rare opportunity to post a Japanese recipe. Albeit a modern one. I’ll take that!
Choose: Restaurant v Monday-night version
Today, I’m sharing two versions of Beef Tataki.
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Restaurant: a copycat of beef tataki I’ve had at lovely modern Asian restaurants here in Australia and in Japan. Thin slices of seared rare-cooked beef tenderloin with a Yuzu dressing, a mound of crispy potato straws and drizzled with garlic infused oil.
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Monday-night Beef Tataki version: Named as such because it’s simple enough to make midweek, and also a lighter way to serve steak than with richer steak sauces like Béarnaise and creamy sauces like Peppercorn or Mushroom Sauce (doesn’t everyone kick off the week swearing to “eat healthy”? 😂)
Ingredients for Beef Tataki
As noted above, I’m offering two recipe options here – restaurant version vs and easy Monday night option. So take your pick!
BEEF TENDERLOIN
Beef tenderloin is a lean, tender cut of beef which makes it ideal for serving in a delicate dish like tataki. Because of the shape, you get a larger area of beautiful rare cooked red meat which makes this tataki extra-luxurious to eat.
Choosing the best beef tenderloin piece for tataki
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Shape – Choose a piece that is thinner and longer (250g/8oz that is 13 – 15cm / 5-6″ long) as it is easier to slice thinly than large thick blocks.
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Short and fat – If yours is shorter than 11.5cm / 4.5″ (which means it is wider), cut it in half horizontally to form 2 thinner pieces. It takes a very skilled knife master to cut a thick piece of beef like that into thin slices. (Partially freezing doesn’t work for such a thick piece either, you end up with solid outsides before the inside is semi-frozen).
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Trim to uniform thickness so the beef cooks through evenly.
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Weight – The recipe is written for a 250g/8oz piece but you can use a larger piece if you wish, there is enough sauce.
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Quality – Because this is cooked to rare, I recommend getting a good quality piece from your local butcher. But there’s no need to get premium quality like I would (strongly) recommend if making raw beef dishes like beef tartare or carpaccio. If you use an economical piece, I’d recommend cooking the beef to at least medium rare and be prepared to cut thicker slices (more well done = meat breaks more easily when finely sliced). Also, use a bigger piece because thicker slices = less slices!
steak option for tataki
In theory, you can make tataki with any cut of steak, but my personal preferences are:
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beef tenderloin steaks (filet mignon)
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sirloin/porterhouse (known as New York Strip in the US. Not to be confused with what the US call porterhouse steaks which is the equivalent of T-bones here in Australia). This is pictured below (fat trimmed). It’s a good option because it has a more beefy flavour than tenderloin.
Both of these cuts are tender enough to serve for a dish like tataki and also they are relatively lean so you won’t have large chunks of cold white fat.
yuzu dressing for tataki
Tataki is typically served with a citrusy dressing. I’ve opted for a homemade ponzu-style sauce with the addition of Yuzu, a Japanese citrus which tastes like a combination of lime and lemons (excellent subs!). The Yuzu gives this a touch of special (restaurants love it!) and distinct Japanese flavour.
However, Beef Tataki is the sort of dish that will work with various Japanese/Asian style sauces so I’ve listed some alternative sauce options below.
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Cooking sake and mirin – two essential sauces in Japanese cooking that can be found in the Asian aisle of large grocery stores these days, as well as Asian stores. They add depth of flavour into this sauce. If you can’t consume alcohol or find them, suggest using one of the alternate sauces listed below.
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Rice vinegar – substitute apple cider vinegar
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Japanese soy sauce – or Chinese light soy sauce or all purpose soy sauce. Do not use dark soy sauce (too intense, it will ruin the dressing).
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Yuzu – a distinctly Japanese citrus. Chefs go through phases when they’re obsessed with this, with menus everywhere filled with Yuzu this and Yuzu that! Find it in Asian and Japanese grocery stores, they are sold in small bottles like pictured below. Substitute with equal parts lemon and lime juice (it’s actually not far off).
alternative sauces
In case you can’t consume alcohol or can’t get all the ingredients for the Yuzu Dressing, here are alternative sauces/dressings that will also be terrific with beef tataki. If you use any of these, do not use the garlic oil as these dressings already have oil in them.
something crunchy!
A crunchy garnish always works well with these sort of dishes, to add texture contrast. For the restaurant-style beef tataki option, I’m using Crispy Potato Straws (blatant copycat from tataki I’ve had at restaurants). These superfine fries are the perfect garnish because they are delicately crisp and you can pile them up high so they add visual interest.
I’ve posted them as a separate recipe because they’re worthy! See Crisp Potato Straws (Pommes Paille).
Easy alternative – Rip open a packet of crispy fried shallots and sprinkle! They’re a perfect alternative – salty, crispy little pops of goodness. Pantry staple in my world – I use them so often, I even wrote a post about them!
Garlic infused oil
To get some lovely garlic flavour into this dish, I’ve opted for garlic infused oil. I prefer this to, say, mixing garlic into the dressing (which can be a little too harsh for delicate dishes like this). Garlic chips are a popular garnish option at restaurants, but again, I also find that the flavour can be a little too strong for this dish. But you do end up with crispy garlic chips, so feel free to use them!
Here’s what you need to make the garlic infused oil:
How to make beef tataki
Don’t be daunted by the step photos, it’s not hard. I’m just being generous with explanations because it’s a special dish! And remember, in its simplest form: cook a steak, slice it, and serve with one of the simple Asian dressings listed above. Monday Night Tataki is so good!
1. How to cook the beef for tataki
You will find that typical recipes call for beef tenderloin just to be pan seared briefly, which leaves the centre entirely raw. I prefer rare rather than raw beef for tataki, and to minimise the overcooked band of beef, I use a slow-roasted-reverse-seared method. See FAQ for more information on rare vs raw, and this method of cooking.
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Slow roast beef – Rub the beef with a little oil and sprinkle of salt. Then roast* for around 20 minutes at a low temperature (130°C / 275°F^) or until the internal temperature is 41°C / 105°F. To be safe, check first after 15 minutes. The internal temperature will rise to 49-51°C/120-124°F as it rests, which is rare.
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Sear – As soon as the beef is ready, sear it for just 10 seconds on four sides in a smoking hot skillet. This seals the outside and gives it some nice colour.
* Use a rack set on a tray to allow the heat to circulate evenly around the beef so it cooks through more evenly.
^ Typically, oven temperatures for fan-forced ovens is 20°C lower than standard ovens. However, at lower temperatures, this adjustment is not always necessary.
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Cool – Transfer the beef to a rack set over a tray. Cool on the counter for 30 minutes then refrigerate, uncovered, for 2 hours (up to 8 hours). Cold beef = easier to slice thinly.
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Slice – When you are ready to serve, finely slice the beef. Aim for 3mm / 1/16″ thick slices but up to 5mm / 1/8″ is fine. Don’t fret if you tear or the edges crumble. Once it’s plated up, sauced and garnished, you can’t tell!
2. Garlic infused oil
Here is now to make the garlic infused oil. There’s a good amount of garlic for just a bit of oil, so you get really good but smooth garlic flavour that complements without overwhelming the dish. Raw garlic in any form is a little harsh for a delicate dish like tataki, I find.
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Simmer & infuse – Place the garlic and oil in a tiny saucepan over low heat. Simmer for 5 minutes until the garlic is pale golden. Then turn the stove off and leave the oil to infuse for 15 minutes (the garlic will get a little more golden).
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Strain oil into a small bowl. Reserve garlic chips for another use (salad, poke bowl, noodles, fried rice!).
3. Yuzu dressing
The dressing has mirin and sake in it, so they need to be simmered briefly to remove the alcohol (else they taste a little too “winey”).
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Simmer the mirin and sake for 1 minute in a tiny saucepan.
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Mix – Let it cool for a few minutes, then mix with the remaining Dressing ingredients.
4. Crispy potato straws (pommes paille)
See the separate recipe for the full Crispy Potato Straws steps. In summary:
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Julienne potato – Use a julienne mandolin to cut the potato. it extra crisp)
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Fry – Then fry for just 1 1/2 to 2 minutes until golden and crispy. How easy it that!
Storage: This stays 100% crispy for 5 days. Make a big batch and munch on them like french fry crisps!
Plating up
OK, ready to assemble!
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Beef slices – Use a knife to carefully transfer the beef slices onto a plate. Lay them so they are overlapping slightly in any pattern you want. Don’t worry if they look a bit scruffy! Once it’s dressed, you can’t tell!
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Drizzle about 3 to 4 tablespoons of dressing over, getting some on every slice of beef with excess pooling around the edges. Don’t skimp on sauce! Then drizzle over about 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of the garlic oil.
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Pile a mound of the crispy potato straws in the middle. Pile high! Serve leftover potato straws on the side. They will disappear fast!
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Eat! Serve immediately, don’t leave it sitting around once dressed as the beef will weep and dilute the sauce.
how to make monday-night steak tataki
If you don’t have time to wait for the steak to cool, serve it warm. It’s still soooo good!
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Cook steak – Cook the steak to your liking in a screaming hot cast iron pan. Restaurants typically cook it to rare (sometimes raw!) but you can cook it to your liking. (Note: The more well done the steak is, the harder it is to cut into fine slices as the meat is more prone to breaking). See the cooked temperature of steak in the recipe notes.
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Slice – Rest then cool the steak for at least 1 hour, if time permits. Cool steak = easier to cut thinly. Though having said that, warm beef tataki is lovely!
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Plate up – Lay the steak in a line, overlapping slightly or just lined up next to each other.
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Sauce and garnish – Drizzle with sauce and oil of choice (see Ingredients section above for easy Monday night options). Sprinkle with crispy fried shallots and green onion. Then serve!
How to eat and serve Beef Tataki
Typically, you’ll see Beef Tataki as a starter on restaurant menus or as part of a multi-course banquet. And while it’s too pricey to consider as a main when dining out, it’s within reach when eating in! Serve it alongside a leafy Asian Salad or Slaw with fried rice or garlic rice, and you have yourself a lovely modern Asian meal.
As for how to eat it? (And yes, I totally realise how odd it sounds to include directions for how to eat beef tataki but I feel it is my duty to ensure that with every piece of beef, you get a bit of the toppings (especially if you’ve made the crispy potato straws!) and you squidge each piece of beef in the sauce before putting it in your mouth.
Squidging is key! Promise me you won’t forget! – Nagi x
PS Reminder – this recipe features as part of my special fusion Japanese menu! Designed especially with practicality in mind with much of it make-head.
Beef Tataki – Frequently asked questions
Fish tataki (tuna is popular) is a traditional Japanese dish. Beef Tataki is a little more common these days in Japan but it’s considered a more modern Japanese dish. But outside of Japan, both fish and beef are quite popular. For my mother’s traditional Japanese Tuna Tataki recipe, see here (on RecipeTin Japan).
I personally prefer rare beef tataki rather than raw. Restaurants serve it both ways, though if it’s not paper thin (which is very hard for home cooks to achieve) it is typically served rare rather than raw.
I enjoy raw beef for dishes like carpaccio and steak tartare where the beef is finely chopped / sliced or pounded paper thin. Beef tataki slices are a bit thicker – around 3 – 5 mm – so I prefer it to be rare.
I realise a few millimetres sounds minuscule, but it really does make the difference! A bit too much of a mouthful of raw meat sensation if it’s fully rare inside, as many recipes seem to direct. I know, I’m sooo particular! 😂
Both beef tenderloin and steak is used for beef tataki. Often at restaurants, you’ll see premium steaks used (wagyu is a firm favourite). Thick cut steak is best. For an elegant home version, I opt for beef tenderloin. I like how tender it is, and that you get a larger surface rare of beautiful rare beef and a smaller band of overcooked beef. However, I don’t hesitate to make tataki with any steak!
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, I recommend using the easier steak option rather than the beef tenderloin. It’s just too risky using a premium cut of beef and trying to guess the correct internal temperature for rare beef. It’s easier to cook a steak to rare as you can tell by touch.
I recommend using steak instead because it is very hard to slice tenderloin thinly if it is cooked beyond rare, the fine slices break quite easily, because the surface area of the meat is larger. I found this out first hand myself when I accidentally overcooked the beef to medium!
You won’t have this problem with steak because the slices you are cutting will be smaller. Generally, it is much easier to finely slice a steak rather than a tenderloin.
As noted above, I prefer my beef rare rather than raw for beef tataki. If you only sear beef tenderloin, the inside is completely raw.
To cook beef tenderloin so it is rare from edge to edge, slow roasting at a low temperature is best (it still only takes 20 minutes). The higher the temperature, the thicker the band of overcooked beef and the higher the risk of accidentally cooking it too much (the window of time to get the internal temperature right is much smaller at higher temperatures).
Also, the thicker the outer band of cooked beef, the harder it is to finely slice as it crumbles.
So, after trying a handful of methods, I found slow roasting to be the easiest, low-risk method that yields the best results for edge-to-edge perfectly rare-not-raw beef with a very thin seared crust (which literally takes 10 seconds on the stove). The lower temperature roasting is also the proved and much-loved method I use for premium cuts of roast beef including prime rib (standing rib roast) and beef tenderloin roast.
The beef tenderloin needs to be cooked at least 3 hours ahead to give it sufficient time to chill in the fridge which makes it easier to cut into fine slices. The morning of for a dinner serving works well. I don’t recommend making it the day before because meat is never as juicy when refrigerated overnight.
Steak doesn’t need to be chilled as long because it’s thinner but as with tenderloins, it too can be made the morning of.
The dressing can be made the morning of (I find the yuzu flavour fades if made too far ahead) and the crispy potato straws can be made up to 5 days ahead. They stay 100% crisp!
Watch how to make it
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Beef Tataki
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Chilling / resting: 3 hours
Main, Starter
fusion japanese, Modern Asian
Servings4
Tap or hover to scale
Ingredients
Yuzu Dressing (Note 3 other options):
Garlic oil (optional, Note 7)
Crispy topping options – CHOOSE ONE
Instructions
Beef tenderloin:
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Prep – Preheat the oven to 130°C / 275°F (all oven types). Rub the beef with the oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a rack set on a tray.
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Roast for 18 – 20 minutes or until the internal temperature in the middle is 41°C / 105°F (check first at 15 minutes, Note 9).
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Sear – Heat a cast iron skillet on high heat until it is smoking. Sear each side of the beef for just 10 seconds, no longer (I do 4 sides).
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Cool – Transfer the beef onto a rack on a tray. Cool for 30 minutes on the counter then refrigerate uncovered for 2 hours.
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Thinly slice – When ready to serve, slice it as thinly as you can without tearing the beef, aiming for 3mm / 1/16″ but up to 5mm / 1/8″ thick is fine. (Note 10 for tips)
Yuzu dressing:
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Place the sake and mini in a tiny saucepan on low heat. Bring to a simmer, then simmer for 1 minute. Pour into a bowl, let it cool. Then stir in remaining dressing ingredients.
Garlic infused oil:
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Put the garlic and oil in a tiny saucepan on low heat. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring a few times, until the garlic is light golden. Cool for 15 minutes then strain (reserve crispy garlic for another use)
Assemble:
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Plate up – Lay the beef slices on a plate, overlapping slightly. Drizzle with 3-4 tbsp of the Dressing, then 1 1/2 tbsp of the garlic oil. Pile the crispy potato in a heap in the middle, sprinkle with green onion. (Or use the easy steak garnish options above instead).
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To eat – Serve straight away. Make sure you get some crispy potato in every bite, and squidge the beef around in the tasty sauce.
Easy steak option:
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Cook – Rub the steak with the oil then sprinkle with the salt. Heat a cast iron skillet on high heat until it is smoking. Cook the steak to rare (1 1/2 – 2 minutes on each side, but it will depend on thickness of steak), or to your taste (Note 11 for doneness). Cool & thinly slice steak per beef tenderloin steps above.
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Assemble – Place the slices in a line, slightly overlapping. Drizzle over Dressing and oil (or alternative Sauce of choice). Sprinkle crispy fried shallots down the centre then green onion. Serve!
Recipe Notes:
2. Steak option – Easier to get, easier to slice! Thicker cut is better, for more rare beef.
3. Other Asian sauces that will work well here (skip the garlic oil, these already have oil in them):
4. Cooking sake and mirin – essential cooking wines in Japanese cooking! Find them in the Asian aisle of large grocery stores, as well as Asian stores. If you can’t consume alcohol or find them, use a sauces in Note 3.
5. Soy sauce – sub any all-purpose or light soy sauce, NOT dark soy (too strong, will ruin!)
6. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus that is sold in Japanese stores and some Asian grocery stores. Substitute with equal parts lemon and lime, fairly similar.
7. Garlic oil – Infused with lovely hint of garlic flavour. But optional! Substitute with 2 tsp sesame oil or extra virgin olive oil (totally works here).
8. Curled green onion – finely slice on the diagonal then place in cold water and put in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes until it curls (fresher = curls faster, floppy and old = takes longer!). Then drain, dry and use.
9. Cook times – exact cook times will vary due to many factors so check early. For rare beef, aim for 41°C / 105°F which will rise to 49-51°C/120-124°F (rare).
10. Slicing beef – Use a sharp knife and hold the sides firmly as you slice (stops edges crumbling). Slice as thinly as you can without tearing the beef. Don’t fret if you do, once the plate is all dressed up, you can’t see tears! If your slices are on the thicker side, don’t worry, it is still really tasty, you just end up with less slices.
11. Steak doneness:
Make ahead – The Dressing can be made 12 hours ahead (yuzu loses freshness with time), Crispy Potato Straws stays crisp 3 – 4 days, garlic oil keeps 3 days. Beef can be made the morning of to serve that night (if left overnight, meat does lose some juiciness).
Life of Dozer
Always reminding me that he’s ready and willing!
