• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Devour.Asia

Devour.Asia

Better Asian recipes for home cooks

  • Recipes
    • Cuisine
      • Chinese
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Thai
      • Vietnamese
      • Taiwanese
      • Filipino
      • Indonesian
      • Malaysian
      • South Asian
      • Fusion
      • Street Food
    • Ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Seafood
      • Meat
      • Rice & Grains
      • Noodles
      • Vegetables
      • Tofu
      • Mushrooms
      • Bread
      • Eggs
      • Fruits
    • Course
      • Breakfast
      • Snacks
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
      • Drinks
  • Kitchen
  • Stories
  • Cuisine
    • Chinese
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Thai
    • Taiwanese
    • Filipino
    • Indonesian
    • Malaysian
    • South Asian
    • Fusion
  • Main Ingredient
    • Poultry
    • Seafood
    • Meat
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
      • Noodle Soups
      • Noodles Stir Fry
      • Instant Noodles (Ramen)
    • Vegetables
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Bread
    • Eggs
    • Fruits
  • Course
    • Breakfast
    • Snacks
    • Salads
    • Soups
    • Main Courses
    • Side Dishes
    • Sweets
    • Drinks
  • Street Food
  • Kitchen Tales
  • Food Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
You are here: Home / All Recipes / Takoyaki

Takoyaki

After buying a takoyaki pan a couple of years ago, my daughters cooked takoyaki almost everyday. Rarely with octopus because it’s not always available but more often with any cooked food that they could chop. Fusion cooking ad infinitum.

Home cooked takoyaki served with genmaicha

This time, it’s real takoyaki. We can now buy fully cooked octopus. We just thaw it and chop. If using raw octopus, you will need to cook it in a pot of dashi before chopping for use as takoyaki filling.

Pickled red ginger, tempura scraps, katsuobushi and aonori are available in most Japanese groceries. 

Depending on the size of your takoyaki pan and the number of molds in it, you will need to cook the takoyaki in batches of two or three to use up all the ingredients.

Takoyaki

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
A Japanese street food associated with Osaka, takoyaki (octopus balls) is rich in texture and flavor. Make takoyaki at home with this easy to follow and fully illustrated recipe.
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 15 mins
Total Time 30 mins
Course Snack
Cuisine Japanese
Servings 24 balls
Takoyaki in green plate
Print Recipe

Equipment

  • Takoyaki pan

Ingredients
  

Takoyaki sauce

  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sake
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoons mirin
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon grated garlic
  • ¼ teaspoon grated ginger

Takoyaki filling

  • ½ cup chopped cooked octopus (see notes after the recipe)
  • 2 tablespoons finely sliced scallions
  • 2 tablespoons chopped beni shoga (pickled red ginger) (see notes after the recipe)
  • ½ cup tenkasu (tempura scraps) (see notes after the recipe)

Takoyaki batter

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cups dashi
  • cooking oil

To serve the takoyaki

  • Japanese mayonnaise
  • katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)
  • aonori (dried green seaweed)

Instructions
 

  • Make the takoyaki sauce before you start cooking so that it is ready to be drizzled once the takoyaki is done.
    Takpyaki sauce
  • Have all the ingredients for the filling ready before mixing the batter.
    Takopyaki ingredients: cooked octopus, pickled red ginger, scallions, tempura scraps and dashi-flavored batter
  • To make the batter, simply stir all the ingredients together. To make pouring easier and less messy, pour the batter into a container with a spout.
  • Heat the takoyaki pan and moisten each mold with cooking oil.
    Takpyaki pan
  • When the oil begins to sizzle, fill the molds with batter. It is quite okay if the batter overflows from the molds a little.
    Pouring batter into takoyaki pan
  • Scatter chopped octopus, scallions, pickled red ginger and tempura scraps directly on the batter.
    Sprinkling octopus, scallions, pickled red ginger on takoyaki batter
  • Let the batter cook for a few minutes to firm up the bottom.
  • Using bamboo skewers (or use chopsticks), cut through the batter (where it has overflowed) to separate the still unformed balls.
    Using bamboo skewer to separate takoyaki in pan
  • Carefully lift the wet balls and turn slightly (do not flip to invert!). As you turn, gather the excess batter around each mold and tuck in.
    Turning takoyaki using bamboo skewer
  • Repeat the turning process every minute or so to brown every inch of the surface of the balls.
    Partially cooked takoyaki
  • The takoyaki is done when the balls are uniformly browned.
    Takoyaki in pan
  • Transfer the takoyaki to a plate. Drizzle the sauce and Japanese mayo over the balls. Sprinkle with aonori and bonito flakes, and serve while very hot.
Keyword Octopus, Street Food
More Asian Street Food-style Cooking
Rotisserie chicken banh mi

Rotisserie Chicken Banh Mi

Home cooked okonomiyaki on black plate

Okonomiyaki

Chicken Tonkatsu Onigirazu (Crispy Chicken and Rice Sandwich)

Chicken Katsu Onigirazu (Crispy Chicken and Rice Sandwich)

Published: January 29, 2021 • Last modified: July 4, 2021 ♥ All Recipes, Japanese, Seafood, Snacks, Street Food
Further Reading
Dizzying array of food. Food Court, Takashimaya

In Japan, the Art of Discovering Good Food in Every Price Range

551 Horai, Namba Train Station, Osaka

In Nara and Osaka, Impulsive Decisions that Led to Good Eats

Fried mushrooms at Uu Dam Chay, Hanoi

Meatless Meals in Hanoi for Pescatarians and Vegans

Sidebar

Experience Asia

The house of Gregorio Agoncillo in Taal, Batangas

Agoncillo House in Taal, Batangas: Typical “Bahay na Bato”

An eagle statue somewhere between Baguio and La Union

Between Baguio and Vigan, the McDonald’s Sign That Led to Nowhere

The salakot-shaped roof of the Chapel of the Cartwheels at Hacienda Rosalia

Chapel of the Cartwheels at Hacienda Rosalia

Laguna de Bay

Laguna de Bay: You Don’t Pronounce “Bay” as in Manila Bay

Metropolitan Manila Theater (MET)

Moon Over the MET and the Ghosts We Didn’t See

  • About
  • Privacy
  • Archive

Except for the occasional stock photo and blockquote, everything © Devour Asia. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.