
For these Japanese chicken and tofu meatballs I was inspired by Youtube channel Imamu room . On her youtube channel Imamu shares videos of cooking her family meals each week, including the bento lunches for her husband (husbento). These chicken meatballs are made with ground chicken and tofu. She uses a mixture of ground meat and tofu in several of her dishes. I’m guessing it’s similar to using breadcrumbs and egg or milk to create juicy meatballs.
Ground chicken
I have made these chicken meatballs with tofu a number of times with ground chicken from different supermarkets. I found that using ground chicken from chicken thighs had the most flavourful result.
Materials used
- Cutting board
- Chef’s knife
- Fine grater
- Heavy-bottomed pan for frying, cast iron Dutch oven
- Large bowl
- Skimmer
- Plate with paper towel
How to eat Japanese chicken meatballs?
You can serve these chicken meatballs for dinner with rice or as a snack for lunch. I finish the meatballs with spring onions, Japanese kewpie mayonnaise and okonomiyaki sauce, but you can also use tonkatsu sauce, teriyaki sauce, barbecue sauce or hot sauce.
We ate the chicken meatballs with inari, Japanese tofu bags filled with sushi rice, nori flakes, sesame seeds, corn, scrambled eggs and peas.

Can you prepare this dish in advance?
You can prepare the chicken tofu meatballs well in advance. Once cooled, you can store them airtight in the fridge or freezer. Reheat in the microwave or a warm oven.
Tips for frying
I use a cast iron Dutch oven with a layer of oil. You can use an oil thermometer, but often the level of oil I use is too low. I usually fry these kinds of dishes by feel. The oil is hot enough when you stick a wooden skewer in the oil and bubbles start to form.
Don’t set the heat too high. You can always turn up the heat slightly if it takes too long to fry. Getting the oil to cool down takes up a lot more time.
Never drop food from a great distance into the oil. This will make the oil splash onto your hand giving you nasty burns. Always carefully lower food into the oil. You can use a spoon, chopsticks or tongs depending on the kind of food you wish to fry.

More Japanese dishes
- Zucchini fritters
- Karaage burger
- Okonomiyaki
- Sesame beef with lettuce on rice
- Tori katsu
- Chicken teriyaki

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