In this dish for Japanese mackerel, broiled mackerel is given a wonderful flavor and texture by a Japanese marinade sauce. Salmon, yellowtail, and tuna all work well in this recipe. Simple and delicious! Garnish with a slice of lemon or a long, white radish.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 25 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 4 mackerel fillets
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup mirin (Japanese sweet wine)
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- ½ tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
Instructions
- Rinse fillets; pat dry with paper towels.
- Mix together soy sauce, mirin, sugar, and fresh ginger in a medium bowl. Place fillets into marinade and let stand for at least 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven broiler or an outdoor grill for high heat.
- Cook fillets in the preheated broiler, basting occasionally, until fish flakes easily with a fork, 5 to 8 minutes.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes information for the full amount of the marinade ingredients. Depending on marinating time, ingredients, cooking method, etc., the actual amount of the marinade consumed will vary.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 234 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 53 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 24 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 1000 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 9 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
5 minutes under the broiler and the fish was completely charred. Apparently, taking care of a toddler and making this dish does not mix. The parchment paper was completely charred as well. I’m sure it’s great when broiled for 3 minutes. Maybe I’ll try again another time with the fish much further away from the broiler, like on the bottom rack of the oven, and when I don’t have to check on it every minute.
No changes. Will make again
Very easy, and I’d be willing to do this recipe again. I let my fillets marinate overnight, so the flavor sunk in well. It didn’t completely saturate the fillets, which is good, because I still wanted to taste the fish. I cut waaay back on the sugar, since the mirin is so sweet, but that means I didn’t really get a caramelized coating. Still tasted great, but if you’re going for crunch, you might want to use the full amount of sugar. Some of the coating burned while under the broiler, but those bits scraped away very easily and the meat below was not overcooked. Just wanted to point that out for any other broiler newbies like me; don’t panic when you see the black bubbles. My broiler has a low and high setting, and the recipe did not specify which to use. I did high, and it was fully cooked by the minimum suggested time. One more tip: leave the oven door open while it’s broiling, if you can. It keeps steam from building up in the oven, and steam will prevent your fish from crisping up at all (you might as well have baked it at that point).
Still comes out okay if you don’t have the mirin or ginger
I made this exactly as written, except I used tilapia. I loved this recipe. This is a definite keeper.
This was delicious and will definitely be used again! Simple and tasty. The only change iis cutting the oil and butter measurements in half.
I am not a mackeral eater but my family went fishing yesterday and came home with about 5 pounds of mackeral filets. I used this marinade recipe substituting white wine for the Japanese wine, marinating for 1 hour & then I grilled the fish skin side down for about 7-8 minutes over high heat. It was surprisingly good. Would make again.
Very delicious! I made it exactly as instructed. Tasty and simple!
This “Japanese Broiled Mackerel” is excellent! It is also a perfect “quick and easy” meal for a busy day. I had bought some kingfish not knowing that it was a type of mackerel. This cooking method completely transformed a very smelly fish into a delicious treat in very little time (20 minutes of marination). I boiled the leftover marinade to make a sauce, and it was excellent with the addition of a little toasted sesame oil, but very salty. Next time I make this recipe I will use low-sodium soy sauce. Thank you Jana Marko for sharing your recipe.
Very good! I used sherry instead of mirin and crystallized ginger. Fish was caught earlier in the day by my boyfriend at the Sunshine Skyway fishing pier – Spanish Mackerel. Fresh is best!
For crispy skin, I pan-fried covered on MED-LO. 3 min each side. Remove fish, cook marinade liquid, pour over fish.
It is good but a little heavier than I prefer. The miso bass recipe from this site has a better lighter flavor so I will go back to that next time I make mackerel.
I’ve been looking for a recipe that was like the saba that I’ve grown up eating in Hawai’i and this is IT! I followed the recipe exactly and it was so delicious! My 3 year old even ate it up!
This was very delicious ans so easy to prepare. I didn’t have mirin so I used rice vinegar. Everyone loved this recipe!
I didn’t have any mirin but I had the mackerel so I used coconut vinegar instead of the mirin. The taste was wonderful. Thanks so much for the springboard.
I used this on some King Mackerel from the Gulf of Mexico and grilled it. The end result was awesome. I believe using the sauce as both a marinade and a basting sauce as suggested made the difference between good and great.
This was sooo good and easy! I omitted the extra sugar and added a tsp of chinese chili paste as well. Grilled it, basted it and ate it over steamed rice with Japanese broccoli. My husband wanted more, but I ate it all. 🙂
excellent! tasted just like the one at the japanese restaurant 🙂 thank you!
The only thing I did differently is add 1 teaspoon of chili sauce to give it punch. It was perfect.
I was hoping for something more crisp out of the broiler, but alas the fish came out with a soft texture, even with extra cooking time. Salt (a lot) helps, but I’ll pass this recipe next time and use the fry-pan instead.
My father-in-law really enjoyed this…and he is a boiled fish and potatoes kind of guy! I didn’t have the Japanese wine, so I just used red wine that we had on hand. Next time I will marinate overnight for more taste. I also thickened with a little cornstarch at the end and used it as a sauce with the fish. That was very popular with the family.Thanks!