This Easy Stovetop Teriyaki Meatballs recipe 照り焼き豆腐ハンバーグ is a popular Japanese side dish. The juicy and fluffy chicken meatballs without breadcrumbs coated in the umamilicious savory sauce will taste just as good as what you get at your favorite Japanese restaurant! This easy recipe is the perfect meal appetizer or even main dish the whole family will love, and only takes 40 minutes. (Low carb.)
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🥘 Ingredients
You will need a few simple ingredients for this easy Japanese chicken meatballs recipe:
- minced chicken thigh: using thigh meat helps to ensure that the tender meatballs are juicy. I love The Meat Club's chicken mince because it's made from the thigh meat of cage-free Australian chickens which are not given any growth hormones. This ground chicken is not cheap but it's so good, I ended up buying more meat after the company sent me some to try!
- firm tofu: there are many types of tofu so make sure you get the right one! You can use medium-firm or firm Japanese, Chinese or Korean tofu. (Soft tofu is hard to work with.) This gives the meatballs their characteristic soft and fluffy texture. If making this for the first time, you can reduce the tofu used to make the mixture easier to work with.
- Fresh Ginger: Grate it and keep the juice and zest
- Egg: At room temperature
- Green Onion: Sliced thinly. This gives the chickenballs a hint of freshness but you can still make the recipe without any scallions.
- White Pepper: This adds a slightly warm flavor but feel free to omit it if you don't have it. You can also use black pepper- the 2 peppers aren't really substitutes but Japanese use more black pepper. (I use white pepper because I prefer it!)
- Salt
- Oil: for pan-frying the meatballs. For authentic Japanese flavor, use a neutral vegetable oil and not olive oil.
You can use storebought teriyaki sauce but I prefer to make my own. It's healthier, for one! (If buying store bought, get a Japanese brand. Don't use the Lee Kum Kee Teriyaki sauce- it doesn't taste that good!) Alternatively, click here for some of the best teriyaki sauce substitutes.
For the homemade teriyaki sauce, you will need:
- soy sauce: use regular or light soy sauce not dark or sweet soy sauce.
- mirin: Mirin is sweeter than Shaoxing so don't use the latter as a substitute.
- white sugar or brown sugar both work
- rice vinegar
- corn starch
Optional Garnish
- sesame seeds (lightly toasted)
- sliced scallions
Thanks to The Meat Club for sending me the cage-free, growth hormone free chicken mince to work with! They've recently also launched a range of herbs and vegetables! You get $15 off with my code: TMC-AFF-GREEDY
Variations
You can add pineapple chunks or bell peppers to the chicken mixture.
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
- Pat dry the block of tofu using a paper towel.
2. Wrap the tofu with a kitchen towel and leave for 15 minutes to drain. We don't want the tofu releasing water when we mix it with the chicken!
3. Whilst the tofu is drying, slice the onions, grate the ginger, and mix together the teriyaki sauce ingredients.
4. After 15 minutes, unwrap the tofu and mash into bits.
5. Add the chicken, scallions, egg, white pepper, salt, and ginger to the tofu. Mix well- you should feel the chicken becoming stickier as you mix.
6. Use a tablespoon scoop to scoop out the mixutre and form into round balls. Plate, ensuring they don't touch.
7. Over medium heat, heat up a pan/ skillet and 1 Tablespoon of oil. When almost smoking, add in the meatballs, ensuring they don't touch. Allow to cook till the bottom is browned.
8a. After the meatballs have browned on one side (about 6 minutes), flip them on to the other side. Cover and cook till cooked through then plate (about 4-6 minutes too. You may need to reduce the heat if they get too brown.)
As you can see, the meatballs will have flattened a bit into small meat patties. But they're still delicious! (For rounder meatballs, use less tofu.)
8b. Repeat till you've cooked all the meatballs.
You may need to scrape off some of the bits from the bottom of the pan if they're black. If they're just brown, leave them- they're full of flavor!
9. Return all the meatballs to the pan and pour the sauce over the meatballs. Turn all the meatballs so that they're covered in the sauce.
Serve with white rice and some of these teriyaki chicken side dishes!
🥡 How to Store
Extra homemade meatballs should be kept in an airtight container in the fridge and eaten within 1-2 days.
For freezing, cook the meatballs first then freeze.
👩🏻🍳 Expert Tips
Tip #1: The meatballs are like small meat patties and not perfectly round, due to the amount of tofu (and no bread crumbs) used. If you want them rounder, stir the meat mixture for longer and reduce the amount of tofu. (I used more to reduce the calories!)
Tip #2: Teriyaki is a delicious sauce that goes with almost everything. The meatballs is one of my fave low carb easy dinner recipes but you can also make teriyaki salmon, teriyaki tofu, baked chicken teriyaki, teriyaki mushrooms, teriyaki pasta, teriyaki skewers, teriyaki noodles etc!
🥗 Other Teriyaki Recipes
Enjoyed this easy Japanese chicken teriyaki meatballs Recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below! If you REALLY liked this dish, please consider supporting it by buying me a bottle of soy sauce! 🙂 (No obligation though!) Thank you and have a great day!
Teriyaki Meatballs 照り焼き豆腐ハンバーグ
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 14 oz minced chicken thigh 400g. I love The Meat Club's chicken mince because it's made from the thigh meat of cage-free Australian chickens with no growth hormones.
- 10.5 oz firm tofu 300g. Use firm or medium firm tofu. Do NOT use soft tofu if this is your first time making the recipe. (It'll be quite wet and difficult to work with.) My chicken-tofu ratio makes small meat patties. For rounder meat balls, reduce the tofu to 5 oz.
- 1¼ teaspoon Fresh Ginger Juice Grate the fresh ginger and keep the pulp.
- 1 Egg At room temperature. If allergic to eggs, you'll need to use a binding agent like Panko breadcrumbs.
- 1 Green Onion Sliced thinly.
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ⅛ teaspoon White Pepper This adds a slightly warm flavor but feel free to omit it if you don't have it. You can also use black pepper- the 2 aren't really substitutes but Japanese use more black pepper. (I use white pepper because I prefer it!)
- 1 Tablespoon Oil For authentic Japanese flavor, use a neutral vegetable oil. I sometimes use olive oil when on a health kick and the taste is still OK. (Add more oil if needed.)
For the Teriyaki sauce (You can substitute with storebought teriyaki sauce but I prefer to make my own. It's healthier, for one! (If buying store bought, get a Japanese brand. Don't use the Lee Kum Kee Teriyaki sauce- it doesn't taste that good!))
- 3 Tablespoons soy sauce use regular or light soy sauce not dark or sweet soy sauce.
- 3 Tablespoons mirin
- 3 Tablespoons white sugar
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1½ teaspoon corn starch
Instructions
- Pat dry the tofu then wrap it with a paper towel for 15 minutes. (This prevents the tofu from releasing the water later.)
- Whilst the tofu is drying, mix the sauce ingredients.
- Slice the scallions and grate the ginger. (Separate the ginger juice and pulp.)
- Once the 15 minutes are up, mash the tofu in a big bowl into small pieces.
- Add the ground chicken, sliced green onions, egg, grated ginger, salt, and white pepper into the bowl of tofu. Mix well in one direction. Keep mixing till you feel the mixture change in texture. (The egg + stickiness of the meat is the binding agent here instead of the usual bread crumbs.)
- Use 1 Tablespoon to scoop out the meatballs onto a plate. You'll get around 19.
Cooking
- In a large skillet, over medium heat (I use 6 on a Bosch induction with a maximum of 9(, heat up 1 Tablespoon of oil till almost smoking. Once hot, add the meatballs, ensuring they do not touch. I had to cook in 3 batches.
- Let the bottom brown- this takes about 6 minutes, then flip and brown the other side. Cover the skillet/ pan to cook the meat inside. This will take another 3-6 minutes, depending on how hot your stove is. If you feel the meatballs are too brwon, reduce the heat further.
- Repeat till all the meatballs are cooked.
- Reduce the heat till low then return the meatballs and any juices to the pan. Pour the sauce over, simmer till the sauce is slightly reduced and thick, making sure they're thoroughly coated.
- Serve with a bowl of rice!
Notes
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
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Hanah says
Tried this last night and it was so easy and good. Can I use other meat?
Zen says
So glad you enjoyed it Hanah! I have other teriyaki recipes that you may like as well, such as teriyaki chicken thighs and teriyaki salmon. Yes you can substitute with other meat but it may be a bit drier if you use less juicy cuts!