Plump juicy chicken meatballs smothered in a terrific homemade Teriyaki sauce, based on my mother’s authentic Teriyaki Chicken recipe. Would you serve these Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs as a meal or pass them around at a party?
Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
These Teriyaki Meatballs are a total crowd pleaser. The sauce for this recipe is based on my mother’s real-deal Teriyaki Chicken recipe (you will be surprised how easy it is – less than 15 minutes start to finish, NO marinating!).
All I did was add cornflour / cornstarch as thickener and water to thin it out to make it more saucy.
My mother is a bit of a food snob when it comes to western twists on Japanese classics. Once she watched a celebrity chef butchering a classic Japanese tempura recipe and she was so indignant that she wrote into the cooking show to inform them how wrong it was. BA HA HA!
So while she was somewhat doubtful as she went about making these Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs for the recipe video, she grudgingly agreed they were very tasty. *Eye roll* Mothers!
Chicken Meatballs
I love chicken meatballs as a leaner alternative to beef meatballs. But because chicken is leaner, you need to ensure the meatballs are cooked well so they do not become dry and tough.
The trick to really juicy chicken meatballs is to cook the chicken meatballs until they are just cooked inside. This recipe makes it easy because these meatballs are cooked until golden on the outside but still raw on the inside, then simmered in the Teriyaki Sauce to finish cooking through. By simmering in the sauce, this helps keeping the chicken meatballs nice and juicy!
Serve these plump juicy chicken meatballs over rice or noodles – anything to make the most of all that delicious Teriyaki Sauce!
I’ve also served these as a starter – piled them onto a platter with toothpicks, then passed them around.
If serving this as a meal, try this with a fresh leafy salad on the side tossed with Asian Sesame Dressing. – Nagi xx
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Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs recipe video! Starring my mother – appropriate because the Teriyaki Sauce is her recipe, and it’s a proper homemade Japanese one, not a westernised one (albeit I’ve had to adjust it to make loads more sauce for this recipe without it being too salty!).
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Teriyaki Chicken Meatballs
Ingredients
Teriyaki Sauce:
- 1 tbsp cornflour / 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)
- 1 tbsp white sugar (brown also ok)
- ¾ cup / 180 ml water
Meatballs:
- 500 g / 1 lb chicken mince (ground chicken) (or pork or turkey)
- 1 egg (preferably small 50g / 1.4 oz)
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (or ¾ cup normal breadcrumbs)
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1 ½ tsp cooking sake , or sub with Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry (Note 2)
- ½ tsp salt
Cooking:
- 1 tbsp oil
- 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.
Recipe Notes:
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.
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
When I’m away, Dozer stays with a Golden Retriever Boarder who treats him as one of her own. He has the run of her house, lies under the table during meal time (clever boy), sleeps in front of the fireplace and knows he’s at the very bottom of the pecking order. 😂 (That’s him on the left)
Another amazing Nagi recipe. My child can be a bit picky about meat mince but loved this.
WOW – so amazing and your tips were bang on! I put the chicken in the fridge for 30 minutes and the most perfect meatballs. Flavour outstanding and I didn’t sub anything – used Sake – Loved this recipe! A fav for sure.
I made a double batch as we have an insanely busy week. Prepped meatballs and sauce night before cooking. Had deep anxiety over the sauce working as it was a very light brown colour due to cornflour. Glad I kept following the recipe as it was divine and this sauce is truly witchcraft! I am really impressed and will make regularly as my kids devoured them.
Hi Nagi, I love these meatballs and would like to make them for a 21st party next week. Can I make them ahead, if so, what would you recommend please?
I picked up 10 chicken sausages for $2.40 so made the meatballs out of them, just removed them from the case, rolled & barely cooked. The sauce is so easy with an amazing taste, not too sweet, covered the balls beautifully & served over brown rice. Another Nagi win 🙂
My first time ever leaving a comment on a food recipe from online, but these were soooo good I had to let you know! Thank you so much! Wow that teriyaki sauce was absolutely incredible!! the meatballs were so moist! WOW! I ended up buying mirin sauce, but I didn’t have any cooking sake so I subbed with white wine that I had laying around and I was so pleased that the recipe tasted good even with this sub.
My teenage daughter made these today and they were so good! I highly recommend.
Another homerun!! Easy & delicious. Hubby has placed dibs on the leftovers (code for he really liked it)!
Sooo good! I love how soft and juicy all your meatball recipes turn out. I added minced shallot and grated ginger to these
SO easy and delicious!
Hi Nagi, can you please advise which brand of Mirin you use and where you can find it? I’ve seen Manjo Mirin at woolworths but not sure if they are the same
Thank you
These were delicious! I used pork mince as that was what I had on hand, and they came out so flavourful! Plenty of sauce to soak into the noodles I served them over too. Very quick and easy from start to finish, looking forward to making them again 🙂
These were outstanding! The sauce is amazing! I made them on Sunday & was asked today to make them again. Another spectacular recipe, Nagi!
This was delightful. Loved the chicken meal balls, and I will use this teriyaki sauce as my go to from now on. Thank you Nagi
Great! Used a great sherry. Added more garlic and green onion to meatball mix, held back the cornstarch as I doubled the batch, I wanted to boil the sauce for a bit without thickening, I added the cornstarch when I felt the sauce had reduced enough. The chicken balls are tough to brown without a ton of oil, I had to jiggle the pan constantly to keep them from sticking. Lots of brown stuff on the pan made me abandon browning before the bottom got too burned, but by boiling the sauce I got it all up and the sauce was flavored wonderfully! I’d recommend not thickening until after you’ve boiled the sauce a bit, you don’t want any raw sherry taste, plus, the boiling helps deglaze the brown bits and improves the flavor..!
Hi…yes you have to roll them around to keep them from sticking or use a non stick skillet. If yours were browning up too much and sticking maybe lower your heat a bit! I’m glad you enjoyed the flavours! N x
Hmm..I have to add a touch of ginger, five spice and sesame oil to this..sorry to meddle, my instincts are perhaps leaning more towards Chinese food today..!
Sounds yummy! N x
This was a huge success last night. Best chicken meatballs I’ve ever had – moist and delicious. The recipe was so easy, and the Teriyaki sauce came out perfectly.
Thank you
This is absolutely delicious! And to think I’ve been buying bottled teriyaki sauce my whole life. It’s so easy and much more delicious to make from scratch
This was a big hit, delicious and easy to make. My 5 year old asked for more!
Thank you Nagi, you have transformed my cooking!!
This was absolutely delicious! Thanks so much Nagi.