Crispy yaki onigiri glazed with miso honey butter for a slight salty, slightly sweet moreish snack.
Onigiri make for the most delicious, easy to prepare snack when you're feeling hungry. They are a round or triangular shaped Japanese food made up of sticky short grain rice, sometimes filled with an assortment of ingredients or wrapped in seaweed. Yaki onigiri is a grilled rice ball. Traditionally they were grilled over charcoal, but these days pan frying or air frying them is the most common method of cooking.
Some history of onigiri: they were created during the Nara period simply for ease of consumption. A favourite at gatherings or picnics, for snacks or lunches. They started as just salted rice, before nori sheets became more widely available. In the 80s, we saw mass manufacturing of onigiri and the invention of an innovative wrapping system so that the nori sheet was not applied to the rice ball until one was ready to eat. This kept the nori crunchy and fresh. Yaki onigiri is a popular variant of the traditional. These days, onigiri is still very much a staple of the Japanese diet. Duck into a convenience store and you'll a huge variety of flavours and fillings.
When it comes to yaki onigiri, the most popular glaze is soy sauce, but I personally love the flavour of miso. The sharp, salty, umami flavour is balanced nicely with sweet honey and mellowed out with butter. The result is a crispy, caramelised rice ball with soft rice in the centre.
While this recipe is very easy, make sure you keep a close eye on your yaki onigiri throughout the cook as miso burns very easily!
Watch the video here. Don't forget to tag me on TikTok or Instagram if you make this one!
Yaki Onigiri with Miso Honey Butter
Ingredients
- 3 cups cooked short grain rice from 1.5 cups of raw rice
- 1 tablespoon miso paste
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon butter melted
- 1.5 tablespoon neutral oil
Instructions
- While your cooked rice is still warm, divide mixture into six portions. Wet hands with water before taking a handful of rice and forming into a triangle onigiri shape. Repeat with remaining rice.
- In a bowl, whisk together miso, honey and melted butter.
Air Fryer
- Place rice balls into the tray of an air fryer - you may need to cook in batches.
- Dab lightly with oil on both sides of your onigiri. Set air fryer to 10 minutes at 190ºC. Cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Dab miso honey butter on one side of the rice ball and cook for two minutes. Flip them over, dab on more of the glaze and cook again. Be careful - the combination of miso and honey means they could burn easily, so keep and eye on them!
- Your yaki onigiri should have crispy edges with a caramelised, slightly charred glaze.
Pan fried
- Add oil to pan and heat over a medium heat.
- Place rice balls in and grill on each side for about one minute. You may need to do this in batches.
- Dab your miso honey butter on each side of the rice ball and grill face down until caramelised, charred and crispy.
Looking for more snacks? Try my tuna mayo rice balls or Korean corn cheese.
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