I've made a lot of onigiri in the past but this was my first time making Chicken onigiri. I used chicken drumsticks because they were on sale, but you could easily use chicken thighs or ground chicken as well.

three chicken onigiri on plate with chicken filling.

Whenever I go to Japan, I always end up buying a lot of onigiri from the convenience stores. Funnily enough, I don't really crave them when I'm in Canada, but when I go to Japan, I always get a bunch of them. I think it's because they're easy to eat while traveling, and they don't necessarily ruin my appetite for the next meal.

I recently tried chicken onigiri- not in Japan but at my friend's house, and his mom made them. They were super tasty. This is inspired by her recipe but I'm using a teriyaki-based sauce.

Preparing the chicken

Chicken drumsticks were on sale so I decided to use them for this recipe. You want to cut them into very small pieces and marinate them in soy sauce, sake, baking soda, and a little cornstarch. What this does is it flavors the meat and also tenderizes it.

chicken drumstick meat being chopped into small pieces.

Once the chicken is marinated, you just stir-fry it in a pan with garlic and add the sauce ingredients, which are soy sauce, sugar, and mirin.

What rice to use?

The type of rice is extremely important for this recipe. You will want to use short-grain rice, or sushi rice as it's sometimes called. Short-grain rice is a little stickier than regular rice so it will be easier to shape the rice into the onigiri shape. For the rice, I just cooked it in my rice cooker.

I noticed short-grain rice requires a bit more water than regular rice so make sure you account for that. I had to add about 15% more water than usual.

How to shape the onigiri?

The easiest method I have found is to just wet your hands with water then shape the rice with your hands. You might think the water will make the rice more soggy but I never noticed it to make a difference. Another method is to use plastic wrap.

making well into mound of rice in hand. — scoop ⅓ cup rice and press a well into the center

adding filling to rice. — add about 1 tablespoon of filling

adding more rice on top of filling. — add another ⅓ cup rice on top

using hands to shape rice ball into triangle. — use both hands to shape into triangle

Chicken Onigiri

This chicken onigiri is tasty and really easy to make. I made a simple teriyaki chicken filling from chicken drumstick meat.

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Prep Time 35

Cook Time 10

Total Time 45

Course Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine Japanese

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Rice

4 cups cooked sushi rice
½ teaspoon salt (make sure it is fine salt so it can distribute better in the rice)
2 tablespoons furikake (optional)

Chicken marinade

½ pound boneless skinless chicken meat (I used drumsticks)
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sake (or water)
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Teriyaki sauce

1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
1 tablespoon brown sugar (firmly packed)

The rest

1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 sheet nori (cut into small rectangles)

Instructions

After cooking the sushi rice, mix it with ½ a teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of furikake (I actually sprinkled the furikake on the onigiri after shaping them, but in hindsight, I think it's better to add directly to the rice).
Cut the chicken meat into small pieces. Transfer to a bowl with the rest of the marinade ingredients. Mix until combined, then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine the teriyaki sauce ingredients.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add the marinated chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes until cooked through.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the sauce mixture and continue cooking until the sauce thickens into a glaze. Remove from the heat.
To wrap the onigiri, wet your hands with water then scoop ⅓ cup of rice into your palm. Make a small well in the center and fill it with 1 tablespoon of filling. Scoop another ⅓ cup of filling to cover the filling then use your hands to shape into a triangle. Wrap with a strip of nori.

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