Mitarashi Dango are traditional Japanese rice dumplings smothered in an irresistible sweet soy glaze. The dumplings are skewered on a bamboo stick and enjoyed all-year round. Make this tasty street snack right in your kitchen!
Mitarashi Dango (みたらし団子) is a type of dango, sweet rice dumplings, skewered onto a bamboo stick. Typically, three to five dumplings (traditionally five) are on a skewer and covered with a sweet soy sauce glaze.
It is fairly easy to make these dango at home. These chewy dumplings are mildly sweet and get a hint of char from grilling. When we brush the glaze over the dumplings, each bite is gooey, savory, and satisfying without being overly sweet. You’ll love the contrasting textures and flavors. They make a fun, delicious snack with a hot cup of green tea.
Also, check out my Hanami Dango and Shiratama Dango recipes!
Table of Contents
Origin of Mitarashi Dango
Mitarashi dango originated from the Kamo Mitarashi Tea House in Kyoto. The dango was thought to be made as an offering for the gods, and the name was given after the bubbles of the mitarashi (御手洗), a font of purifying water placed at the entrance of a famous shrine in the city. Street vendors in Kyoto started selling dango as a snack, which quickly gained popularity among many visitors.
Today you can find mitarashi dango being sold at supermarkets, convenience stores, and specialty sweet shops all over Japan.
Ingredients for Mitarashi Dango
To make an authentic dango, you will need the following ingredients.
- A combination of joshinko and shiratamako (or dangoko instead) – I’ll discuss further on this topic below.
- Boiling water
- The delicious sweet and savory glaze – soy sauce, sugar, mirin, potato starch (cornstarch)
How to Make Mitarashi Dango
The recipe card below guides you through with detailed instructions and step-by-step pictures, but here’s a quick summary.
Jump to Recipe- To make the dough: Combine the joshinko and shiratamako (or dangoko) with (hot) water. Knead the dough until combined. The dough should have a texture of our “earlobe” (yes, it’s a strange expression, but it’s commonly used when making wagashi, Japanese sweets). Divide the dough and form into round dango balls.
- To cook the dango: Cook the dango balls in boiling water. Transfer to iced water and skewer 3 balls into each bamboo stick.
- Give a nice char: Use a kitchen torch or a frying pan to give dango a nice char. You can skip this process, but I think dumplings with a grilled mark look more delicious.
- To make the glaze: Combine the ingredients in a saucepan and cook the sauce until thickened.
- To serve: Drizzle the glaze on top of the dango. Serve immediately.
Learn about Japanese Glutinous Rice Flour and Rice Flour
To achieve the perfect texture for the dumplings, you need to use the following types of rice flour:
- Johshinko (上新粉) – a flour made from Japanese short-grain rice (uruchimai うるち米).
- Shiratamako (白玉粉) – a flour made from Japanese short-grain glutinous rice (mochigome もち米).
I recommend an equal proportion: 50–50 ratio for both flours. The combination will give you the bouncy, chewy but not too sticky texture. If you like the chewy mochi-like texture, you can decrease joshinko to 40% and increase shiratamako to 60%.
But be careful not to increase the amount of shiratamako too much, as the dango will get too soft and the texture becomes more like shiratama dango. The mitarashi dango needs to be firmer than the shiratama dango.
When you go to a Japanese grocery store, you may find the third type of flour called dangoko (団子粉), a combination of rice flour and glutinous rice flour (the ratio is up to the manufacturer).
If you have trouble finding joshinko and shiratamako, dangoko might be your best option. The texture of dumplings made with dangoko is firmer and chewier.
Where to buy johshinko and shiratamako?
You can find these flours at your local Japanese grocery store or on Amazon. Some online Asian grocers may carry them.
Can I use mochiko in place of shiratamako and joshinko?
Although mochiko is similar to shiratamako, it’s produced differently. Mochiko yields a very soft and tender texture, which is unsuitable for dango. However, a reader has shared her experience of achieving good results by adding a spoonful of cornstarch to mochiko.
How about Thai glutinous rice flour?
Thai glutinous rice flour is not at all the same as Japanese glutinous rice flour. It will not turn out right at all. To make the dango, you’ll need the flours I listed above.
FAQs
Q: Is it possible to make the dango a few hours ahead?
Sure you can. However, If you like to keep the texture softer and tender for a longer time, you can add sugar to the flour at the start. The recommended amount of sugar is 20% of the flour’s weight which is 40 grams.
If you plan on making the sauce ahead of time, remove it from the heat before the consistency gets too thick because the moisture will evaporate and thicken the sauce as it cools.
Q: If I make too much, can I store the leftover sweet soy sauce?
Yes. You may store it in the refrigerator for 2~3 days or freeze it. Reheat it in the microwave or heat it up in a pot to enjoy it again.
More Traditional Japanese Desserts & Sweets To Enjoy
- Hanami Dango
- Green Tea Mochi
- How to Make Mochi with a Stand Mixer
- Strawberry Mochi (Ichigo Daifuku)
- Tsukimi Dango
- Homemade Sweet Red Bean Paste(Anko)
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Mitarashi Dango
Ingredients
For the Dumplings Using Joshinko and Shiratamako
- ⅔ cup joshinko (Japanese rice flour) (上新粉; made with short-grain rice; see Notes for details; sold at Amazon)
- ¾ cup shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) (白玉粉; made with short-grain glutinous rice; see Notes for details; sold at Amazon; or substitute mochiko)
- ⅔ cup boiling water (joshinko requires hot water)
For the Dumplings Using Dangoko
- 7 oz dangoko (Japanese rice dumpling flour) (団子粉; found at Japanese grocery stores)
- ⅔ cup water
For the Sweet Soy Glaze
- 4 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp mirin
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce
- ⅔ cup water (⅔ cup minus 2 tsp, to be precise)
- 2 Tbsp potato starch or cornstarch
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients for the dumplings. Joshinko (上新粉) is flour made with Japanese short-grain rice and shiratamako (白玉粉) is flour made with short-grain glutinous rice; they are different from other Asian varieties. For more details, see Notes at the end of the recipe card. Joshinko and shiratamako are pictured on the left and dangoko (団子粉) is pictured on the right. Whichever you decide to use, the instructions below are the same.
- Gather the ingredients for the sweet soy glaze. Soak the bamboo skewers in water. You can start boiling a large pot of water on low heat (see Step 8).
To Make the Rice Dumplings
- Combine ⅔ cup joshinko (Japanese rice flour) and ¾ cup shiratamako (glutinous rice flour/sweet rice flour) in a bowl. (If you‘re making the dumplings using dangoko, add 7 oz dangoko (Japanese rice dumpling flour) instead to a bowl.) Using chopsticks, mix it all together until well blended.
- Stir in some of the ⅔ cup boiling water, a little bit at a time, while mixing with chopsticks. (Or, stir in some of the ⅔ cup water (cold) for the dangoko, a little bit at a time.) Please note: You can always add more water so go with a small addition. The dough should be on the dry side.
- When the flours start to stick together and eventually form clumps, stop adding water. Using your hands, combine the dough into one ball.
- Knead until the dough becomes smooth. The texture is like squeezing an “earlobe“ (that’s how we describe the tenderness of this type of mochi in Japanese).
- Form the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.
- Then divide each piece into 2 smaller pieces. You will have 16 equal-sized pieces of dough. I always like to weigh mine. Each ball should be 20 grams. You may have some extra dough, but that’s okay.
- Shape each of the dough pieces into a smooth, round ball. If the dough is cracking or has some wrinkles, dip the tip of your finger in water and apply a small amount of water to the cracked area to smooth it out. You now have 16 equal-sized dumplings.
- Just before cooking the dumplings, prepare a bowl of iced water. Once the water in the pot is boiling, gently drop each dumpling into the pot with a smooth, continuous arm motion to avoid splashing. Cook them all at once. Stir the balls occasionally so they keep their round shape and don‘t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- The dumplings will stay near the bottom of the pot at first, but they will float once cooked. When they rise to the top, boil them for an additional 1–2 minutes.
- Transfer the dumplings to the bowl of iced water.
- Once the dumplings have cooled, drain them well and transfer them to a tray. Tip: Wet the tray so the dumplings don‘t stick.
- Skewer three pieces onto a bamboo skewer. Continue with the rest of the dumplings and set aside.
To Make the Sweet Soy Glaze
- In a cold saucepan, add 4 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp mirin, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, ⅔ cup water, and 2 Tbsp potato starch or cornstarch. Do not turn on the heat yet.
- Mix all the ingredients together well until smooth. The potato starch/cornstarch will become lumpy if you heat the sauce without stirring beforehand. Now, turn on the heat and continue to whisk.
- Keep whisking continuously, as the mixture can thicken suddenly.
- When the sauce thickens, remove the saucepan from the heat and transfer the sauce to a container or bowl. If you are making it ahead of time, remove the sauce from the heat before the consistency gets too thick. The moisture will continue to evaporate as it cools and thicken the sauce.
To Serve
- Optional: Sear and enhance the flavor with a kitchen butane torch. You can also grill them over direct heat (if you are going to place them on a wire rack, grease it first, as the dumplings tend to stick). You can use a broiler to char the dumplings or use a nonstick frying pan to pan-fry the surface of the dango.
- Pour the sweet soy glaze on top of the Mitarashi Dango and serve immediately.
To Store
- Option 1: After you form the dough into round dumplings, you can store the uncooked dumplings in a single layer in an airtight container and freeze up to a month. When ready to use, boil the frozen dango without defrosting first.
- Option 2: After boiling and cooling the dumplings, pat them dry and pack them so they don‘t touch each other into an airtight container. Freeze up to a month. When ready to use, microwave or boil them until warm.
Sorry, just finished reading thru all the comments so wud try freezing dem after steps 5 as you recommended and wud also try grilling, freezing and reheating a couple as well. Wud let u know how it turns out. I’m also using ur azuki paste ice cream recipe for the event so wish me luck! Matcha is pretty expensive where I am $371. per pack so can’t try that flavour ice cream unfortunately
Hi Avah! I’m very sorry for my late response (I’m in Japan now and spend less time in front of computer). Hope they turned out well. Too bad matcha is expensive there. Even in Japan, matcha (real matcha) is not cheap either. I only use good quality matcha for special occasion. 🙂 Hope dango went well. It’s the best if you make it when you eat… mochi or rice tastes best when you just make. Texture is not the same…but I know sometimes you don’t have the best option on certain circumstance. Thank you for trying the recipe!
hallo nami,thanks for the recipe..i’ve been looking for the dango recipe since i can’t find it in my living place..so i would like to make it myself 🙂
i’ve tried your recipe, but i’m using chinese rice flour, i can’t find any japanese rice flour here. before i grilled the dango,it tastes fine. but after i grilled it,then glaze it with the sauce,the dango had floury taste. do you might know why it taste like that? other than the taste everything is great. i’d like to make it again sometime.thank you.^^
Hi Heny! Hmmm… hard to say why it tastes more floury taste after grilled. The outside of dango gets tighter after grilled but not sure if that’s what you mean. However, the adding char on dango is optional, and you don’t have to if you like the texture before grilling dango. Thank you so much for trying this recipe and giving me great feedback! 🙂
thank you nami for your reply.when i grilled it, the skin turn whiter, is that what you mean by gets tighter? i forgot to take the picture of it. is it possible the heat is too low when i grilled it or maybe i was not draining it well? i’ll try making it again, maybe two version this time haha. i’m still curious about the taste. 🙂
Hi Heny! “Tighter” as in texture…maybe more firm? Sorry I’m not very good with explaining. xD Dango is already cooked, so all you need is to give nice char (taste and look). 🙂
Hi Nami,
I was wondering what I could substitute mirin with for this recipe? I love your recipes but I always have to omit sake/mirin as I’m Muslim. I hope I’m not missing out too much in terms of flavor.
Appreciate the help! 🙂
HI Yanee! You can omit mirin for this recipe. Use soy sauce and sugar to make the sauce. 🙂
You can omit sake/mirin. Mirin is used to sweeten, so you may want to replace with sugar. If sake is used for steaming, replace with water to steam. For sauce, you can either omit or add water instead.
Hope that helps! 🙂
Hi =] thanks for the recipe! But I was wondering if I can use mochi gome rice instead of the flours cuz I couldnt find them here.. =/ Thank you!
Hi Karina! Usually dango is made of powder form. Do you think you can find this brand called Mochiko? It’s widely available in non-Japanese/Asian stores. Here’s the amazon link.
http://www.amazon.com/Mochiko-Sweet-Flour-1-Pound-Packages/dp/B000LLXBKY
thank you for the reply!
The problem is that here, the supermarkets and stores alike even the japanese or non japanese ones don’t seem to have the flours cuz dont sell much… so they only have the sweet rice and the normal rice haha but I’ll try to look for that one as well! thank you very much! =]
No problem! Good luck with finding the mochiko! 🙂
Hello!
For step 5, do you remove the dango from the pot after 1 minute or 1 minute after the dango is starting to float?
Thank you!!
Hi Raymond! I updated my recipe – it should be cook for 1 minute after dango starts to float. Thank you for your question! 🙂
Ahh. I tried it out yesterday and it turned out great! Thank you for this recipe. Definitely a keeper 😉
Raymond, I’m happy to hear you enjoyed these dango. Thank you so much for your feedback! 🙂
Hey Nami! Thanks a lot….. In the country where i live, i.e. India, i really don’t recognize the Joshinko, and Shiratamako/mochiko thus, i had to experiment…… my dangos were not perfect…. as the first time…… i made mistake choosing wrong combination of rice flour, and my dangos ended up having a slight smell, 😛 second time i tried experiment again, and today i tried it for the third time, and it ended pretty well, they were soft, with a delicious smell, and the sauce too, ended up tasting well, though i couldn’t find mirin and substituted sugar, like u said…for this recipe….! Arigatou Gozaimasu!! ^_^
Hi Sankalita! Thank you so much for trying this recipe! I’m glad your experiment worked and happy to hear you enjoyed it! Arigato for your kind comment! 🙂
I usually buy these at the Japanese grocery store already made. I didn’t know they were so easy to make. I’ll have to look for the flours next time I’m at the Asian market near me. 🙂
Hi Patty! Yes, it’s pretty easy to make and the texture will be a lot softer than store-bought dango. Hope you will enjoy! 🙂
May 5th id NOT Mexico’s independence day. It is the battle of Puebla when Mexico defeated the French. Not Independence. Mexico’s independence is on SEPTEMBER 16
Hi Angelica! I re-read Wikipedia and realized my mistake. Thank you for letting me know! 🙂
Made the dango last night and topped it with the anko paste we made…so yummy!
Thank you for these great recipes!
Hi Brenda! I’m glad you liked this recipe! My favorite is dango with anko too! 🙂 Thank you so much for writing your feedback!
Hi!
I’d love to make this for a school project, but there’s just one issue! How long does dango stay good for?
You can freeze them right away in an air tight container after step 5. You can reheat by steaming it or microwave it. I’d do that if you want to keep it more than half day.
If you are going to use it within 6 hours, then you can keep them in clean water (step5).
Hope this helps! 🙂
Hi Nami! Do you think these dango will stay good if I freeze them and cook them whenever I like? I’m not sure if these will dry out in the freezer or remain rock hard if I pop them immediately into water or over heat.
Hi Laura! That’s a good question…and I’m not sure as I’ve never tried it. I assume the quality will never be as perfect as fresh one, but if you put in airtight package, it might work? I wonder if it’s better if you cook and pack, just like how we cook rice first and freeze. I am not sure what’s the best way and I’m sorry I’m not helpful here…
Is there any reason you have to freeze it? The reason I asked is that it’s pretty fast to make these, so I highly recommend you make fresh one when you need it. 🙂
I think it’s more of not having to eat everything at one go. I’m the only one who likes chewy mochi stuff and even I can’t eat more than 4 balls/1 stick at a go. I do recall making chinese rice dumplings (so that’s only glutinous rice powder), and putting them uncooked into the fridge. That did dry them out and they cracked slightly around the edges. They did cook as per normal once they were dropped into the boiling water, but the cracked edges are not as perfect as I’ll like them to be, so I’m still looking for a way to prepare and store them in the fridge properly (like those we buy from the frozen aisle in the supermarket) 🙂
Hi Laura – I see. I have eaten prepared/cooked mochi that was frozen from the store, but never had uncooked frozen mochi before. It will be a great experiment, and I should try freezing a couple to see. Let me know if you try first and see how it comes out. Hopefully it’s good as fresh one, so we don’t have to overeat mochi so much. 😉
Hi, sorry, it’s me again. I read about tofu dango. So are tofu dango and mitarashi dango similar? im confused with all the different types of dango.
It’s similar style and only difference is that Tofu Dango includes Tofu as a part of ingredients (Tofu can’t be the only ingredient). Some people say it’s hard to know if Tofu is included as long as ratio is not overpowering. It’s an option to use less flour. 🙂
Hi, thank you so much for answering my questions. Will experiment the two methods soon. Thank you and love your blog. =)
You’re welcome! 🙂 And thanks!
Hi, is it ok to use just the glutinous rice flour?
Hi Lolandra! When I was in school (maybe it was elementary or middle school), we had home & economics and made Shiratama Dango in class. That time I remember we used only glutinous rice flour. So it should work. I did a little bit research and it looks like it’s better with both included. 🙂
Hi Nami and Fern, I tried with Chinese rice flour, and the regular type of Chinese glutinous rice flour, since those are what I could find. They turned out pretty good and chewy 🙂
Thank you so much Madelyn!!! I’ll let Fern know. 🙂
looks delicious! I’m not sure where to get Mirin though – is it possible to replace it with something else?
Hi Sam Bear! Please read about Mirin & substitution here: https://www.justonecookbook.com/pantry/mirin/
For this recipe, it’s okay to omit mirin and add a little more sugar. 🙂