Chinese fishballs. I can’t live without them. Little glossy rounds of bouncing deliciousness, fishballs are mild in flavour, making them a wonderful ingredient in all sorts of dishes in East and South East Asia.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
You’ll find them in soups, in noodles, in sambals and in fried rice.
The good news is, you can easily make them at home.
Homemade Chinese Fishballs Recipe
You may have heard, you may have read, that Chinese fishballs can be tricky. Too soft, too hard, not bouncy enough and a myriad of other scenarios.
Let me put your mind at ease. Just follow the recipe, and you’ll be playing mini basketball with those fishballs in no time at all!
All you need to make Chinese fishballs at home:
- white fish
- salt
- water
- white pepper
Some people add egg to their fishball paste, or cornflour as binders. You’ll find that this is more so in Chinese fishballs in China, as opposed to Chinese fishballs in Singapore and Malaysia, where I come from. As you can see from the recipe below, I don’t bother with either, as that’s how I grew up eating them.
What fish to use to make Chinese Fishballs?
Traditionally, wolf herring (ikan parang) or Spanish mackerel (ikan tenggiri) is used to make fishballs. However, for those of us who don’t have access to either, any type of white fish will do the job perfectly; tilapia, bass, catfish, grouper or cod. The tastier the fish, the tastier your fishballs.
How to make bouncy Fishballs?
The trick is in the mixing of the paste. The traditional method is to mix it all up, then to throw the paste down onto your kitchen counter from a height, about 60-70 times! Not unlike when making kebabs without binders in them.
But honestly, when it comes to fishballs and meatballs, I’ve found that your food processor does the job perfectly, quicker and much better!
Another traditional method is also to first scrape your fish meat from its skin, then mince it all up with a large knife.
Yeah, not something I bother with either. I get my fishmonger to prepare the fish, then get it all minced in the chopper when I get home. Because that’s what the chopper is for!
More Balls on LinsFood!
How to shape Chinese Fishballs
This part, I stick with tradition. All you do, is scoop up the meat, and squeeze a small ball through your thumb and forefinger, just like I showed you when making the Chinese meatballs. However, roll them up like regular meatballs if you’re more comfortable with it.
Fishcakes and fish rolls
You can also shape the paste as a roll or a regular fishcake, like those small Thai ones. Fishcakes and fish rolls are also very popular and common garnishes or ingredients in noodle and soup dishes.
How to use Chinese Fishballs
- As garnish for noodles and fried rice
As mentioned above, fishballs make a great garnish for noodles and fried rice, especially when they are fried. After you’ve boiled them (recipe below), just lightly fry for a minute or so in a little oil, to brown and crisp the outside. - As an ingredient in fried rice, fried noodles and stir fries
Slice them up in half or quarters and add them to your stir fries towards the end, and heat through before serving up. - Great in Asian style soups
I quite often drop fishballs or meatballs into the soups we have, just to add some “bite”. They are great in any miso soup. - Fried or grilled, on skewers, just like satay, as in the image above. They make great finger food too.
LinsFood Recipes that are Fishball Friendly
Here are some examples of dishes you can use fishballs and meatballs in. Head on over to the Chinese page and the Singapore/Malaysia page for more ideas.
Let’s get our aprons on!
If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Xièxie!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor.
Lin xx
Homemade Chinese Fishballs
Ingredients
- 500 g white fish
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground white pepper
- ½ cup water
Instructions
- Mince the fish in a chopper.
- Place all the ingredients in a food processor, if you have one, and mix on low for 2 minutes. Then increase he speed to medium and continue mixing for a good 3 minutes until you have a sloppy, gloopy mix. Alternatively, place all the ingredients into a bowl, and mix throughly with your hands. Then, pick the whole mixture up and throw it down onto the counter (or chopping board) from about a foot up. Do this about 60 times, by which time the fish paste will have achieved that springy consistency synonymous with fishballs.
- Have a large bowl of iced water to drop the fishballs into.. And a smaller bowl of cold water to dip your hands into periodically, to stop the paste from sticking too much to your hands.
- Form little balls with the paste, either with the traditional method (see video on how to roll Chinese meatballs, below) or the usual way by rolling the between your hands. Drop the balls into the large bowl until you’re ready to cook them.
Cooking the Fishballs
- Bring a large saucepan of water, with 1 Tbsp salt added, to boil. Lower the heat to medium, then slowly drop the fishballs into the boiling water, no more than 10 at a time.
- The fishballs are done when they float up, perhaps 2-3 minutes.
- Fish them out with a skimmer or slotted spoon and set them aside while you get the rest done. They are ready to be added to whatever recipe you want to use them in. See examples above.
These came out perfect Azlin. Thanks for the recipe. I’m trying out the prawn balls on smr now.
Awesome, thanks for letting me know!
I have made fish balls over the years, but after reading your ratings, decided to try this recipe. There must be an error in the conversion to American measurement from Metric, or the multiplier is wrong. These came out so salty that my salt-loving husband rejected them.
That’s a shame. Looking at all the other success stories, not sure what went wrong with yours. I checked the conversion, and it seems to be working fine. Perhaps you’ll have better luck next time.
The US conversion changes the teaspoon (tsp) to tablespoon (Tbsp) which is where the error occurred.
Wow, thanks for picking that up for me, Alanna. It should be working fine now.
Fish balls are the food of the Gods!! Super easy recipe thanks
A pleasure, Mads.
I tried making fish balls with this recipe and they turned out awesome, soft and bouncy. Love this recipe ❤️
Thanks Indrani, I certainly remember that.
Thank you Azlin for the easy to follow recipe. Do you think these fishballs freeze well? was thinking to double the quantity if they freeze well. thanks
Hi Jas, yes, they freeze very well. That’s what I do, instead of making them all the time. I’m happy to keep them in the freezer for a month.
Do you freeze them raw or after you boiled them?
Hi Alice, you freeze them raw.
Just FYI – you need to change the weight in your recipe. 1000g is NOT 1.1 lb! that’ll confuse a lot of people!
Hi Jaye, I’m not sure where you got 1000g from.
My recipe doesn’t say 1000g (which I would’ve written as 1 kg, anyway). It clearly states 500g.
450g = 1 lb
500g = 1.1 lb, rounded off.
Great recipe, thanks. Just made them for lunch, which was your prawn noodle soup, and these were great in them. Cheers.
A pleasure, thank you. Glad you liked them.
Although I prefer whole fish, I liked this fishballs called “tsumire” (つみれ), which is made of 秋刀魚 (sardines?) when I was a kid. The taste is very fishy and I loved it grown up. I wonder why people use white fish for this, but probably goes well with white pepper.
I love sardine balls too.
Thank you, I’m looking forward to trying this recipe.
A pleasure.
What I love most about your recipes is how easy they are to follow! Wonderful tips on making these yummy fishballs. They look so soft, almost fluffy!
I agree!
Thanks Azlin, I loved the video of the meatballs. Looking forward to the fishball video. Bookmarked to try soon.
Thanks Mandy, hopefully, I’ll get the video up this weekend.
Hi Lin, just to clarify, with the fish in the food processor, do you use:
1. the knife blade to pulse then mix; or
2. the paddle to mix?
Hi Foodlover, initially, in the chopper (with blade) to mince. Then in a food processor with a paddle attachment to mix.
Would a dough blade be suitable to use instead of a paddle? I don’t have those expensive Kenwood or KitchenAid type food processors.
Hi Dagmar, yes, that will work too.
Can’t decide between bouncing my balls or using a processor 😉
Lol, can’t take you anywhere!
yummy. love these 🙂
Me too!
Awesome! i’ve always wanted to know how to make these.
thanks
Good to hear, let me know how it goes.
Made these with Basa and instead of salt, added tsp curry powder. Not authentic – but yummy! Going to try it with salmon next.
Very interesting, the curry powder must add a nice flavour to it. In Indonesia, there is a variation that’s made with curry powder. Bakso are Indonesian large meatballs, I have a post of it here: Bakso.