In modern Japan, nabemono are kept hot at the dining table by portable stoves.

There are two types of nabemono in Japan: lightly flavored stock (mostly with kombu) types such as yudōfu (湯豆腐) and mizutaki (水炊き), eaten with a dipping sauce (tare) to enjoy the taste of the ingredients themselves; and strongly flavored stock, typically with miso, soy sauce, dashi, and/or sweet soy types such as yosenabe (寄鍋), oden (おでん), and sukiyaki (すき焼き), eaten without further flavoring.

The pots are traditionally made of clay (土鍋, donabe) or thick cast iron (鉄鍋, tetsunabe).

Pots are usually placed in the center of dining tables and are shared by multiple people.

Here are a few examples: Nabemono are usually eaten with a sauce sometimes called tare, literally "dipping".