How to Make Hibachi Steak Just Like Benihana

You can make an amazing hibachi steak dinner at home with the same great tasting ingredients just like Benihana and traditional Japanese steakhouses. In this post, you'll find my hibachi steak recipe, but you will also find tips and recipes for everything you need for a great hibachi dinner at home. I have the dipping sauces and vegetable side dishes you need for a complete dinner at home.

Bringing the Hibachi Steakhouse Home

I love hibachi restaurants for all that they have to offer. I love the delicious food and the fun show. Great Japanese steakhouse restaurants like Benihana really is a special meal to share with friends and family. But... sometimes I want to celebrate a special occasion and have a fun hibachi dinner in the comfort of my own kitchen, without the hibachi price tag. In order to pull this off, you need to do these three things: 

1. Prepare all of the ingredients in advance
2. Know the order you will cook your dishes in
3. Make the sauces ahead of time

The Essential Hibachi Steak Ingredients

When it comes to cooking hibachi steak, you can shoose from a few different cuts of steak. Look for a cut that is tender and lean. Sirloin steak is the most popular because it is the right thickness for even cooking and has great flavor. Other options include filets or strip steak.

Ribeye steak and NY strips are less common, but you could use them. Just keep in mind that the thicker the steak is, the more you are going to need to sear the steak whole, remove it and cut it into pieces, and return it to the flat top or pan to finish cooking. 

For seasoning our hibachi steak, we keep it surprisingly simple. The great flavor from the steak gets to shine through and comes with a delicious dipping sauce. 

To prepare the steak, you will need:

• Hibachi garlic butter which combines butter, garlic, and soy sauce.
• Black Pepper
• Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Neutral Oil- choose a vegetable oil or avocado oil that won't change the flavor of the meal and that can be used with high heat
• Sesame Oil

Get the recipe for copycat creamy mustard hibachi sauce.

Do's and Dont's for Hibachi at Home

DO make sure you manage the heat for your cook top. Turn on all three cook zones even if you don't need to use the entire flat top surface so that you don't lose heat to a cold area of the griddle.

DO stay organized and have all your ingredients ready to cook once your cook top is ready. Also, have plates available for finished food so you can remove it from the cook top quickly. 

DON'T crowd any area with too much food. We want the outside of our food to brown and develop a nice crust. That can't happen if steam is created by crowding our cooking zones. 

DON'T cut your protein into bite-sized pieces before you cook it. This will also prevent browning and pulls too much liquid out of the steak. This is also a sure fire way to overcook your steak.

Staying organized

When hibachi chefs roll their cart of ingredients out, they have everything ready to go. Each tray is loaded up with all of the prepared ingredients because once you start cooking, it goes fast. We don't want to be unprepared and accidentally overcook one hibachi dish because we were pulled away for something. 

Garnishes and Presentation

I think part of what makes good food into great food is the extra details. 

• Serve the dipping sauce on the side in small dishes or ramekins.
• sprinkle toasted sesame seeds over the hibachi steak and chicken
• garnish the fried rice with thinly sliced green onions

How to Cook Hibachi Steak at Home

1. Start by preparing all of your ingredients, especially if this is the first time you are making this recipe. 
2. Heat up your flat top grill or large skillet to medium-high heat (heat all three cook zones if using a griddle). 
3. Once you have a hot surface to work with, add a drizzle of oil and spread it around with a large stainless steel spatula.
4. Season the steak with salt and pepper. 
5. When the oil stops smoking, it's time to get your steaks on the flat top or in the skillet.
6. Check the steak in 4 minutes just to see how it's doing. You want a nice crust on the outside. When it pulls away from the griddle easily, you can flip it.
7. Cook the steak for an additional 4-5 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 125˚F.
8. Remove the steak and cut into bite-sized pieces. If you want your steak a little more well-done, get it back on the cook top for an additional minute or two. 
9. Serve the hibachi steak with rice, veggies, and dipping sauce.

Sauces to Serve With Hibachi Steak

Every good steak needs a sauce. There are two that work perfectly with a medium-rare well seasoned steak: teriyaki sauce or creamy mustard dipping sauce.

Usually, hibachi restaurants will sear a steak on both sides and cut it into bite sized pieces right on the cook top. Then they give a generous squeeze of the house made teriyaki sauce and toss that around. The sauce will reduce and cling nicely to the steak.

If you are using the creamy mustard sauce (or yum yum sauce if that's your preference), the steak will get sliced into bite sized pieces so you can dip your steak bites into whichever sauce your heart desires.  

How to Make a Complete Hibachi Meal

When I do hibachi steak at home, I do it all. It feels like a lot of prep to get ready, but once that is done everything cooks quickly. My must have hibachi recipes include:

• hibachi chicken and hibachi shrimp - cooked with hibachi better, low sodium soy sauce, and lemon juice
• fried rice - hibachi rice is made with cooked white rice, diced onion, diced carrots, hibachi butter and soy sauce
• hibachi veggies including zucchini and onions - fresh vegetables are cut into bite size pieces and cooked with hibachi butter and a little bit of soy sauce
• creamy hibachi mustard sauce - this super easy recipe combined mustard, soy sauce, toasted sesame and cream for a delicious dipping sauce
• Japanese ginger sauce

More Hibachi Recipes

• Hibachi Chicken Recipe with Shrimp
• Hibachi Garlic Butter
• Mustard Dipping Sauce
• Japanese Ginger Salad Dressing
• Fried Rice or steamed rice