Yakitori

About This Recipe

Yakitori — literally 'grilled bird' — is the backbone of the Japanese izakaya, the kind of food meant to be eaten skewer by skewer over conversation and cold drinks. Bite-sized pieces of juicy chicken thigh are threaded onto soaked bamboo skewers, often alternated with sweet wedges of green onion (the classic combination known as negima), then grilled over fierce heat until the edges char and the fat renders. Repeated brushings of tare — a glossy reduction of soy, mirin, sake, and sugar — build a lacquered, caramelized coat layer by layer. The payoff is smoky, savory, and faintly sweet, with crisp skin giving way to tender meat. A dusting of shichimi togarashi at the end adds gentle heat and a citrusy lift.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 600 gchicken thighs, boneless skin-on
• 6green onions (white and light green parts)
• 12bamboo skewers, soaked 30 minutes
• 1/2 cupsoy sauce
• 1/2 cupmirin
• 1/4 cupsake
• 3 tbspsugar
• 1 tbspfresh ginger, grated
• 1 tbspneutral oil
• togarashi or shichimi pepper (for serving)

Instructions

1. 1

   Make tare sauce

   Combine the soy sauce, mirin, sake, sugar, and grated ginger in a small saucepan and simmer over medium heat 10-15 minutes until reduced by half and lightly syrupy. Let it cool; it thickens further as it sits.

   Set aside a small portion of unused tare for dipping — never reuse sauce that has touched raw chicken.

2. 2

   Prep chicken

   Cut the boneless thighs into even 2cm cubes, keeping the skin on for flavor and crisp edges. Uniform pieces cook at the same rate, so nothing dries out while you wait for larger chunks to finish.

3. 3

   Cut green onions

   Cut the white and light-green parts of the onions into 2cm batons. These should be sturdy enough to skewer and will turn sweet and slightly charred on the grill.

4. 4

   Skewer

   Thread the chicken onto soaked skewers, alternating with green onion pieces, about 4-5 chicken cubes each. Push the pieces snugly together so they stay juicy and don't spin when turned.

   Pack pieces tightly rather than spread out; loose, gappy skewers dry out and burn at the edges.

5. 5

   Heat grill

   Heat a charcoal grill, gas grill, or grill pan to high and brush the grates with oil. High, dry heat is essential for the char and caramelization that define yakitori.

6. 6

   First grill

   Grill the skewers about 3 minutes per side, turning to color all faces, 6-8 minutes total, until the chicken is nearly cooked through and the skin has crisped. Grill plain at this stage so the meat sears cleanly.

7. 7

   Glaze

   Brush both sides generously with tare and grill 1 minute per side until the glaze bubbles and caramelizes, then repeat once more for a deeper lacquer. Watch closely — the sugar in the tare burns fast.

   Move skewers to a slightly cooler zone while glazing so the sauce caramelizes instead of scorching.

8. 8

   Serve

   Sprinkle the finished skewers with shichimi togarashi and serve immediately, while the glaze is glossy and the meat hot, with the reserved tare alongside for dipping.

Variations

• •

  Negima: the classic alternation of chicken and green onion.

• •

  Tsukune: skewers of seasoned ground-chicken meatballs, often served with a raw egg-yolk dip.

• •

  Yakitori shio: seasoned with just salt instead of tare to highlight the chicken.

• •

  Other cuts: skewer chicken skin (kawa), thigh-and-thigh, or mushrooms and shishito peppers for variety.

Storage

Best fresh off the grill. Refrigerate leftovers up to 2 days and reheat gently in a hot pan or under a broiler for a minute to re-crisp the glaze; avoid the microwave, which makes the chicken rubbery.

Frequently Asked Questions