Yaki onigiri or Japanese grilled rice ball is a popular snack or side dish in Japan. There are several ways to make irresistibly crispy rice balls at home. The most authentic way is by making it on a grill over charcoal. However, since many households donβt have a charcoal grill, the more common method is to pan fry, or to use an air fryer or conventional oven. This recipe is all about how to make the best sweet and savory yaki onigiri (Japanese grilled rice ball) in a pan with only 6 ingredients.
Onigiri filling
For this recipe, I am filling my onigiri with teriyaki spam. If you like spam musubi, then youβll definitely like this. Feel free to fill the onigiri with your choice of filling or none. More authentic yaki onigiri is usually not filled because the tare or sauce on the outside has enough flavors.
Pan fry tips
I have a few yaki onigiri recipes I made in the air fryer. If you want to make it in the air fryer, click on this link here. But this one is for those who donβt use an air fryer. It is just as easy and tasty!
- Make sure to crisp the onigiri in the pan without adding any sauces first. This is important because this will ensure a crispy onigiri.
- Once you put the tare sauce on, it will char quickly so be careful. Because of the sugar content, tare sauce is prone to burning quickly. 1-2 coats of sauce on both sides of the onigiri should be enough tare. Some charred parts are good, but you donβt want them burnt.
- Serve hot if you want it to be crispy. You can make the onigiri beforehand and have it in the fridge, but pan fry it before you eat it so you can enjoy it crispy. Yaki onigiri is still good at room temperature, but it wonβt be crispy.
Tare Sauce ingredients
The tare sauce is an important part of making yaki onigiri. Here are the ingredients:
- Soy sauce β I like to use Japanese soy sauce. Feel free to use what you have. However, keep in mind soy sauce tastes different based on brands, how it is made, ingredients, etc.
- Mirin β Mirin is Japanese sweet cooking wine. This not only adds sweetness but also a lot of flavor.
- Sake β I use cooking sake because it costs less than drinking sake. If you donβt want to use sake, you can substitute it with water, but flavor wonβt be the same.
- Sugar β I am using white granulated sugar.
Check out my other yaki onigiri posts
Yaki onigiri in air fryer β click here
Creamy Mentaiko yaki onigiri β click here
Yaki Onigiri Pan Fry Method
Ingredients
- 300 g Cooked Japanese short grain rice Use hot rice. If it is a day old, then heat it up before molding. If the rice is cold, it will not hold its shape
- 1 tbsp Soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp Mirin
- 1/2 tbsp Sake
- 1/2 tbsp Sugar
- Neutral oil to pan fry
- Water small bowl of water to wet hands when shaping onigiri so the rice does not stick to hands
Filling
- 3 oz Spam 1/4 of spam can
- 1 tbsp Soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Mirin
- 1 tbsp Sake
- 1 tbsp Sugar
Instructions
Filling
- Cut up spam into small pieces (the smaller the pieces, the easier it will be to fill onigiri)
- In a pan, on low heat, pan fry spam for a few minutes until spam is crispy
- Then add in soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar
- Continue cooking until the sauce thickens and caramelizes
- Once sauce thickens, put it aside to use later
Make the sauce for yaki onigiri
- Combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar in a small microwave safe bowl
- Heat in microwave for 15 seconds (this will melt the sugar)
To make onigiri
- Take about 75g of cooked hot rice and place it in hand
- Take a small spoonful of cooked spam and place it in the middle of the rice
- Take another 75g of cooked hot rice and cover the spam
- Shape the rice into an onigiri triangle with hands (you can use an onigiri mold as well)
- Make 2 onigiris
Pan fry method
- Oil pan and turn on stove to low to medium heat
- Place onigiri in the pan and cook for a few minutes until one side is crispy
- Then flip and cook the other side
- If you want all the sides to be crispy, then place the onigiri on the side and cook all 3 sides
- Once the onigiri is at the desired crispiness, lower heat to low
- Brush on the yaki onigiri sauce on one side and flip so the sauce side is down
- Brush on the sauce on the other side and flip over once the other side is lightly charred
- Char both sides to your liking (be careful to not burn the onigiri)
- Repeat process 2 times
- Serve hot and enjoy!
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