Takoyaki Recipe – Japanese pan-fried octopus balls. A popular street-food snack.
The takoyaki recipe below is just a starting point. If you haven’t heard of this dish, you are probably asking yourself, what is takoyaki? Takoyaki (たこ焼き) is a Japanese snack in the shape of little round balls containing pieces of octopus. Tako-yaki literally translates to “octopus-grilled/fried” and some people may call it “Octopus Balls” or “Octopus Dumplings”.
Using our Takoyaki flour mix includes the traditional dashi and flavors that make the perfect golden ball snack with the octopus center. We also create our own sauce because we like to control the amount of sugar versus savory ratio. Of course, you can purchase Takoyaki sauce at your local Asian grocer if you like.
Ingredients (makes 12-16 )
- Takoyaki flour 100g (1 cup) BUY NOW>>
- 100 ml of water (1/2 cup)
- 1 egg
Fillings
- Boiled octopus – cut into ½” cubes
- Tenkasu (天かす) – deep-fried tempura batter bits, also called ‘agedama’ (揚げ玉)
- Finely chopped shallots / scallions
- Finely diced benishōga (red pickled ginger)
Toppings
- Takoyaki sauce (see below)
- Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
- Pickled ginger
- Fried Panko bread crumbs
Takoyaki Sauce (If you want that homemade taste)
- 4 Tbsp ketchup (Some ketchup is sweeter than others, so please adjust the amount of sugar)
- 1 tsp. mentsuyu soup base (see recipe here>)
- 1 ½ Tbsp sugar (Add more sugar, if needed)
The Equipment
There are specific pans for making Takoyaki that fit over tabletop burners or a stovetop. These can be found online and usually make about 16 balls. 
How to Prepare
- Mix the Takoyaki Batter ingredients.
- Place the Takoyaki griller on medium heat and oil each mold and surface of the griller well. Use a soft towel well coated with oil- and coat liberally!
- Fill each hole with the batter. Its ok, you can be sloppy!
- Put fillings in the batter, then cover the entire surface of the grill with more batter.
- Using a long bamboo skewer or a long pointy chopstick, draw grid lines between the molds to partition each Takoyaki portion.
- Using one or two long bamboo skewers or chopsticks, turn each ball 90 degrees, while tucking in the excess batter.
- Turn another 90 degrees so that the balls are completely turned over.
- Cook for about 5 minutes, during which turn over the balls from time to time to brown them evenly.
- Transfer the balls to a serving plate, smother them with Takoyaki sauce and mayonnaise (if using), and sprinkle aonori and bonito flakes over them.
