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This recipe is the second entry to our yakitori series and happens to be one of my personal favorites – Japanese Chicken Meatball Skewers – Tsukune!! If you missed the 1st part, you can read it here. Now, I’m not sure how the weather is for everyone else, but for us, spring decided to make its grand entrance just as we made these recipes. The temperature went from the 60’s to almost the high 70′ in a couple of days and introduced a perfect time to fire up that grill and present today’s recipe. Chicken meatball/tsukune is considered another ‘main’ yakitori and utilizes the same marinade as the Negima Yakitori. Although they both do use the same sauce, they taste very different due to the way they are prepared. The tsukune, being a meatball, is much more ‘fluffy’ compared to the Negima Yakitori and they both compliment each other very well! So if you decide to give this recipe a try, we would recommend making it together with Negima Yakitori and having yourself a yakitori BBQ party!!
This dish is keto friendly at ~1g carbs per skewer and if you are looking to make this your main meal, I would say 3-4 skewers would fill a person up. I would describe this dish as juicy chicken meatballs packed with flavors of semi-sweet garlic soy sauce and charred BBQ. One of my personal favorite Yakitori skewer!!
The special ingredients needed for this recipe are Sesame Oil, Miso, Unflavored Pork Rinds, Soy Sauce, Swerve/Monkfruit, Bonito Flakes, Toasted Sesame Seed (optional), and Japanese Cooking Sake (can be replaced with dry sherry). All these can be picked up on Amazon (aside from Japanese sake) or a local Asian Supermarket.
Now, let’s get cooking!
Prepping Time 10M
Cooking Time 15M
Total Time 25M
Net Carb/Skewer ~1g
Serving 3-4 Skewers
Ingredients
Chicken Meatball
- 1 lb Ground Chicken
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 1 tsp Miso
- 2 Stalk Green Onions
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Japanese Cooking Sake
- 1/2 Cup Pork Rinds (can substitute with 1 tbsp of psyllium husk)
- 3-4 Wooden Skewers
- 1/4 tsp Toasted Sesame Seed (optional)
Marinade
- 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 4 1/2 tbsp Japanese Sake
- 1 1/2 tbsp Water
- 2 tbsp Swerve/Monkfruit
- 1/2 Cup Bonito Flakes
- 1 Garlic Clove
Directions
1) Gather all the ingredients.
2) Soak wooden skewers in water for at least 10 minutes.
3) Finely dice garlic and set aside.
4) In a stove top pot, add all the ingredients for the marinate – Soy Sauce, Japanese Sake, Water, Swerve/Monkfruit, Bonito Flakes, and half of the diced garlic – and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce to simmer heat and let sauce reduce for 7-10 minutes or until slightly reduced. Once reduced, strain sauce with strainer and make sure to squeeze/press any excess sauce from the bonito flakes. Split marinate into 2 bowls – 1 bowl holding 3/4 as basting sauce and the other about 1/4 as reserve sauce. Note – if you are making more sauce, it will take longer to reduce.
5) While waiting for the sauce to reduce, finely chop green onions and set aside.
6) Crush pork rinds. An easy way to do this keep pork rinds inside the bag and use the palm of your hand to ‘grind’ them down or use a food processor, set aside. Note – you should end up with ~1/8 cup of crushed pork rinds.
7) In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients for Chicken Meatball – ground chicken, Sesame Oil, remaining diced garlic, Miso, chopped green onions, salt, Japanese cooking sake, crushed pork rinds and mix well.
8) Take about 2 tbsp of chicken/tsukune meatball mix, throw the mix from one hand to another while using the palm of your hands to form a ball about the size of a ping pong ball. Take the meatball and place onto skewer. Take note the meatball mix is very fragile prior to being cooked, so handle with care. Each skewer should hold about 4-5 meatballs. Set on holding plate.
9) Preheat grill to 350F. Once grill is preheated, reduce heat to medium-low and place skewers on the grill. Using a basting brush, generously brush marinade on each skewer from bowl with 3/4 the sauce and close lid. Rotate skewers every 2 minutes basting on each rotation keeping covered until done, should take around 12-15 minutes or once internal temp reaches 165F. Mix sauce from reserve bowl and drizzle before serving along with sprinkle of optional Toasted Sesame Seed.
10) Optional Oven Instructions – if you don’t own a BBQ grill or located in an area where grilling is not possible, here are alternative oven instructions. Preheat oven to 500F. Place skewers on a baking rack in center of oven and generous brush marinade on each skewer from bowl with 3/4 the sauce. Rotate every 4-5 minutes basting on each rotation and continue until done – should take around 10-14 minutes or once internal temp reaches 165F. Mix sauce from reserve bowl and drizzle before serving along with sprinkle of optional Toasted Sesame Seed.
Hope you enjoy our Keto Japanese Chicken Meatball Skewers – Tsukune! If you are looking for other recipes for your main dish, be sure to check out our growing Recipe Index full of Asian Inspired low-carb/keto recipes!
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Japanese Chicken Meatball Skewers - Tsukune
Ingredients
Chicken Meatball
- 1 lb Ground Chicken
- 1 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 Clove Garlic
- 1 tsp Miso
- 2 Stalk Green Onions
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Japanese Cooking Sake
- 1/2 Cup Pork Rinds (can substitute with 1 tbsp of psyllium husk)
- 3-4 Pieces Wooden Skewers
- 1/4 tsp Toasted Sesame Seed (optional)
Marinade
- 3 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 4 1/2 tbsp Japanese Sake
- 1 1/2 tbsp Water
- 2 tbsp Swerve/Monkfruit
- 1/2 Cup Bonito Flakes
- 1 Clove Garlic
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Soak wooden skewers in water for at least 10 minutes.
- Finely dice garlic and set aside.
- In a stove top pot, add all the ingredients for the marinate - Soy Sauce, Japanese Sake, Water, Swerve/Monkfruit, Bonito Flakes, and half of the diced garlic - and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce to simmer heat and let sauce reduce for 7-10 minutes or until slightly reduced. Once reduced, strain sauce with strainer and make sure to squeeze/press any excess sauce from the bonito flakes. Split marinate into 2 bowls - 1 bowl holding 3/4 as basting sauce and the other about 1/4 as reserve sauce. Note - if you are making more sauce, it will take longer to reduce.
- While waiting for the sauce to reduce, finely chop green onions and set aside.
- Crush pork rinds. An easy way to do this keep pork rinds inside the bag and use the palm of your hand to ‘grind’ them down or use a food processor, set aside. Note - you should end up with ~1/8 cup of crushed pork rinds.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients for Chicken Meatball - ground chicken, Sesame Oil, remaining diced garlic, Miso, chopped green onions, salt, Japanese cooking sake, crushed pork rinds and mix well.
- Take about 2 tbsp of chicken/tsukune meatball mix, throw the mix from one hand to another while using the palm of your hands to form a ball about the size of a ping pong ball. Take the meatball and place onto skewer. Take note the meatball mix is very fragile prior to being cooked, so handle with care. Each skewer should hold about 4-5 meatballs. Set on holding plate.
- Preheat grill to 350F. Once grill is preheated, reduce heat to medium-low and place skewers on the grill. Using a basting brush, generously brush marinade on each skewer from bowl with 3/4 the sauce and close lid. Rotate skewers every 2 minutes basting on each rotation keeping covered until done, should take around 12-15 minutes or once internal temp reaches 165F. Mix sauce from reserve bowl and drizzle before serving along with sprinkle of optional Toasted Sesame Seed.
- Optional Oven Instructions - if you don't own a BBQ grill or located in an area where grilling is not possible, here are alternative oven instructions. Preheat oven to 500F. Place skewers on a baking rack in center of oven and generous brush marinade on each skewer from bowl with 3/4 the sauce. Rotate every 4-5 minutes basting on each rotation and continue until done - should take around 10-14 minutes or once internal temp reaches 165F. Mix sauce from reserve bowl and drizzle before serving along with sprinkle of optional Toasted Sesame Seed.
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