This is the perfect steak ‘salad’ for when you’re craving series flavor. Its loaded with crackling baked rice, a NY strip fanned out over crunchy veggies, and the perfect ginger dress and a drizzle of that insanely good white sauce. This is Hibachi night with no reservations required (and no one watching you akwardly trying to catach a shrimp in your mouth.
We didn’t miss a beat when we decided to recreate these flavors at home. Personally, we’re guilty of asking for a second bowl of that light salad they give you as a starter. So we tossed all of the greens in it, then piled on all of our favorite toppings to make this another of our unapologetic steak salads. Because eating well should never mean compromising flavor, and this salad proves that.
🔪 Ingredients for Hibachi Steak Salad
For the Crispy Rice:
- Cooked jasmine rice, ideally a day old and cold from the fridge. It’s drier than fresh rice and crisps up better in the oven.
- Soy sauce
- Toasted sesame oil, the dark toasted kind, not the light neutral sesame oil.
- Chili crisp oil, for a little heat and crunch mixed into the rice itself.
For the Japanese White Sauce:
- Kewpie mayonnaise, the Japanese brand in the squeeze bottle with the red cap. Regular mayo works but the texture is noticeably less silky.
- Rice vinegar
- Granulated sugar
- Garlic powder
- Smoked or sweet paprika, mostly for the pale orange tint hibachi sauce is known for.
- Water, added gradually until the sauce is pourable instead of gloppy.
This is the same sauce from our sweet chili shrimp poke bowls. It’s popular enough now that it’s earned its own recipe: Yum Yum Sauce (The Real Hibachi White Sauce).
For the Ginger Dressing:
- Neutral oil, like grapeseed or avocado oil.
- Rice vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Fresh ginger, peeled. This is not a recipe to sub in ground ginger for; the fresh, sharp bite is the point.
- Sweet onion
- Granulated sugar
For the Steak:
- NY strip steak, at least 1 inch thick and well-marbled. See our guide to steak cuts if you want to compare it against ribeye or sirloin before you shop.
- Kosher salt and coarse black pepper
For the Salad:
- Red bell pepper
- Butter
- Iceberg lettuce, Cucumber, Carrots
- Edamame, shelled, thawed if frozen.
- Scallions and Sesame seeds, to garnish.
Equipment
A cast iron skillet handles both the peppers and the steak sear. You’ll also want a blender (or a tall cup and an immersion blender) for the ginger dressing, and a Thermapen to pull the steak at the right temperature instead of guessing.
📝 How to Make Hibachi Steak Salad
- Bake the crispy rice. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the rice with soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili crisp oil, then spread it in a thin, even layer on a sheet pan, thin is the whole trick here. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until the rice is deep golden and crackling at the edges.
- Make the white sauce. Whisk the Kewpie mayonnaise, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic powder, and paprika together, then thin with water a tablespoon at a time until it’s pourable off a spoon instead of gloppy. Chill until you’re ready to serve.
- Make the ginger dressing. Blend the oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, onion, and sugar until smooth, about 30 seconds. Set aside.
- Season the steak. Salt the NY strip generously on both sides and let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. A cold steak straight from the fridge won’t sear evenly.
- Sear the peppers. Melt the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and sear the red pepper strips 3 to 4 minutes, until softened with light char at the edges. Set aside.
- Sear the steak. Wipe out the skillet, get it ripping hot, and sear the steak 4 to 5 minutes per side until a Thermapen reads 130°F for medium-rare.
- Rest and slice. Rest the steak 5 minutes, it’ll carry over to about 135°F, then slice against the grain into thin strips, no wider than 1/4 inch.
- Build the salad. Toss the shredded iceberg with the ginger dressing until it’s lightly coated, not drenched, then spread it on a platter. Arrange the cucumber, carrots, edamame, and seared peppers over top.
- Add the rice and steak. Pile the warm crispy rice on one side of the platter, then fan the sliced steak over the other half.
- Finish. Drizzle the white sauce over the steak and rice, scatter scallions and sesame seeds over everything, and serve immediately while the rice is still crackling.
🔄 Substitutions
- Ribeye or top sirloin instead of Strip Steaks: ribeye sears the same 4 to 5 minutes per side and adds more marbling. Top sirloin is leaner, so pull it a touch earlier, around 125°F, to land at the same medium-rare after resting.
- Tamari instead of Soy Sauce: works 1:1 everywhere in this recipe if you need it gluten-free.
- Regular mayo plus an extra splash of rice vinegar instead of Kewpie mayonnaise: gets you close, but the sauce won’t be quite as silky. Kewpie’s egg-yolk-only base is what does that.
- Chili oil or a pinch of red pepper flakes instead of Chili crisp oil: you’ll lose some of the crunchy bits baked into the rice, but the heat still comes through.
- Shredded napa cabbage or romaine instead of Iceberg lettuce: both hold up to the warm rice and sliced steak without wilting right away.
💡 Meat Nerd Tips
- Bake the crispy rice ahead. It holds up fine made a day early. Rewarm it in a dry skillet for a minute right before serving and it crisps back up like it just came out of the oven.
- Go easy on the rice seasoning. It only needs a light hand with the soy sauce and sesame oil, it’s there for a savory crunch, not to compete with two sauces that are already doing the heavy lifting.
- Want more color on the plate? Fold the seared peppers into the salad itself instead of scattering them on top. Either way works, it’s just a look.
🍽️ What to Serve with Hibachi Steak Salad
- A quick bowl of miso soup to start.
- Garlic butter shrimp alongside, for a surf-and-turf hibachi spread.
- Extra crispy rice on the side, for anyone who wants more.
- A cold Japanese lager or a dry sake.
Craving more ways to cook this cut? Browse the full steak recipes collection for every technique and cut we’ve tested.
🧊 Leftovers and Storage
- Store the components separately: rice, dressed salad, sliced steak, and both sauces each in their own airtight container. They’ll keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
- Reheat the rice in a dry skillet over medium heat for a minute or two to bring the crackle back. Skip the microwave, it turns the rice soft.
- The steak is good cold, straight from the fridge, or given a quick 30-second pass in a hot pan just to take the chill off. Don’t cook it further or you’ll lose the medium-rare.
- Both sauces keep up to a week in sealed containers and are worth doubling. The white sauce especially is good on more than just this salad; see the standalone sauce post for other ways to use it.
Baked crispy rice, thin-sliced NY strip, and crisp vegetables, finished with hibachi white sauce and a bright ginger dressing.
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For the Japanese White Sauce
Bake the Crispy Rice
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Preheat the oven to 400°F. Toss the cooked rice with soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili crisp oil. Spread in a thin, even layer on a sheet pan. Bake 30-40 minutes, stirring once halfway, until crisp and golden.
Make the White Sauce
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Whisk the Kewpie mayonnaise, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic powder, and paprika. Thin with water, a tablespoon at a time, until pourable. Chill until ready to serve.
Make the Ginger Dressing
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Blend oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger, onion, and sugar until smooth. Set aside.
Rest and Slice
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Rest steak 5 minutes (carries to ~135°F), then slice against the grain into thin strips, no wider than 1/4″.
Build the Salad
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Toss iceberg with ginger dressing until lightly coated. Spread on a platter. Arrange cucumber, carrots, edamame, and seared peppers over top.
- Keep the white sauce and ginger dressing in separate bowls until serving.
- Crispy rice can be baked a day ahead and rewarmed in a dry skillet for a minute to bring the crunch back.
- Swap tamari for soy sauce throughout to make the full recipe gluten-free.
- This recipe was developed with a Thermapen for the steak doneness check.
- The white sauce doubles easily and keeps for a week refrigerated; it’s the same sauce used in our Sweet Chili Shrimp Poke Bowl.
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 1034kcal | Carbohydrates: 41g | Protein: 43g | Fat: 77g | Saturated Fat: 18g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 25g | Monounsaturated Fat: 29g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 161mg | Sodium: 920mg | Potassium: 1184mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 5102IU | Vitamin C: 48mg | Calcium: 128mg | Iron: 5mg
Quick Summary
Hibachi steak salad, built the way the hibachi grill does it without the drive: baked crispy rice, a fast-seared NY strip sliced thin, crisp raw vegetables, and two sauces that define these flavors. The two things that actually matter are a thin layer of rice on the sheet pan and a rested, thin-sliced steak. Get those right and everything else falls into place.
❓ FAQs
Traditional hibachi white sauce is a Kewpie mayonnaise base thinned with rice vinegar, sugar, garlic powder, and paprika. Kewpie’s egg-yolk-only mayo is what gives it that silky, almost pourable texture regular mayo can’t quite match.
Yes. The crispy rice, white sauce, and ginger dressing all hold up well made a day ahead, just rewarm the rice in a dry skillet before serving. Sear the steak right before you eat.
NY strip is the move here for its balance of tenderness and marbling, but ribeye or top sirloin both work if that’s what’s at the butcher counter.
Not as written, since soy sauce contains wheat, but swapping in tamari across every component makes the whole dish gluten-free with no other changes.