Today I’m here with another fun and exciting recipe, and I’m going to show you how to make Taiyaki, a famous Japanese cake. This unique recipe serves as a snack as well as a dessert. You can make this recipe with your kids, and believe me! Your kids are surely going to love it 😉  

Taiyaki

Taiyaki (鯛焼き), as clear from its name, is a Japanese recipe. It’s a very popular vendor snack in Japan that’s also served on festive occasions. It’s a fish-shaped cake. Its shape resembles the shape of a Japanese seasonal fish called “Tai,” that’s why it’s called Taiyaki.

This amazing fish-shaped dessert is usually filled with a red paste that’s made from Adzuki beans. Still, you can also fill it with Custard, Nutella, Sweet Potato paste, Chocolate, or yummy Cheese filling. This warm cake can be enjoyed at any time of the year but is best suited for winter.

Taiyaki Recipe — Japanese Fish-Shaped Cakes

Fluffy on the outside, warm and sweet on the inside, Taiyaki is a Japanese street food favorite. Follow these steps and you’ll have perfect golden fish cakes every time — even if it’s your first try.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups cake flour (or all-purpose flour sifted for a lighter texture)

• 2 tsp baking soda

• 1½ tbsp sugar

• 1 pinch salt (optional)

• ⅓ cup water

• ⅓ cup milk

• 1 large egg

• Oil, for brushing the pan

• 1 tbsp Anko paste (sweet red bean paste) or filling of your choice per cake

Instructions:

1. Make the Batter

   • In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

   • In another bowl or measuring jug, whisk the egg, milk, and water together.

   • Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Avoid over-mixing — just enough to remove any lumps.

2. Chill the Batter

   • Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 1–2 hours. This resting time helps the batter cook more evenly.

3. Prepare the Taiyaki Pan

   • Preheat your fish-shaped Taiyaki mold pan over medium-low heat.

   • Lightly brush both sides of the mold with oil to prevent sticking.

4. Fill the Molds

   • Pour a thin layer of batter into each mold, just enough to coat the bottom. Don’t overfill — too much batter will spill and distort the fish shape.

   • Add about 1 tbsp of Anko paste (or your chosen filling) in the center.

5. Seal with Batter

   • Spoon more batter over the filling until it’s fully covered.

6. Cook the Taiyaki

   • Close the mold and cook for 2–3 minutes on one side, until golden brown.

   • Flip and cook for another 1–2 minutes on the other side.

   • Cooking time may vary depending on your pan size and stovetop, so check for an even golden color.

7. Cool and Serve

   • Transfer the Taiyaki to a wire rack for a minute or two so the outside stays crisp.

   • Serve warm and enjoy immediately.

Some Important Tips for Making Taiyaki:

• You can use Pancake flour instead of cake flour, which also goes well with the recipe.
• Baking soda reacts with the acidic elements of the dough and has a leavening effect, and the cake gets lighter and puffier.
• Japanese recipes are usually less sweet than our cakes, that’s why this recipe contains a bit of sugar. If you are a sugar-lover, then you can add more sugar according to your taste.
• Salt is added to balance the sweet taste of sugar. But it’s optional. You can skip if you like cake sweeter.
• Only adding milk will leave this cake a bit dense. Make a mixture of half water and half milk. A mixture of water and milk will make this cake light and fluffy.

Taiyaki Fillings

The best part of this cake is that you can fill it with any filling of your choice. It gets wells with almost all kinds of fillings. Japanese traditionally fill it with a sweet red paste of adzuki beans. But you’ve got the option to use the filling of your choice.

The most popular fillings for this cake include:

• Custard
• Cheese Filling
• Chocolate Filling
• Sweet Potato Paste
• Nutella
• Strawberry Jam

You can also check this Vegan version of Taiyaki. 

Red Bean Paste

Red bean filling, famously known as “Anko” is made from Adzuki beans. To make this paste, soak the adzuki beans overnight and boil them until they get tender. Now add sugar to the beans and mash the mixture of beans and sugar to a smooth paste.

• If you don’t want to make Anko Paste by yourself, you can buy it easily from a nearby Japanese store in your area.

Taiyaki in the US

If you’re craving Taiyaki but don’t have a fish-shaped Taiyaki mold or aren’t in the mood to cook it by yourself, then don’t worry! There are plenty of spots in the US where you can buy this amazingly delicious fish-shaped Japanese cake.

If you live in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, or Miami, then there’s a Taiyaki restaurant chain called Taiyaki NYC that makes the best Taiyaki around town. You can dine in or can get your Taiyaki delivered to your home.

Likewise, if you live in Texas, California, or Hawaii, there’s another restaurant chain called SomiSomi that serves Korean ice cream stuffed in Taiyaki. This amazing ice cream stuffed Taiyaki cone is called “ah-boong.” SomiSomi also serves Taiyaki with different fillings like Nutella, Taro, Cheddar, Custard, and Red Bean Paste.

How to store Taiyaki?

I recommend eating Taiyaki cakes fresh because they taste the best right after they are dished out of the pan. Fresh Taiyaki cakes are soft, crispy, and slushy. But if you want to store them, then you can store them in two ways:

• Refrigerate Taiyaki
• Freeze Taiyaki

1- Refrigerating Taiyaki

You can store Taiyaki cakes in the fridge for up to two days. It’s better to store them in an air-tight container to maintain their moisture, softness, and texture.

2- Freeze Taiyaki

If you want to store Taiyaki for a long time, then you can freeze it. To freeze Taiyaki, wrap each fish individually in plastic wrap and place them in a sealable bag or air-tight container. You can store them in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.

How to Reheat Taiyaki?

There are 3 methods to reheat Taiyaki:

• Toasting
• Frying
• Heating in Microwave

Toasting Taiyaki 

The best way to reheat Taiyaki is to toast them in a toaster. Toasted Taiyaki will be crispy and yummy. Taiyaki cakes mostly fit in the toaster, but if they don’t, then you go for any of the other two reheating options.

Frying Taiyaki

You can reheat Taiyaki by frying them in the pan. For this purpose, heat the pan and fry them in the pan without using oil. This way, you will get a crispy taiyaki exterior.

Heating Taiyaki in Microwave

You can reheat the Taiyaki cakes in the microwave for 20 seconds, but this reheating method has a drawback that your Taiyaki cakes won’t be crispy anymore.

Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken is one of the most popular dishes of the Hawaii restaurant. This juicy chicken is savory and sweet at the same time. Give it a try, and it will instantly make a place in your favorites list. It’s a simple and easy recipe and gets ready in about 30 minutes. It would be a perfect dish for your dinner table today!

This chicken is loaded with a fantastic duo of sweet and salty flavors and is one of the most unique yet amazing recipes out there. The best thing is you don’t have to go to Hawaiian restaurants to taste it rather you can make it easily at home anytime you want.

This fantastic recipe is so simple yet so delicious. With just a few simple ingredients, this recipe gives you another dimension of taste and flavor. In Japan, the word Shoyu is used for the Japanese soy sauce. As it’s clear from its name, this recipe uses a lot of soya sauce. Other ingredients include Brown Sugar, Worcestershire Sauce, Water, Garlic, Ginger, and Red Pepper Flakes.

Ingredients

For the Chicken:

• 3 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 10–12 pieces)

• 1 ½ cups water (355 ml)

• 1 ½ cups soy sauce (355 ml)

• 1 ½ cups brown sugar (300 g)

• 1 ½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

• ¼ teaspoon red chili flakes

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 2-inch piece fresh ginger, crushed

For “Da Sauce”:

• ¼ cup water (60 ml)

• ¼ cup soy sauce (60 ml)

• 6 tablespoons brown sugar (75 g)

Instructions

1. Prepare the Sauce Base

In a bowl, stir together the water, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, and chili flakes until the sugar dissolves.

2. Cook the Chicken

Place the chicken thighs in a large pot or Dutch oven. Pour the sauce mixture over the top. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover and let simmer for about 1 hour, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

3. Choose Your Style

• Shredded (classic): Remove the chicken while there’s still some liquid left in the pot. Shred the meat with two forks, then return it to the pot to soak up all that flavorful sauce.

• Whole pieces (optional): Skip shredding and simply serve the chicken thighs as they are, spooning the cooking liquid over the top.

4. Make “Da Sauce”

In a small bowl, whisk together water, soy sauce, and brown sugar until smooth. This extra sauce is perfect for drizzling over rice and chicken.

5. Serve

Scoop hot rice into bowls, top with the chicken (shredded or whole), and drizzle generously with “Da Sauce.”

Slow Cooker Instructions

1. Mix water, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, and chili flakes.

2. Add chicken to slow cooker and pour sauce mixture over it.

3. Cook on Low for 8 hours or High for 4 hours.

4. Shred chicken in the pot, mix well, and serve with “Da Sauce.”

Instant Pot Instructions

1. In the Instant Pot, mix water, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, and chili flakes.

2. Add chicken thighs and spoon some sauce over the top.

3. Lock the lid and seal the vent. Cook on High Pressure for 15 minutes.

4. Allow a 10-minute natural release, then quick release the remaining pressure.

5. Shred chicken, toss in the cooking juices, and serve with “Da Sauce.”

Tips for Best Flavor:

• For richer flavor, marinate the chicken in the sauce mixture for 2–4 hours before cooking.

• This dish tastes even better the next day — the sauce thickens and the flavors deepen.

• You can swap chicken thighs for drumsticks or bone-in thighs, but increase cooking time slightly.

Pin the image below if you like this Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken Recipe

Best Chicken Cut for Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken

The best chicken cut is skinless and boneless chicken thighs. I would recommend using boneless thighs as these are soft, tender, and juicy and will be the best choice for this recipe. You can also use boneless chicken breast, but I highly recommend using chicken thighs.

Some useful Tips:

• You can make this recipe in a slow cooker on the stove. You’ll find detailed directions in the recipe section.
• You can serve this chicken best with white rice, fresh pineapple, salad, and one of the best sauces, “Da Sauce.” The recipe for this flavorful Da Sauce is also given below.

Best cooking utensils for this recipe:

1- Instant Pot:

You can use an instant for slow cooking. It gives you the best results. It helps cook food easily and the chicken and other food items usually take hours to cook.

2- Ninja 3-in-1 Cooking System:

Another best choice for slow cooking is a Ninja 3-in-1 cooker. It’s an amazing cooking system and is best to slow cook and bake meat all in a single cooker. You can cook and bake all on just the stovetop.

Today we’ll be making a Copycat of Sweet Martha’s Cookies famous recipe, and it’s really easy if you follow the directions. These delicious crispy cookies with a chewy inside come from my own recipe inspired by Sweet Martha’s cookie jar at Minnesota State Fair.

If I am asked to mention the two best things in Minnesota, they would always be its fantastic summer season and Minnesota State Fair. This fair is organized at the end of the summer as a fun celebration of the ending summer season and all the awesome things about Minnesota.

Sweet Martha’s Cookies

These cookies are amazingly delicious and can be best described as freshly baked, bite-sized oven cookies that are crispy and chewy simultaneously.

In short, these are Sweet Martha’s bestselling cookies at Minnesota State Fair. And the best thing is that you don’t have to go to the Minnesota State Fair to enjoy these super delicious crunchy cookies. You can easily make them at home whenever you want. 

It’s a yummy tradition to have Sweet Martha’s chocolate chip cookies at Minnesota State Fair. They serve warm cookies loaded with small, slushy chocolate chips in beautiful small buckets! Some people like to eat them all at the fair, while some pack them up to consume them later at home. Some even store them in the freezer to savor throughout the year!

If you want to make and enjoy these cookies, then look no further, I have successfully doubled their recipe. You can follow this recipe to enjoy the best chocolate chip cookies ever. To make these cookies at home, you need a large mixer because you are going to make a ton of dough. I use a Professional Viking Mixer and it gets filled with dough up to 75%. I made this dough for 200 cookies for my special “Cupcake Friday.”

It’s pretty easy to make this many cookies at home. I have a couple of baking sheets that can be used to make 30 cookies at a time. I baked cookies in both simultaneously, and it took me about one hour to bake 200 cookies.

Ingredients

• 2 cups minus 2 tbsp cake flour

• 1⅔ cups bread flour

• 1¼ tsp baking soda

• 1½ tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp sea salt

• 2½ sticks (1¼ cups) salted butter, softened

• 1¼ cups brown sugar (light or dark)

• 1 cup + 2 tbsp white sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

• 2 egg yolks

• 1 whole egg

• 2 tbsp instant espresso powder (optional)

• 1 bag (about 12 oz) small semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Finishing salt (for sprinkling)

Instructions

1. Mix Dry Ingredients

   • In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, and espresso powder (if using).

   • Set aside — do not add the finishing salt yet.

2. Cream Butter & Sugars

   • In a separate mixing bowl, beat the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar on medium speed for 2–3 minutes until light and fluffy.

3. Add Eggs & Vanilla

   • Beat in the egg yolks and whole egg one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

   • Add vanilla extract and mix until fully incorporated.

4. Combine Wet & Dry

   • Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the dry mixture.

   • Mix only until just combined — it’s okay if you still see a few streaks of flour.

5. Add Chocolate Chips

   • Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula until evenly distributed.

6. Shape & Chill Dough

   • Divide dough into 4 equal portions.

   • Shape each into a rectangular disk about ½ inch thick and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.

   • Freeze for 45 minutes or refrigerate for at least 2 hours (overnight is fine).

7. Preheat Oven

   • Preheat to 350°F (175°C) and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

8. Cut Cookie Pieces

   • Roll each dough portion lightly with a rolling pin while still wrapped to even out the surface.

   • Unwrap, cut into ½-inch strips, then cross-cut into ½-inch squares — about thumbnail size.

9. Bake

   • Arrange cookie pieces on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between each.

   • Bake for 6–8 minutes, just until the edges are set but centers are slightly under-baked.

10. Finish & Serve

    • Remove from oven, immediately sprinkle with finishing salt, and transfer to a cooling rack.

    • Serve warm for the ultimate Sweet Martha’s experience.

Tip: If you want that iconic fresh-out-of-the-bucket feel, bake in small batches so they’re always warm when served.

Share the image below to your Pinterest board if you like these Sweet Martha’s cookies recipe!

Serving options for Sweet Martha’s cookies:

You can serve the cookies with ice-cold milk as Sweet Martha’s cookie vendor does. Also, you can pair them with vanilla ice cream as well. You can turn them into ice cream cookies or delicious cream pie cookies. Another great option is to dip them half into the melted chocolate.