Yakitori Recipe — Making Japanese Chicken Skewers at Home on a Charcoal Grill
Deel
Making yakitori at home is easier than you think — even without Japanese charcoal or a professional grill. The key is the homemade tare sauce: a thickened marinade of soy sauce, mirin, and sake that is brushed onto the chicken layer by layer during grilling. This recipe explains every step.
Ingredients for yakitori with tare sauce
For the yakitori (4 servings):
- 600 g boneless chicken thighs, cut into 3 cm cubes
- Bamboo skewers (soaked in water for 30 min)
- Sea salt (for the shio-yakitori variant)
For the tare sauce:
- 80 ml soy sauce
- 80 ml mirin
- 40 ml sake (or dry sherry as a substitute)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 clove garlic, halved
- 1 small piece of ginger (approx. 1 cm)
Always use chicken thigh for yakitori — never chicken breast. Chicken thigh has more fat, doesn't dry out on the grill, and has a richer flavor. Chicken breast becomes tough and dry at the high heat that yakitori requires.
How to make yakitori step by step
Combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar in a small saucepan. Add garlic and ginger. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat and simmer for 20–25 minutes until the sauce is reduced and slightly syrupy. Remove garlic and ginger. Let cool.
Thread 4–5 pieces of chicken thigh onto each soaked bamboo skewer. Press them together firmly — loose pieces will burn. Keep the pieces as uniform as possible for even cooking.
Grill the yakitori over high direct heat for 3–4 minutes per side without tare. Allow the chicken to develop a nice grilled crust before adding the sauce — otherwise, the sugar in the tare will burn before the chicken is cooked through.
Brush the chicken with tare sauce. Grill for 1 minute, flip, and brush again. Repeat this 2–3 times until the chicken has a shiny, caramelized layer and is fully cooked (internal temperature 74°C).
Serve directly from the grill, sprinkled with a pinch of shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven-spice blend) or grated yuzu peel. Eat them hot — yakitori doesn't wait.
No tare on hand? Make shio-yakitori: grill the chicken without sauce and sprinkle generously with sea salt immediately after grilling. Simpler, but just as delicious — this is the way to taste the pure chicken flavor. More about yakitori culture: Japanese Grilling — Yakitori, Yakiniku, and Robatayaki.
Yakitori at home without Japanese charcoal: tips
Professional yakitori is made over binchotan charcoal — smokeless, extremely hot, and with a long burn time. At home, you can use regular charcoal or a gas barbecue on high heat. The result is slightly less subtle but definitely delicious. Use a grill insert with narrow grates or a grill pan on the stove if you don't have a barbecue — the recipe still works well.
Check out Chicken on the BBQ — the complete guide for more on temperatures and techniques, and BBQ Spices by Country for the difference between Japanese and other grill spices.
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