Recipe video above. Soft, plump, juicy meatballs smothered in a homemade Teriyaki sauce! The sauce for this recipe is based my mother's authentic Teriyaki Chicken recipe. Serve these as a meal or pass them around at a party.
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time15 minutesmins
Total Time35 minutesmins
Course: Mains
Cuisine: Asian, Japanese, Western
Keyword: Chicken meatballs, Teriyaki Meatballs
Servings: 4
Calories: 463cal
Author: Nagi
Ingredients
Teriyaki Sauce:
1tbspcornflour / cornstarch
1/4 cup / 65ml soy sauce, all purpose / ordinary (Note 1)
1/4 cup / 65ml cooking sake, or sub with Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry (Note 2)
1/4 cup / 65ml Mirin(Note 2)
1tbspwhite sugar(brown also ok)
¾ cup / 180 ml water
Meatballs:
500 g / 1 lb chicken mince (ground chicken) (or pork or turkey)
1egg(preferably small 50g / 1.4 oz)
1cuppanko breadcrumbs(or ¾ cup normal breadcrumbs)
1garlic clove, minced
1 ½tspcooking sake, or sub with Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry (Note 2)
½tspsalt
Cooking:
1tbspoil
Sliced green onions / scallions, for garnish (optional)
Sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Place Meatball ingredients in a bowl.
Place cornflour in a bowl with 1 tbsp of the water, then mix until lump free. Then add the soy sauce, sake, mirin and sugar, mix.
Add 2 tsp of Teriyaki Sauce into the Meatball bowl.
Add remaining water into the Sauce and mix. Set aside.
Mix Meatball mixture with your hands. Measure out 1 heaped tablespoon and roll into balls. See Note 3 for tips if mixture is too sticky.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add all the meatballs and cook, rolling to brown all over, for 5 minutes. They will still be a bit raw inside.
Turn heat down. Give the Sauce a quick mix then add it into the pan. Bring to a simmer then cook for 2 - 3 minutes or until it thickens into a glossy sauce that coats the meatballs.
Serve over rice, garnished with green onions and sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
1. I use Kikkoman which is a Japanese brand sold at major supermarkets here in Australia, and also at Asian stores. It is different to soy sauce labelled dark, light or sweet. It’s in between dark and light soy sauce.Best sub would be equal parts mix of light and dark soy sauce. Otherwise just light soy sauce will be fine. I do not recommend using just dark soy sauce - flavour is too intense.2. Cooking sake and Mirin are two types of rice wines that are essential to Japanese cooking. Nowadays, both are readily available at major supermarkets here in Australia and of course at Asian stores (better value!). To achieve a truly great Teriyaki flavour, I can’t offer a decent substitute for Mirin. However, the sake can be substituted with dry sherry or Chinese cooking wine.Unfortunately, I can’t suggest alcohol free substitutes for Teriyaki sauce. The rice wines are too essential for the flavour. NOTE: The alcohol evaporates when cooked. 3. Chicken mince can sometimes be very wet. Depends which part of the chicken is used, quality of chicken (older mince can get watery, fresh mince is not as wet, meat from the butcher is typically less wet than from supermarkets). Three tips to help make your mixture manageable to easily roll into balls: a) refrigerate for 30 minutes to firm up; b) spray / rub hands lightly with oil (works better than water) before rolling balls; and c) in emergencies only, add more breadcrumbs!4. BAKING: My default method of cooking chicken meatballs is on the stove because I like the caramelisation (beef and lamb have more fat so they get a nicer browning when baked). To bake, for best results, spray a rack with oil, roll the balls and place on the rack and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (These 2 tips help keep them round when baked) Bake in the top 1/3 of the oven at 180C/350F for 18 - 20 minutes (assuming you make them 1 rounded packed tablespoon per recipe) - any longer than they will start to dry out. Reduce the water in the Sauce by 1/4 cup and simmer in a saucepan for 5 minutes or so until it thickens. Once the meatballs are baked, toss them in the sauce or just pour it over when serving.5. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings.