From late autumn until spring, a large part of Japanese home cooking consists of putting a clay pot on the table and letting everyone cook their own dinner in it. That is nabemono — Japanese hot pot — and it is the most forgiving cuisine in the country. There is no plating, no timing, no chef. This guide covers the main types of nabe, the pot you need, the broths, and the ritual at the end that most beginners miss entirely. We cover this in detail in our guide Japanese Kitchenware & Cookware: A Complete Buyer's Guide.
Why nabe is a season, not a dish
Japanese has a word for the time of year when hot pot starts appearing: people simply say the nabe season has begun, usually as soon as the evenings turn. The logic is practical. A pot simmering in the middle of the table heats the room and the people around it at the same time, which mattered a great deal in houses that were never designed to hold warmth.
The social structure matters as much as the food. When UNESCO inscribed washoku on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013, the citation singled out the fact that dishes are "served on special tableware and shared by family members or collectively among communities." Nabe is that principle in its purest form: one pot, no portions, everyone reaching in. There is even a semi-affectionate term — nabe-bugyō, the "hot pot magistrate" — for the person at the table who cannot stop managing what goes into the pot and when. Every family has one.
The pot: what a donabe actually does
A donabe is an unglazed or partially glazed clay pot, and it is not interchangeable with a metal casserole. Clay heats slowly and unevenly at first, then holds that heat for a long time after the flame is off — which is exactly what a tabletop dish needs. The broth stays at a gentle simmer while people eat, rather than boiling hard and then going cold. We cover this in detail in our guide A Deep Dive into Donabe Pots.
Most good donabe come from two traditions: Iga ware from Mie Prefecture, made from a highly porous local clay that tolerates direct flame, and Banko ware, also from Mie, whose clay body includes petalite for genuine resistance to thermal shock. Both will crack if mistreated, and both last decades if not.
Three rules for a new donabe
- Season it before first use. Cook a thin rice porridge in it — rice and water, brought to a simmer, then left to cool completely in the pot. The starch seals the porous clay. Skipping this is the most common reason a new donabe cracks or leaks.
- Never heat it empty or dry. Always have liquid in it before the flame goes on, and always dry the outside base with a cloth first. Water on the base plus direct heat is how pots split.
- Let it cool on its own. No cold water into a hot pot, no hot pot into a sink of water.
If you are buying your first one, a 24–27 cm donabe serves three to four people comfortably. Specialist ranges like this selection of Japanese hotpots and donabe carry the flame-safe Iga and Banko pieces rather than the decorative imitations, which is the distinction that matters — a pot that cannot take a direct flame is a serving dish, not a donabe.
The main types of nabe
Yosenabe — the default
Yose means "putting together," and that is the whole recipe: whatever you have, in a dashi broth seasoned with miso or soy. Chicken, white fish, prawns, tofu, napa cabbage, mushrooms, spring onion. This is the weeknight version and the one to start with.
Shabu-shabu — the fast one
Very thinly sliced beef or pork, swished through boiling kombu broth for a few seconds until it just changes colour, then dipped in sauce. The name is onomatopoeic — the sound of the meat moving through the water. Two dipping sauces are standard: ponzu, sharp and citrus-soy, and goma-dare, a thick sesame sauce. Serve both.
Sukiyaki — the sweet one
The outlier, because it is barely a soup. Beef, tofu, shiitake, shirataki noodles and vegetables are simmered in warishita — soy sauce, mirin and sugar — until the liquid is more of a glaze than a broth. Each person dips the hot meat into a bowl of raw beaten egg before eating, which cools it and coats it. If raw egg is a concern, use pasteurised. Our sukiyaki essentials covers the shallow iron pan this needs. We cover this in detail in our guide Yukihira Saucepan: Use and Care.
Oden — the slow one
Daikon, boiled eggs, konjac and processed fish cakes stewed for hours in a light soy-dashi broth until everything has taken on the same colour. Oden is sold from heated counters in convenience stores across Japan from October onwards. It rewards making the day before; the daikon is better on day two.
Chanko-nabe — the enormous one
The sumo stable dish: chicken meatballs, chicken, tofu, and a great deal of vegetable in a big pot, designed to feed people who need to eat several thousand calories. Chicken is traditional — a wrestler on four legs is a wrestler who has lost, so four-legged meat is avoided.
Kimchi-nabe and motsunabe — the strong ones
Kimchi nabe is the modern favourite, pork and kimchi in a spicy miso broth. Motsunabe, a Fukuoka speciality, uses beef or pork offal with garlic, chilli and enormous quantities of garlic chives. Both are late-night food.
Building the broth
Almost every nabe starts from dashi, and the simplest version is enough: a strip of kombu kelp steeped in cold water for thirty minutes, brought slowly to just below boiling, then the kombu removed before it boils. Add katsuobushi off the heat for a fuller stock, strain after a minute.
From there you season in one of three directions — soy and mirin for a clear broth, miso for something rounder, or kombu alone for shabu-shabu, where the dipping sauce carries the flavour. Our dashi essentials cover the kombu and katsuobushi, and hot pot essentials has the ladles, skimmers and dipping bowls.
The order of things
Ingredients do not go in all at once. Layer by cooking time:
- Hard root vegetables first — daikon, carrot, and the thick white stems of napa cabbage.
- Then tofu, mushrooms and firm ingredients, which need a few minutes.
- Meat and seafood as you eat, in small batches. Cooking all the protein at once means the last piece has been boiling for twenty minutes.
- Leaves and greens last — cabbage tops, shungiku, spring onion. Seconds, not minutes.
- Skim the foam as it rises. It is the difference between a clear broth and a muddy one.
Shime: the part beginners skip
When the ingredients are gone, the broth left in the pot has absorbed everything cooked in it, and throwing it away is unthinkable. The final course is called shime — "the close" — and it is often the best thing you eat all evening.
Two standard options. Zōsui: add cooked rice to the remaining broth, simmer briefly, stir in a beaten egg, finish with spring onion. Shime no udon or ramen: drop noodles straight into the pot. Kimchi nabe traditionally finishes with ramen and a slice of cheese, which sounds wrong and is not.
Rinse the rice before adding it, or the surface starch will turn a clear broth cloudy. Serve it into small bowls — our Japanese bowls and chopsticks cover the tableware, and long cooking chopsticks are genuinely useful for reaching into a pot at the centre of a table.
Frequently asked questions
Can I make nabe without a donabe?
Yes — a Dutch oven or any heavy casserole works, and a portable gas ring will keep it warm at the table. You lose some of the gentle heat retention that makes clay worth it, but the food is the same.
What is the difference between sukiyaki and shabu-shabu?
Sukiyaki simmers meat in a sweet soy-mirin liquid and is dipped in raw egg. Shabu-shabu cooks meat for seconds in a plain kombu broth and is dipped in ponzu or sesame sauce. Sukiyaki is sweet and rich; shabu-shabu is clean and light.
How do you season a new donabe?
Cook a thin rice porridge in it before first use — rice and water brought to a simmer, then left to cool completely in the pot. The starch seals the porous clay and prevents cracking and leaking.
Can a donabe go on an induction hob?
Only if it is specifically made for induction — most are not, because clay is not magnetic. Standard donabe are for gas flame. Check before you buy if induction is your only hob.
How much food do I need per person for nabe?
Roughly 150 g of protein and 200 g of vegetables per person, plus tofu and noodles or rice for the shime. It is very hard to over-cater a nabe; leftovers become the next day's broth.
Start simple
Make yosenabe first. Kombu dashi, soy and mirin, napa cabbage, tofu, mushrooms, chicken, and whatever else is in the fridge. Put it in the middle of the table, hand everyone a bowl, and do not organise it too much — the pot manages itself. Finish with zōsui, and you will understand why an entire country eats this way for five months of the year.
