Love a good, easy appetizer recipe? Sweet and savory with a good douse of spice, these tulip shaped chicken drumettes with a spicy miso dipping sauce are a party favorite.
My husband and I were talking what chicken drumettes recipe I can make for our next dinner since our children love drumettes. Then he said he really misses these Spicy Miso Chicken from Norikonoko, a mom and pop Japanese diner in Berkeley, California.
Watch How To Make Spicy Miso Chicken スパイシー味噌チキンの作り方
Easy baked chicken appetizer recipe. Tulip shaped chicken drumettes with a spicy miso dipping sauce.
I have been to the restaurant once when I stayed in Berkeley for a summer during high school to study English. My host family took me there when I was missing Japanese food. According to my husband, he and his friends treated this Japanese diner like their second kitchen back in college.
As I had never tasted this miso chicken that he loved, I had to rely on his description of the taste to recreate the recipe. It’s been a while since my husband tried the miso chicken at the restaurant too, so let’s say I made this recipe inspired by the restaurant’s version. 🙂
The restaurant makes the spicy miso chicken drumettes into “tulip” shape. This is pretty simple to do (see my picture/video), and it’s easy to eat because half of the meat already came off the bone.
The spicy sauce uses red miso, which has a bolder flavor than white miso or awase miso (red & white mixed miso). You can use white or awase miso, but the sauce will be quite different from the intended flavor.
Well, according to my husband, these chicken drumettes are pretty close to what they serve at Norikonoko. You can imagine his happy face when he gave these drumettes a try. I reduced the amount of Sriracha sauce for my children’s portion, so they really enjoyed this quick appetizer as well. If you love spicy food, feel free to add more Sriracha sauce. Enjoy these Spicy Miso Chicken as a finger food at a party, or make it the main course, along with a side of rice and a refreshing Asian coleslaw.
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- 1.20 lb chicken drumettes (1.2 lb = 17 pieces) (See Notes)
- Cooking spray (or 1/2 Tbsp oil)
- 2 Tbsp sake
- 1 tsp ginger
- 3 cloves garlic
Gather all the ingredients.
- Using kitchen shears, cut and remove the meat from the tip of the bone.
- And when you remove the meat half way, peel it back so that it forms a “tulip” shape.
- Mix all the seasonings in a small bowl.
- Put the chicken and seasonings in a large Ziploc bag and massage the chicken. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Line the broiler pan with aluminum foil on the bottom (for easy cleanup) and grease the rack with cooking spray.
- Place the chicken on the rack in single layer. Broil on high for 10 minutes and then flip to continue cooking for another 8 minutes.
- Meanwhile make spicy miso sauce. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and mix all together. You can apply the sauce when the chicken is done, or you can put the sauce in a small dish and serve with the chicken.
Chicken drumettes: You can use chicken drumsticks but drumettes marinade and cook faster.
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 in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
The best thing about your recipes is that they are easy and delicious! Your photos are a testament to that. I’ve just had my dinner but these wings are making me salivate! I think must be the combination of spicy and miso! 🙂
G’day Nami, your chicken looks delish, true!
I have had limited use re miso, but have bookmarked your recipe for future use and to do! Thank you!
Cheers! Joanne
I’ve never tried it as well, so it will be a new experience. To be honest with your blog it’s usually a new experience, that’s why I like it so much 🙂
I love it! I am looking for finger type food for the holiday season and these are perfect!
It must be so lovely to be able to have that same taste at home, I am sure your kids would love these chicken pops.
They look addictive!
I have some miso in my fridge… this is a must try. You know I love spicy. 🙂
Quick and delicious!!! I have sake, and mirin. Time to get miso 😀
Must try this! Funny, I was going to start in on one of your other chicken recipes you mentioned recently on FB, but then saw this one. Coincidence? 😛
Hi David! Hope you enjoy this dish. Well, my family love drumettes and wings… so hope to share more recipes! 😉
Hi Nami, thank you for sharing this delicious dish. May I check if I do not have sriracha, can I substitute with other type of chilli sauce?
Thank you.
Hi Linda! You can use any hot sauce, such as sambal oelek, Gochujang, etc. 🙂
Wow, this chicken looks delicious! I’d love to taste it!!
My hubby can eat spicy chicken drumettes and wings all the time and would absolutely love these! The flavor combination sounds fabulous, thank you for the detailed pictorials as always Nami – pinning – can’t wait to try these 🙂
This has got to be the best chicken ever!
Lovely and full of yumness!!
What a great cook you are, Nami! This would go like hot cakes at a holiday party! I see bones piling up! : )
Gosh, these look like they have tremendous flavor! Nice as a meal, but a great idea as an appetizer, too. Really good stuff – thanks.
Now I’ll have to return to the store and pick up a tub of red miso paste (I just bought white miso this week). I can see these appetizers not lasting long at all on the plate. I can imagine the flavor…yum! Filipinos also do that to chicken (I think they call it lollipop style) though I’ve never tried it. Looks great, Nami!
Truly delicious… I would love this as an appetizer !!!
I love drumettes, I just wish they weren’t so expensive, but the next time they’re on sale, I’ll pick up a package and give these a try.
Oh how delicious! These photos of the chicken drummettes just reminded me I need to have lunch. Wish I could have these right now. Thanks for the recipe, Nami!
Fingerlicking good! That miso sauce sounds amazing.
Cheers,
Rosa
Love chicken lollipops. My kids love these too Nami. I really like the miso sauce and the sriracha in it.
I will surely try the place out in Berkeley, we don’t go there too often.
My kids love chicken drumsticks too and this one looks like very simple to prepare. I love everything with miso flavor. What a perfect finger food!
Looks delicious! I can imagine chicken wings working just as well here but the drummettes look so much prettier!
I love the story behind these chicken wings. And I love how they’re tulip shaped. I’ve never tried that before and have wondered how it’s done but now I know. Thanks Nami! xx
Lovely simple recipe where just a few defining ingredients would create a wonderful taste ~ I think I’ll make these for dinner and may even use chicken legs or thighs and stick them in the oven – bet the taste would be seriously good and I would not have to wait for freinds to drop in and hand these around party style 🙂 !
Hope you enjoy this recipe! Miso is so versatile and fun to use for cooking. 🙂
Nice frenched chicken wings…..
fancy tulip shaped, just like an upscaled dining restaurant did,
btw, i love to apply it with the chicken too instead just serving is aside, don’t forget to boil again any sauce that contact with the raw chicken!
Hi Dedy! That’s a great point and some people are not aware of that. For this recipe, we DO NOT marinade the chicken in the sauce. Sauce is just for dipping only (not sure why, but that’s how this restaurant serves – according to my husband’s memory. :)).
We’ve been to Norikonoko in Berkeley to sample their ramen and it was good.
Yes, it’s a very small place run by an elderly couple, but was impressed when I overheard the “mom owner” say to the young Japanese students (who had just dined at her restaurant attending UCB ) to stay healthy and be focused with their goals. She is like a mom away from home.
I look forward to trying your recipe soon.
Mae, I hope to visit the restaurant again. Aww how nice. It’s wonderful to have a restaurant (owner) who cares about customers health and well being. My husband ate there often when he was in UCB too. There must be so many people treating the restaurant as their home. 🙂 I’ll try the ramen next time. Thank you for the comment!
I’m a fan of this recipe for sure! I like using the oven these days so while it wouldn’t have the char grill flavour, at least I know a delicious dinner will be ready!! Oh and yes, miso and sirracha.. perfect!
My sister goes to UCBerkeley, so maybe she`s heard of this place! Haha, I`ll have her take me when I visit her because these chicken look so drool-worthy!
Don’t you love creating restaurant favorites? These look so good! Thank you for sharing. A delicious end to a long Thursday! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
That just looks so darn GOOOOOOD! And I LOVE the tulip shaped drumsticks!! How do they think of these things?! hehe 🙂
Divine! I need to make spicy miso chicken soon! Love it 🙂
ps: loving the styling, my friend!!
There’s a local Japanese restaurant that I used to go to all the time that served chicken “lollypops” and I always wanted to make them at home. Great video tutorial Nami!
I love these! They remind me of the chicken lollipops they serve at at Straits restaurant. I never knew how they made them into that cute shape 🙂
Wow Nami, it’s amazing that you could recreate the recipe you ate a long time ago in a restaurant.
The chicken drums look very yummy!
Seriously, I have always wanted to learn how to make those cute little chicken lollipops! You make it look so easy and this recipe looks scrumptious 🙂
The miso sounds fantastic! The more sriracha, the better!
Oh how that skin glistens with the sauce! Love the tulip shapes – perfect appetizers I reckon. The video rocks!!
Hi Nami, these look really lovely – I must admit I’ve never heard of (or seen) a “drumette” though! Is it like a drumstick with the bottom bit pulled off, or…?
I’ve imported 2 tubs of miso paste to Sweden, haha – I figured I might not be able to find it up in the north here so it’s good to see something like this to add to my list of things to try. I think this would be a hit with my parents-in-law!
YES! YES! YES! Hundred times YESs to these drumettes!
Fantastic, fabulous drumettes! Spicy!
Love it! Love it! Love it!
Hugs and love 🙂
These would make such delicious appetizer, I love the spicy miso sauce!
ご親切な奥様ですね。確かにのりこのこよりなみさんのチキンのほうが美味しいでしょう。レシピどうもありがとう。
I lived in Berkeley for one year but didn’t see this restaurant (of course, I lived there waaay before you got there)! Such interesting flavors and easy instructions – thank you!
Nami, what an absolutely wonderful quick and easy appetizer. I love that the list of ingredients is rather short and with things that I can easily get in my favorite Asian store – your presentation is so pretty, I really like the look of the “pottery” plate, so very nice for this type of dish.
You make the very best chicken recipes, dear friend! Always so very tatsy!
No meat for me, but I can TOTALLY appreciate a delectable marinade! MMMMMMMmmmmmm! 😀
Hi Nami! These look delicious. I think I still have some red miso on-hand. The kids love anything with chicken drummies as well. I know they would love this. I like that you can adjust the level of spiciness too. Miss A isn’t a fan of too much heat, but Mr. N can handle more than I can at this point! I hope that all is well. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break with the kids.
These drummets look like little boxing fists. LOL! How adorable! I have a passion for drummets and drumsticks. You know I would try this out.
The most challenging part of this must be forming the “tulips”. Love this “lollipop” chicken flavor. 🙂
I would certainly love nibbling those chicken wings
I wanted to make this but I couldn’t find red miso 🙁
Just have to keep looking I guess….hmmm
Nami these chicken drumsticks are so inviting and look so delicious, that I wish you were my neighbor!
And the ingredients & steps looks simple too. Thanks for sharing
Yum Yum! These chicken drummettes look so good with that tulip shape. Replicating a popular Japanese restaurant recipe is not that easy, but you did it so well! Great-looking dish!!
This chicken recipe sounds so tasty and I have never seen the tulip shape before. You are so talented to by coming close to the restaurant recipe by memory and inspiration 🙂
These chickie wings much much better to than the nasty buffalo wings served everywhere. I made those one recipes one time and swore “never again”. The ability to control the amount of spicy heat makes all the difference. Comment: don’t forget to save the wing tips for making stock.
Question: I bought a special mold to make mooncakes but none of my cookbooks (chinese, japanese, thai and collected asian) have a recipe. Can you help me find something yummy, pretty please??
Warm hugs,
Maggie
Hello Maggie! Thank you so much for your kind words. I am not very expert in mooncakes, but I have several Chinese blogger friends who make great mooncakes:
http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.com/2013/09/colourful-snowskin-mooncakes.html
http://goodyfoodies.blogspot.com/2013/09/recipe-homemade-snowskin-mooncakes-with.html
http://www.anncoojournal.com/2011/09/traditional-bake-mooncake-2011.html
http://rasamalaysia.com/snow-skin-mooncake/
Hope these links help. 🙂
Love the miso flavor in this! I actually haven’t cooked anything with miso in years – I need to stock up on it!
I can finish all of it in one sitting while watching TV, lol. Looks delicious Nami, I love chicken wings soooo much 🙂
あら、これ美味しそう。チキンをこうゆう風にするの出来ないのよねえ。上手だわ、さすが！
What great little sweet and spicy chicken bites! These would make wonderful appetizers, but I’m afraid I would eat so many before the party started, that there wouldn’t be anything left over for the guests. 🙂 Great sauce!
You probably remember I am crazy for hot food, so when I saw spicy miso chicken I knew I would love the idea. And I was right! It looks amazing! Exactly like my kind of food, so expect it one day on my blog 😉 Thumbs up for the video!
PS Sorry for late comments. I have been travelling once more…
I love the interesting shape! I will have to try this one day. Also, love how your kids said “itadakimasu” at the end! =)
Oh my, Nami. The chicken looks delicious. I would love to taste it.
Another miso recipe to try! Lucky husband, to have a wife who can re-create recipes without even trying them. 🙂 This looks good!
I love the step by step procedure.. lovely clicks 🙂
Can these be made ahead? Are they good served cold or should they always been served hot?
Hi Carol! Yes, you can. I’d even put it in bento box. However, I may not be the right person to answer as I’m used to eating bento at room temeprature (that’s how it is in Japan). For your guests, I assume it’s nice to serve hot/warm. At least cover in aluminum foil and keep it warm in the oven? 🙂
Hi Carol. We had some left over from our BBQ, they are just as delicious cold! Just make sure that they have about 5 mins out the fridge before eating though as sometimes if the chicken is too cold it can cause an upset tum!
Thanks so much for your feedback Lorna! 🙂
Thank you Nami for such a yummy recipe. We went to a BBQ this last weekend so I tried this on a batch of 3kg’s of chicken & we had vegetarians there so i thought I’d try it with Tofu too! As we were going to a BBQ I didn’t want to take extra containers and have people getting dipping sauce on them, so I made extra sauce and brushed the chicken and tofu as they were grilling. The result was a hit —- everyone wanted the recipe! You know what??? I loved the Tofu more! Thank you once again. Keep them rolling! If I can find a photograph I’ll post it for you. 🙂
Hi Lorna! I’m so happy to hear this dish was a hit! Thank you so much for your feedback! You know, tofu and miso work REALLY well…. I’m happy everyone enjoyed this dish. 🙂
Oh gosh, I’m reading this at 2AM and now I have to cook. :/
Hi …proud to be following you for more than 3 years…i loved this spicy Miso chicken..Unfortunately ,Miso is not and will not be available in our country..on the other hand the Ingredients to prepare it at home ..Soy sauce is available..would you kindly suggested the nearest recipe to replace Miso…Many thanks and best wishes
Hi Zouhair! I understand. How about this recipe? It’s easy, and ingredients are easily accessible too! 🙂
https://www.justonecookbook.com/honey-soy-sauce-chicken-recipe/
Is there a substitute for the alcohol in the sauce to make it a bit more kid-friendly?
Hi Cara! I assume you’re talking about 2 Tbsp mirin in the sauce? You can either slather the chicken with the sauce toward the end of cooking (so alcohol will be evaporated during cooking) OR change to sugar (maybe 1 Tbsp to start?). Hope this helps! 🙂