My recipe for soft and juicy Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs will soon be your family‘s favorite! Tofu is the secret ingredient that makes these meatballs so fluffy. The best part? It takes only 40 minutes to prepare.
These Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs are soft and fluffy, and my kids love them! What’s the secret ingredient to making them so fluffy? It’s tofu!
Actually, in Japan, we call this dish Tofu Hambagu (豆腐ハンバーグ) – “hambagu” as in Japanese Hamburger Steak. However, most tofu hambagu are made with tofu AND ground meat (usually chicken, sometimes a 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 of the 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 a 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
- Chicken Meatballs with Sweet and Sour Sauce
- 17 Teriyaki Recipes You Must Make at Home
- Chicken Meatball Bento
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Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
Video
Ingredients
For the Teriyaki Sauce
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp mirin
- 2 tsp rice vinegar (unseasoned)
- ½ tsp potato starch or cornstarch
For the Meatballs
- 5 oz medium-firm tofu (momen dofu) (about ⅓ of a 14-oz block)
- 3 oz sweet bell peppers (1½ peppers; I used 3 colors)
- 1 green onion/scallion
- 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice; from a 1-inch, 2.5-cm knob)
- 14 oz ground chicken
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell)
- ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the sauce: 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 Tbsp mirin, 2 tsp rice vinegar (unseasoned), and ½ tsp potato starch or cornstarch. Set aside.
To Make the Meatballs
- Wrap 5 oz medium-firm tofu (momen dofu) with a paper towel and let it drain for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, remove the seeds from 3 oz sweet bell peppers under running water and dry completely.
- Mince the sweet bell peppers and chop 1 green onion/scallion finely. Grate the ginger and measure 1 tsp ginger (grated, with juice).
- In a large bowl, combine 14 oz ground chicken, the minced sweet bell peppers, and the chopped green onion. Break the drained tofu into small pieces and add to the bowl.
- Add 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) and mix it all together.
- Add the grated ginger, ½ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and ⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper and combine well.
- Using two tablespoons or a cookie scoop, form small meatballs. I usually scoop the meatballs straight into the frying pan (see the next step).
To Cook the Meatballs
- Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp neutral oil. When hot, add the meatballs, keeping some space between each. Cook in batches, if necessary.
- When the bottom is nicely browned, flip them over. Cover with the lid to cook until the inside is no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low if they are browning too fast. Transfer to a plate and cook the remaining batch(es).
- When the meat in the last batch is cooked through, add the other cooked meatballs and their juices back into the pan.
- Pour the sauce over the meatballs. Simmer to reduce and thicken the sauce while flipping the meatballs to coat both sides with the sauce.
To Store
- Keep the leftovers in an airtight container with the sauce, let cool completely, and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and in the freezer for a month.
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! 🙂
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
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. 🙂
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! 🙂
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! 🙂
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! 🙂
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!
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! 🙂
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! 🙂
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. 🙂
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!
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!
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! 🙂
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…)!! 🙂
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! 🙂