Japanese Tsukune-Style Chicken Burgers with Okra

About This Recipe

Tsukune are Japanese chicken meatballs or patties, a yakitori-stand staple made from ground chicken mixed with grated ginger, scallion, and a binder, then grilled and brushed with a sweet-savory soy glaze called tare. This recipe reshapes tsukune into burger-size patties served on rice rather than skewers, paired with quickly blistered okra — a vegetable common in Japanese summer cooking, often served with a similar soy glaze or simply salted. The technique that keeps tsukune tender rather than dense is a panade — grated onion or a small amount of potato starch and egg mixed into the ground chicken — which keeps the patties moist through cooking. Searing first and finishing with a glaze brushed on in the last few minutes (rather than marinating raw meat in sugar-heavy sauce, which burns) is standard yakitori technique applied here to a pan-seared patty. The result is a juicy, well-seasoned chicken patty with a glossy, slightly sticky glaze, next to okra that keeps its snap, served together over rice for a full Japanese-style dinner.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 500 gground chicken thigh
• 0.25 cuponion(grated)
• 1 tbspfresh ginger(grated)
• 2scallions(finely chopped)
• 1egg
• 2 tbsppanko breadcrumbs
• 1 tspfine sea salt
• 2 tbspneutral oil(divided)
• 3 tbspsoy sauce
• 3 tbspmirin
• 2 tbspsugar
• 200 gokra(trimmed)
• 4 cupscooked short-grain rice
• 1 tsptoasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix and shape the patties

   Combine ground chicken, grated onion, ginger, scallions, egg, panko, and salt in a bowl. Mix just until combined, then shape into 4 patties about 3/4-inch thick.

2. 2

   Make the tare glaze

   Whisk soy sauce, mirin, and sugar together in a small saucepan. Simmer over medium heat 4-5 minutes until slightly thickened and syrupy. Set aside.

3. 3

   Sear the patties

   Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook patties 5-6 minutes per side until browned and cooked through (internal temperature 165°F/74°C).

   Keep the heat at medium, not high — ground chicken patties this thick need time to cook through without the outside burning before the inside is done.

4. 4

   Glaze the patties

   In the last 2 minutes of cooking, brush both sides generously with the tare glaze and let it caramelize slightly against the hot pan.

5. 5

   Cook the okra and serve

   In a separate hot pan, sear okra whole in remaining oil for 3-4 minutes, tossing, until blistered but still crisp. Serve patties and okra over rice, drizzled with any remaining glaze and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Variations

• •

  Skewer the raw mixture onto flat skewers and grill over charcoal for a more traditional yakitori-style tsukune.

• •

  Add a raw egg yolk on the side for dipping, a classic tsukune presentation at yakitori restaurants.

• •

  Swap okra for shishito peppers, blistered the same way, if okra isn't in season.

Storage

Refrigerate cooked patties up to 3 days in an airtight container. Reheat gently in a covered skillet with a splash of water to keep them from drying out; the okra is best cooked fresh rather than reheated.

Frequently Asked Questions