A classic street vendor snack in Japan, Taiyaki is a warm, fish-shaped cake with sweet red bean filling. This waffle-like Japanese treat is very popular at street fairs and festivals. In this recipe, I’ll show you how you can make fresh, hot Taiyaki at home.
What I miss most about Japanese summertime is the astonishing array of Japanese street foods offered by vendors at hundreds of festivals (matsuri) that take place across the country this time of year. There is endless of good eats to indulge in, but one of the must-try is the fish-shaped waffle-like snack called Taiyaki (鯛焼き).
Typically filled with sweet red bean paste, taiyaki are the stuff of childhood dreams! Just the thought of taiyaki would bring an intense craving and smile to my face!
Table of Contents
What is Taiyaki?
Easily recognizable by its whimsical fish-shaped, taiyaki (鯛焼き) is a waffle-style cake/snack filled with sweet red bean paste (anko), and sometimes with other fillings such as custard, chocolate, Nutella, or cheese.
It is a quintessential food at Japanese street fairs and festivals and is made in a fish-shaped iron mold resembling tai (red sea bream). In Japan, you can also find taiyaki shops that specialize in making pastries.
Most recently, trendy shops across the world have reimagined this traditional treat. In Tokyo, there is croissant taiyaki, where they combine croissant dough with tasty fillings.
In the US, you can find Taiyaki NY, a specialty shop with a few locations in New York and a few other places that serve taiyaki as handheld ice cream cones and topped with soft-serve ice cream. You can customize your ice cream flavor—from matcha and black sesame swirl to chocolate—and finish with red bean filling, a wafer stick, and mini mochi. Each taiyaki cone is crafted to fill your Instagram feeds.
History of Taiyaki: Why is Taiyaki Shaped Like a Fish?
Tai means “sea bream” and yaki means “grilled/baked”. You can trace its origin back to the Edo Period over 300 years ago. Before taiyaki took its shape, taiyaki was first imagawayaki, a warm round-shaped cake that is filled with sweet red bean paste.
During the Meiji-era (1868 – 1912), tai (sea bream) was considered a highly prized fish and only eaten for special celebrations. The fish became the symbol of good luck in Japan’s way of life and culture. Some enterprising pastry makers decided to modify imagawayaki by refashioning the round-shaped cake into a brand new sea bream fish look. With that, taiyaki was born and it became a huge hit.
Childhood Memories of Taiyaki
When taiyaki is freshly made, the crispy exterior surrounding the warm soft cake with anko filling is delectable. I would toss it between my hands to avoid getting burnt and slowly bite into the steaming hot cake. I usually start eating from the head side and the tail last (how about you?).
When I was young, I sometimes had to share a taiyaki with my younger brother and I always fought for the head side because taiyaki shops do not always fill the red bean paste all the way to the tail. I was always really disappointed when they don’t!
How to Make Taiyaki
The Ingredients You’ll Need
As you could see, we only need simple pantry ingredients to make this classic taiyaki recipe:
- Cake flour
- Baking powder & baking soda
- Egg
- Whole milk
- Sugar
- Filling: Red bean paste (anko) or others such as Nutella, chocolate, custard, etc)
- Neutral oil
When I don’t have time to make my homemade red bean paste, I buy and use a can of Ogura-An. The texture of the red bean paste is very smooth and easy to use.
The Cooking Steps
- Make the batter.
- Heat the taiyaki pan and pour the batter.
- Add the filling of your choice and cook!
Other Cooking Notes
Each taiyaki store and family has its own recipe and style for taiyaki, and my recipe leans toward cakey, fluffy pancake texture as my kids prefer it that way. I like mine to be on the crispy side like waffles. If you also like crispy texture, omit the egg and adjust the liquid amount for the batter.
Making taiyaki is very similar to a waffle making. The only extra touch is the filling. What kind of filling should we prepare? Let’s talk about that next.
Taiyaki Filling
Without a doubt, sweet red bean paste (Anko) is the most classic and popular choice of filling, but you can also find other sweet and savory options:
- Custard cream (recipe)
- Chocolate
- Nutella
- Cheese
- Sweet potato paste, and more!
Special Tool: Taiyaki Pan
Taiyaki is not taiyaki without its iconic shape! Since I know I’d make it every summer as a tradition for my children (and myself), I decided to get the fish-shaped taiyaki pan from Amazon.
More Japanese Street Snacks You’ll Love
- Imagawayaki (Obanyaki)
- Manju
- Dorayaki (Japanese Red Bean Pancake)
- Baked Japanese Sweet Potatoes (Yaki Imo)
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Taiyaki (Japanese Fish Shaped Waffle)
Video
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups cake flour (or make homemade cake flour; weigh your flour or use the “fluff and sprinkle“ method and level it off)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell)
- ¾ cup whole milk (¾ cup + 4 tsp; adjust the amount of milk depending on the egg size)
- 8 Tbsp sweet red bean paste (anko) (or make my homemade Anko recipe; you can also use Nutella, custard, or your favorite filling)
- 1 Tbsp neutral oil (for greasing the grill)
Instructions
Before You Start…
- Please note that the batter requires a resting time of 1 hour. I highly encourage you to weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale for this recipe. Click on the “Metric“ button at the top of the recipe to convert the ingredient measurements to metric. If you‘re using a cup measurement, please follow the “fluff and sprinkle“ method: Fluff your flour with a spoon, sprinkle the flour into your measuring cup, and level it off. Otherwise, you may scoop more flour than you need.
- Gather all the ingredients. You will also need a taiyaki maker. Please note that each brand of taiyaki maker comes with a different-sized mold. If you are making taiyaki for the first time, consider this a trial run for measuring the portion of ingredients you‘ll need for your particular taiyaki mold.
To Make the Batter
- Sift 1¼ cups cake flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp baking soda into a large bowl.
- Add 3 Tbsp sugar and whisk well to combine.
- In a medium bowl, whisk 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) and then add ¾ cup whole milk (¾ cup + 4 tsp). Combine well.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk well. Keep the batter in the refrigerator for at least one hour to rest and let the flour absorb the liquid. Tip: Whisking the batter creates gluten; by letting it rest, the batter will relax and become smooth.
- Pour the batter into a measuring cup or jug. You should have about 1¼ cups.
To Cook the Taiyaki
- Preheat the taiyaki maker over medium-low heat. When it‘s hot, grease the pan with some of the 1 Tbsp neutral oil using a brush.
- Fill the taiyaki pan mold about 60% full of batter.
- In the center of each mold, put about 1 Tbsp of the 8 Tbsp sweet red bean paste (anko) and pour more batter on top to cover it.
- Optional: You can also use Nutella as a filling.
- Close the lid and immediately flip.
- Cook for 2 to 2½ minutes on that side. Then flip and cook for another 2 to 2½ minutes. Open and check to see if the taiyaki is golden brown. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Continue cooking the remaining taiyaki.
To Serve
- Serve warm. If the taiyaki get cold, you can toast them in the toaster oven or oven until they‘re crispy on the outside.
To Store
- You can keep the taiyaki in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or in the freezer for up to a month. To reheat, toast them in the toaster oven or oven until they‘re crispy on the outside.
Hello Nami,
I’m french and I live in Tokyo since almost 2 years now and thanks to you I can cook all my favorite dishes tasted in restaurant and even more. So thanks a lot for that.
In this moment we can find delicious taiyaki with a sweet potato cream inside. Do you have a receipe for this cream?
Thanks
Hi Myriam!
Thank you very much for trying many of Nami’s recipes and for your kind feedback.
We hope you are enjoying Japanese culture and delicious Japanese cuisine while you are there!
Nami has a sweet potato recipe, and we think you may like it to use for your Taiyaki filling.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-sweet-potato/
We hope you enjoy it.🙂
Thanks a lot. I’m going to try it soon 😉.
I made gluten free Taiyaki today trying two types of batter and they were delicious. The batter that worked best was made with Bob’s Mill brown rice flour and I made the flour mix indicated on the back for walnut cookies. Then I followed Nami’s recipe. Wonderful.
Hi, Philippine!
What a Great information! We are so glad to hear it worked out. Thank you very much for trying this recipe in a gluten-free version and sharing the tip with us! Thank you!😊💞
When I was young I saw a Japanese film about a master of a traditional cake. Colorful cakes from powder really engaging me. Japanese traditional food is plentiful. But I don’t know why they make many cakes with shapes of fish. It looks so nice!
Hi Karens,
Thank you very much for your kind feedback!
I can explain why you see many cakes with shapes of fish in Japan. The type of fish (sea bream) called “Tai” in Japanese. Auspicious days or lucky days in Japanese are called “Mede-tai-hi.” So back in the Meiji-era (1868-1912), People use this Tai fish as a symbol for wishing the auspicious day. You can see “Tai” in the word “Mede-tai-hi.”
We hope this Taiyaki recipe will bring you an auspicious, lucky day to you!
I hope this information is helpful.😊
I saw someone making Taiyaki while scrolling through tumblr and they were just so cute! I knew I had to make them because they made me so happy. So I bought a Taiyaki pan and found your recipe – it is absolutely delicious. I’ve made used it twice already! Thank you!
Hi Kim,
Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. We’re happy to hear you made this with Taiyaki Pan!!
Hi, can I make more by doubling all the ingredients?
Hi Hayley! Yes, I’d do that. 🙂
Hi Nami,
Just made 6 taiyaki with your recipe with red bean filling. The batter is just the right consistency. I will try Nutella next time. This is my daughter’s favorite and we also can’t wait to try it in Japan when it is safe to travel. Hope you are getting better with your shoulder and arm.
Hi D! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and so happy to hear you enjoyed it. Thank you for your kind feedback. And yes, we hope we can visit Japan soon too. Thank you for your well wishes. I’m working on rehabilitation now. 🙂
If i omit the egg, do i replace it with 50g of milk so it’s same weight as the egg?
or how can i tell it’s wet enough?
Thanks
Agnes
Hi Agnes! Hmmm I wish I can tell but I’ve never made this recipe without eggs, so I am not too sure. 🙁
Thank you so much for the recipe! I love it! It´s simple and perfect.
Hi Nat! Thank you for trying this recipe! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I made it today! Yum yum yum! I like that this batter is not too runny. It is easy to work with and cooks up very fluffy.
Next time I will not be lazy and I’ll use homemade tsubuan instead of store-bought hehehe. :9
Some of the fish turnout perfect with crisp detail and others not so much. I haven’t figured out how to control that yet. I think it has to do with the temperature…. or just luck!
Hi Lion! Thanks for giving this recipe a try! Store-bought anko tends to be too sweet for me, although it’s so convenient to keep it around. I want to improve this recipe one day too… I’ll get to it one day…
Thank you for this recipe. Thanks to COVID I’m cash-strapped and carless, so it’s difficult to get around or buy things. I didn’t have a taiyaki maker or red bean paste on hand, but I really wanted to try making this. I decided to use my grilled cheese sandwich plates on my all-in-one grill, and made a thick mixed fruit filling from the frozen berries I already had. They may not have been conventional taiyaki, but they turned out delicious! Thank you for the inspiration. =)
Hi Ren! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. You inspired all of us! So happy to hear you made Taiyaki with the grilled cheese sandwich plates. I didn’t think about that at all! Thanks for sharing your tip with us! 🙂
My husband and I went to Japan for our honeymoon ten years ago. I tried taiyaki for the first time there and found one with cheese. I’ve been obsessed ever since and would love to recreate it. But I haven’t figured out what type of cheese they used. Do you know?
Hi Jami! In Japan, most of the cheese we can buy (especially in street vendor like Taiyaki) are “processed cheese” and it’s not one kind of cheese… it’s hard to buy one outside of Japan. My local Japanese grocery store sells just one type/brand using Hokkaido milk… Even though it’s processed cheese, I kind of miss Japanese cheese taste too. Sorry, I wish I could say it’s mozzarella or gruyere or cheddar etc…
Thanks so much for the reply! I’ll have to look for something similar at our local Japanese markets. Hopefully I can find it.
Btw I love your website. All of your Japan travel posts take me right back there. I would love to take my kids some day.
Hi Jami! No problem! Thank you for your kind words on our travel posts! Hope you can take a trip back to Japan someday soon! 🙂
Does the Taiyaki mold work if heated up on an electric stove? What temp would it have to be? Thank you :). I love your recipes!
Hi Lesley! Thank you!! I believe it should be a gas stove. BUT I remember my readers said they used it and worked fine (but have to be modified with heat a bit). 🙂
Hi. What kind of cream cheese (Brand) is used in Japan in making taiyaki?
Hi fritzie! Philadelphia is common, but we don’t use it for making classic taiyaki.
Thats what I used but somehow it didnt taste like the usual Taiyaki cream cheese that I tasted in Asakusa. Would you know what brand do they use?
Hi Fritzie! Oh… the store/shop can be using commercial brand cream cheese? It can get very expensive to offer the Philadelphia brand (but at home, we use this).
Is there any specific type and brand of milk that you can recommend?
Hi Fritzie! For baking and sweets, I often use organic whole milk, but normally we drink reduced fat and when I don’t have whole milk I use reduced fat milk too. 🙂
Made it on my new arrived Taiyaki molds, plain and Nutella ones. It was delicious! My girls love them for breakfast, as well as hubby. Thanks for sharing the yummy recipe!
Hi Irene! Aww, I’m so happy to hear that. Your family is so lucky to eat this for breakfast! I wish! 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback, Irene!
One of my favourite childhood snacks! Nowadays they are a rare find in Singapore – losing out to modern funky snacks unfortunately. Now I live in Germany where Taiyaki doesn’t exist 😭 is there a way to make it without the Taiyaki mound? I have a waffle iron, cake pop maker (which also interchangeable donut and muffin plates) and a sandwich maker
Hi Corinne! Hmm does your cake pop maker rotate so the batter will run to the other side of the mold (sorry I don’t own a cake pop maker so I’m not sure how it works). If that works like taiyaki maker (please see the video), maybe??