Ready for a summer cookout? I highly recommend giving this Tsukune recipe a try. Drizzled with sweet soy sauce, these Japanese chicken meatball skewers are absolutely delicious. They are best on the grill but you can bake them in the oven too.
Tsukune (つくね) is Japanese chicken meatballs that are skewered and typically grilled over charcoal served in yakitori restaurants. Since I had received great feedback from readers on my oven-broiled yakitori recipe, I couldn’t wait to share this tsukune recipe! As summer is just around the corner, I highly recommend to bring these skewers out to outdoor grill and enjoy!
Watch How to Make Tsukune 鶏つくねの作り方
Tender ground chicken skewers with bits of shiso leaves and scallions, drizzled with sweet soy sauce. Make them in an oven or on the grill!
Tsukune is usually seasoned with salt or sweet soy sauce – yakitori “tare”. Ingredients for “tare” are similar to teriyaki sauce, but “tare” is much thicker and saltier. When the yakitori “tare” gets caramelized under the broiler (or over the grill), the tsukune becomes incredibly delicious. Slightly charred soft ground chicken with bits of shiso leaves and scallions and drizzled with tare…it’s hard to stop eating just one.
Usually tsukune recipes require eggs or panko to bind the ground meat together so that the meat won’t easily fall apart. However, I learned this trick from my mom to knead the chicken mixture until it becomes pale and sticky. The meat never falls off from the skewers and this method really works!
Technique for Springy & Juicy Chicken Meatballs
When you make chicken meatballs, you want to make sure they are fluffy, springy, and juicy. I learned this great technique from The Japanese Grill, one of Mr. JOC’s favorite grill cookbooks, and I’ve been following this method ever since.
With this method, you precook some of the ground chicken first, let it cool, and mix it in with the raw ground chicken instead of making meatballs from all raw ground chicken. This prevents the meat from shrinking too much. Sometimes when you grill meat you end up with much smaller pieces because the meat shrank after cooking. Also, this prevents the meat from losing a lots of juice. Although it an extra step, I find it’s totally worth it! Also, if you can’t find shiso leaves, it’s fine to omit but definitely tastes better with it.
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- 1 lb ground chicken (454 g)
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil (roasted) (and more for coating your hands)
- 1 Tbsp miso (I use awase miso, which is a combination of red and white miso)
- 10 Shiso leaves (Ooba) (Perilla)
- 4 green onions/scallions
- kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; Use half for table salt)
- ½ cup Yakitori Tare (120 ml; click here for my homemade recipe)
- Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese seven spice) (optional, for spicy taste)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Soak the bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes.
- Pile and roll up the shiso leaves, then cut into thin julienne slices. Cut the scallion into thin slices.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When it’s hot, add ⅓ of ground chicken and break it up into small pieces using a wooden spatula. Cook until no longer pink and transfer to a plate to let it cool.
- Combine the cooked chicken and uncooked chicken in a large bowl and mix well with rubber spatula.
- Add sesame oil and miso and mix well.
- Add the scallions and shiso leaves and combine well with silicone spatula.
- Now with your hand, knead 30 times clockwise. Then knead counterclockwise 30 times. The meat will become more pale in color and sticky. This part is very important for the meat to stay on stick so please do not skip this step.
- Grease the grill rack with brush. I use a roasting pan and rack as it can support the skewers very well while the excess oil drips down to the bottom of roasting pan when cooking.
- Lightly coat your hands with sesame oil to prevent the meat from sticking. Scoop a handful of the chicken mixture (1 ½ scoop for my hand using an OXO cookie scoop) and form into a round patty.
- Toss the meat to left and right hands to release the air pockets and gently squeeze to form the meat into a long oval patty, about 3-4 inches in length. Insert the skewer on the prepared wire rack.
- Lightly sprinkle salt over the chicken skewers.
- Put aluminum foil around the skewers to prevent them from burning.
- Preheat the oven to High Broil (550F) for 5 minutes. Boil in the middle rack, for 6 minutes. Then flip the skewers over and broil more for 4 minutes.
- When both sides are cooked, brush the yakitori sauce on the meat and broil for another 30 seconds. Transfer the skewers to a serving plate and brush the extra sauce on the meat. Serve with Shichimi Togarashi.
Yakitori Tare:
Equipement you will need:
- 14 5-inch flat bamboo skewers
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 and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
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We don’t get pre-ground chicken here… is it pure thigh or is it breast meat? A mixture of both?
Hi Asami! I’d use both so that it has enough fat from thigh. 🙂
Yummy – can’t wait to make this! As usual, take a bow, simple and a delight to look at!!! Do I sense a Bento lunch after this? 😉
Hi SandyN! Hahaha well I’m writing a bento post right now… Good guess! It’ll be similar recipe, not this tsukune though. 🙂
This has my name written all over it…can’t wait to try. However, I know we don’t carry Shiso leaves in my area. Should I substitute basil? Thanks
Hi Lyn! I’d omit if you want to keep it Japanese style. Basil or mint are not very traditional Japanese herb. I know it’ll taste great with basil, but the taste won’t be Japanese (more like Thai/Vietnamese) style. Hope this helps. 🙂
Your photos are gorgeous as usual! Make me hungry every time 🙂
I love your method of cooking Tsukune in the oven. Who would thought of that?
I don’t have the outside grill at home right now, so this is great to know that I can cook this way.
I do Steak the same way.
By the way, do you grow your own Shiso in your garden?
Thank you Ayako! I use the broiler often to cook all kinds of meat instead of “bake”. 🙂
No, I don’t. I would love to since it’s easy to grow…. however deer visit our yard often, and I need to know they eat shiso…. 😀 Also our house gets pretty windy, that can be another issue. 🙁
These are in the oven now. And my kitchen smells divine! I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Hi Theresa! Thank you so much for trying this recipe. I hope you enjoyed it. 🙂
Some hard to find ingredients in Canada, even in local Asian grocery stores. Shiso leaves-any substitute? Great blog still!
Hi Frank! I’m not sure where in Canada you live, but I heard there is a good Japanese supermarket in (or near) Vancouver (if you are in that area). If you can’t find shiso in Japanese or Korean grocery stores, you can omit. You can include other herbs or veggies if you like, but the best option is usually shiso or green onions. 🙂
What type of miso do you use (white)?
Hi Theresa! I usually use awase miso for my cooking, if I don’t specify. Thank you so much for asking. I updated my recipe with miso info. 🙂
delicious! i didn’t have any shiso but found out mint was a good substitute for it so i used that instead. it was amazing! i was too excited and didn’t realize i had to boil down the tare (oops), but it still tastes great. luckily i saved the tare mix so i can easily boil it down next time. ha ha.
Hi Janine! Thank you so much for your kind feedback! I’m so glad to hear yours came out well and you enjoyed this recipe! Thank you for trying this recipe! 🙂
I can’t wait to try this out this weekend! Do you think it will be ok to pre-make the skewers and refrigerate for overnight then cook just before serving? Also, how does the homemade tare sauce compare taste-wise to a store-bought terriyaki sauce? It sounds like it might be milder in flavor?
Hi May! Sure, you can prep the night before. You probably need to re-shape it once you pick up (raw) tsukune from the plate (it gets sticky, so use a parchment paper or plastic wrap on the bottom etc). Oh you must try this homemade tare! It’s not the same as teriyaki sauce. The store bought teriyaki sauce is very different from traditional teriyaki sauce in Japan, so I can’t imagine mixing these two… I would definitely suggest to make this tare to go with tsukune. If you say it’s “meaetballs”, I guess I can use store-bought teriyaki sauce… Tsukune needs the yakitori tare. 🙂
You’re the best. Thanks for the advice!
Can you tell me why you cook 1/3 of the meat first. What happens to the meat when you toss it. The ground turkey and Chicken is very watery in Canada , do these two steps help
Hi Kennedy!
This method prevents the meat from shrinking too much. Sometimes when you grill meat you end up with much smaller pieces because the meat shrank after cooking. Also, this prevents the meat from losing a lots of juice.
If the meat is watery, make sure to drain well before mixing. 🙂
I made this recipe last week and it turned out great! I want to make it again a day before for a party and just heat it up right before serving–would that be ok? If so, would it make sense to brush on the sauce at that time too or doesn’t make a difference?
Hi Julia! Happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe and thanks so much for your kind feedback. Sure it’ll work. Store it in an air tight container and keep it moist. Also it’s good idea to keep the sauce and brush it on the meat again when you’re reheating. 🙂
Hi Namiko,
What type of ground chicken should I use so that it won’t be so hard after I grill it? I tried some before and it was really dry. I bought a packet at the market and I think I must have picked the one with more lean% .
Which one did you use here or did you make your own? Thank you!
Katie
Hi Katie! Maybe yours was very lean (less fat). I didn’t make my own and got it from a Japanese supermarket. Sorry I wasn’t paying attention to the % (as it is the only kind available)… sorry I wish I could answer…
This was good, but came out rather dry. Any suggestions to make it more moist? Also I prepared the tare according to your recipe, but 1) it never really thickened and 2) tasted very strongly of sake and shoyu. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Hi Debbie! Thank you for trying this recipe!
Did you use broil? If you use “bake” option and cook for a longer time, it’s possible it gets dried out. Also it depends on the fat content of the ground chicken. I got mine from Japanese supermarket and I think it has good amount of fat in it.
About tare, did you uncover to reduce the tare? Since you mentioned that it never reduced, I was wondering if you cover with the lid. It should be reduced because the liquid evaporate. Since yours didn’t evaporate, I think the sake smell was strong. Tare is rather on salty side as it’s meant to brush on the chicken (not to dip in etc).
Hope this helps!
hi I already knead the chicken but it does not stick to the stick.why it is so? please advise thank you
Hi Shirley! Maybe your portion is too heavy/big for your skewer. Try reducing it a little bit. 🙂 Hope this helps!
Hi not really too big porton the chicken can’t hold together not sticky.thks
I really wish I can tell what went wrong or why you couldn’t do it… but without me being there to see the mixture and how you do it, I can’t really tell. 🙁 So sorry. Many people have tried it and I hadn’t received feedback on the meat not sticking to the skewer… Possible that maybe your skewer is very thin? My skewer is flat and thick. You also read my post where I said “I learned this trick from my mom to knead the chicken mixture until it becomes pale and sticky. The meat never falls off from the skewers and this method really works!” and follow, right? Sorry I’m really out of ideas why it didn’t stick…
Hi Nami, It is hard to find fresh shiso leaves. What is a good substitute for shiso leaves? I made tsukune without shiso leaves and they were good but just missing a little something. Thanks.
Hi Darlene! Chopped green onions/scallions are good replacement. If you want to flavor this with this seasoning I created, I think it’s best to use green onion. Japanese don’t use herbs like other south East Asians cuisines so cilantro/coriander or mint are too strong (over kill) for this simple Japanese sauce. If you switch up the sauce, you can use other herbs of your choice. 🙂
Hi.
I made it.
I didn’t have al the good ingredients and my yakitori sauce was far too heavy and too salted (bought from a shop), but the texture of the tsukune was almost there. The idea of precooking a part of the chicken is simply great.
Even too salted,, the result is way better than what i got in my preceding attempts.
I think that what is missing in your recipe would be to put the preparation in the fridge for a while, so that the balls will be easyer to form when the mixture is colder.
Also they would cook better outside and stay more juicy inside.
I also put tiny breadcrumbs outside,,and i had nothing to complain about that.
Next time my tsukune will be perfect.
Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Marc! Thank you so much for your detailed feedback and tips! As I use a broiler for the recipe, make sure the mixture doesn’t get too cold. It takes longer to cook inside while the outside will get cook too fast (so inside will be raw). Maybe keep it out at room temp before putting in a broiler might help. Hope your next one will go well! Thank you for writing!
thanks for your reply
now i did i almost by the book
what differences : it took me time to find shisho leaves, and i found leaves that look exactly like yours execpt that they are green on one side and purple on the other side. I didnt like the taste of these leaves so i simply decided not to add them.
i also forgot to buy miso, so i replaced it by a hot condiment and ginger. I like them.
I made myself a yakitori sauce but i chend the proportions by adding much less soy sauce, and i did well because it would have been far too salted for me. The tare was perfect
then i placed my tsukune above the middle of the oven like in your video at high broiler. and i must tell you that 6 minites on one side and 4 minutes on the other side is far too much
they didnt burn but they dried. I was fearing that it would happen, but i wanted to reproduce your recipe as much as i could
the textture was much better the first time when i cooked them with a very little sauce in a pan, because it was much more easy to stop the cooking wen done.
Mty tsukune was rather large so for sure, 6 minuts on one side and 4 on the other side at this temperature is far too much.
Unless the temperature of your oven is lower than you think (it is unlikely because the oven of your vedea seems to be very nice)
thankd for this. Anyway i know what to do the next time.
Best regards Marc
sorry for the misstypings. You should have read this :
thanks for your reply.
Now i did it almost by the book.
What differences : it took me time to find shisho leaves. I found leaves that looked exactly like yours except that they are green on one side, and purple on the other side.
I didnt like their taste, so i simply decided not to add them.
i also forgot to buy miso, so i replaced it by a hot condiment and ginger. IT doesnt taste like miso, but i like hot dishes.
I made myself a yakitori sauce but i changed the proportions by adding much less soy sauce, and i did well because it would have been far too salted for me.
The tare was perfect. I used agave syrup instead of sugar, because i have diabetes. When it got caramelized, i added some sake to reach the texture that i wanted.
then i placed my tsukune above the middle of the oven like in your video at high broiler temperature,. and i must tell you that 6 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other side is far too much !
They didnt burn, but they dried. I was fearing that it would happen, but i wanted to reproduce your recipe as much as i could.
the texture was much better the first time when i cooked them with a very little oil in a pan, because it was much more easy to stop the cooking wen done.
My tsukune was rather large so for sure, 6 minutes on one side and 4 on the other side at this temperature is far too much.
Unless the temperature of your oven is lower than you think ( it is unlikely, because the oven of your video seems to be very nice).
thanks for this. Anyway i know what to do the next time.
Best regards Marc
Hi Marc! My readers will appreciate your input. Thank you for writing a thorough feedback! 🙂
I cooked these over the weekend and my fussy kids loved them. They left 3 for my husband and I.
I subsituted shiso leaves with 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 tsp of clove powder. And substituted mirin for chinese rice wine with 1/2 tsp of organic palm sugar.
It was still fantastic and I am going to add this recipe to our regular list. It was easy too!
Some issue sI found, even after needing for so long the mixture was too wet to put on skewers. It was the sesame oil..So I just cooked in a log shape and inserted the skewers after they were cooked!
oh and I cooked it under the grill for around 15 minutes, because it didnt brown up, and when put on the sauce, it took a while to caramelize. (this is my oven issue, not the method)
It was still very moist though. .
THANKS SO MUCH, LOVE IT!
Hi Nicole! I’m so happy to hear that your children enjoyed it. I share the similar stories. Sometimes the kids eat so much that Mr. JOC and I share a small portion! I’m glad you found substitute that work for you and your family. Thank you so much for sharing your feedback with us! I truly appreciate that you took time to write. xoxo
I made tsukune for dinner tonight and it was a huge hit.
I made a few adjustments. I couldn’t find awase miso but bought Hikari brand red miso instead as I read it’s better for meat. Didn’t use shiso as they are hard to locate. Had to use some white wine as I didn’t have any sake on hand for the homemade yakitori tare.
Despite the adjustments & substitutions and the fact that the recipe was a lengthy one, we were rewarded with tender, juicy and flavourful chicken meatballs. I didn’t even need to use any Shichimi Togarashi.
Thank you Nami for the great recipe with many precise instructions. From this recipe I learned how to cook ground chicken, how to prevent shrinkage and losing juice by mixing cooled cooked portion of ground chicken with raw portions and how to bind the ground chicken together without eggs or panko. Oh I also get to learn to make homemade yakitori tare.
Will the technique of mixing cooked ground meat with raw ground meat work for pork or beef?
Hi Christina! Thank you for trying my Tsukune recipe and sharing your feedback! It’s very helpful for other readers. I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe.
I’m glad my tips were helpful, and thank you for mentioning that. 🙂
Regarding the technique of mixing cooked and raw ground chicken… to be honest, I’m not sure as I had never tried it before. When I make hambagu (ground pork and beef – https://www.justonecookbook.com/hamburger-steak-hambagu/), it’s totally ok without using cooked meat. Maybe because expansion doesn’t affect the skewer to fall off etc. I think it’s helpful when it comes to skewer… For hambagu recipe, meat does expand, so the trick is to press down the center of the patty so when expand it doesn’t break by expanding the meat (more for visual). Hope this makes sense? 🙂
Thank you Nami for the reply and the tip on making the hambagu. If I ever try the chicken meatball using beef or pork, I will be sure to report back.
By the way, is it possible to make the chicken meatballs in ball shape (instead of the sausage/oval shape as in your photo) and follow the rest of your recipe? I’m thinking the long oval shape fits perfectly on the roasting rack & the excess oil can have a space to drip down into the pan. Have you tried the ball shape with the roasting rack & pan?
Hi Christina! Yes, you can make ball shape. Tsukune can be both shapes in Japan; the long shape is probably more than ball shape. It works just the same. I think, in my theory, meatball is a ball shape, so to differentiate the shape, Tsukune got the different shape. 🙂
Ah that makes sense. Using different shapes to distinguish various skewered items. Thanks.
This was perfect! Thank you! Natsukashii! <3
Arigato, Evie! 🙂
Perfect tsukune recipe, I enjoyed it very much! Thank you!
Geert, Amsterdam
Hi Geert! I’m so happy to hear that you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
Is it best to make the recipe without the shiso if not available or to substitute with something else? If the latter, what would you suggest? Thanks 🙂
Hi Nolwenn! It’s really up to you. If you want to add some herbs, you can definitely use chives, green onions, etc. But if you prefer just the meat, then you can completely omit it. 🙂
Have you tried this recipe with ground turkey?
Hi Paul! I received from some JOC friends that they made with ground turkey, and liked it. But I personally have never used ground turkey before. 🙂
Is it possible to freeze some of these for future use? If so, what is the recommended way to do so?
Hi Kristine! Sure! Cook first, and let cool completely, and put them in an airtight container to freeze. 🙂
These were so easy and tasty! The only thing is that my tare didn’t thicken very much even though I cooked it for 30 minutes… maybe I need to leave it on longer or hit with higher heat? Thank you for amazing recipes.
Hi Molly! I’m so happy to hear you tried this recipe and liked it! Once the condiments evaporate it will have to thicken. And it depends on one’s stove setting too. Try again with higher heat (but don’t burn!) or longer. 🙂
Hi,
I’ve tried many of your recipes, they all have come out quite successfully. However, with this one, although I like the shiso flavor, the meat came out quite dry. I wonder if there is anything I could add to help with it? Thanks.
Hi Mag! I’m wondering how was the fat % of your ground chicken. If it’s mostly made with chicken breast, it’s usually very dry (just like you cook chicken breast). I recommend getting more fatty ones or if you make your own ground chicken, please use chicken thighs or more chicken thighs and less breast. 🙂