Japanese grilled chicken skewers with sweet-savory tare sauce — smoky, charred, irresistible.
Yakitori — grilled chicken skewers — is the soul of Japanese izakaya cuisine. Bite-sized pieces of chicken thigh, skin, and green onion are threaded on bamboo skewers and grilled over high heat, basted with tare (a sweet-savory glaze of soy, mirin, sake, and sugar). The result is smoky, caramelized, and intensely satisfying — perfect with cold beer or sake.
Serves 4
Combine soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and ginger in saucepan. Simmer over medium heat 10-15 minutes until reduced by half and syrupy. Cool.
Cut chicken thighs into 2cm cubes.
Cut green onion whites into 2cm pieces.
Thread chicken alternating with green onion pieces, 4-5 chicken pieces per skewer.
Heat charcoal grill, gas grill, or grill pan to high. Brush grates with oil.
Grill skewers 3 minutes per side, turning to char all sides, total 6-8 minutes.
Brush both sides generously with tare. Grill 1 more minute per side until glaze caramelizes. Repeat glaze once more.
Sprinkle with togarashi. Serve immediately with extra tare for dipping.
Soak bamboo skewers to prevent burning.
Don't glaze too early — sugar burns. Glaze last 2-3 minutes only.
Negima: classic chicken-and-green-onion combo.
Tsukune: ground chicken meatball skewers.
Yakitori shio: salt-only seasoning instead of tare.
Best fresh off the grill. Refrigerate leftovers up to 2 days.
Yakitori became popular in Tokyo's post-WWII era as a cheap, satisfying izakaya snack. Now it's elevated to an art form in specialized yakitori restaurants.
You can, but thighs stay much juicier on the grill. Breast tends to dry out.
Per serving (250g) · 4 servings total
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