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Miso Ground Chicken with Rice and Scallions

Miso Ground Chicken with Rice and Scallions

Adapted by Hisham Ali HassanDecember 9, 2025

  • Makes
    4 servings
  • Cook Time
    25 minutes
  • Active time plus cooling
    4

Japanese niku miso is a simple mixture of ground meat cooked with miso, soy sauce and a few other basic ingredients from the Japanese pantry. Its savory-sweet flavor tends to be intense and concentrated, as niku miso is meant to be eaten with rice or noodles. This recipe is an adaptation of a couple versions we learned in Japan; we chose to use ground chicken to keep the dish on the lighter side, but pork works well, too. We prefer bolder, saltier red miso, but if you’ve only got white miso, it works, too. Serve on freshly cooked short-grain rice for a fast, easy dinner that requires almost no knifework.

Tip

Don’t add salt. Both soy sauce and miso are high in sodium, so additional salt may not be required. Taste the mixture at the very end, then assess if you’d like more seasoning.

Ingredients
  • 1

    tablespoon soy sauce

  • 1

    tablespoon mirin

  • 2

    teaspoons white sugar

  • 1

    tablespoon neutral oil

  • 1

    pound ground chicken or pork

  • 2

    teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

  • ¼

    cup sake

  • 1-1½

    tablespoons red miso (see headnote)

  • 1

    teaspoon toasted sesame oil

  • Kosher salt and ground black pepper

  • About 6 cups cooked short-grain rice

  • 4

    scallions, thinly sliced

Step 1

In a small bowl, stir the soy sauce, mirin and sugar until the sugar dissolves. In a 12-inch skillet over medium, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the chicken; cook, breaking the meat into small chunks, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Pour off and discard all but 1 tablespoon fat.

Step 2

Add the ginger, then cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the sake and cook, scraping up any browned bits, until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Stir in the soy mixture and bring to a simmer; cook, stirring, until the skillet is almost dry, about 2 minutes. Off heat, stir in the miso and sesame oil. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Portion the rice into individual bowls, top with the chicken mixture and sprinkle with the scallions.