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.
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. 🙂
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! 😀
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.
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. 🙂
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. 🙂
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. 🙂
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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!
[…] Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs […]
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…
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
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. 🙂
[…] Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs […]
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! 🙂