Takoyaki
A comforting Japanese starter built around dashi, cooked octopus and scallions — roughly 65 minutes start to finish, and rated medium to make. Below: the ingredients split into pantry staples and a quick shopping list, a built-in serving scaler, and the method in 6 steps.
You'll mainly reach for pan and whisk. At medium difficulty across 6 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Shopping list (7)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- Whisk the flour and baking powder together, then beat in the eggs, soy sauce, and cooled dashi until you have a thin, smooth, pourable batter with no lumps.
- Cut the cooked octopus into small bite-size cubes, finely chop the scallions, and roughly chop the pickled ginger so each ball gets a little of each.
- Heat a takoyaki pan over medium-high heat, brush every well generously with oil, and pour in the batter until the wells are filled to overflowing.
- Drop a cube of octopus into each well, scatter scallions and pickled ginger across the whole surface, and let the batter set for about 2 minutes until the bottoms firm up.
- Using a skewer, slice through the batter between the wells, then rotate each ball a quarter turn so the runny batter flows down to form the rounded underside, repeating as they cook for 4 to 5 minutes until golden and crisp all over.
- Transfer the hot balls to a plate, brush with takoyaki sauce, drizzle with mayonnaise, and finish with a shower of bonito flakes and aonori; eat carefully as the centres stay piping hot.
You'll use: Pan · Whisk
Ingredient substitutions
- Eggs
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce (baking) · 1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water per egg
- Soy Sauce
- tamari (gluten-free) · coconut aminos
What to serve with Takoyaki
- Teriyaki Chicken Casserole Chicken
- Honey Teriyaki Salmon Seafood
- Katsu Chicken curry Chicken
- Chicken Karaage Chicken
Tips & common questions
How long does Takoyaki take to make?
About 65 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 6 steps and 13 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of eggs?
Try ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce (baking). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Takoyaki vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Takoyaki is an original Japanese recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Takoyaki stand in Ebisu.jpg (CC0) via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.