Allergy-friendly Chicken Tsukune (Japanese chicken meatball skewers) made without wheat, dairy, or eggs - Diversivore.com

Allergy-friendly Chicken Meatball Tsukune

In Recipes by Sean11 Comments

Grilled chicken tsukune (meatballs) on bamboo skewers, served with green onions and rice topped with seaweed and sesame seeds
Grilled chicken tsukune on a white plate with tare sauce and scallions

Chicken Tsukune

Japanese Grilled Chicken Meatballs with Aquafaba

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I am a very big fan of Japanese grilling. The flavours are incredible, the diversity is endless and inventive, and the portions are perfect for sharing. It's a fantastic food culture really. So when it comes to developing recipes, I tend not to reinvent the wheel too much.  I'll tweak my ingredient ratios a little, maybe try adding or subtracting something, but I tend to sort of riff off the classics.  But sometimes, for one reason or another, you've got to make big changes, and when you do, you want them to be spectacular.  In this recipe I had to do some serious inventing because I had to avoid a set of common allergens, namely wheat, dairy, and eggs.

Japanese cuisine is actually a relatively allergy-friendly one (with the notable exceptions of fish and soy, which are nearly ubiquitous). Dairy is fairly uncommon, wheat is fairly easy to avoid (with some caveats that I'll mention below in the Recipe Notes section), and peanuts and tree nuts don't show up all that often. Eggs are fairly common in Japanese food, but they tend to be used outright (e.g. fried, boiled, etc.)  and are only occasionally incorporated into sauces and mixtures, which makes them a little easier to work around. There are exceptions to all of these generalizations of course, but in general it's been pretty easy for me to make Japanese food while avoiding these ingredients. Now I should say that I have no allergies myself, but I frequently cook for our very good friends Rob and Eri and their young son, who is severely allergic to the food groups I just covered. Lucky for me, Eri is Japanese, so I get to pick her brain about cooking techniques and substitutions (and weird secret ingredients). One evening we gathered at my home for some Japanese barbecue, comprised of bacon-wrapped shimeji mushrooms, chicken and scallion (negima) yakitori, and chicken meatball skewers (tsukune). The outstanding hit of the evening was bacon-wrapped shimeji mushroom kushiyaki (which uses the same tare sauce and is also allergy friendly), but an earlier iteration of these chicken 'meatballs' was disappointingly dry. Turns out it's tricky to make a good, moist meatball without breadcrumbs and/or egg. But I was determined to make this recipe work, so I turned to the food world's new favorite weirdo miracle ingredient: aquafaba.

If you're not familiar with aquafaba, it's the liquid that comes in a can of chickpeas.  Aquafaba is essentially Latin for 'bean water,' but let's face it, aquafaba sounds a lot sexier. Chefs started experimenting with it around 2014, and the word itself was only coined in 2015, so this is pretty new stuff. In any case, aquafaba has some pretty cool properties that allow it to be used in very much the same way that you'd use egg whites. Absolutely spectacular eggless meringues and macarons can be made with it, much to the delight of those who can't or don't eat eggs; indeed, a lot of the attention afforded to aquafaba has come from the vegan community. But if you do eat meat, it's still an awesome ingredient to play with. Case in point - it makes an amazing meatball binder.

As for the flavour, aquafaba doesn't bring a lot to the game (which is good, because nobody wants meringues to taste like chickpeas), so another one of my favorite secret weapons gets to ride to the resuce: miso!  As you can probably tell from my ridiculously detailed Miso Pantry Page, I love miso.  Aka (red) miso adds flavour and salt to the otherwise fairly plain combination of chicken and tofu, and a little bit goes a surprisingly long way here.

By adding aquafaba and tofu to the chicken, I was able to create a rather sticky chicken paste that could be formed (albeit messily) around a skewer and grilled. In fact, it was so sticky that I was worried it wouldn't come together well (see below for tips on dealing with that). But once the chicken was on the grill, it firmed up beautifully and cooked perfectly. The end result was moist and delicious, with an amazing texture. For what it's worth, this recipe also makes an amazing Japanese-style chicken burger patty or a pan-fried meatballs, so you feel free to take it in that direction.

So there you go.  You reinvent the wheel if you're not allowed to use wheels.  I suppose that analogy is appropriate, given that these 'meatballs' are in no way round. I don't think chicken meat-paddles has quite the same ring to it.

Grilled chicken tsukune (meatballs) on bamboo skewers

Recipe Notes

Making the Skewers

This is one of those meals where you THINK something is going wrong as you make it, but then everything turns out fine in the end. The chicken mixture is quite soft and quite sticky in its raw state, and this presents some challenges in terms of forming the skewers. While this is true of a lot of chicken meatballs, it's further complicated here by the lack of breadcrumbs. Here are my tips for getting this to work without any trouble (with the biggest, most life-hackish tip shown in bold):

  1. Oil your hands. The chicken will stick to you less if you rub your bare hands with a little vegetable oil.
  2. If you can find flat Japanese-style skewers, use them.  There's more surface area for the chicken to stick too, and it will keep the skewer from rotating inside of it when you go to flip them.
  3. Line up all of your finished skewers on a baking tray (NOT a cutting board - it has to be heat-proof). When you're ready to cook, quickly turn the tray over onto the grill and give it a few taps to get the skewers to release. This not only gets everything cooking at the same time, it avoids the major hassle of trying to move the skewers without having them fall apart. HOWEVER - if you're going to do this, make sure you plan out the orientation of your skewers before they go on the grill. You want them to land perpendicular to the bars on your grill, not parallel. Plan accordingly, and make sure to have some tongs and oven/bbq mitts handy so you can work over a hot grill safely.
  4. Don't touch or try to flip the skewers until after they've cooked for at least 3-4 minutes on one side.  You want them to be holding together before they get flipped.
  5. Use barbecue tongs AND a spatula to flip the skewers the first time to decrease the chances that they'll fall apart on you.

If you don't want to try tip number 3 (and don't say I didn't warn you), try to transfer the skewers to the grill carefully with a spatula and perhaps some sort of arcane incantation.

Tare Sauce

This is my go-to simple tare sauce, and I use it often. It's easy to make and ingredients are easy to come by. I used tamari here because I like the taste and to emphasize the wheat-free nature of the recipe, but you can substitute a good all-purpose (and preferably Japanese) soy sauce instead.

The recipe makes at least three times as much as you need, so feel free to cut it down. I personally prefer to make more and use it on multiple dishes. To make this go as smoothly as possible, either start it immediately before you begin the chicken or make it ahead of time. For more detail on making the tare, including tips and variations, check out the recipe notes on my bacon-wrapped shimeji mushroom kushiyaki page. Actually, just make that one too. Seriously, it's incredible.

Grilled chicken tsukune (meatballs) on bamboo skewers, served with green onions and rice topped with seaweed and sesame seeds

Ingredients

I strongly recommend that you use ground chicken thighs rather than breasts here, as they're more flavourful and they won't dry out easily. If you can only find chicken breast meat, add a little oil to the mixture to make up for the lost fat.

As I mentioned above, aquafaba is simply the liquid that comes out of a can of chickpeas (technically any number of legumes could work, but chickpeas are the gold standard so far). You don't buy it separately - just buy a can of chickpeas and drain all of the liquid out of it. That's aquafaba. Save the chickpeas themselves for another recipe.

As for the miso, I like using aka (red) miso here, but you could get away with all sorts of different varieties.  Awase (mixed red and white) miso would work great, and I would hazard a guess that mugi and genmai miso would both lend an earthy and distinctive flavour too.  A good white miso would also be great, but I'd personally recommend sticking with a less-sweet variety.  I think hatcho miso might be a little too strong, but perhaps if you used a little less of it.  If you try it, let me know!  And if you're new to using miso, don't be intimidated - it's easy, delicious, and I have a craaaaazy-detailed guide to it on the site.  There are a lot of so-so miso guides out there that rehash the same half-truths and bad translations.  This is not one of those.

The rest of the ingredients are pretty straightforward, especially if you have experience with Japanese cooking. If you're fairly new to it or you're looking for a detailed primer, be sure to check out the Pantry Pages on Mirin, Tamari, and Rice Vinegar. I particularly recommend reading up on mirin, as there's a BIG difference between the good stuff and the cheap/corn-syrupy stuff. If you're unfamiliar with Shichimi Togarashi, I've got you covered there too (and you're about to have your world rocked, because that stuff is awesome).

As a final note, make sure to familiarize yourself with the ingredients you buy if you're trying to keep things wheat/gluten-free.  Contrary to common belief, some tamari does contain wheat, as do some (but not most) miso pastes.

Grilled chicken tsukune (meatballs) on a bamboo skewers, served on a round white plate
Grilled chicken tsukune (meatballs) on bamboo skewers, served with green onions and rice topped with seaweed and sesame seeds

Want to Use Wheat/Eggs? No Problem!

If you've stumbled upon this recipe without the need for (or interest in) an allergy-friendly aquafaba version, a few simple tweaks turn it into a more conventional (and still very delicious) chicken tsukune recipe.

If you want to use both egg and panko, eliminate the aquafaba and add EITHER one whole egg (large) or two egg whites, plus about 1/4 cup of panko (or dry, flaky breadcrumbs). If you want to use bread but not eggs, use 1/4 cup of panko/breadcrumbs and reduce the aquafaba by about 1 tbsp.

Grilled chicken tsukune and grilled miso-butter corn on two blue plates

Wait, Where'd the Corn Come From?

That delicious, incredible, oh-so good corn is another barbecued delight with a distinct Japanese twist (and another amazing wonder-ingredient). Chicken tsukune and Japanese grilled meats are delicious, but they really call for some vegetables and other sides. So check it out, grill it up, and serve it alongside the meat.

If you do make extra tare sauce, you can use it with the bacon-wrapped mushrooms I mentioned before. You can also use it on basically any chicken that you want to grill, and you could adapt it for use (in place of ponzu) with a Japanese-style Hamburger.


The nutritional information shown is for 1 skewer (~1/12th of the total recipe) including a portion of the tare sauce (assuming 1/4 of the recipe is used between all skewers).

Nutrition Facts
Allergy-friendly Chicken Meatball Yakitori (Tsukune)
Amount Per Serving
Calories 113 Calories from Fat 45
% Daily Value*
Fat 5g8%
Saturated Fat 1g6%
Polyunsaturated Fat 1g
Monounsaturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 35mg12%
Sodium 553mg24%
Potassium 98mg3%
Carbohydrates 2g1%
Fiber 0.04g0%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 12g24%
Vitamin A 50IU1%
Vitamin C 0.4mg0%
Calcium 5mg1%
Iron 0.7mg4%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Summary

GOOD NEWS:
No bread panko/bread crumbs means very few carbohydrates, which brings the calorie count and the glycemic index down. These are also very high in protein.

BAD NEWS:
High in sodium thanks to the tamari and miso.

TRIM THE SALT:
Be careful about home much of the tare sauce you use - it's delicious, but salty. You could also use a low-sodium tamari or soy sauce.

Ingredient Pages

No ingredient pages have been written yet for any of the ingredients in this recipe.  Like to see one?  Let me know in the comments below or by email.

Pantry Pages

  • Dairy-free
  • Gluten free
  • 30-minutes
Allergy-friendly Chicken Tsukune (Japanese chicken meatball skewers) made without wheat, dairy, or eggs - Diversivore.com
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5 from 2 votes

Allergy-friendly Chicken Meatball Yakitori (Tsukune)

Tsukune (Japanese chicken meatballs) is a classic yakitori specialty, but like most meatballs, it's tough to get a great result without breadcrumbs and/or eggs (two very common allergens). Fortunately, amazingly tender, delicious, and allergy-friendly tsukune can be made with a little help from the internet's favorite new (and weird) ingredient: aquafaba.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Main Dishes, Side Dish
Cuisine: Asian, Japanese
Keyword: allergy friendly recipe, barbecue, chicken, grilling, yakitori
Servings: 12 skewers
Calories: 113kcal

Ingredients

Chicken Tsukune

  • 450 g ground chicken thighs (see note)
  • 150 g medium tofu
  • 1/4 cup aquafaba
  • 1.5 tbsp aka (red) miso (see note)
  • 1/4 tsp ground allspice (preferably fresh ground)
  • 10 g ginger
  • 1.5 tsp sesame oil
  • scallions thinly sliced, to garnish (optional)
  • shichimi togarashi to garnish (optional)

Tare Sauce

  • 1 cup tamari (or shoyu/soy sauce)
  • 1/2 cup mirin
  • 1/2 cup sake
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 15 g ginger (~4 cm/1.5 inch, thinly sliced)
  • 30 g scallions (about 5-6 stalks, green portion only)
  • 4 garlic cloves (~15 g)

Instructions

Tare Sauce

  • Combine the liquid ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the ginger, scallions and garlic cloves and simmer over medium-high heat until the sauce is reduced by about half (about 15-20 minutes). It should be glossy and relatively thick. Let stand for 5 minutes.
  • Strain the solids and store the sauce in a sealed container. Unused sauce can be refrigerated for up to a month.

Chicken Tsukune

  • Place the tofu on a large plate, then put a heavy plate or two on top of it to press out the excess liquid. Let stand for about 5 minutes, then pour off the liquid and mash the tofu in preparation for the next step.
  • In a large bowl, thoroughly combine all of the chicken tsukune ingredients. Try to make sure that your tofu is well mashed before you mix it in, as it's difficult to break big chunks once they're mixed into the chicken.
  • (Optional) If you have time to spare, you can chill the mixture in the freezer for about 20 minutes. This makes it a little easier to shape and work with.
  • Pour a little bit of vegetable oil into your hands and rub them together. Take a generous dollop of the chicken mixture and place it in one hand. Shape the ball into a long, relatively flat patty of meat, then run a skewer through the center. Place the completed skewer on a flat surface, ideally a large baking tray. (IMPORTANT - the mixture is quite sticky and the skewers are difficult to transfer - see the note below about getting them onto the grill).
  • Preheat a grill until it's hot enough to sear the chicken (while the grill itself should be hot when the chicken touches it, you can cook the skewers over a moderate flame or on a medium electric grill).
  • Brush a bit of tare sauce on the uncooked chicken skewers, then place them (sauce-side down) onto the grill. Brush a little more tare sauce on the exposed surface. Allow the chicken to cook for at least 3-4 minutes before attempting to turn the skewers.
  • Flip the skewers, brush with tare sauce again, and cook on the other side for an additional 3 minutes or so. Flip the skewers a few more times, brush on more sauce each time, until the chicken is cooked through (about 2-3 more minutes).
  • Remove the skewers from the grill and set them aside to cool. Add a dash of tare sauce (if your sauce came into contact with raw chicken, you should probably use some clean reserved sauce) and garnish with shichimi togarashi and scallions. Serve immediately.

Notes

If you can only find ground chicken breasts, use them plus a teaspoon of vegetable oil to make up for some of the lost fat content.
I quite like the flavour of a good red miso, but you could definitely use awase miso (mixed red and white), or even a not-too-sweet white miso. Feel free to experiment.
TRANSFERRING THE SKEWERS TO THE GRILL
The chicken mixture is quite sticky when uncooked, and it can be very difficult to transfer your skewers to the grill without making a mess of them. The best method to avoid catastrophy involves lining up all of your skewers on a baking tray (NOT a cutting board - it has to be heat-proof). When you're ready to cook, quickly turn the tray over onto the grill and give it a few taps to get the skewers to release. This not only gets everything cooking at the same time, it avoids the major hassle of trying to move the skewers without having them fall apart. HOWEVER - if you're going to do this, make sure you plan out the orientation of your skewers before they go on the grill. You want them to land perpendicular to the bars on your grill, not parallel. Plan accordingly, and make sure to have some tongs and oven/bbq mitts handy so you can work over a hot grill safely.

Nutrition

Calories: 113kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 553mg | Potassium: 98mg | Fiber: 0.04g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 5mg | Iron: 0.7mg

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Comments

  1. Interesting way to use Aqua faba! I haven’t tried it yet but it’s been popping up everywhere. What a great discovery for those who don’t eat eggs! You could also use parchment paper under the chicken skewers which would help it not-stick to the baking tray! Looks delicious!!

    1. Author

      Thank you Lyndsay! It’s gotten a lot of attention in the vegan and baking communities (and rightly so), but it’s got a ton of potential. After all, look at home many dishes use egg whites in some fashion!

      LOVE the parchment paper idea too – that would work wonderfully in the oven, though perhaps not on a grill. That being said, aluminum foil would probably do just as well, at least to get the skewers started and keep them together. Thank you SO much for that idea – I think I’ll add a note in the recipe about it!

  2. Now I know your source for the ideas behind these fantastic Japanese inspired recipes. Hehehe. I’ve used aqua faba before and although you can’t taste it, it stills with me weirdly – most likely a mental thing. The flavours here are great! Another awesome recipe Sean!

    1. Author

      Heh, she certainly helps me with my Japanese culinary questions, though I was a little nervous about cooking for her at first. After all, you don’t want to screw up Japanese food for your Japanese friends. But yeah, I hear you – aquafaba is bizarre… but man, the things it can do! I’m glad you enjoyed it.

    1. Author

      Thanks very much! I’m a big fan of miso with meats, and I hope more people will explore using it in their cooking.

  3. Hi Sean
    I love this type of Japanese cooking. I have done a ground beef meatball skewer and it was amazing but I will definitely want to try this and the addition of the Japanese spice grilled corn is perfect. You are fortunate to have a friend who is from japan to give you insider tips on cooking in their tradition. I love the post, the plethora of information and those grill marks on the meatballs has me craving big time. May have to fire up the grill for lunch.
    Have a great weekend.
    Loreto

    1. Author

      Thanks Loreto! I am lucky to have a friend to talk with about this stuff, but I’ve been able to pick up a lot from great cookbooks too. There are some absolutely wonderful books out there on Japanese cooking, and they can really transform your Japanese home cooking into something spectacular. I hope you’ll get to try this!

  4. These look really yummy. I love miso, too. I have a vegan friend who has been using aquafaba a lot, but I have yet to try it. It’s certainly interesting 🙂
    And I actually like the sound of chicken meat paddles, lol.

  5. This sounds and looks absolutely delicious! I’m not a fan of using egg as a binder so I really appreciate the aquafaba here.

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