These soft and juicy teriyaki chicken meatballs are going to be your family’s favorite! It takes only 30 minutes to prepare.
These Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs are soft and fluffy, and my kids love them! What’s the secret ingredient to make them so fluffy? It’s tofu!
Watch How to Make Chicken Meatballs 豆腐ハンバーグの作り方
(* Please Note: In Japan we call this dish “Tofu Hambagu”. To avoid misleading the vegetarian readers, I decided to simply call it chicken meatballs.)
Actually in Japan, we call this dish Tofu Hambagu (豆腐ハンバーグ) – “hambagu” as in Japanese Hamburger Steak. However, most of tofu hambagu are made with tofu AND ground meat (usually chicken, sometimes combination of beef & pork). To avoid misleading the vegetarian readers, I decided to simply call it chicken meatballs (with tofu, as the secret ingredient).
Why tofu? It’s because tofu makes the meatball texture very fluffy and soft. These teriyaki meatballs are especially great for all ages including toddlers and elders! If you increase the amount of tofu, it gets even fluffier and less calorie! My proportion for meat and tofu in this recipe is pretty easy to form into meatballs. As you increase the ratio for tofu, it might become slightly difficult to maintain the round shape.
And please note that the meat acts as binding agent here. As you knead the meat, it gets stickier and helps bind tofu and other ingredients very well.
Today I used colorful sweet bell peppers to add some color to these meatballs. You can add your choice of vegetables but don’t put too much in order to maintain the fluffiness.
Lastly, look at the delicious glaze on the meatballs! The sauce is everyone’s favorite, Teriyaki Sauce. If you cook Japanese food often, you noticed that we often use the same condiments – soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and sake (I didn’t use it for this recipe). It’s very common to season Japanese food with these condiments (just slightly different ratios).
Similar Recipes:
Leftover? Check out Bento recipe Chicken Meatball Bento.
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- 14 oz ground chicken (14 oz = 400 g)
- 5 oz medium-firm tofu (5 oz = 142 g, about 1/3 of 14-oz package)
- 1½ sweet bell peppers (1½ peppers = 3 oz, 87 g) (I used 3 colors)
- 1 green onion/scallion
- 1 inch ginger (1" ginger = about 1 tsp of grated ginger)
- 1 large egg
- kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- freshly ground black pepper
- neutral-flavored oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- ½ tsp potato starch/cornstarch
-
Gather all the ingredients.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
- Wrap the tofu with paper towel and let it drain for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, remove sweet bell pepper seeds under running water and dry completely.
- Mince the sweet bell peppers, chop the green onion finely, and grate the ginger.
- In a large bowl, combine ground chicken, sweet bell peppers, and green onion. Break the drained tofu into small pieces.
- Add the egg and mix all together.
- Add the grated ginger, salt, and black pepper and combine well.
- Using two tablespoons or a cookie scoop, make a small ball.
- Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and drop the meatballs, keeping some distance between each ball. Cook in batches if necessary.
- When the bottom is nicely browned, flip them over and cover with the lid to cook until inside is no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low heat if browning too fast.
- When the meat is cooked through, add the first batch back into the pan (if there are any).
- Pour the sauce over and reduce the sauce until it thickens. Flip the meatballs to coat both sides with the sauce.
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
I love the addition of the tofu. It must help to make it moist without the addition of bread–gluten free!
Hi Donna! Yes, tofu makes it moist and fluffy – I love tofu hambagu! 🙂
These look delicious, Nami! I am going to make them very soon. Can I buy the regular ground chicken at grocery to use with this recipe? They also have ground chicken – made with breast meat only – do you think it makes any difference which I use? Thanks so much for sharing and for the lovely video. Anne
Hi Anne! Yes, I buy the ground chicken from a store (this one is from Japanese supermarket). It’s up to you – if you use breast, it’s light and healthy (but usually dry – but tofu should help!) while chicken thigh has more fat so it will be softer and more flavorful. If you can, I’d mix it up to get good balance. 🙂 So happy to hear you enjoyed the video!
Thanks so much for the recipe, may I know must we use Japanese rice vinegar or any will do? Thanks so much.
Hi Shirley! If you don’t have one, you don’t need to get one just for 2 tsp. 🙂 Japanese cooking usually use rice vinegar because it’s mind and not strong vinegar flavor. If you plan to make other Japanese food, it may be a good idea to keep a smaller bottle in the kitchen. 🙂
I like the specks of color from the peppers! I presume it’s also a way to get in some more veggies for a healthy meal. =) Thanks for mentioning the trick with the tofu and paper towel; I bet that’s a lot more efficient than simply letting the tofu sit there to drain.
Thanks so much Kimmi! I “hide” vegetables as much as I can in the food for extra nutrition. My kids eat veggies (maybe they are used to eat veggies from all the years I hide them in food. lol). I sometimes use microwave too (I used this method for some other tofu recipes) to speed up the process. Paper towels is good to absorb excess water right away. 🙂
Hi Nami
We love your teriyaki chicken and have had it loads of times , now we want to try the meatballs but please can you verify the amount of chicken. In the video it says 9oz but the recipe says 14oz and also can we make our own ground chicken in a food processor?
Hi Nina! I apologize, it was a typo. It was supposed to be .9 lb, which is 14 oz. Yes, you can make your ground chicken.
Will have to try this for my daughter! Do you use chicken breast or chicken thigh?
Hi Angie! For the best result, combine both thigh and breast – thigh has more fat and make it juicy while breast is light and healthier. Hope your daughter will enjoy this! 🙂
I know exactly how this dish tastes and it is mouth watering! Yum, yum! I should run to the store and get some Tofu 🙂
This is a great recipe. Thank you!
Hi Ayako! I hope you enjoy this recipe, and thanks so much for the kind comment! 🙂
This is cool – I just actually made tsukune with a combination of chicken and okara, which is a similar idea. It came out great!
I love Tsukune too (video shoot 3 weeks ago, so recipe coming soon)! I have to try with Okara next time. I LOVE eating okara… healthy and so delicious!
These look so yummy! I’m totally making these tonight! This is the second week in a row I’m using one of your recipes for friday night dinner. Thanks so much! Great job!
Thanks so much for your kind words, Kelli! I hope you enjoy(ed) this recipe!
I only had frozen ground beef and ground turkey in my freezer. I had a block of tofu and tried your recipe with the ground turkey first and then the ground beef a week later.
That drained tofu (divided into two meals) did wonders with the meatballs . The tofu really added another dimension to my normally dry meatballs.
Thanks Nami for another recipe that I would try again and again.
Hi Mae! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! Yes, tofu is such an amazing magical ingredient in meatballs! I almost prefer meatballs with tofu than regular meat only version. Thank you so much for your kind feedback, and I’m glad you enjoyed them. xo 🙂
Hello Nami,
I am so glad that I joined your mailing list. Your recipes are lovely, These meatballs look brilliant and I’m planning to try them tomorrow. I wondered if I could trouble you with two questions about them, please?
1. Does the recipe work well as a ‘make ahead and freeze’ (regarding just the raw meatballs)?
2. I cannot find mirin locally — but, I was able to track down some Kikkoman kotteri mirin seasoning. Many of the reviews of the product that I’ve found online complain that it is much sweeter than mirin. Have you used Kikkoman kotteri mirin and, if so, how much would you recommend for this recipe?
Best wishes,
Elizabeth in Canada
Hi Elizabeth! I’m terribly sorry for my late response. I was away from computer whole weekend as we had house guests. If it’s not too late, please let me respond to your questions.
Question 1:
To be honest, I’m not sure. I know that tofu’s texture will become different once it’s frozen. Even though the tofu is broken into pieces and mixed with the meat, I’m afraid tofu will change the original texture (fluffy, especially). Therefore, I won’t recommend (especially I haven’t experimented it before).
Question 2:
I wrote about mirin in details in my Mirin page (https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/mirin/), but there are two kinds of mirin. The “real” mirin and “flavored” mirin. Kotteri mirin belongs to the later. It’s nothing wrong with it, but it has more “seasoning” in it to make it taste like real mirin. If you cannot use the real mirin (we call it “hon mirin”), you can use the kikkoman brand. 🙂 I don’t have this brand of mirin so I am not sure how sweet it is, but try omit sugar when you make the sauce, and add sugar into the sauce according to your preference.
Enjoy!
ありがとう ございます, Nami. 🙂 I should have realised that you would have a reference for mirin on your beautifully organised web site. I ended up using the kotteri mirin (cut back the measure a smidge, just in case) and it worked fine. Thank you, too, for the heads up about tofu and freezing — I’m a bit of a novice with the ingredient. Those meatballs were so good, it would have been tempting to freeze a few batches. However, whipping up a fresh recipe when needed certainly won’t be a chore!
By the way, I took the meatballs over to my parents’ place that evening (they’re in their 80’s and live in a ‘granny flat’ across the drive). They definitely enjoyed their dinner — Mum had a second helping. 🙂
Hi Elizabeth! Glad Kotteri Mirin worked fine. 🙂 I’m so glad your parents enjoyed the meatballs too! 🙂 コメント、どうもありがとう！
We just made these tonight and doubled all the ingredients for our lunches this week. Straight out of the pan they are incredible! Flavoursome, moist and healthy! This is going to be one of our regular staples for high protein meals. Thanks, Nami 🙂
Hi Luke! Glad to hear the meatballs came out very well! This recipe is one of our staples too, as it’s perfect for bento. And I add different vegetables and ingredients every time. Thank you for your kind comment! 🙂
Oishii!! I made this today and my family loved it! The market didn’t have ground chicken so I used ground turkey instead and it was still delicious!
The tofu really does make the meatball fluffy and very light. The ginger gives it a nice freshness and the sauce – yum! I doubled the sauce amount as it was so good! Also served salad with your carrot ginger dressing. Love, love! Your photos are beautiful! So glad I found your blog!
Hi Eileen! Yay! So happy to hear your family enjoyed this recipe! Yes, tofu is an amazing healthy ingredient! 😀 Thanks for trying the carrot ginger dressing too! I’m glad you enjoy reading my blog, and thanks so much for following! xoxo
Hello, i like to try this but my kids are both allergic to egg. is there any substitute for egg?
Hi June! The egg is used to bind the ingredients together. You can try adding panko or potato/corn starch instead of eggs. Both are also commonly used as binding agent. 🙂
Hi, Just wondering would it still work if i only have soft tofu rather than firm?
Hi Hazel! You can, but soft tofu has more moisture in the tofu, so it might get watery if you don’t drain tofu well. Make sure not to skip draining the tofu. 🙂
Hi Nami!
So excited to make these. I’m planning to put them in a wrap for tomorrow’s lunch!; would it be okay to pre-make the mince mix and sauce the night before and store it in the fridge so it’s ready to go on the pan in the morning, or would you recommend for example to leave adding the egg in until the morning?
Thanks 🙂
Barbara
Hi Barbara! When you use tofu, you have to be a bit careful. Tofu includes a lot of water. If you didn’t dehydrate, the water slowly comes out and make the mixture more wet. So, either you cook till Step 11 or 12, or dehydrate tofu very well and make the mixture ahead, but the following morning, if you see some wet spot in the mixture, you might need to use paper towel and remove. Hope that helps! 🙂
Absolutely delicious , I have made this recipe already a couple time!!!
Thank you very much!!!
Hi Natalia! I’m so happy to hear you enjoy this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hi Nami, thanks for the recipe and i have been trying out other recipes from your site. I made chicken meatballs for dinner tonight and it is so delicious! The patty is not dry at all although i used chicken fillets instead of chicken thighs.
Hi Jennifer! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe, and thank you so much for trying my other recipes! Tofu is an amazing ingredient (and you don’t really taste it in case some people don’t like tofu…)!! 🙂
Nami-san,
This recipe is wonderful and has helped me so much recently. I’ve been cooking Japanese food since high school and even lived in Japan for several years. Recently, I had bariatric surgery to reduce my weight, and it’s very important I eat lots of healthy protein. Regular meat, however, was too hard to digest. I thought, “Oh! Let’s try tofu and meat hamburger!” It’s perfect! The texture is soft, like you say, and it still has lots of protein to help my energy level. Thank you for sharing such a simple and useful recipe! 本当に助かりました！ありがとうございます！^_^
Hi Robin! Glad to hear you enjoyed this dish and worked out well for your diet too. コメントどうもありがとう！嬉しかったです！ 🙂
Hello! Could you please provide an estimate of the time for each side of the meatball to lose the pinkness inside? Is it necessary to put on the lid during the cooking of the meatballs and the reducing of the sauce? Thank you so much!
P.S Do you have a good salad recipe for yuzu dressing? Thank you!
Hi Esther! If you follow my instruction and make the same meatball size, browning should take between 3-5 minutes (depends on frying pan size and heat), and then flip to cook for another 3 minutes. However, don’t rely on the cooking time too much, and you have to know if your meatballs are cooked through or not after cooking covered for 3 minutes. You can pick one and cut with knife to see how it is (choose one that’s “least cooked” – to make sure).
When reducing the sauce, no need to put a lid – you want to evaporate the moisture, so the sauce will be thicken (less moisture).
Do you mean that you already have yuzu dressing? Hmm… maybe finely shredded daikon (like noodles) salad or just simple green salad would be great. Oh and the tofu salad (recipe on the site). 🙂
Thank you so much!
Hello again! If I cook the meatballs thoroughly before reducing the sauce, wouldn’t it become overcooked and tough? Perhaps would it be better to undercook the meat slightly before reducing the sauce to prevent tough meatballs? Thank you so much!
Hi Esther! So sorry for my late response! As tofu is included, you shouldn’t worry too much about the meat getting tougher. Plus, the amount of sauce added is not a lot and it shouldn’t take too long to reduce. Hope this helps!
can I make it and keep it in the freezer till tommorrow before cooking ? Thks
Hi Steph! I’m sorry if I failed to answer your question in time… I usually cook everything and then freeze, and never freeze the raw meatballs in the freezer. 🙂
Can you bake these instead? I don’t useoils too much in my cooking.
Hi Jenny! I haven’t tried baking these but if you try, let us know if it works! 🙂
Hello Nami, I really like this recipe and with the addition of tofu, these meatballs look very healthy as well. I will give it a try, but I have a question: Can I use ground beef instead of chicken, and can these be baked instead of fried in oil? Thank you
Hi Felix! I haven’t tried with beef, but I assume it’ll work, but I rarely see the combination of beef and tofu though. I still recommend the ground chicken for that reason. I think you can use oven, however, you have to cover it so that it won’t be too dry. Let me know if that works. I haven’t tried making it in the oven before and I’m sure other readers love to hear your feedback as well. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Hi Nami,
What gorgeous looking meatballs! One quick question, is it okay to pre-cooked the meatballs and reheat them in the pan adding teriyaki sauce only just before serving?
Hi Simone! Sure, you can do that. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
I don’t have mirin, is it ok to leave that out?
Hi Kimberly! You’ll be missing out liquid and sweetness, so please add 1 Tbsp. water + 1/2 – 1 tsp. sugar. Hope you enjoy this recipe! 🙂
I’ve made these twice now, and it’s absolutely delicious. I love how the tofu makes it so light! My friends raved about how fluffy they were and were shocked when I told them that there was tofu in them. They were even shocked that the sauce was homemade…
Thanks for the amazing recipes, I’m looking forward to trying more!
Hi Amy! I’m so happy to hear you enjoy this dish! Isn’t tofu amazing? You can’t really tell it’s in there, and it makes the meatball so nice and fluffy. I’m glad your friends enjoyed it too. Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Another winner! The chicken meatballs were so soft and fluffy! It is just so must fun to make great tasty food with items that I already have in my refrigerator. Thanks a million!
So happy to hear you liked this recipe! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hey Nami, I haven’t mirin in my house so can I use oyster sauce?
Sorry for my late response, suvosri! Mirin and oyster sauce are totally different things, so I’m afraid you can’t use it. Just omit mirin here. 🙂
I made these meatballs (as my first Japanese recipe) and it was delicious. Very easy to make as well. I should though consider getting a slightly larger frying pan because I did not immerse the meatballs in the teriyaki equally.
I will be adding this to my cooking list and make it regularly. I like it very much and this deserves 5 stars. (I will also learn a number of other Japanese recipes here while at it!)
Thank you, Nami!
Hello Leo! Thank you so much for your very kind feedback on this dish! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it! It’s always nice to use a slightly bigger pan than actual food amount so that you can flip easily and heat will go through evenly (or make in batches). Thanks again for writing and for the 5 stars!! 😀 xo
I recently discovered your blog and am excited to try some recipes! None of the places around me carry medium firm tofu. My choices are silken and firm. Is there any way to substitute using these? Thank you for your site!
Hi Olivia! Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy cooking recipes from my site. You can use silken tofu, but it has more water in it, so make sure to de-hydrate tofu by pressing it for a long time. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
About the sauce, can I use the store bought teriyaki sauce?
Sure! 🙂
Hi Nami,
I can’t do frying at home, can I bake them in oven instead? If yes, how long should I bake? Thank you.
Hi Star! I have never made this recipe in the oven, so I’m not sure if it works… let us know if you give it a try!
Hi Nami,
I am trying to add more vege into food for my son, do you think I can add some finely chopped brocoli into the chicken ball?
Thank you.
Sure, you can add it! 🙂
I made these Chicken Meatballs last night and omg, they were so good!! I’ve made so many of your recipes and each one as been so good Nami.
Everyone loved these meatballs and I will definitely be making them again.
Follow you recipe exact recipe. Yummy!
Hi Esther! Thank you for trying my recipe and I’m so thrilled to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for writing your kind feedback. 🙂
Great Recipe! made a big batch for work lunches this week 🙂 yum yum!!
Hi Emily! Thank you so much! So happy to hear you tried this recipe. Hope you’re enjoying it this week. 😀
I just made this today. Very good recipe! And I have tons of leftovers for lunch and the rest of the week. Yay!
Hi Van Anh! Thank you for trying this recipe! I’m so happy to hear you liked it! 🙂
This has easily become a favorite in my home. It’s a great recepie for bento too. If you double the recepie it easily makes enough for a few days. I use the extra tofu to make homemade miso soup.
Hi April! I”m so happy to hear this recipe became your family’s favorite! Yes, I usually make tofu miso soup too!!! 😀 Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
What a delicious recipe! I substituted with ground pork and added 1 Tbsp of soy sauce to the sauce…and it turned out perfect with that beautiful glaze..Thank you
Hi Fiona! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
I made this last night, it was delicious. My picky husband also loved it 🙂
Hi Steph! Thanks so much for your kind feedback! Sorry I just saw this comment… Sorry about my late response!
Hi Nami,
I tried this meat ball recipe before but my kids don’t seem to like them. They still love the Yakitori Chicken Meatball from Tori Q in S’pore. May I ask what’s the difference between this “chicken meatball” and the Tsukune (つくね) Japanese chicken meatballs recipe? Which one is nearer to the taste of Tori Q Chicken Meatball? It’s really a headache to cook for picky kids:( Btw, they do like your Salmon Teriyaki:) Thanks
Hi Nana! I don’t live in Singapore, so I have never dined at Tori Q before and I don’t know what they serve… so there is no way for me to tell you if my recipes are close to Tori Q recipe. 🙂
This recipe includes tofu to make it fluffy but tsukune is pure chicken so it’s harder texture.
I’m happy to hear your children enjoyed my Salmon Teriyaki recipe. 🙂
Dear Nami,
Thank you for your prompt reply. Then I will take time to try your Tsukune meatball recipe, maybe they will like them:) I like your blog and recipes akin my 3 kids like Japanese cuisine. Thank you for your great recipe<3
Hope your children will enjoy the recipe! Thank you for your kind words about my blog! 🙂
If I want to make this into hamburger steak, should I reduce the amount of tofu so it’s easier to shape?
Hi Poon! The amount of tofu is really up to you (more tofu, healthier and fluffier). You can still make a bigger hamburger shape with this recipe. 🙂
can’t wait to make this recipe this week, thank you!
Hi Suzze! Hope you enjoy! 🙂
I just wanted to say thank you so much for replying, there are so many people out there who have food blogs that never respond to your questions and I appreciate you getting back to me, thank you 🙂
Aw thank you! I consider it’s part of my job (as blogging is my full-time job). 🙂 I am just happy that people are trying out Japanese foods at home and I’m happy to help out during the process. 🙂 Hope you enjoy!
Hi Nami, I wanted to know for your chicken meatballs what do you use as a binder? Bread crumbs, starch, etc? 🙂
Hi Suzze! The tofu and egg act as a binder so you don’t need breadcrumbs or starch (you can use it, but you don’t need in this recipe). 🙂
I made this yesterday and it turned out fantastic! So easy, so tasty. I’ll be making this again and again.
On a side note, the leftover meatballs worked great to reheat, maintaining almost all their juiciness after microwaving them today.
Thank you for this great recipe!
Hi Andy! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this dish! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. 🙂 xo
Hi Nami, I plan on making these this weekend, it doesn’t say in the recipe but what are you using, white or dark meat ground chicken? 🙂
Hi Suzze! In your country, you have a choice for dark or white ground chicken? I believe it’s thigh (although it doesn’t say which part being used). 🙂
Hi, thank you for the recipe.
1 question : will this still taste good if frozen after cooking and heated up like a week later?
regards, Donna
Hi Donna! I do that often. I recommend making extra sauce and save or cook the sauce too. 🙂
Just made this! It’s so delicious that I’m wondering whether it will last until my husband gets home from work!
Hi Hedwig! My family love this dish too! I’m so happy to hear you liked this recipe! 🙂
Aloha Nami,
I made this recipe for the first time tonight. It was soooooo GOOD! My family loved it!!! It was tasty, moist, soft and fluffy. I tripled the recipe and I’m glad because we ate a lot and I kept snitching as I was cooking ????. I added a small amount of finely chopped round onion to substitute for the bell peppers and made a batch with sauce and one without. It was good even without the sauce????. I wonder what it would be like with a little bit of chopped water chestnuts…I think it might add a nice crunch without changing the flavor too much. Anyway, thank you so much for sharing this recipe, Nami! It is now a family favorite. Even my dad, who is kinda picky, was very expressive on how good it was! Mahalo for another wonderful meal ????????????! Amy
Hi Amy! I’m so happy to hear you and your family liked this recipe and thanks so much for your kind comment! I like your water chestnut idea for the crunch, and it goes well with this sauce too. Thank you again for your kind feedback. xo
Hi Nami, can’t wait to try this recipe. What’s the best way of freezing these if I were to make a big batch?
HI Jeny! For me, I usually freeze the leftover for bento, so I put 4 pieces (2 per kids) in each container with sauce and freeze them. I recommend dividing up based on how much you defrost in once so you can divide the sauce as well. 🙂
Is this suitable to b freeze?
Hi Ernie! You can freeze the meatballs after you cook and cool down. 🙂
Hello dear Nami ,what do you eat beside this? Rice? Or just salad? I’m Going to make them this week 😀 but with 3men in the house …..
Hi Stephanie! We eat some veggies or salad, rice, miso soup, and since you have 3 men in the house, I’d definitely add 2-3 side dishes… in Japan, typical side dishes can be fish, simmered dishes (more vegetables + small amount of meat) etc…
Have you checked side dish category?
https://www.justonecookbook.com/recipes/?fwp_course=side-dish
These look awesome! Gonna make this tomorrow!
Hi Rheena! Thank you! Hope you enjoy(ed) this recipe!
Hi
Can this be frozen? At which step should i put into the freezer?
Hi Mel! You cook the meatballs and let them cool. Then you can put it in an airtight container and freeze. 🙂
Hi!
I tried this recipe tonight and it was delicious, thanks for sharing!
I did it with turkey breasts instead of chicken since I already had some, and added a little more tofu in case it might be too dry. It had a lot of success. 😀
Hi Anne! Thank you for trying this recipe! I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for your kind feedback! 🙂
My family loves this recipe and the leftovers make the best bento lunch. Thank you!
Hi Christine! Wonderful! I’m happy to hear your family enjoyed this recipe! 🙂
Hi Nami — I’ve been making this recipe since you posted it and it’s one of my favorites!
But I really want to understand how you decided the ratios for the teriyaki sauce — why do you leave out sake and use rice vinegar in this recipe? Is the goal to make it less rich and more bright?
Hi Daniel! I’m so happy to hear you enjoy this recipe and make it since I published this post! Thank you!
So, I think I’ve mentioned that we don’t have teriyaki sauce in Japan. There is no specific taste to our “teriyaki sauce” unlike here the “bottle teriyaki sauce taste”. So each family makes up their ratio, and each family changes up their portion all the time. Otherwise we’re eating the same sauce all the time… you know, Japanese seasonings are always soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar… these 4 makes up majority of Japanese seasonings. But we never call “teriyaki”. So this one is just another example of teriyaki variation. To make it “lighter” I used rice vinegar to get that zing flavor in the sauce. You can replace or add sake – and that’s totally okay. I always change up the flavor so my family doesn’t get tired of same flavor. Also with the vegetables in this recipe, it has nice to have rice vinegar too. You can add garlic, ginger… make different variations based on ingredients. Hope I answered to your question?
Thanks for the detailed response — I was just looking to understand your thought process so your answer was very helpful!
You’re very welcome. 🙂
Tried this twice with chicken and turkey. Chicken taste much better since the turkey was very lean. The teriyaki sauce is yummy. I would double even triple the sauce!
Hi Abigail! Thank you for trying this recipe! So glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for your kind feedback. xoxo
My family loves this recipe! Thank you!
Thanks so much Jackie! So happy to hear your family enjoys this recipe! 🙂
I made these tonight, they were so good and so easy! The tofu really does make them moist and fluffy, I cooked them to within an inch of their lives and they stayed nice and moist!
Hi Eden! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. I’m so happy you liked it! Thanks for making my day! 🙂
Hi,
I have been looking at your blog for a while. Everything looks awesome and we love the Beef Soboro recipe!
Question about this recipe. And please don’t hate me 🙂
We don’t eat tofu. Can it be replaced with something else? I would really like to make this for my crazy Japanese food lover school lunch. 🙂
Thanks!
Hi Zaneta! Sure, you can totally omit tofu, but the meat patties won’t be so fluffy (the main feature of this recipe) because it lacks tofu. When you make meat with just ground meat, it tends to be very tough meat balls… you know, just ordinary. If you don’t like tofu for taste, I want to let you know you don’t taste tofu in this recipe. Otherwise, hmm… you can use Japanese “Fu” (wheat gluten – https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry_items/fu-wheat-gluten/) but I know it’s not easy to find it. Or you can use panko (Japanese breadcrumbs or Japanese toast – very fluffy compared to American toast) but I’m not sure how that will work in this recipe as I’ve never tasted using other ingredients.
Thank you, I will try Panko, that’s a great idea.
Enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Hi Nami, I saw these were marked as freezer friendly. Would you recommend freezing it before you cook or after you cook it?
Hi A! I always cook first, let cool, and freeze. The food is preserved better after it’s cooked (the quality and taste is better kept after being cooked and served). 🙂
If I double this recipe to make more meatballs, but only have one package of tofu will they come out horrible?
Hi Amanda! Sorry about my late response. The ratio is kind of important BUT sometimes you have to make with what you have. It won’t come out horribly, so don’t worry! It’ll be less fluffy, and that’s probably the only difference. 🙂
Love the idea of light chicken meatballs, with your ingredients, so simple and very tasty. Thank you for the great recipe.
Hi Barbara! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! 🙂
Hi, can I freeze this uncook meatball recipe and use it when I need it?
Hi Eileen! In Japan, it’s usually recommended to cook and freeze so that the quality of meat/food will be kept better (taste better). So I would recommend cooking it first, then freeze. 🙂
Hi Nami
I love your the Teriyaki chicken ball recipe, thank you for sharing!
May I know if I can freeze these chicken balls? If yes, do I freeze it raw after I have shaped it or after the pan fried process?
Look forward to hearing from you.
God bless.
Hi Cynthia! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it. And yes, you can freeze them and I highly recommend freezing AFTER meatballs are cooked. That way, flavors and quality are kept better than freezing raw ingredients. 🙂 Thank you once again! xo
We’ve loved this recipe (and so many other recipes of yours) for years!! Now I’m wondering- I want to make these tonight, but don’t have any tofu. Is there a way to make them that works? Any substitutions you can think of? Thanks so much for your yummy recipes!!!
Hi Kate! Thank you so much for trying my recipes! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed this dish too! You can definitely make this without tofu – tofu is more like an addition that makes it fluffier. It’s hard to find a perfect substitute, but in Japan, we also use (not as in substitute but as another good addition) “Fu” (wheat gluten). This won’t be a good substitute as most non-Japanese homes wouldn’t have this dried ingredient in pantry… Panko or soft bread can be a good substitute as we also put in Hambagu, but you won’t be able to add a similar amount of tofu so it’ll be less fluffy. This is all about the texture though. You can still enjoy the meatballs just fine, but many people prefer to eat fluffy meatballs and less meat consumption, so tofu works great in this recipe. 🙂 Sorry I can’t give you a better answer than this…
Thank you for this recipe! It was a home run, and I will add it to my list of keepers! I accidentally used super firm tofu, but this recipe still turned out great (I am thinking maybe the meatballs would be more tender with medium firm tofu, so I will try this next time). Besides sweet peppers, are there other vegetable suggestions you would substitute in? I just put a bunch more green onion in, and it was quite good.
Again, thank you for this delicious recipe.
Hi Anastasia! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and thank you for trying it! You can add any ingredient in the meatballs, but if you put bulky ingredient, maybe texture is not something you would enjooy while eating meatballs… so it’s up to you. I added colorful bell peppers so it looks colorful and texture is similar to meatballs, but green onions, herbs, softer vegetables… they work okay as long as you chop smaller bits. 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback, Anastasia!
My man was very impressed with this dish, I had him try it before I revealed it had tofu in it (He hates tofu). He still ate a plate full saying this recipe was out of the ball park!!!
Definitely will make again over and over again!!!
Thank you, once again your recipes never disappoint, can’t wait to try another one tomorrow!!
Hi Ashley! Aww thank you! I’m so happy you and your husband enjoyed this dish! Haha, yeah it’s hard to know the tofu was in this dish. But it makes it so fluffy and light! I’m glad you enjoy my recipes. Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Nami, I live in Japan and I’m making these right now, but my balls look way too wet. You said medium firm tofu but what does that mean? 木綿豆腐?
Hi Mary! Yes, medium-firm here is Momen Tofu 木綿豆腐. Did you drain for at least 15 minutes? It sounds like water in the tofu started to release more after you mixed in. If you already drained 15 minutes and this happened, try draining 30 minutes. Especially if you don’t cook right away, it may release more water while you are waiting to cook as well. 🙂
I am pescatarian & wondering if you’ve tried this recipe with ground shrimp or tofu only? If you have, does it still “hold it’s shape”? Or would you recommend adding something else as a binder?
Hi Jennifer! I haven’t tried it with tofu and shrimp. However, I’m pretty sure it will work. 🙂
What can sub tofu as my kids just won’t eat it?
Hi El! The purpose of tofu is to make the patty fluffy. You can remove it, but the chicken meatballs tend to be tougher as it is lean meat. I received a lot of feedback from those who don’t like tofu actually liked this dish or didn’t even know there is tofu in it (husbands!). 🙂 You may want to give it a try…. hehe.
Great recipe, I’ve made this multiple times to great success. To make it easy for myself I usually just use a 1lb package of ground chicken and the whole package of tofu (rather than needing to put the remaining tofu in the fridge, because I often forget about it…), and it’s worked great for me. I’ve also made this with ground turkey instead of chicken and it tastes just as good.
Fun fact: until this recipe I never liked sweet peppers! But I’ll happily eat them in this. (:
Hi Thyna! Thank you for sharing your tip and feedback with us! Glad you found a better way to make this recipe. And I’m happy you’re able to enjoy sweet peppers too! 😀
Hi may I know what’s the amount of salt to use?
Hi Ruth! I’d use 1/4 tsp. By the way, I’m using kosher salt, so if you’re using table salt, please use half of what I use. 🙂
Hi! This looks so good! Thank you for sharing. However I am allergic to eggs. Is there anything you would recommend I can substitute the egg with to make this recipe? Thank you!!
Hi Jennifer! The egg here is used as a binder, so you can use Panko breadcrumbs or cornstarch. 🙂 Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi Nami! Thank you for your quick response! Do you have a suggestion on how much Panko I should use?
Hi Jennifer, start with 2 Tbsp, and see how it goes. 🙂
That looks delicious!
I noticed that the teriyaki sauce you used in this recipe differs from your regular teriyaki sauce recipe (no sake, but rice vinegar and starch added). Why did you choose to do so and what does it do with the taste of teh sauce if you compare it with your regular teriyaki sauce? Is it a bit sour now? More sweet & sour?
Thanks!
Hi Fred! Thank you! I have a lot of teriyaki recipes on my blog, and I believe every recipe is slightly different although they are somewhat similar. In Japanese cooking, the common seasonings are soy sauce, sake, and mirin. You will see these 3 condiments in almost all recipes. What makes each dish different is the ratio of how we use these condiments, along with other condiments – sugar, rice vinegar, and sometimes miso or sesame oil, and garlic/ginger.
Now thickening is up to you. I like the meatballs to have thicker sauce coated so I added starch here. If you like thin sauce, then no need to add. Since it’s round shape, I like the thick sauce coated well on the top of the round shape… 😀
No, this is not a sour taste, not prominent.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for your swift and clear answer, Nami. Japanse cooking is new to me and I lack knowledge, but I’m eager to learn. Your great website helps me a lot with that.
Hi Fred! Thank you for your kind words. Have fun cooking! I’m always here to help! 🙂