Japanese chicken meatballs, or tsukune, are one of my favorite treats at izakayas. There’s no grill at my apartment in Chicago, but there’s one in Wisconsin – so when we headed up there last weekend, I decided to try and make my own tsukune.
I added a simple combination of soy sauce, mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine), grated ginger, and minced shallot. I meant to add garlic, too, but forgot – and actually, the tsukune were nice and subtly flavored without it.
After just a few minutes on the grill, along with some green onions tossed with olive oil and lime juice, the tsukune were ready. They’re actually more like small patties than spherical meatballs – much easier to grill.
We had them with a dipping sauce made from what I had on hand – toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, mirin, and more lime juice – and cherry-flavored New Glarus Belgian Red beer, for a surprisingly easy late-spring dinner.
Grilled chicken tsukune
1.5 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 tsp grated fresh ginger
4 tbsp minced shallot
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1/4 tsp salt
Optional: minced garlic
Roughly chop chicken into 2 inch pieces. Pulse in Cuisinart until well chopped (nearly a paste-like consistency).
Combine chicken with remaining ingredients and mix well.
Form into roughly 2 inch patties and grill 4-5 minutes per side over medium heat, until cooked through. (Alternatively, bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.)
Dipping sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
3 tsp lime juice
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