Featured Comment:
“Thanks for this great recipe! It was very simple and quick and it looks just wonderful.”
– Katharina
What is Yawata Maki?
Yawata Maki (八幡巻き) is a regional dish from Yawata City, Kyoto Prefecture. It’s a delicious dish that involves wrapping vegetables with meat. While beef is one of the most common, it can also be made with chicken, and the original version used eel or loach.
After rolling, the rolls are glazed or simmered in a sauce similar to teriyaki.
Yawata Maki is vibrant and colorful dish that makes it a popular component of Osechi cuisine (Japanese New Year’s spread).
Key Ingredients & Substitution Ideas
- Beef – Since the meat will be used to wrap the vegetables, it’s important to use thinly sliced beef, preferably one with marbling fat for a melt in mouth texture.
- Vegetables – Traditionally, Yawata maki is made with burdock root (gobo), however for added color (and accessibility) I use carrots and green beans in my recipe.
- Flour – Plain all purpose flour is sprinkled over the beef before frying. Not only does this improve the texture of the beef by creating a light crust, but it also helps thicken the sauce and encourages it to stick to the surface of the rolls.
- Sauce – A simple teriyaki-style sauce made with soy sauce, mirin, sake and sugar is used to create a sticky, mildly sweet and savory glaze over the top of the beef rolls.
Visual Walkthrough & Tips
Here are my step-by-step instructions for how to make Yawata Maki at home. For ingredient quantities and simplified instructions, scroll down for the Printable Recipe Card below.
This section aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the cooking steps and techniques with visuals. I will also include more in-depth tips and tricks than the recipe card.
Start by bringing a pot of water to a rolling boil. While you wait, trim the ends of the green beans, then peel the carrot and cut it into batons to match the size of the beans and width of the beef slices.
Once the water is steadily boiling, add the carrots and green beans, and boil them for about three minutes just to soften them a bit.
It’s important to make sure you don’t overcook them, as they’ll cook further inside the beef rolls.
Once they’re boiled, quickly transfer them to a bowl of cold water to stop them from overcooking.
Next, take the beef slices and place them on a cutting board.
Then, lightly sprinkle them with half of the flour. This helps to create a lovely crust and thickens the sauce later on.
Place the blanched carrots and green beans at one edge of each beef slice, arranging them in a 2×2 pattern for even distribution within the roll.
Now, take your time and carefully roll the beef around the vegetables, starting from the edge with the fillings.
Repeat this process until you have formed four beef rolls.
Once all the rolls are formed, use the remaining flour to lightly coat the rolls.
Coating with flour not only improves the texture of the surface of the beef once cooked, but also thickens the sauce and helps it adhere to the surface.
Now, heat a little drizzle of cooking oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Once the pan is nice and hot, add the beef rolls seam-side down to seal them. This helps them stay nice and intact during the cooking process.
Just fry them, turning them over every now and then, until they’re lightly browned all over.
While the rolls are frying, let’s get the sauce ready! Grab a bowl and mix all the sauce ingredients (sake, mirin, soy sauce, and sugar) together.
Once the rolls are browned, pour the sauce into the pan.
Continue cooking, turning the rolls to ensure they are evenly coated with the sauce, which should thicken slightly upon heating.
Once thickened and the rolls are evenly coated, remove the pan from the heat.
Once you’ve removed the pan from the heat, it’s time to slice each beef roll into halves or thirds! This is where the fun really begins! The colorful vegetable filling inside is revealed, making for a visually appealing and delicious dish.
I hope you enjoy this Yawata Maki recipe! If you try it out, I’d really appreciate it if you could spare a moment to let me know what you thought by giving a review and star rating in the comments below. It’s also helpful to share any adjustments you made to the recipe with our other readers. Thank you!
More Japanese Beef Recipes
- Japanese Beef Sukiyaki (Traditional Sauce From Scratch)
- Beef Hayashi Rice (Without Roux Packet)
- Beef Negimaki (Beef Scallion Rolls)
- Sukiya Gyudon (Japanese Beef Bowl)
Want more inspiration? Explore my Beef Roundup Post for a carefully selected collection of tasty recipe ideas to spark your next meal!
Beef Yawata Maki (Glazed Beef Vegetable Rolls)
Ingredients
- 8 green beans
- 1 carrot peeled
- 4 slices thinly sliced beef
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
Instructions
- Start boiling a small pot of water. While you wait for it to heat up, trim the ends of 8 green beans and cut 1 carrot into batons that match the size of the green beans and the width of the beef. Boil for 3 minutes and then transfer to a bowl of cold water to prevent them overcooking.
- Stretch a piece of thinly sliced beef out on a flat surface and sprinkle the top with flour. Place 2 green beans and 2 carrot battons stacked into a 2×2 pattern on one side of the beef.
- Tightly roll the beef to encase the vegetables. Repeat with the rest of the beef slices and vegetables, placing each finished roll in a container with the seam facing down to prevent it from unrolling.
- Start heating a pan on medium. Sprinkle the beef rolls with a thin even coat of flour.
- Mix 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp sake, 2 tbsp mirin and 1 tsp sugar in a small bowl and set by the stove ready for later.
- Once the pan is hot, pour a drizzle of oil and add the beef rolls. Fry until browned on all sides.
- Pour the sauce into the pan and continue to cook until thickened, turning the beef rolls occasionally to ensure they're evenly covered and don't burn. Once coated, remove the pan from the heat.
- Cut each roll into halves or thirds and serve.
- Enjoy!
Thanks for this great recipe! Ist was very simple and quick and it looks just wonderful.
Hi Katharina,
Thank you for your comment and trying this recipe! I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed it! 🙂
Yuto