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“I just made this for my family and we couldn’t stop eating it! Excellent recipe. Will make it again many times!”
– @circumboreal (from YouTube)
Nasu Dengaku is all about the sweet miso glaze.

That glaze perfectly goes with eggplants.

After being grilled, everything tastes simply amazing.

Meet my perfect Dengaku!
What is Dengaku?
I’m thrilled to introduce you to a dish that perfectly blends tradition and flavor: Nasu Dengaku. This eggplant dish is a variation of the classic “Dengaku-yaki (田楽焼き)” or “Dengaku-miso (田楽味噌),” which originally consisted of grilled skewered tofu or konnyaku slathered with savory miso paste.

Dengaku has deep roots in Japanese culture. Interestingly, the name “dengaku” is thought to have come from a traditional Japanese dance called “Dengaku-mai (田楽舞い).” While the dance’s exact origins are unclear, it’s known as a ritual performed to pray for a good harvest before rice planting.
During the Edo period (1603-1867), a poetic phrase circulated: “Dengaku was once seen with eyes, now it is eaten.” This clever play on words indicates that by this time, Dengaku had already become a beloved dish among the Japanese people.
One of the fascinating aspects of Dengaku is how it varies across different regions of Japan. For instance, in my hometown in Aichi Prefecture, we commonly use red miso for our Dengaku.

How I Developed This Recipe
Have you ever tasted a dish that perfectly balances sweet and salty flavors? That’s exactly what I was aiming for when I put this dengaku recipe together. I spent a long time in the kitchen, adjusting the miso paste until it reached that sweet spot – not too salty, not too sweet, but just right.
Nailing the flavors was only half the battle. What about the texture? I wanted the eggplant to be melt-in-your-mouth soft, with a slightly smoky miso glaze. After some trial and error, I created an eggplant dish that’s not only easy to make but absolutely delicious with plain rice.
If you’re an eggplant fan, you’ve got to give this a try!

Key Ingredients & Substitution Ideas
- Eggplants: I use Japanese eggplants, but any variety works beautifully! Keep in mind that larger varieties will need longer cooking time.
- Yellow miso paste (Awase miso): Flavor profiles of miso vary completely depending on the type. I’m using Awase miso in this recipe, which is called Yellow Miso in English. This recipe is specifically designed for yellow miso’s balanced flavor – white miso would be too sweet, and red miso might overwhelm with saltiness.
- Sake: Opt for drinking-grade sake when possible. It lacks the added salt of cooking sake, resulting in a cleaner, more complex flavor. Any affordable drinking sake will elevate your dish.
- Mirin: For the most authentic taste, look for “hon mirin” (true mirin).
- Light brown sugar: I prefer light brown cane sugar, but regular white sugar works well too.
- Toasted sesame oil: This adds a nutty aroma, but it’s optional.
- Garnish: Sesame seeds and thinly sliced shiso leaves.

Visual Walkthrough & Tips
Here are my step-by-step instructions for how to make Nasu Dengaku at home. For ingredient quantities and simplified instructions, scroll down for the Printable Recipe Card below.
This section aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the cooking steps and techniques with visuals. It also includes more in-depth tips and tricks and explains why I do what I do.
Preheat your grill to medium heat. Give the eggplant a quick rinse and pat it dry with a paper towel. Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise.

Using a sharp knife, make shallow diagonal incisions in a crosshatch pattern on the flesh of each eggplant half.

Just be careful not to cut through the skin, as this helps the eggplant maintain its shape during grilling.
Put the eggplant halves on the preheated grill, skin side down.

Grill for 3 minutes, letting the flesh soften and get grill marks.
After 3 minutes, flip the eggplant halves over so the skin side faces the heat source and continue grilling for an additional 5 minutes.

This two-stage grilling process ensures the eggplant is cooked through and tender inside.
While the eggplant is grilling, you can make the miso sauce. Just mix all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan.

Put the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir the sauce constantly to prevent burning. Bring the sauce to a boil, then turn the heat down low. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes, stirring now and then to blend the flavors and thicken the sauce a bit. Remove the sauce from the heat and set it aside.
Once the eggplant has been grilled for 8 minutes in total, take it off the grill. Use a pastry brush to coat the flesh side of each half with the prepared miso sauce.

If you don’t have a pastry brush, you can use the back of a spoon instead.
Put the eggplant halves back on the grill with the sauce side up. Grill for another 2-3 minutes over medium heat, or until the miso sauce starts to caramelize and gets a slightly darker color. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn, as the sugar in the miso can burn quickly.
Take the grilled eggplant off the heat and put it on a serving plate. Let it cool for a minute or so before you add the garnish. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the eggplant.

Add shredded shiso leaves for a fresh, minty flavor that goes well with the rich miso glaze.

I hope you enjoy this Nasu Dengaku recipe! If you try it out, I’d really appreciate it if you could spare a moment to let me know what you thought by giving a review and star rating in the comments below. It’s also helpful to share any adjustments you made to the recipe with our other readers. Thank you!

More Japanese Eggplant Recipes

Miso Glazed Eggplant (Nasu Dengaku)
Ingredients
- 2 eggplants preferably Japanese or Chinese
- toasted white sesame seeds to garnish
- perilla leaves (shiso) shredded, to garnish
Miso Glaze
- 2 tbsp yellow miso paste (awase)
- 2 tbsp sake
- ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil
- ½ tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tsp mirin
Instructions
- Preheat your grill or broiler on medium. While you wait, wash 2 eggplants and dry with kitchen paper. Remove the stems and cut them in half lengthways, then score the flesh with a crosshatch pattern.
- Once the grill it hot, place the eggplant halves on the wire rack skin side down and grill for 3 minutes to soften the flesh.
- Flip them over and grill the skin side for 5 minutes.
- While the eggplant is grilling, add the sauce ingredients (2 tbsp yellow miso paste (awase), 2 tbsp sake, ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil, ½ tbsp light brown sugar and 1 tsp mirin) to a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high while stirring continuously. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning the miso.
- Flip the eggplants once more and brush the flesh side with the miso sauce. Grill for 2-3 minutes or until the miso glaze has caramelized.
- Sprinkle with toasted white sesame seeds and shredded perilla leaves (shiso). Enjoy!
I need to try this recipe. I’m intersted in your remark regarding Sake. like wine in recipes, chefs will say use only wine that you would drink yourself in your recipes, and you say the same about sake? I had always wondered
about cooking sake -why is it always listed?
Hi Vincent,
Thank you for the question.
As a general rule, the best product for cooking isn’t cooking sake, it’s sake you can drink just like you mentioned. The difference between cooking sake and regular sake is quite confusing but at the same time, important because cooking sake is categorized as a seasoning, not an alcoholic beverage. This means that salt is added to cooking sake just to reduce the tax rate and deliberately make it undrinkable. But unfortunately, the name “cooking sake” is quite misleading. I personally only use pure sake with no salt added.
For the cleanest flavor in your dishes, it’s best to use drinking-grade Junmai-shu (pure rice sake). Even the cheapest brand of Junmai-shu will give you a lot better result compared to cooking sake.
For a more comprehensive understanding of sake in cooking, I highly recommend checking out the “Sake 101” article (https://sudachirecipes.com/sake-101/)!
Yuto