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.
Hey Nami, I’ve tried your recipe and I’m glad to say it turned out beautifully!
I do also however, prefer my taiyaki to have a more crispy waffle-like crust, and noticed that you’ve mentioned omitting the egg and adjusting the liquids to achieve this.
I’d be interested in attempting a crispier version and was wondering how much liquids should be added for a crispier taiyaki?
Thank you!
Hi Rico! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear it turned out beautifully!👏🏻
We currently do not have a crispy version, but Nami is creating one soon. We hope we can share the recipe with you shortly!
Hi, can we leave the batter more then 1h? How long does the batter can rest in the fridge for? Thankyou❤
Hi NIKi, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
You can keep the batter in the air-tight container and place it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
We hope this helps!
My taiyaki will often deflate after it cools down. Any tips? And what’s the best way to store and reheat leftovers? Thanks
Hi Kristine! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
The immediate temperature change may result in deflating the Taiyaki. You can try cooling off the Taiyaki in the warm oven with the door open.
To store the Taiyaki, first, you can wrap it individually with plastic wrap after it cools completely. Then place in the air-tight container and store in the fridge or freezer. To reheat the Taiyaki, put them in the oven or oven toaster are the best.
We hope this helps!
Hi, Do you think this would work in a mini muffin pan and baked in the oven? I need to make 24 bite sized ones for my culinary arts students
Hi, gem! We wish we have an answer, but we have never tried this recipe in the oven.
If you try it, let us know how it goes!
I got a lovely nambu tekki taiyaki pan before leaving, and put off trying it out because it seemed like a lot of work (had to pull out my tabletop gas burner, etc). However, this batter went together really fast and they cooked up easily and were so excellent! After reading the comments, I decided to not use the baking soda, just baking powder, and I was happy with the result. I always found taiyaki from really traditional old shops (versus from chains with a lot of extravagant seasonal fillings) a little bitter, and maybe that’s why, if it’s traditional to use both.
Hi Janelle! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your cooking experience with us!
We are so happy to hear homemade Taiyaki turned out well and you enjoyed it. Thank you for your kind feedback.
You don’t have to use gas. I’ve only ever made taiyaki on my electric stove top.
Hi Nami chan, I don’t understand the use of both baking soda and baking powder, I think the baking soda will make things taste acidic since there’s no acid ingredients in the list.. must we use the two ingredients or opt for baking powder only? Which one is safer and yield better result? Thanks ❤️
Hi Jeanne! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and trying her recipe.
The majority of Taiyaki recipes use both soda and powder. And baking soda would help a nice browned color in a short time baking.
To balance out the recipe to taste a little tangy and enough amount to lift the batter and have a nice browned color, this was the best result.🙂
You could use the baking powder alone, but you have to increase it a bit more to achieve the lift, and your finished baked treat might taste too acidic.
We hope this helps!
I am absolutely so grateful for this recipe! I made 4 taiyaki for my family and they love it a lot! Thank u thank u thank u so much! I love taiyaki and i love your recipe!
Hi Cindy! We are so happy to hear you and your family enjoyed Taiyaki!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!☺️
Nice. will make the nutella and probably cheese filling if i find that fish mold. Thaks for sharing
Hi Doods! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post! We hope you will give it a try one day soon!
You can find Taiyaki mold at Amazon shop. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YBC17FK?ref=exp_justonecookbook_dp_vv_d
We hope this helps!
Hi , the recipe came out perfectly , soft and cake like and I also used anko. However, I also prefer the crispy style you mentioned and you said to omit the egg and adjust the liquid? What exactly do I adjust ? I’d love to make the crispy style I’m used to having 🙂
Hi JK99, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
One egg 50g is 50ml, so that you can add an extra 50ml of milk or water to this recipe instead of one egg.
We hope this helps!
You say whole milk in the recipe, would 2% do?
Hi Brian, You may notice the texture difference due to the difference in fat contained, but 2% would work for this recipe.
The batter/taiyaki will be moister if you use whole milk. We hope this helps!
Is there any way to make this without the special pan? Would it work to make the dough thicker and then fry it in a normal pan? Maybe with a cover over?
How about making it as a cake in the oven, then making cake pops from it, covered in the vanilla custard?
Hi Mima, How about using the baking technic from the Imagawayaki(Obanyaki) recipe? https://www.justonecookbook.com/imagawayaki-obanyaki
Or Dorayaki recipe? https://www.justonecookbook.com/dorayaki-japanese-red-bean-pancake/
We hope this helps!
As a little girl, I remember watching taiyaki being made at a tiny shop in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. The name of the shop escapes me (it’s been over 50 years ago!). But, I can still see myself standing on the sidewalk, pressed close to the shop window, watching an employee make the taiyaki. The door of the shop was always open and the warmth of the grill and the smell always made my mouth water in inticipation. My parents didn’t always stop to buy the hot off the grill taiyaki. But, when they did….You’re so right! There’s nothing like eating it hot and fresh. Thanks for bringing back a wonderful memory to me!
Hi Madoka, We couldn’t be happier to hear how much joy and excitement Nami’s recipe has brought to you! Thank you very much for sharing your story with us!
got my pan and tried recipe today. they browned okay(but about 4 min each side) but they were floppy when i put them on plate(like flopping around after removing hook) if i held it by tail it droops.. dont get me wrong . tasted okay and i forced myself to each all 8.
i wonder if ap flour would be better next time(i dont use eggs)
Hi pym, We are sorry to hear your Taiyaki didn’t turn out well. Nami uses egg in this recipe, so if you are skipping egg, you need to modify the rest of the ingredients. Maybe try adding more milk as a replacement for the egg?
IS THERE A PAN YOU COULD RECOMMEND
Hi PYM, We hope this helps! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YBC17FK?ref=exp_justonecookbook_dp_vv_d 😉
I was so excited when I saw this recipe (Taiyaki) and that the fish molds are available to buy! I lived in Japan in my early teens (right outside of Tokyo) and loved to buy Taiyaki from the street vendors. I made them yesterday and your recipe is every bit as good as how I remembered them. I wanted to enclose a picture, but couldn’t figure out how to add it here. 🙂
Hi Peggy,
Thank you very much for sharing your story and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe. Thank you for trying this recipe!☺️