Recipe Highlights
Typically noticed at yakitori outlets and Japanese gastropubs (izakaya), Tsukune are juicy, sweet-savory rooster meatballs threaded on bamboo skewers and brushed with shiny yakitori sauce.
- Fluffy, springy, and juicy meatballs, due to a particular trick that retains the meat from shrinking an excessive amount of
- Restaurant-quality at house with superbly charred meat and caramelized sauce
- Straightforward cooking and clear up utilizing the broiler in your house oven
If you happen to love Japanese bar meals, strive my Rooster Karaage, Yakitori, and Gyoza subsequent!
What’s Tsukune?
In Japan, tsukune (つくね) refers to floor rooster meatballs blended with inexperienced onions and varied seasonings. They’re often formed into ovals, skewered, grilled, and glazed with a candy and savory sauce referred to as tare. Well-liked fare at bars, events, and potlucks, tsukune are additionally generally ready at house as skewer-free, spherical meatballs or in Tsukune Scorching Pot.
Elements for Tsukune
You’ll want eight 6-inch bamboo bamboo paddle skewers.
- floor rooster – ask your butcher to grind a mix of half chicken (breast meat) + half darkish meat (rooster thighs and legs)
- shiso leaves (perilla)
- inexperienced onions/scallions
- miso
- sesame oil
- salt – I exploit kosher salt; you should utilize sea salt
- Home made yakitori sauce:
- sake
- mirin
- soy sauce
- brown sugar
- shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice), Japanese mayonnaise, and/or uncooked egg yolk – for serving (elective)
Discover the printable recipe with measurements under.
Make Tsukune
- Make the yakitori sauce in a small saucepan. Carry the substances to a boil, then simmer over medium warmth for half-hour.
- Cook dinner one-third of the bottom rooster in an ungreased pan over medium-low warmth; cool fully.
- Knead. Mix cooked and uncooked rooster in a bowl with shiso, scallions, miso, sesame oil, and salt. Knead by hand till pale and sticky.
- Form an oval patty 4 inches (10 cm) lengthy, lay a soaked bamboo skewer on high, and wrap meat firmly across the stick. Repeat, preserving sizes equal.
- Broil. Prepare skewered meatballs on a wire rack set over a foil-lined sheet, handles going through out. Broil, flip, and repeat on the opposite aspect till cooked by means of.
- Glaze. Brush with yakitori sauce. Broil till effervescent, the flip and repeat on the opposite aspect.
- Serve. Get pleasure from instantly, sprinkled with shichimi and dipped in Japanese mayo or uncooked egg yolk.
Nami’s Recipe Ideas
These easy suggestions assist you to make juicy, springy tsukune each time.
- Pre-cook one-third of the rooster for fluffy, springy, and juicy meatballs. I discovered this method from The Japanese Grill, one in all my husband’s favourite grill cookbooks.
- Knead till pale and sticky. My mother taught me to knead the rooster combination by hand rather well, and my tsukune by no means falls off the skewers!
- Create same-size patties in lengthy, barely flat cylinders that aren’t too massive for fast warmth penetration so the meat cooks on the similar charge and finishes on the similar time.
- Toss the patty from one hand to the opposite. This releases any air pockets to forestall breakage throughout cooking.
- Soak the skewers in water earlier than threading with meat. Additionally, cowl them with foil to forestall burning and turning black.
- Use an oven-safe wire rack so the surplus oil can drip onto the baking sheet. This retains the meat from cooking in a pool of oil.
- Set the oven rack within the heart place, about 8 inches (20 cm) away from the heating component. I exploit the Excessive setting (550ºF/288ºC) and lift or decrease the rack if wanted. In case your oven is small/sturdy, strive Medium (500ºF/260ºC) or transfer the rack down. Hold a detailed eye on the meals to keep away from overcooking!
Variations and Customizations
Trying to change issues up? Attempt these straightforward and attractive concepts!
- Mix floor rooster and floor pork to elevated the fats content material for a good juicier meatball.
- Combine in chopped rooster cartilage like we do in Japan so as to add a crunchy contrasting texture.
- Attempt a unique protein. Experiment with floor beef, turkey, and even fish.
- Get pleasure from it with yuzu kosho. The citrusy scorching sauce offers a daring and spicy style. Give it a strive!
What to Serve with Tsukune
Storage Ideas
To retailer: You possibly can maintain the leftovers in an hermetic container and retailer within the fridge for as much as 3 days or within the freezer for a month.
FAQs
Whereas it’s not conventional, I encourage you to customise your tsukune with a 1–2 teaspoons of grated ginger or minced garlic, when you’d like.
You can, however pan-frying received’t give your the superbly charred, juicy outcomes of over broiling or grilling over charcoal.
It’s not mandatory. Observe my directions and strategies, and also you received’t want potato starch or cornstarch as a binding agent.
Forestall your display screen from going darkish
To Make the Yakitori Sauce
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This sauce recipe makes sufficient for 2 batches of tsukune. Mix ¼ cup water, ¼ cup sake, ½ cup mirin, ½ cup soy sauce, and 2 tsp brown sugar in a small saucepan.
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Carry the combination to a boil over medium warmth. As soon as boiling, decrease the warmth to a simmer and cook dinner for about half-hour. In the meantime, begin getting ready the tsukune combination (subsequent part).
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When the sauce has thickened and diminished by half, take away from the warmth. Nami’s Tip: The sauce will proceed to thicken because it cools and moisture evaporates.
To Put together the Tsukune Elements
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Warmth an ungreased frying pan over medium warmth. When it’s scorching, add one-third of the 1 lb floor rooster. In case your floor rooster bundle contains each a fatty and lean elements (like the type offered at Nijiya Market close to me), use the lean half right here and reserve the fatty half for later. Nami’s Tip: Precooking among the meat combination prevents the meatball from shrinking an excessive amount of whereas cooking and retains the tsukune juicy.
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Cook dinner the meat—with out browning it—till not pink. Whereas cooking, break it up into small items with a picket spatula. Switch the cooked meat to a big bowl and let it cool fully.
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Stack and roll up 6 shiso leaves (perilla/ooba), then minimize into skinny julienned slices.
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Minimize 2–3 inexperienced onions/scallions into skinny slices.
To Combine and Knead
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When the cooked floor rooster is totally cooled to room temperature, add the uncooked floor rooster to it. Then, add 1 Tbsp miso and 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil. Combine effectively with the picket spatula.
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Add the julienned shiso and knead effectively.
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Add the chopped inexperienced onions and knead effectively.
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Unfold the combination across the sides of the bowl with the picket spatula after which combine. Repeat just a few instances.
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Now, swap to mixing by hand (you’ll be able to put on a food-safe disposable glove, if you would like). Knead and fold the combination in a clockwise path 30 instances. Then, knead it counterclockwise 30 instances. The meat will turn into pale in coloration and sticky. Kneading by hand is essential for the meat to remain on the skewer, so please don’t skip this step. Nami’s Tip: If the fats within the combination begins to look melted, refrigerate it for 10 minutes, then proceed kneading till the combination is pale and sticky.
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Now, divide the combination into 8 equal parts. Patties which can be the identical dimension will cook dinner on the similar charge and end cooking on the similar time.
To Form the Tsukune
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Put together a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Place an oven-safe wire rack on high and brush it with cooking oil. Nami’s Tip: Why use a rack? It permits the surplus oil from the meat to drip all the way down to the baking sheet whereas broiling. This manner, the meat chars properly and comes out juicy. To attain a restaurant-style tsukune, we don‘t need to cook dinner it in a pool of oil.
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Frivolously coat your palms with sesame oil to forestall the meat from sticking. Scoop up one portion of the rooster combination.
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Toss the meat backwards and forwards for 10 instances between your palms to launch the air pockets. Then, gently squeeze and form the meat to type it into a protracted and oval patty, about 4 inches (10 cm) lengthy.
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Flatten the patty a bit. Now, place the highest half to two-thirds of a skewer alongside the middle line of the patty. Then, gently shut the 2 sides of the patty across the skewer to encase the stick‘s tip and high half. Seal the sides of the patty collectively and type it once more into a protracted, cylindrical form. This form permits the warmth to penetrate the meat rapidly.
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Gently toss the skewered patty from one hand to the opposite just a few instances to verify the back and front sides are properly fashioned. Press and type the meat gently into form. Do a last examine, ensuring the skewer is secured within the heart.
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Place the completed tsukune on the ready wire rack, and form the remaining tsukune. Area them aside on the rack and place them so the skewer handles line up alongside two sides of the rack and the meat factors towards the middle. Frivolously sprinkle coarse sea salt over the meat.
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Put together strips of aluminum foil to cowl the skewer handles and maintain them from turning black and burning whereas broiling.
To Broil within the Oven
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5 minutes earlier than cooking, set the oven rack within the center, about 8 inches (20 cm) away from the heating component, and preheat the broiler on Excessive (550ºF/288ºC). After heating for five minutes, place the baking sheet within the oven and cook dinner for 6 minutes. Watch the rooster intently whereas broiling so it doesn‘t burn. In case your oven is small/sturdy, strive broiling on Medium (500ºF/260ºC) or decrease the rack. Nami’s Tip: When broiling, you’ll be able to‘t set the precise temperature. You regulate two issues—the distance of the rack and the broiler settings (Low, Medium, or Excessive). I often use Excessive and transfer the rack nearer or farther away from the heating component.
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Take away the baking sheet from the oven and flip the tsukune with a pair of tongs. Return it to the oven and broil the opposite aspect for 4 minutes, or till the rooster‘s inside temperature is 165ºF (74ºC).
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When either side are cooked, brush the yakitori sauce on the meat with a silicone brush. Broil for one more 45–60 seconds to caramelize the sauce a bit.
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Flip the meat and brush the sauce on the opposite aspect. Broil for one more 45–60 seconds till scorching.
To Serve
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Switch the skewers to a serving plate and brush further sauce on the meat. Serve instantly. Sprinkle elective shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven spice) for a spicy kick. You possibly can strive it dipped in Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise or yuzu kosho, too.
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Optionally, tsukune is commonly served in Japan with uncooked egg yolk (which is protected to eat in Japan) on the aspect for dipping. Get pleasure from!
To Cook dinner on the Grill (elective)
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Clear and grease the grilling grate. Preheat the grill to medium-hot warmth, about 400ºF (200ºC). Gently place the skewers on the grill and cook dinner till the underside aspect is properly brown, 3–4 minutes. With each a stainless-steel spatula and tongs, gently rotate the tsukune and cook dinner the opposite aspect for two–3 minutes. Flip to the remaining sides the place you need to grill extra for one more 1–2 minutes. To examine if it‘s totally cooked, insert a bamboo skewer to see if the juices run clear or examine that the rooster‘s inside temperature registers 165ºF (74ºC). Brush with further yakitori sauce, cook dinner briefly till scorching, and take away from the warmth.
Energy: 65kcal, Carbohydrates: 2g, Protein: 6g, Fats: 4g, Saturated Fats: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g, Monounsaturated Fats: 2g, Trans Fats: 1g, Ldl cholesterol: 28mg, Sodium: 341mg, Potassium: 197mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 35IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 7mg, Iron: 1mg
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Editor’s Word: This submit was initially revealed on June 2, 2014. It was up to date with new photos and a brand new video on January 5, 2024, and republished with extra useful content material on November 20, 2025.
